Hacking Question How to fix sx-os "boot.dat?" error...

[comput3rus3r]

All seems good on my end now, what I did was (except the switch was powered off for a good 16 hours):

- formatted my SDXC card using the SD card formatter with the settings recommended by Nintendo (here) . Note that this WILL take quite a bit of time depending on the size of your SD card (exFAT).
- checked that the Switch recognized it by putting it in and booted up. It will tell you that a system update is needed (unless you already have it).
- powered off and placed boot.dat on the card.
- SX OS booted up nicely, without the BOOT.DAT?-screen
- powered off and placed license.dat on the card
- SX OS booted without issues and checked the license status in the album app = OK
- powered off

Could have been the rest it got for being powered off 16 hours, or the formatting app did wonders.
Anyway, it is up and running again!

New members can't post links, but it is the one recommended on Nintendos support site.

what firmware are you on? what size sdcard and format did you use? do you have exfat support on your switch installed?

 

[Vroksjab]

what firmware are you on? what size sdcard and format did you use? do you have exfat support on your switch installed?

v1.0.0

SanDisk Ultra 128Gb A1 Class 10 U1 - the card formatter is preset depending on the type of card it detects (I assume), couldn't choose anything.

No exFAT support installed.

 

[dsrules]

New members can't post links, but it is the one recommended on Nintendos support site.

you can try to post it without the http:// part

 

[Vroksjab]

you can try to post it without the http:// part

Tried several variations until I gave up:

https://en-americas-support.nintend...20/~/how-to-format-an-sd-card-or-microsd-card

Seems like I am allowed to now.

 

[rootz]

Just wanted to drop in and say I can confirm for my part it is not Hekate causing your problems.

I have a Switch on FW 5.1 and a Samsung Evo 64gb sdcard which I formatted (exfat) in Switch system settings.
I received my SX Pro today. First thing I put SXOS' boot.dat and hekate_ctcaer_3.0.bin on the sdcard. I powered on the Switch with the jig and dongle and started the Hekate payload to backup the NAND. That completed successfully. After transferring the NAND backup to my PC from the sdcard I started SX payload and booted in to SXOS. Then powering off to activate the licence on Xecuter website. All is working with no errors.

 

[Deleted User]

If you still have the boot.dat error, you should try to dump your i2c registers to find a difference like this guy did: https://blog.quendi.moe/2018/07/03/...inux-power-management-battery-desync-edition/

 

[DaveLister]

just got my sx-pro and following the steps and i get this error every time with 4 differnt sd cards from sandisk 2 of 64gb, 128gb, 200gb. have tried fat32 and exfat and same result.

edit: also added a 16gb sd to the test and same result.


Edit 07/04/2018: Bought a new switch and it works fine. So either I messed something up trying to dump nand or some switches have sdmcc controller that's incompatible with hetake/sx-os payload

Are you using a direct port on laptop with SD MMC adaptor ? or a shitty Chinese usb dongle ? thing ? have you more than one way to do it and tried all - even using partition tools to zap everything off them ?

 

[comput3rus3r]

Are you using a direct port on laptop with SD MMC adaptor ? or a shitty Chinese usb dongle ? thing ? have you more than one way to do it and tried all - even using partition tools to zap everything off them ?

I've used both the sx-pro dongle and tegrarcmsmash via PC and both give same boot.dat? error.
The first thing I did with Hekate was try to dump nand and while hekate does indeed load on the switch when I try to dump nand it gives me "failed to init sd card" error. On my new switch everything works fine with sx-os but i'm too afraid to try hekate on it. I'm not about to buy a third switch.

 

[DaveLister]

I've used both the sx-pro dongle and tegrarcmsmash via PC and both give same boot.dat? error.
The first thing I did with Hekate was try to dump nand and while hekate does indeed load on the switch when I try to dump nand it gives me "failed to init sd card" error. On my new switch everything works fine with sx-os but i'm too afraid to try hekate on it. I'm not about to buy a third switch.

