Homebrew Switch permanent blackscreen SD card removed during Hekate menu

LN-0 · Oct 6, 2022

Hello, I need seriously help. I read many topics similiar to my problem but could not find anything that really solved my problem.
I am new to Homebrew topics and started sucessfully loading Hekate into my V1 Switch via an payloader from my computer. I activated auto-RCM.

Then during the Hekate menu I removed my SD card from the Switch. The Switch showed the message to shut down the Switch because of the removed SD card. And after that the screen went black and any information of charging my Switch multiple hours or pressing + and - with the On/Off-button did not work. When I connect my payloader to my computer, it is recognized (all folders can be seen and opened). But when I then connect it also with my Switch and try to send the Hekate-Payload via TegraRcmGUI, the message appears, that no device can be detected. I tried three USB cabels and different USB ports and still no success. Sometimes I got the message (when payload is connected to Switch and computer) "boot.dat?" in my blackscreen.

Many threads tell to send a new payload to the Switch because it is still stuck in RCM. It is that what I cannot do. Has anyone enough experience and could give me an advice? (Please with hints, what to do on the SD card, payloader or computer.)

binkinator · Oct 6, 2022

LN-0 said:
Hello, I need seriously help. I read many topics similiar to my problem but could not find anything that really solved my problem.
I am new to Homebrew topics and started sucessfully loading Hekate into my V1 Switch via an payloader from my computer. I activated auto-RCM.

Then during the Hekate menu I removed my SD card from the Switch. The Switch showed the message to shut down the Switch because of the removed SD card. And after that the screen went black and any information of charging my Switch multiple hours or pressing + and - with the On/Off-button did not work. When I connect my payloader to my computer, it is recognized (all folders can be seen and opened). But when I then connect it also with my Switch and try to send the Hekate-Payload via TegraRcmGUI, the message appears, that no device can be detected. I tried three USB cabels and different USB ports and still no success. Sometimes I got the message (when payload is connected to Switch and computer) "boot.dat?" in my blackscreen.

Many threads tell to send a new payload to the Switch because it is still stuck in RCM. It is that what I cannot do. Has anyone enough experience and could give me an advice? (Please with hints, what to do on the SD card, payloader or computer.)

Are you still running SXOS? We will want to upgrade this at some point but let’s get you running first.

The first issue is your PC not being able to detect the Switch. Reboot your PC to make sure we give it the best chance at connecting the device.

If that doesn’t work, make sure the driver is installed for TegraRcmGUI

Install APX device driver (if needed)

Might want to reboot after the driver install but check to see if this solves it first…

LN-0 · Oct 6, 2022

binkinator said:
Are you still running SXOS? We will want to upgrade this at some point but let’s get you running first.

The first issue is your PC not being able to detect the Switch. Reboot your PC to make sure we give it the best chance at connecting the device.

If that doesn’t work, make sure the driver is installed for TegraRcmGUI

Install APX device driver (if needed)

Might want to reboot after the driver install but check to see if this solves it first…

Hello,

I have Atmosphere, REINX and SXOS on the payloader (preinstalled) but had only used Atmosphere.

I rebooted my PC, installed the APX device driver from the TegraRcmGUI folder and rebooted again. The Switch is still not recognised by TegraRcmGUI.

(Before the removal of the SD card (and before blackscreen) everything worked fine and the Switch had been detected by TegraRcmGUI.)

Dust2dust · Oct 6, 2022

What you call the payloader is probably RCMloader One. That makes it easier to debug your problem. You don't have to deal with Windows or the drivers for TegraRCMGUI. You just update the payload on your RCMloader one. Put the latest Hekate payload on it, and start from there. You're probably just stuck on autoRCM without realizing it. Since you have a nice jig with your RCMloader One, you could disable autoRCM until you're fixed, then you could install it again if you wish.

binkinator · Oct 6, 2022

LN-0 said:
Hello,

I have Atmosphere, REINX and SXOS on the payloader (preinstalled) but had only used Atmosphere.

I rebooted my PC, installed the APX device driver from the TegraRcmGUI folder and rebooted again. The Switch is still not recognised by TegraRcmGUI.

(Before the removal of the SD card (and before blackscreen) everything worked fine and the Switch had been detected by TegraRcmGUI.)

Dust2dust said:
What you call the payloader is probably RCMloader One. That makes it easier to debug your problem. You don't have to deal with Windows or the drivers for TegraRCMGUI. You just update the payload on your RCMloader one. Put the latest Hekate payload on it, and start from there. You're probably just stuck on autoRCM without realizing it. Since you have a nice jig with your RCMloader One, you could disable autoRCM until you're fixed, then you could install it again if you wish.

Agreed!

@LN-0 , can you please snap a quick picture of your “payloader”?

I’m kinda concerned that you PC used to see the Switch and now it can’t. We’re in a bit of a catch-22 if you have AutoRCM on but can’t use it to boot. Let’s see yiur bootloader first and we’ll go from there.

