Hardware Swap eMMC to new Switch

Deleted User · Jan 29, 2019

I have a Switch that I've had since launch that has failed. I bought another switch that is functional. I have a nand backup, minus user partition. I usually backup before an upgrade, so the backup is probably one os revision older.

So the question is, is it possible to swap the old eMMC into the new switch? If so, what needs to be done to get the new switch to boot up with it?

Shadow#1 · Jan 29, 2019

SomeGuy77 said:
I have a Switch that I've had since launch that has failed. I bought another switch that is functional. I have a nand backup, minus user partition. I usually backup before an upgrade, so the backup is probably one os revision older.

So the question is, is it possible to swap the old eMMC into the new switch? If so, what needs to be done to get the new switch to boot up with it?

Nope not possible

F4mouZSt4r · Jan 29, 2019

Shadow#1 said:
Nope not possible

Ofc you can swap the eMMC chip, there was a guy who change the eMMC chip from 32GB to 128GB lul

MrFrodo18 · Jan 29, 2019

F4mouZSt4r said:
Ofc you can swap the eMMC chip, there was a guy who change the eMMC chip from 32GB to 128GB lul

Source?

F4mouZSt4r · Jan 29, 2019

Here read this.

Mothafuckka · Jan 29, 2019

F4mouZSt4r said:
Here read this.

Nice url...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wika · Jan 29, 2019

F4mouZSt4r said:
Ofc you can swap the eMMC chip, there was a guy who change the eMMC chip from 32GB to 128GB lul

I'm pretty sure the guy you're talking about just transferred over the same nand backup to a bigger chip into the same console. Inserting a different nand to a different console isn't possible because of the product info I think. That's why when you don't have nand back up you can't just load up a fresh OS onto a bricked console.

I could be wrong tho?

Shadow#1 · Jan 29, 2019

Wika said:
I'm pretty sure the guy you're talking about just transferred over the same nand backup to a bigger chip into the same console. Inserting a different nand to a different console isn't possible because of the product info I think. That's why when you don't have nand back up you can't just load up a fresh OS onto a bricked console.

I could be wrong tho?

Your not wrong

P3T3 · Jan 29, 2019

You can swap the nand over! Better to buy a blank nand board (eBay, clip to install) and flash the nand backup FOR THAT SWITCH!!!!! If you try to use a nand from a different switch it will not decrypt on boot so won’t work in that way (tried and tested)!

GothicIII · Jan 29, 2019

SomeGuy77 said:
I have a Switch that I've had since launch that has failed. I bought another switch that is functional. I have a nand backup, minus user partition. I usually backup before an upgrade, so the backup is probably one os revision older.

So the question is, is it possible to swap the old eMMC into the new switch? If so, what needs to be done to get the new switch to boot up with it?

If you have prodinfo.bin partition you can recreate the nand completely and transfer that to a new emmc. No issues here.

You could try to use the emunand feature of sxos to workaround the broken emmc. Would be nice to know if that works.

Tumoche · Jan 29, 2019

You can write to any emmc with any switch. However, it will not boot. You need to have the raw backup or recreate one.

Kubas_inko · Jan 29, 2019

Let's say something everybody said.
You can't swap NANDs (unless you edit them).
You can swap the chips.

Balallax · Jan 29, 2019

Captain Here:

You cant swap NANDs of different consoles. Theres Partitions that are encrypted with hardware info. Just swapping then will not work, since the encrypted info will not be accessed, but it should not harm the device, just put the old NAND back and youre good to go.

BUT

Its possible to dump all the info from the old NAND and WRITE it into a new NAND. I cant say what hardware can do that, but if you can copy/paste every info from the old nand to the new one, theoretically it should work, since every info contained on the NAND flash of the device is present.

The problem will be just:
How to connect the device (nand) to an computer in order to pull all its data dumped into an image (iso, img, etc), and copy it over the new clear nand.

I know that the NAND module on the Switch is not soldered into the board (future proof memory upgrade by nintendo or for easy to repair maybe?)

But take this info with a bit of salt, because the system upgrades in security handling maybe a pain in the ass in the future, since theres no way to know if you had dumped the complete data from the NAND, unless someone make a tool for that purpose or can confirm that winDiskManager work with it for instance.

Snomannen_kalle · Jan 29, 2019

MrFrodo18 said:
Source?

Here is the source. Or, rather, here is a link to someone's tutorial on how to swap the 32GB chip with a 64GB chip (with pictures), but he links to someone who swapped the stock 32 GB chip to a 128GB one at the top. Also, perhaps OP can use parts of this tutorial as well?

