Hacking Force reinstall of stock 9.2.0 on semi-bricked Switch?

SamF · Apr 2, 2020

Hi team, hoping someone can help me with my current situation. I bought a "broken" switch from someone who had upgraded to 9.2 (either on purpose or accidentally) and then attempted to downgrade to 5.1, after which the Switch will successfully load hekate but not Atmosphere or OFW. When I try to launch OFW, I get the Nintendo logo followed by a brief black screen, followed by the Switch logo and the unit is then frozen at that point.

I'm trying to get the unit back to stock, with the goal of having a cheap second Switch for our house during Ye Olde COVID-19 Lockdowne that I can use online with my Nintendo account. The original owner did not take a NAND backup prior to doing their initial CFW installation, unfortunately.

I've successfully followed the instructions here in detail: https://gbatemp.net/threads/how-to-...nofficially-without-burning-any-fuses.507461/
I've also used this version which is very similar: https://switch.homebrew.guide/usingcfw/manualchoiupgrade

By successful I mean I was able to complete all of the steps in the guide, but the Switch still won't boot CFW/OFW, only hekate. I used 6.0.1 as my base firmware since ChoiDujour doesn't seem to support newer firmware, and I can't run ChoiDujourNX due to the inability to launch CFW and run homebrew.

I have my keys, etc.

Any advice?

Thanks!

crazy_p · Apr 2, 2020

I'd try with FW 5.1 because Choidujour seems to be notworking with 6.x.x.

SamF · Apr 2, 2020

I've tried 6.0.1 and now 6.1.0 with no luck. I guess giving 5.1 a try it worth it...

But is there any way to do an install of 9.2.0 without using the OFW recovery mode or the CFW version of ChoiDujourNX?

crazy_p · Apr 2, 2020

If you managed to boot the 5.1 Firmware update like normal with ChoidujourNX to 9.2

SamF · Apr 3, 2020

That's the problem.. I can't get any firmware to boot past the Nintendo Switch logo. Is it possible it's a hardware issue?

crazy_p · Apr 3, 2020

Did you even try 5.1?
Is your Atmospere Setup up to date?

SuzieJoeBob · Apr 3, 2020

SamF said:
That's the problem.. I can't get any firmware to boot past the Nintendo Switch logo. Is it possible it's a hardware issue?

@crazy_p has a point. Did you ever update atmosphere since receiving the console? The copy of atmosphere on the SD card may not have support for 6.x.x, which would preventing the console from going past the Switch logo when booting.

SamF · Apr 3, 2020

crazy_p said:
Did you even try 5.1?
Is your Atmospere Setup up to date?

I did last night, with the same results.

SuzieJoeBob said:
@crazy_p has a point. Did you ever update atmosphere since receiving the console? The copy of atmosphere on the SD card may not have support for 6.x.x, which would preventing the console from going past the Switch logo when booting.

I've been using a variety of different packages but mainly the most recent Kosmos bundle. Are newer versions of Atmosphere not backwards compatible with older FW like 5.1/6.1?

SuzieJoeBob · Apr 3, 2020

SamF said:
I've been using a variety of different packages but mainly the most recent Kosmos bundle. Are newer versions of Atmosphere not backwards compatible with older FW like 5.1/6.1?

The all atmosphere versions have backwards compatibility. I was making sure that didn't have a copy that was released for 5.x.x because it would only support 5.x.x and under, since 6.x.x didn't exist at that point in time.

SamF · Apr 3, 2020

SuzieJoeBob said:
The all atmosphere versions have backwards compatibility. I was making sure that didn't have a copy that was released for 5.x.x because it would only support 5.x.x and under, since 6.x.x didn't exist at that point in time.

Ok thanks.. I thought of that too, I'm basically at a loss as to what to do next. I want to get 9.2.0 on it to see if that works, but without working OFW or CFW, I don't know of any way to accomplish that.

Philliyxx · Apr 4, 2020

did you have any custom themes installed, start with a fresh sd card.

SamF · Apr 4, 2020

Philliyxx said:
did you have any custom themes installed, start with a fresh sd card.

I’ve tried with freshly formatted SD card, both FAT32 and exFAT. No luck.

Philliyxx · Apr 5, 2020

Were you able to make a backup of the prodinfo or boot 0/1?

Can probably use mattytrogs boot repair package to get it working. It's on xbins

SamF · Apr 5, 2020

Philliyxx said:
Were you able to make a backup of the prodinfo or boot 0/1?

Can probably use mattytrogs boot repair package to get it working. It's on xbins

One of the first things I did was do a full backup of the unit.. boot 0&1 plus a full rawnand.bin dump.

I'll take a look at that boot repair package, thanks!

Andalitez · Apr 5, 2020

@OP I would like to take a crack at helping you with this. I've been scouring the web for the past hour looking for a guide I wrote for someone with a similar issue, but I'm unable to find it. Must have been a Pvt msg on discord or something ( but worry not, I kind of remember most of it)

First things first, take the nand back you made when you first got the switch and make another copy.

