Hardware Debugging faulty BCM4356 / orange screen / boot loop

[Slothinger]

Hello! Any news about flashing new BCM IC? I have switch with new BCM without working bluetooth

hm sadly not... i tried to bring my broken switch to an console repair shop, but they weren't able to fix it either.

 

[hengt]

I, too, had the dreaded "Orange screen of Death" and decided to swap the wifi chip (ie BCM4356) on my switch after keeping it in my drawer for over a year.

I did mine via hotair blower (1st attempting using hotair blower but with many months "experience" of watching YouTube video =) )

Well... I thought I did a pretty decent job but after cleaning up the solder beads with my wick and the flux, I then realized I have 5 "missing parts" (attached picture highlighted in red rectangle).

I did tried looking for the "missing parts" but the components are SO TINY that it's forever lost in my pile of cleaning wires.

Despite the "missing components" I went ahead and reflow a "new" wifi chip (purchased online) anyways (2nd picture with BCM4356 chip on). I figure it's easier to put on capacitor and resistors then replaced the wifi chip.

Well, after all "said and done", I NO longer have "Orange screen of Death" but am now getting stuck on the Nintendo Switch 2nd logo.

Before BCM4356 swap, boot sequence:
On -> 1st Nintendo Screen -> 5-6 secs -> Orange Screen

After BCM4356 swap and 5 "missing parts":
On -> 2nd Nintendo Screen -> stuck

I'm about "6 years late" since the onset of this thread but was wondering if anyone here can help me identify those 5 "missing parts".

 

[jkyoho]

here is what I measured from donor board. My DMM can't measure inductor,so the left one no idea.

 

[hengt]

here is what I measured from donor board. My DMM can't measure inductor,so the left one no idea.

Thank you SO MUCH for the speedy reply and measurements!!

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

here is what I measured from donor board. My DMM can't measure inductor,so the left one no idea.

I actually have a "before" picture (this attachment) that I took and the part that you labelled "empty" actually have a chip on it... just FYI.

 

[jkyoho]

Thank you SO MUCH for the speedy reply and measurements!!

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



I actually have a "before" picture (this attachment) that I took and the part that you labelled "empty" actually have a chip on it... just FYI.

OH WELL. then maybe my donor board had that piece removed or used. I will check back again when I have another Switch comes in.

 

[acidcoolxxx]

Hello guys,

i have some time so i try go back to this issue. After some research i found something to work with.

it is possible to dump the OTP.
https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infin...110_globe_en_all_integration-application_note

On Page17 the procces of programming the chip using android.
You need the Manufacture Firmware.
I got this find here: https://github.com/MoKee/android_vendor_lge_d851/blob/mkl/proprietary/etc/firmware/fw_bcmdhd_mfg.bin

this allows you to dump the OTP from a working WiFI chip. "wl cisdump"
with the command "> wl ciswrite OTP.bin" you can write to it.

I downloaded already the AndroidOS for the Switch. And try this today, wish me luck

 

[OniRj]

Hello guys,

i have some time so i try go back to this issue. After some research i found something to work with.

it is possible to dump the OTP.
https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infin...110_globe_en_all_integration-application_note

On Page17 the procces of programming the chip using android.
You need the Manufacture Firmware.
I got this find here: https://github.com/MoKee/android_vendor_lge_d851/blob/mkl/proprietary/etc/firmware/fw_bcmdhd_mfg.bin

this allows you to dump the OTP from a working WiFI chip. "wl cisdump"
with the command "> wl ciswrite OTP.bin" you can write to it.

I downloaded already the AndroidOS for the Switch. And try this today, wish me luck

DId you managed to do it ? Did it work ?
I believe in theory you need a switch that is working and is exploitable, so we can run android on the SD card, after that we will also need the faulty switch to be exploitable and have a brand new chip, so we can run write the firmware.
In theory if all the firmware is the same, you can dump it and dup it to several other chips, however this will require solder and re solder, i havent read the whole doc yet, so correct me if im wrong.

 

[rip-it-up]

Here's my 2 cents.