Sorry no , i was referring to the tools you use to wipe the cards (SD Cards) and also if your machine/pc has slot reader for sd mmc + adaptor or if you are using a shitty old chinese usb sd reader to format with could be dodgy sectors from crappy slot/dongle/adaptor in use for the formatting of the SD's themselves ..

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

This tool used on the SD's but try more than one method of sd - try slot reader ni laptop in pc with sd mmc adaptor and try other USB sd reader pens ......

https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/

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

PS i was getting that same error waaaay back with Hekate and other tools same shit - sd loaded fine in the OFW wrote no worries but in hekate no dice - even linux boot would give me the same shit , if you got all those cards in one batch from one place i would question the integrity - i switched brands and boom problem went away
As someone else suggested you do full factory reset on the fucker suck it up . Try a diff card from new supplier if all the formatting via different buses still fails, try 2.0 and 3.0 - i get best results from my lappy's in built sd mmc slot using adaptor card.

 

[darkflame808]

Try a smaller card (<32GB) and see if it boots. If it does, I think it could be that 1.00 switches are in a catch 22 situation where SX OS doesn't boot exfat due to the CFW being a patch of the OFW. 1.00 didn't have exfat unless you took the update. You might need to do the exfat update to 1.00 for sxos to support it?

If you can't take a exfat without a firmware update then you'll have to hekate in and apply the update somehow while preserving your fuses, from there you can exfat your sd card and see if sx os will boot.

It could be that because 1.00 was so scarce, that sx os might not be able to support all 1.00 units since there was no real universal firmware available for download, for all we know 1.00 on your device could have been 0.9958 and someone else might have 0.9982 and so on but all listed as 1.00 for formality sake hence the day one updates across the board.
Disclaimer: I am new to this and thus this is all strictly opinion and ketchup.

Edit: Oh btw, did you go into your sd card and right click all the files, go into properties and made sure the "Ready for archiving" was unchecked?

 

[comput3rus3r]

Try a smaller card (<32GB) and see if it boots. If it does, I think it could be that 1.00 switches are in a catch 22 situation where SX OS doesn't boot exfat due to the CFW being a patch of the OFW. 1.00 didn't have exfat unless you took the update. You might need to do the exfat update to 1.00 for sxos to support it?

If you can't take a exfat without a firmware update then you'll have to hekate in and apply the update somehow while preserving your fuses, from there you can exfat your sd card and see if sx os will boot.

It could be that because 1.00 was so scarce, that sx os might not be able to support all 1.00 units since there was no real universal firmware available for download, for all we know 1.00 on your device could have been 0.9958 and someone else might have 0.9982 and so on but all listed as 1.00 for formality sake hence the day one updates across the board.
Disclaimer: I am new to this and thus this is all strictly opinion and ketchup.

Edit: Oh btw, did you go into your sd card and right click all the files, go into properties and made sure the "Ready for archiving" was unchecked?

my switch was first on 4.1 and after a few hours of issues I updated to 5.1 with exfat support and nothing worked. I also tired a 16gb card in fat32 and that didn't work. I tried a total of 5 sd cards. as I said I had to buy another switch and everything works perfectly including all 5 sd cards. So there's either a certain type of switch that's incomplatible with sx-os payloads/hekate or hekate could cause this in rare occasions. Until I hear of somebody getting the boot.dat? error without having tried hekate i'm going to assume Hekate has something to do with it but so far the few people that have reported this issue have all tried hekate.

 

[coolwei1688]

I got the same boot.dat? error when using sx pro in rcm, and I don't run any hekate program bdfore. the tf card runs well under OFW. The only things I did after getting my switch is:
1. upgrade my swith from 4.1.0 to 5.1.0 to get exfat support.
2. create 2 acounts and login nintendo's eshop to download 2 free games.
3. copy .xci game files to my new bought sandisk 128GB tf card (with exfat format).
4. copy sx os's boot.dat (version 1.2) to tf card's root dir.
5. reboot and start ja**breaking my switch with sx pro, and I get the boot.dat? screen.
6. also did tf card formating(fat32/32k, exfat/128k) both on PC and switch. different capacity cards: 2 sandisk cards with 32GB, 1 of 16GB, and other brand: kingston 32GB. but all failed.
7. I also did a whole sector swapping using the mentioned "SD Memory Card Formatter 5.0 for SD/SDHC/SDXC" but failed too.