The Real Jdbye · Jan 29, 2019

SomeGuy77 said:
I have a Switch that I've had since launch that has failed. I bought another switch that is functional. I have a nand backup, minus user partition. I usually backup before an upgrade, so the backup is probably one os revision older.

So the question is, is it possible to swap the old eMMC into the new switch? If so, what needs to be done to get the new switch to boot up with it?

I think it's possible if you also swap the SoC. AFAIK all the keys should be stored there. The SoC is on a separate board, but I'm unsure if that board is soldered on or whether it plugs in like some of the other daughterboards on the Switch do.

RHOPKINS13 · Jan 29, 2019

You're better off just extracting your saves from the nand backup and restoring those with Checkpoint.

Deleted User · Jan 29, 2019

P3T3 said:
You can swap the nand over! Better to buy a blank nand board (eBay, clip to install) and flash the nand backup FOR THAT SWITCH!!!!! If you try to use a nand from a different switch it will not decrypt on boot so won’t work in that way (tried and tested)!

Interesting. So what you mean is that the backup restored to a blank nand, or the nand that is in the new switch already should allow this?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

RHOPKINS13 said:
You're better off just extracting your saves from the nand backup and restoring those with Checkpoint.

I was considering this. That's all I'm really concerned about losing. I have some backups from Checkpoint, but not all. Is there a tutorial somewhere for this?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

The Real Jdbye said:
I think it's possible if you also swap the SoC. AFAIK all the keys should be stored there. The SoC is on a separate board, but I'm unsure if that board is soldered on or whether it plugs in like some of the other daughterboards on the Switch do.

After studying some teardowns, I don't think the SoC is socketed. I don't trust that I'm good enough with reflow to even touch that chip.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Snomannen_kalle said:
Here is the source. Or, rather, here is a link to someone's tutorial on how to swap the 32GB chip with a 64GB chip (with pictures), but he links to someone who swapped the stock 32 GB chip to a 128GB one at the top. Also, perhaps OP can use parts of this tutorial as well?

I might do this for fun. I'd be nice not to deal with the SD so much.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

DarkWinterCloud said:
Captain Here:

You cant swap NANDs of different consoles. Theres Partitions that are encrypted with hardware info. Just swapping then will not work, since the encrypted info will not be accessed, but it should not harm the device, just put the old NAND back and youre good to go.

BUT

Its possible to dump all the info from the old NAND and WRITE it into a new NAND. I cant say what hardware can do that, but if you can copy/paste every info from the old nand to the new one, theoretically it should work, since every info contained on the NAND flash of the device is present.

The problem will be just:
How to connect the device (nand) to an computer in order to pull all its data dumped into an image (iso, img, etc), and copy it over the new clear nand.

I know that the NAND module on the Switch is not soldered into the board (future proof memory upgrade by nintendo or for easy to repair maybe?)

But take this info with a bit of salt, because the system upgrades in security handling maybe a pain in the ass in the future, since theres no way to know if you had dumped the complete data from the NAND, unless someone make a tool for that purpose or can confirm that winDiskManager work with it for instance.

There is a tutorial for nand dumping on the switch. I can't seem to find it. It was early, before the exploit releases and had it wired to the board to do a full img dump.

Tumoche · Jan 29, 2019

SomeGuy77 said:
Interesting. So what you mean is that the backup restored to a blank nand, or the nand that is in the new switch already should allow this?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I was considering this. That's all I'm really concerned about losing. I have some backups from Checkpoint, but not all. Is there a tutorial somewhere for this?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

After studying some teardowns, I don't think the SoC is socketed. I don't trust that I'm good enough with reflow to even touch that chip.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I might do this for fun. I'd be nice not to deal with the SD so much.

Dont even think about desoldering the SoC. Its not worth your time. Just write the rawnand

Deleted User · Jan 29, 2019

GothicIII said:
If you have prodinfo.bin partition you can recreate the nand completely and transfer that to a new emmc. No issues here.

You could try to use the emunand feature of sxos to workaround the broken emmc. Would be nice to know if that works.

I do have the prodinfo.bin for the old switch backed up. So I'd recreate it with the keys from the new Switch? Can you point me to some documentation?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I just want to say thank you to everyone for all your help and info. I really appreciate it!

RHOPKINS13 · Jan 30, 2019

SomeGuy77 said:
I was considering this. That's all I'm really concerned about losing. I have some backups from Checkpoint, but not all. Is there a tutorial somewhere for this?

https://gbatemp.net/threads/extract-save-from-nand-backup.514261/

Deleted User · Jan 30, 2019

RHOPKINS13 said:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/extract-save-from-nand-backup.514261/

Thanks!

Hardware Swap eMMC to new Switch

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