A switch will hang on the switch logo when there's something wrong with the Wi-Fi chip (i wish m92 did this too but I've never had that)
on this note it can be very slow on this splash screen but boot but you'll notice you don't have Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.

a short or something which makes it not boot (show on caps around it) merged balls etc

orange screen,

the Wi-Fi chip needs to have the switch software on, it doesn't matter which version. just not a new one(although I have never used a new one, just my research)

a switch will boot without a wifi chip installed.

check the two tiny caps under the heatpipe (wheres theres tape on it to stop it shorting, next to the cpu sheild

 

[Acru]

Anyone still have an eye on this thread? I'm trying to determine if this is my issue and what I should do next.

I had toggled airplane mode in ofw and tried to boot into maintanence mode, where I saw the orange screen, and booting ofw is now failing in as others have described. I tried installing L4T Ubuntu, and though I can't seem to get it to boot fully, it is throwing an error specifically about the brcm driver.

Please advise? I can attempt reflowing as I have a heat gun, but I'd like a second opinion about it first.

 

[k28]

a reflow of the wifi ic may help

 

[Acru]

a reflow of the wifi ic may help

It may, but does the L4T log indicate that there is definately a problem with the wifi chip? I still can't get it to boot L4T Ubuntu fully on a patched v1, it gets stuck before initializing the display and putting up the user experience screen.

I was also wondering if flushing under the chip with a syringe of alchohol might help, if a loose bit of solder is causing a short.

Edit: Is there a way to disable wifi chip in cfw to get a normal boot?

 

[Slothinger]

It may, but does the L4T log indicate that there is definately a problem with the wifi chip? I still can't get it to boot L4T Ubuntu fully on a patched v1, it gets stuck before initializing the display and putting up the user experience screen.

I was also wondering if flushing under the chip with a syringe of alchohol might help, if a loose bit of solder is causing a short.

Edit: Is there a way to disable wifi chip in cfw to get a normal boot?

Had the idea to disable the wifi chip firmware wise a long time ago but i couldn't find anything to do this at that time.

There must be some hardware check at boot time because my current switch had a broken card reader which also refused to boot. (stuck at switch logo) Swapping it out with another one fixed it.
Would be great if we find a way to disable this checks.

 

[randy_w]

a reflow of the wifi ic may help

Don't bother with reflows. I worked on an oled switch that shows 2110-1118 error code every time I try to search for wifi networks. Tried to reflow the wifi chip, worked for 2 days and the error code came back. Ordered several replacement chips from aliexpress and replaced it, everything's back to normal.

You can find those replacement chips on aliexpress for $2-5. Try to buy 2-3 chips at once, sometimes these recycled chips may not work. Also get a stencil because you need to reball it yourself.

 

[Acru]

Had the idea to disable the wifi chip firmware wise a long time ago but i couldn't find anything to do this at that time.

There must be some hardware check at boot time because my current switch had a broken card reader which also refused to boot. (stuck at switch logo) Swapping it out with another one fixed it.
Would be great if we find a way to disable this checks.

Well, I haven't read on how the switch hardware is setup, but on some platforms you could insert shim code between actual hardware and closed source code, either to change access on the fly (slow), or find out what code is accessing that hardware in order to patch.

Don't bother with reflows. I worked on an oled switch that shows 2110-1118 error code every time I try to search for wifi networks. Tried to reflow the wifi chip, worked for 2 days and the error code came back. Ordered several replacement chips from aliexpress and replaced it, everything's back to normal.

You can find those replacement chips on aliexpress for $2-5. Try to buy 2-3 chips at once, sometimes these recycled chips may not work. Also get a stencil because you need to reball it yourself.

I haven't had any experience with reballing, though it is good to know that replacement chips are available, thanks~

 

[randy_w]

I haven't had any experience with reballing, though it is good to know that replacement chips are available

You can take it to your local repair shop and let them do it. Shouldn't be very expensive if you bring the replacement chip with you, a 10 minute job at most I'd say.

If you had problems with wifi in ofw before it refuses to boot, then I'm 90% sure is the wifi chip's issue. You can also flash android and see if you can get wifi/bt working.

 

[Acru]

You can take it to your local repair shop and let them do it. Shouldn't be very expensive if you bring the replacement chip with you, a 10 minute job at most I'd say.

If you had problems with wifi in ofw before it refuses to boot, then I'm 90% sure is the wifi chip's issue. You can also flash android and see if you can get wifi/bt working.

