Hacking Find out if my switch was banned.

[erikas]

I have 2 switches. One is already banned, the other i'm not sure. at the very least i never saw the message pop up but i also kept off the internet. I have cfw on both. Is there any information anywhere inside the nand that would tell me if my console was banned without having it connect to the internet?

 

[FAST6191]

I don't know if there is a banned flag inside the NAND, and even if there was you still have the it is not the NAND but the servers that control things, and said servers can also be more complex than that (flagged for ban but not yet banned sort of thing).

On older consoles we have seen things like various support services, account logins, purchasing options, warranty services... are denied to banned users (such a thing invariably starts with you tapping a serial number, generating a debug code or doing something similar into a service/email and going from there) but I don't know if any have been discovered and are currently active/working for the Switch (certainly don't see any discussed like we did for said older consoles).

When people ask "Is there any information anywhere inside the nand that would tell me if my console was banned" that tends to be more for when they hacked a console, kept it offline throughout its being hacked and subsequent hacks, and are now looking to restore it to stock but hoping nothing slipped out in the meantime or sticks around deep inside the console for just such an event (else I might as well keep the hacks on there sort of thing). For the Switch then right now nobody has gone looking for easy to remove software flags inside the NAND image so it is mostly only an option if you have your clean NAND image backed up from before you did the hacks. As far as I am aware Nintendo has not been creative and tried to bury some kind of hardware flag deep within the system, or even some kind of TSR (you should do a full power down/hard reset anyway upon restoring to make sure it has taken properly).

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I have 2 switches. One is already banned, the other i'm not sure. at the very least i never saw the message pop up but i also kept off the internet. I have cfw on both. Is there any information anywhere inside the nand that would tell me if my console was banned without having it connect to the internet?

Even if that is stored on the console somewhere, if you've never been online and gotten the ban message the console would have no way of knowing that you're banned. Similarly if you haven't been online since you installed CFW then you aren't banned as the servers would have no way of banning you. But if you really want to know, restore a clean NAND backup (backing up your current one first of course) and try to go online.
I recommend setting up an emuNAND and keeping all your CFW activities on that so that you always have a clean sysNAND in case you want to go online, if online functionality is something you care about at all.

 

[proffk]

That retrogamer dude from youtube released a tool called BanX for NSW which allows you to check if your NSW is banned or not on your pc. I dont know how secure it is but its on his youtube channel. I am not endorsing his channel.

 

[BaamAlex]

You will see it when you try to play online.

 

[erikas]

You will see it when you try to play online.

Well i would rather see it before i try. I don't want to go through the trouble of cleaning my nand just to find out im already banned. And if i try before cleaning i'm getting banned 100%

 

[zomborg]

I asked a similar question in a thread in the switch hardware (console) section.
I bought a used and heavily abused switch that was on firmware 8.01. Bought it just for CFW so I can use my original switch for online only. After I replaced the cracked back plate, joy-con shells and digitizer on the used switch I bought, I asked if there was a way for me to determine if the second hand switch was banned or if it had ever been hacked.

Agilato told me the only way to find out was to get online and try to access the nintendo shop. So I updated it to OFW 8.1 and tried to access the store and I was able to access it. Later Ely_M told me he has bought several used switches and posted a video on how to determine if it's banned or not, without creating a fake account.

 

[Draxzelex]

Well i would rather see it before i try. I don't want to go through the trouble of cleaning my nand just to find out im already banned. And if i try before cleaning i'm getting banned 100%

It is impossible to know if you're banned without risking a ban because how else would you know if you're banned?

 

[FAST6191]

It is impossible to know if you're banned without risking a ban because how else would you know if you're banned?

Maybe not in this case but historically there have been side channel methods to check (things like trying to buy things, get service, start a warranty claim, log into various accounts), ones that either avoid the device in question being noted as banned on the device itself (see something like the 360 media playback blocks on banned consoles) or having to go through the hassle of restoring a device to stock, checking, finding a ban has occurred and then potentially having to do a far harder series of steps to get the hacks back (or not having hacks at all).