LN-0 · Oct 7, 2022

binkinator said:
Agreed!

@LN-0 , can you please snap a quick picture of your “payloader”?

I’m kinda concerned that you PC used to see the Switch and now it can’t. We’re in a bit of a catch-22 if you have AutoRCM on but can’t use it to boot. Let’s see yiur bootloader first and we’ll go from there.

I think with bootloader you mean that thing I called payloader. Its real name is RCMloader.

When I have only the RCMloader on my Switch and press on the + button of the RCMloader, it blinks red. And when I then press on the On/Off-button of the Switch, I get the message boot.dat?

When the RCMloader is connected with PC and Switch, the light of the RCMloader gets blue (constant, no blinking). When I press on + of the RCMloader its light stays blue and cannot change its color.

binkinator · Oct 7, 2022

LN-0 said:
I think with bootloader you mean that thing I called payloader. Its real name is RCMloader.

When I have only the RCMloader on my Switch and press on the + button of the RCMloader, it blinks red. And when I then press on the On/Off-button of the Switch, I get the message boot.dat?

When the RCMloader is connected with PC and Switch, the light of the RCMloader gets blue (constant, no blinking). When I press on + of the RCMloader its light stays blue and cannot change its color.

@Dust2dust nailed it! The link he provided has docs on how the RCMloader works. The injector can connect to your PC for maintenance (updating payloads and its own firmware). In that mode it does nothing with the switch. When connected to the switch you can cycle through the various payloads that you put on it with your PC by holding the + button until the color changes. The colors are assigned to the folders on the RCMLoader’s file system. Yours has probably rotated to SXOS and you want to get it back to Atmosphere. All in all, you’re in pretty good shape thus far. Read through the link above and come back with any additional questions you might have.

Hint: you will never plug in your pc to the bootloader to the switch. Only one way at a time. PC to Loader is one way. Loader to Switch is the other way. Not at the same time.

TegraRCMGUI does the same thing as RCMLoader. You need one or the other…not both.

you need to be on the blue one for Atmosphere. You are on red which is SXOS (which yiu don’t have installed based on the boot.dat? prompt.)

Dust2dust · Oct 7, 2022

Yes, as @binkinator said above, don't make a connection chain of PC>RCMLoader>Switch. Just plug the RCMLoader to PC to update the payload, and to charge it, eventually. Press and hold the + button until the LED is blue. This way, you will push the payload in Atmosphere folder, not the SXOS payload. Update the payload in Atmosphere folder with the latest Hekate payload (rename to payload.bin). Then unplug from PC and plug into the Switch. The LED should flash blue when the payload is pushed.

LN-0 · Oct 7, 2022

Thank you both. I went to the website of the RCMloader under support and replaced all files in the RCMloader with newer versions (zip file download named RCMloader ONE plus / ONE U disk built-in files).

I now can differ two states of my Switch, when the RCM loader is on the switch (without PC). Blackscreen and blackscreen with small red letters, when pressing the On-/Off-button which also activates the twice green blinking of the RCMloader.

The message in red small letters says: "Error: missing warmboot.bin or secmon.bin. These are required!"

Any advice, where I have to put this files? In SD card or RCMloader and what are these files?

binkinator · Oct 7, 2022

LN-0 said:
Thank you both. I went to the website of the RCMloader under support and replaced all files in the RCMloader with newer versions (zip file download named RCMloader ONE plus / ONE U disk built-in files). When the RCM loader is now on the switch (without PC), the RCMloader blinks green twice and on the Switch screen the message appears in read small letters:

"Error: missing warmboot.bin or secmon.bin. These are required!"

I now can differ two states of my Switch. Blackscreen and blackscreen with small red letters, when pressing the On-/Off-button which also activates the twice green blinking of the RCMloader.

Any advice, where I have to put this files? In SD card or RCMloader and what are these files?

You are on the Green slot which is REINX (which you probably don’t have and definitely don’t want to set up…it’s pretty old.)

Press and hold the plus (+) until the color changes.

You want the first slot which is Blue for Atmosphere So you are going to have to cycle through RED (SXOS), Yellow, Magenta and Cyan before yiu get back to Blue.

LN-0 · Oct 7, 2022

binkinator said:
You are on the Green slot which is REINX (which you probably don’t have and definitely don’t want to set up…it’s pretty old.)

Press and hold the plus (+) until the color changes.

You want the first slot which is Blue for Atmosphere So you are going to have to cycle through RED (SXOS), Yellow, Magenta and Cyan before yiu get back to Blue.

The problem is that further pressing of the + button on the RCMloader only triggers twice green blinking. The color of the RCMloader does not change, no matter how much I press. (I tried this on blackscreen and on blackscreen with red letters.)