Secondly when using hacdiskmount, you should be modifying the nandbackup not the live environment of the switch.

So the idea is to start from scratch again, using the nand backup as the base.
Get the 5.1 FW from darthsternie, load up hacdiskmount and follow all steps from the Choijudour guide.... Hold on. Matty has a recovery I just thought of. Brb

Devine21 · Apr 6, 2020

SamF said:
That's the problem.. I can't get any firmware to boot past the Nintendo Switch logo. Is it possible it's a hardware issue?

Pm me ive just solved this took me all day yesterday sort mine

SamF · Apr 6, 2020

Devine21 said:
Pm me ive just solved this took me all day yesterday sort mine

Thanks, PM sent

GMSevEn · Apr 6, 2020

SamF said:
Hi team, hoping someone can help me with my current situation. I bought a "broken" switch from someone who had upgraded to 9.2 (either on purpose or accidentally) and then attempted to downgrade to 5.1, after which the Switch will successfully load hekate but not Atmosphere or OFW. When I try to launch OFW, I get the Nintendo logo followed by a brief black screen, followed by the Switch logo and the unit is then frozen at that point.

I'm trying to get the unit back to stock, with the goal of having a cheap second Switch for our house during Ye Olde COVID-19 Lockdowne that I can use online with my Nintendo account. The original owner did not take a NAND backup prior to doing their initial CFW installation, unfortunately.

I've successfully followed the instructions here in detail:
I've also used this version which is very similar:

By successful I mean I was able to complete all of the steps in the guide, but the Switch still won't boot CFW/OFW, only hekate. I used 6.0.1 as my base firmware since ChoiDujour doesn't seem to support newer firmware, and I can't run ChoiDujourNX due to the inability to launch CFW and run homebrew.

I have my keys, etc.

Any advice?

Thanks!

Quite literally in the same situation.

Bought the Switch hoping to fix it off Ebay. Did extensive research.

Tried to install several firmwares manually(which were all successful, minus actually booting passed the nintendo switch logo).

Also tried the "boot repair package" and the "unbrick your switch" from xbins. Still no dice.

I will say that I did manage to get the system to boot once the other day, by restoring the firmware that was already on the Switch with the nand I backed up when I first got it(I discovered it was Firmware 9.2.0 using NxNandManager_v3.0.3_x64). But it was purely random and was more of a stroke of luck using Atmosphere (Kosmos)
(v0.10.5/v15.4) on an emuMMC SD File, and after deleting the save contents from the system partition using Hacdiskmount(minus the 8000000120 file).

After trying to reboot, it unfortunately wouldn't boot again no matter what I tried. I didn't do anything save for connect it online using the 90DNS method I found on this site, which worked perfectly. There doesn't seem to be any hardware issues on it though, so I'm fully convinced it's software related.

SamF · Apr 7, 2020

GMSevEn said:
Quite literally in the same situation.

Bought the Switch hoping to fix it off Ebay. Did extensive research.

Tried to install several firmwares manually(which were all successful, minus actually booting passed the nintendo switch logo).

Also tried the "boot repair package" and the "unbrick your switch" from xbins. Still no dice.

I will say that I did manage to get the system to boot once the other day, by restoring the firmware that was already on the Switch with the nand I backed up when I first got it(I discovered it was Firmware 9.2.0 using NxNandManager_v3.0.3_x64). But it was purely random and was more of a stroke of luck using Atmosphere (Kosmos)
(v0.10.5/v15.4) on an emuMMC SD File, and after deleting the save contents from the system partition using Hacdiskmount(minus the 8000000120 file).

After trying to reboot, it unfortunately wouldn't boot again no matter what I tried. I didn't do anything save for connect it online using the 90DNS method I found on this site, which worked perfectly. There doesn't seem to be any hardware issues on it though, so I'm fully convinced it's software related.

I'm at a loss with my situation. I've read that getting stuck on the Switch logo can be caused by a failure in the M92T36 chip but that typically also comes with an inability to charge.. this unit charges fine, but gets stuck on the Switch logo.

GMSevEn · Apr 7, 2020

SamF said:
I'm at a loss with my situation. I've read that getting stuck on the Switch logo can be caused by a failure in the M92T36 chip but that typically also comes with an inability to charge.. this unit charges fine, but gets stuck on the Switch logo.

Yeah, I'm sorry to hear that.

I hope people heed the warnings that it's alot more trouble than they think if they're hoping to fix a switch on ebay with a similar issue. it's really unfortunate there doesn't seem to be any definite fixes, but I really don't think it's an issue with the chip from the research that I've come across. I've read that people got all sorts of hardware replaced only to still be met with that blasted switch logo. This feels more like a firmware incapability, and most specifically with the newer firmware. Perhaps nintendo found a way to patch the older method or something with it.

I've been working on mine for about two weeks now and will probably just buy a new one like I set out to do. The effort just doesn't seem worth it anymore. I'll probably come back at a later time to see if there's any new ways to resolve it. Good luck on your efforts.

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