I didn't have problems before it stopped booting, I was going to update firmware 15.0.0 to 15.0.1 but failed to boot into maintenance mode. I had tried recovering/rebuilding firmware though, before learing about the wifi chip being a possibility.

I couldn't get any linux to boot, and I had tried Lakka and L4T 3.2/3.3/3.4 plus tried disabling the wifi driver - (it doesn't seem to save any logs to be able to diagnose boot issue), but I suppose I could try android too~ I'm not nearly as familiar with android, so how can I test wifi chip in android, besides just trying to connect?

Update: Booted Android recovery fine, and installed, but first boot into Switchroot Androd got stuck.

 

[randy_w]

I didn't have problems before it stopped booting, I was going to update firmware 15.0.0 to 15.0.1 but failed to boot into maintenance mode. I had tried recovering/rebuilding firmware though, before learing about the wifi chip being a possibility.

I couldn't get any linux to boot, and I had tried Lakka and L4T 3.2/3.3/3.4 plus tried disabling the wifi driver - (it doesn't seem to save any logs to be able to diagnose boot issue), but I suppose I could try android too~ I'm not nearly as familiar with android, so how can I test wifi chip in android, besides just trying to connect?

Update: Booted Android recovery fine, and installed, but first boot into Switchroot Androd got stuck.

I think I've seen people booting android/linux with a dead wifi chip, and even without the wifi chip.
Looking at the screenshot you posted I think it's indeed the wifi chip that is causing problems, as brcmfmac is broadcom's wifi driver:
https://wiki.debian.org/brcmfmac

Not sure if there's any way to "disable" the chip, other than taking it off the motherboard with a heat gun.

 

[Acru]

I think I've seen people booting android/linux with a dead wifi chip, and even without the wifi chip.
Looking at the screenshot you posted I think it's indeed the wifi chip that is causing problems, as brcmfmac is broadcom's wifi driver:
https://wiki.debian.org/brcmfmac

Not sure if there's any way to "disable" the chip, other than taking it off the motherboard with a heat gun.

I meant disable in software, and I just now managed it for android anyway! (Thanks for the suggestion to try android)

Specifically I tried mounting /vendor in the recovery console and deleting brcmfmac.ko and brcmutil.ko from /vendor/lib/modules/cypress-fmac-upstream/ (though I don't know if the second one was necessary)

Which, I suppose, confirms that the chip is misbehaving but otherwise the system is fine, and joycons still work.

As to other people booting, well, I suppose it might depend on how the chip is failing, whether it is nonfunctional, or has a shorted or open pin, and which pin if so.

Edit: Perhaps not, it suddenly seems like the chip is working normally again and I am seeing wifi in L4T. Update pending...

 

[k28]

Don't bother with reflows. I worked on an oled switch that shows 2110-1118 error code every time I try to search for wifi networks. Tried to reflow the wifi chip, worked for 2 days and the error code came back. Ordered several replacement chips from aliexpress and replaced it, everything's back to normal.

You can find those replacement chips on aliexpress for $2-5. Try to buy 2-3 chips at once, sometimes these recycled chips may not work. Also get a stencil because you need to reball it yourself.

had only one orange screen till now and a reflow did the job. but ofcourse it depends on if its just a cracked ball or not. so you cna buy preprogrammed chips? i gues those are extracted from broken maonboards?

 

[Acru]

had only one orange screen till now and a reflow did the job. but ofcourse it depends on if its just a cracked ball or not. so you cna buy preprogrammed chips? i gues those are extracted from broken maonboards?

As I understand it from reading up on, the chips have some pre-programed data specific to switches but they are the same for all models, and so it needs to come off of a dead switch. Though there is also data that the switch loads onto the chip each boot, I came across a project that says it will extract said data from the ofw system software; https://github.com/perillamint/nx-fwextract

A gentle reflow will likely fix mine, presuming that it stops working again, cuz there is definitely nothing wring with the actual chip. It just started working normally while I had it in my lap, poking around android recovery console. It may have gotten a little hot, or it may have gotten bumped in just the right way, idk. I expect it will fail again in time though, possibly as soon as it cools down again, heh. I'll just put it on top of my computer for now, to try and keep it cozy...