I doubt if this is the tf card driver incapability problem in RCM. And hope sx team will notice this problem and finally solve it.

 

[comput3rus3r]

I got the same boot.dat? error when using sx pro in rcm, and I don't run any hekate program bdfore. the tf card runs well under OFW. The only things I did after getting my switch is:
1. upgrade my swith from 4.1.0 to 5.1.0 to get exfat support.
2. create 2 acounts and login nintendo's eshop to download 2 free games.
3. copy .xci game files to my new bought sandisk 128GB tf card (with exfat format).
4. copy sx os's boot.dat (version 1.2) to tf card's root dir.
5. reboot and start ja**breaking my switch with sx pro, and I get the boot.dat? screen.
6. also did tf card formating(fat32/32k, exfat/128k) both on PC and switch. different capacity cards: 2 sandisk cards with 32GB, 1 of 16GB, and other brand: kingston 32GB. but all failed.
7. I also did a whole sector swapping using the mentioned "SD Memory Card Formatter 5.0 for SD/SDHC/SDXC" but failed too.

I doubt if this is the tf card driver incapability problem in RCM. And hope sx team will notice this problem and finally solve it.

what is tf? Did you contact TX about it?

 

[coolwei1688]

A tf card means microSD card.
Yes I send them a email but got no reply yet.

 

[Haztel]

Deadass try this: bump your switch lightly on the back where the sd card reader is. I have to do this everytime I take out my sd card. I'm not sure why because my sd card reads perfectly on ofw but for some reason won't ready in rcm mode unless I love-tap it on the back.

 

[comput3rus3r]

Deadass try this: bump your switch lightly on the back where the sd card reader is. I have to do this everytime I take out my sd card. I'm not sure why because my sd card reads perfectly on ofw but for some reason won't ready in rcm mode unless I love-tap it on the back.

deadass? And how did you figure this out?

 

[Haztel]

deadass? And how did you figure this out?

I took my switch apart to fix my battery issue so I thought maybe my sd card reader was loose. I decided to give it a tiny tap to see if I could knock it in place. To my surprise it worked. I have to do this *almost* every time I take my sd card out. I've tested this extensively and the sd card reader will read it when I boot in normally. Just something weird with RCM mode I guess. I have no explanation to why this happens or why tapping it helps but yeah... try tapping it.

 

[comput3rus3r]

I took my switch apart to fix my battery issue so I thought maybe my sd card reader was loose. I decided to give it a tiny tap to see if I could knock it in place. To my surprise it worked. I have to do this *almost* every time I take my sd card out. I've tested this extensively and the sd card reader will read it when I boot in normally. Just something weird with RCM mode I guess. I have no explanation to why this happens or why tapping it helps but yeah... try tapping it.

wow you know what's weird, I just opened the kickstand and my switch said the sdcard had been removed. but it's still in there.

 

[Haztel]

wow you know what's weird, I just opened the kickstand and my switch said the sdcard had been removed. but it's still in there.

I've only had that happen once. I really don't think it's a loose connection with the reader since I move the switch around so much and it doesn't disconnect my sd card. Just on boot for some reason the switch doesn't mount/read the SD card. No idea why. Did the light tapping on the kickstand (while closed) work for you?

 

[comput3rus3r]

I've only had that happen once. I really don't think it's a loose connection with the reader since I move the switch around so much and it doesn't disconnect my sd card. Just on boot for some reason the switch doesn't mount/read the SD card. No idea why. Did the light tapping on the kickstand (while closed) work for you?

i've been tapping on it directly with kickstand open. not worked yet.