Hacking Question Completely stock switch bricked (bad NAND?)

[KiloooNL]

Hey guys, I recently repaired a charge port on a Nintendo switch.
After the console is now powering on, it will show the Nintendo logo for ~2 seconds then go to a black screen.
Thinking it was just that the battery was depleted, I left it to charge overnight (it was pulling ~0.40A on charge).
After powering on in the morning with a fully charged battery, it does the same thing. It will show the Nintendo logo, then go to a black screen.

Now, this switch is 100% stock running OFW. We don't have any NAND backups of course.
It does successfully boot into RCM mode, and will also boot into Linux.

It seems to me that maybe the stock OFW NAND is corrupt?
Is there anything that can be done to revive the Switch at this point?

 

[Deleted User]

Check fuse count.

 

[KiloooNL]

Check fuse count.

Checking the fuse count, it shows that 9 fuses are burnt.

 

[mattytrog]

Hey guys, I recently repaired a charge port on a Nintendo switch.
After the console is now powering on, it will show the Nintendo logo for ~2 seconds then go to a black screen.
Thinking it was just that the battery was depleted, I left it to charge overnight (it was pulling ~0.40A on charge).
After powering on in the morning with a fully charged battery, it does the same thing. It will show the Nintendo logo, then go to a black screen.

Now, this switch is 100% stock running OFW. We don't have any NAND backups of course.
It does successfully boot into RCM mode, and will also boot into Linux.

It seems to me that maybe the stock OFW NAND is corrupt?
Is there anything that can be done to revive the Switch at this point?

If it has never been messed with... Check BQ24193.

Go into Hekate... Can you navigate menu easy? Is it getting "stuck"? Are your battery readings stable? Steady? Not jumping all over the place is it?

 

[Deleted User]

Checking the fuse count, it shows that 9 fuses are burnt.

Ok. Run cfw like atmosphere, (make a nandbackup before doing so) and see if it boots. If it does then it was a fuse miss match, meaning that switch is on 6.2 when it's ment to be on 7+
If it does not boot running cfw, then something is wrong with the files.

 

[mattytrog]

Ok. Run cfw like atmosphere, (make a nandbackup before doing so) and see if it boots. If it does then it was a fuse miss match, meaning that switch is on 6.2 when it's ment to be on 7+
If it does not boot running cfw, then something is wrong with the files.

Its stock. It always has been stock.

 

[KiloooNL]

If it has never been messed with... Check BQ24193.

Go into Hekate... Can you navigate menu easy? Is it getting "stuck"? Are your battery readings stable? Steady? Not jumping all over the place is it?

I checked with my customer and yes, the switch has never been messed with.
Battery readings are stable, ~4.18v on a full charge. I also powered the switch on with a bench power supply to confirm the battery wasn't the issue.
In Hekate, navigation is fine, not getting stuck anywhere.

I've attached an image of the battery info. What do you think of this?

EDIT: Worth noting in Hekate, it shows 0.0% battery (1280mV) at the bottom.

 

[mattytrog]

I checked with my customer and yes, the switch has never been messed with.
Battery readings are stable, ~4.18v on a full charge. I also powered the switch on with a bench power supply to confirm the battery wasn't the issue.
In Hekate, navigation is fine, not getting stuck anywhere.

I've attached an image of the battery info. What do you think of this?

Fuel gauge registers are blank / corrupt.

 

[KiloooNL]

Ok, so I should inspect BQ24193?

Also edited my post above, worth noting in Hekate, it shows 0.0% battery (1280mV) at the bottom.

 

[mattytrog]

Ok, so I should inspect BQ24193?

Also edited my post above, worth noting in Hekate, it shows 0.0% battery (1280mV) at the bottom.

Could be that. However, fuel gauge registers are in MAX17050

 

[KiloooNL]

Could be that. However, fuel gauge registers are in MAX17050

Ah... right, so MAX17050 is likely fault? Needs replacing?

 

[KiloooNL]

edit: delete, double post.

 

[mattytrog]

Ah... right, so MAX17050 is likely fault? Needs replacing?

Very possibly

 

[KiloooNL]

Very possibly

I see. So basically the fuel gauge IC is not getting/sending the correct information, so the system assumes the battery is flat / not installed?
I wonder if when the initial charge port broke (which had multiple shorted pins), it shorted the IC.
Strangely enough I couldn't find any shorted caps across the entire board.
I did try booting into Atmosphere out of curiosity, and after the Atmosphere logo the console would switch off. So I definitely think the system isn't seeing the battery or something along those lines.

I guess I'll have to open it up and check the respective chips.

 

[mattytrog]

I see. So basically the fuel gauge IC is not getting/sending the correct information, so the system assumes the battery is flat / not installed?
I wonder if when the initial charge port broke (which had multiple shorted pins), it shorted the IC.
Strangely enough I couldn't find any shorted caps across the entire board.
I did try booting into Atmosphere out of curiosity, and after the Atmosphere logo the console would switch off. So I definitely think the system isn't seeing the battery or something along those lines.

I guess I'll have to open it up and check the respective chips.

Yep. BQ24193 on board facing you near batt connector, max17050 on the flipside underneath battery connector.

 

[KiloooNL]

Yep. BQ24193 on board facing you near batt connector, max17050 on the flipside underneath battery connector.

Mattytrog, I just rebooted the switch and ran Battery Info again.

This time we have some populated fuel gauge registers, but it still seems invalid. Thoughts?
Pic attached.

 

[mattytrog]

Mattytrog, I just rebooted the switch and ran Battery Info again.

This time we have some populated fuel gauge registers, but it still seems invalid. Thoughts?
Pic attached.

Try this...

Minerva training enabled, reset fuelgauge enabled etc etc... You need the minerva bso file in sys if minerva training.

 

[KiloooNL]

Try this...

Minerva training enabled, reset fuelgauge enabled etc etc... You need the minerva bso file in sys if minerva training.

Thanks, I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[ZachyCatGames]

Check fuse count.

If it was a fuse issue (which it’s not as seen by later posts), it wouldn’t even get to the Nintendo logo

 

[KiloooNL]

Try this...

Minerva training enabled, reset fuelgauge enabled etc etc... You need the minerva bso file in sys if minerva training.

Ok so, with a fully charged battery, it still reads 0.0% charged.

If i run reset fuel gauge, it throws an error "You need a fully charged battery and connected to a wall adapter, to apply this fix!"
Looking at the Hekate source code, it looks like it's this if/else statement:
if (avgCurrent < 0 && battVoltage > 4100)
else // throw error

So I guess because it's not reading the correct battery information, we can't execute a reset.
Would it be unwise to recompile Hekate to ignore the avgCurrent/battVoltage and force the reset?
Or any other ideas?

 

[mattytrog]

Ok so, with a fully charged battery, it still reads 0.0% charged.

If i run reset fuel gauge, it throws an error "You need a fully charged battery and connected to a wall adapter, to apply this fix!"
Looking at the Hekate source code, it looks like it's this if/else statement:
if (avgCurrent < 0 && battVoltage > 4100)
else // throw error

So I guess because it's not reading the correct battery information, we can't execute a reset.
Would it be unwise to recompile Hekate to ignore the avgCurrent/battVoltage and force the reset?
Or any other ideas?

No. If showing 0%, you have bq24193 problem.

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

No. If showing 0%, you have bq24193 problem.

If you change that value in Hekate, all that will happen is that it will indicate 100% if the battery is at 3900mV for example. Then you will get 101%, 103% charge etc...

It is the bq24193 at fault I`m guessing.