Does green mean I am stuck on REINX?

binkinator · Oct 7, 2022

LN-0 said:
The problem is that further pressing of the + button on the RCMloader only triggers twice green blinking. The color of the RCMloader does not change, no matter how much I press. (I tried this on blackscreen and on blackscreen with red letters.)

Does green mean I am stuck on REINX?

Sure does. Do this…

1) unplug loader from switch.
2) plug usb cable from PC to back of loader.
3) use explorer to navigate to loader (just like it’s an SDCard) and you should see a bunch of files/folders that correlate to the graphic I posted above.
4) go here and download the latest release: https://github.com/CTCaer/hekate/
5) unzip it somewhere and grab the hekate_ctcaer_x.x.x.bin file and move it to the loader under the /ATMOSPHERE/ directory.
6) rename the Hekate.x.x.x.bin file under /ATMOSPHERE to payload.bin
7) eject the loader from the PC
8) hold the (+) button on the loader until it changes (hopefully) to blue.
9) now that it’s on the right slot, plug it into the switch and power it on.
10) I think we’ve got it this time…

e: you should switch colors while disconnected from both the PC and the Switch….might have been your issue all along.

Dust2dust · Oct 7, 2022

Do you have the One Plus (white box), or just the One (clear box). I have the older One here and never had a problem, but some users had problems updating the new One Plus. Check this thread for a possible solution.

LN-0 · Oct 7, 2022

binkinator said:
Sure does. Do this…

1) unplug loader from switch.
2) plug usb cable from PC to back of loader.
3) use explorer to navigate to loader (just like it’s an SDCard) and you should see a bunch of files/folders that correlate to the graphic I posted above.
4) go here and download the latest release: https://github.com/CTCaer/hekate/
5) unzip it somewhere and grab the hekate_ctcaer_x.x.x.bin file and move it to the loader under the /ATMOSPHERE/ directory.
6) rename the Hekate.x.x.x.bin file under /ATMOSPHERE to payload.bin
7) eject the loader from the PC
8) hold the (+) button on the loader until it changes (hopefully) to blue.
9) now that it’s on the right slot, plug it into the switch and power it on.
10) I think we’ve got it this time…

e: you should switch colors while disconnected from both the PC and the Switch….might have been your issue all along.

I have done all these steps and it did not help. When I press the + button on the payloader, it only blinks twice green. Even when it is alone (no Switch or PC attached). When connected to the Switch, the same red message appears like before.

Post automatically merged: Oct 7, 2022

Dust2dust said:
Do you have the One Plus (white box), or just the One (clear box). I have the older One here and never had a problem, but some users had problems updating the new One Plus. Check this thread for a possible solution.

I have bought it recently (two months ago), so it is probably the One plus.

Dust2dust · Oct 7, 2022

I also wanted to mention. Since you sometimes get a black screen with red letters, that would mean a payload was successfully injected (probably the reinx payload). You need to turn off the Switch to get back to RCM. You do that by holding the power button for 15 seconds. Also, make sure to HOLD the + button on the RCMLoader for a good 4 or 5 seconds to change to the next payload. The led will flash to tell you which payload you changed to.

LN-0 · Oct 7, 2022

Dust2dust said:
I also wanted to mention. Since you sometimes get a black screen with red letters, that would mean a payload was successfully injected (probably the reinx payload). You need to turn off the Switch to get back to RCM. You do that by holding the power button for 15 seconds. Also, make sure to HOLD the + button on the RCMLoader for a good 4 or 5 seconds to change to the next payload. The led will flash to tell you which payload you changed to.

Now by longer pressing of the + button on the RCMloader I could change the color from green to red to blue. It starts Hekate with the message:

"Hekate - IPL
Custom NX Bootloader"

"Old Nyx GUI found! There will be dragons!
Uodate the bootloader folder!
Press any key..."

Dust2dust · Oct 7, 2022

Ok, nice! Now you only need to update Hekate payload to the latest version. Update the files on the SD card also, and you'll be on your way.

LN-0 · Oct 7, 2022

Dust2dust said:
Ok, nice! Now you only need to update Hekate payload to the latest version. Update the files on the SD card also, and you'll be on your way.

By pressing on the On-/Off-button I finally arrived at the normal Hekate menu. Thank you both for everything. My problem is finally solved. You saved my Switch.

binkinator · Oct 7, 2022

LN-0 said:
Now by longer pressing of the + button on the RCMloader I could change the color from green to red to blue. It starts Hekate with the message:

"Hekate - IPL
Custom NX Bootloader"

"Old Nyx GUI found! There will be dragons!
Uodate the bootloader folder!
Press any key..."

That’s fine…just means your loader version of Hekate is newer than the one on your SDCard …press any key and proceed.

Dust2dust · Oct 7, 2022

The next steps will be to finalize your Atmosphere installation, and also to try to have your Switch recognized by the PC via USB cable. Important for installing games.

Homebrew Switch permanent blackscreen SD card removed during Hekate menu

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