Hackable V1 Switch won't boot

[highlight5]

My friend has a hackable V1 Switch that he didn't hack and just played normally until one day it can't be booted for some reasons.

We tried to hack it to see if it can boot or not. It can still boot into Hekate and get to the Atmosphere screen but unable to get into both OFW and CFW (like in the video).

Anyone has any ideas what I can do or maybe a guide I can follow?

 

[SylverReZ]

https://switch.homebrew.guide/

 

[thesjaakspoiler]

It can be a whole bunch of things like :
- incorrect fuse count for the firmware (Hekate can show information about the fuse count. OFW won't boot in this case but CFW should boot).
- messed up boot 0/1 partition
- messed up main partition
- broken emmc

Do make sure to use the latest version of Hekate/Atmosphere and the payloads.
A lot of problems can be avoided with this.
Not being able to boot into CFW can be caused by this.

Can you try to dump the eMMC Boot0 & 1 to see if the eMMC is working at all?
https://nh-server.github.io/switch-guide/user_guide/sysnand/making_essential_backups/

Technically you should be able to run CFW without the eMMC if you have a backup of the sysnand.
This sysnand backup can be used to create a emummc on the SD card.
If you don't have a backup, I recall there was a topic on how to use a backup of another switch.

 

[highlight5]

It can be a whole bunch of things like :
- incorrect fuse count for the firmware (Hekate can show information about the fuse count. OFW won't boot in this case but CFW should boot).
- messed up boot 0/1 partition
- messed up main partition
- broken emmc

Do make sure to use the latest version of Hekate/Atmosphere and the payloads.
A lot of problems can be avoided with this.
Not being able to boot into CFW can be caused by this.

Can you try to dump the eMMC Boot0 & 1 to see if the eMMC is working at all?

Technically you should be able to run CFW without the eMMC if you have a backup of the sysnand.
This sysnand backup can be used to create a emummc on the SD card.
If you don't have a backup, I recall there was a topic on how to use a backup of another switch.

Thank you, I will try to dump boot0/1 and see how it goes from there. Since this unit wasn't hacked before it got to this state, we unfortunately don't have a sysnand backup either.


By the way, how do I know if my boot0/1 is problematic or not?

 

[binkinator]

Try this to see if you can get your switch to come back to life:

https://en-americas-support.nintend...to-update-nintendo-switch-in-maintenance-mode

You should first try just the first 2 steps and then reboot. No need to go to step 3 if this works.

Complete these steps​

1. Ensure the console is powered off.
   • If the console does not respond, hold down the POWER Button for twelve seconds to force it to shut down.
2. With the console powered off, hold down the volume up (+) and volume down (-) buttons, then press the POWER Button to turn the system on.
   • Be sure to maintain the volume buttons pressed down until the Maintenance Mode menu is displayed.
3. Reboot

 

[GILLIO]

If you did not hack it i assume its the battery.
If you hacked it and it wont boot it could be stuck in RCM mode.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Thank you, I will try to dump boot0/1 and see how it goes from there. Since this unit wasn't hacked before it got to this state, we unfortunately don't have a sysnand backup either.


By the way, how do I know if my boot0/1 is problematic or not?

If you can, dump RAWNAND as well. If there is some corruption on NAND for some reason, it could be recoverable, you can even flash the NAND with donor files but there are some files needed from the old NAND in order to make a NAND that can boot to OFW and go online (although no guarantees you won't get banned with a tampered with NAND)
Anyways, always a good idea to have a NAND backup before you start tampering with things to try to recover it.

Worst case scenario, if the NAND is bad and nothing can be recovered from it, you can buy a new NAND module and flash it with donor files, OFW will not work and you can't go online anymore but at least you can play games.

Hopefully it's just a battery issue though.

 

[highlight5]

If you did not hack it i assume its the battery.
If you hacked it and it wont boot it could be stuck in RCM mode.

I can still see the charging icon on Hekate and have made sure to turn off RCM.

Post automatically merged: Nov 17, 2022

If you can, dump RAWNAND as well. If there is some corruption on NAND for some reason, it could be recoverable, you can even flash the NAND with donor files but there are some files needed from the old NAND in order to make a NAND that can boot to OFW and go online (although no guarantees you won't get banned with a tampered with NAND)
Anyways, always a good idea to have a NAND backup before you start tampering with things to try to recover it.

Worst case scenario, if the NAND is bad and nothing can be recovered from it, you can buy a new NAND module and flash it with donor files, OFW will not work and you can't go online anymore but at least you can play games.

Hopefully it's just a battery issue though.

Tks for the info, I gonna try to the donor nand method since I have my own Switch. Gonna update later.