Messed up big time. emmc corrupted without backup.

[Mustigusti]

I tried cracking my switch and everything worked well except one game cartridge (animal crossing) I wanted to use SysMMC for.
Everytime I started the game, it would run for a minute until I got an error code.
I read somewhere that I could maybe fix it by using Maintenance Mode and trying to repair without losing game states. That probably caused my emmc to get corrupted as now I cannot boot into SysMMC nor EmuMMC. My nintendo switch is essentially bricked.
Worst thing is my friend gave the switch to me so I could crack it. Now it's bricked and as stupid as I am I never did a backup.

My question was, is there any way to unbrick the switch without losing all game states? I know there is a way to use a Donor Nand but I'm not quite sure wether that would unbrick it without deleting all game states.
One thing I wanted to mention was that the switch was on 19.0.1 (Most recent firmware) while I updated the EmuMMC to 19.0.0. I don't know if thats relevant but just wanted to mention.
Right now Im really desperate and would be appreciative for any clues or hard pills.
Thanks in advance

 

[Hayato213]

If you got you prod.keys you can try to rebuild the nand but you won't be able to go online on a rebuilded NAND.

 

[Mustigusti]

If you got you prod.keys you can try to rebuild the nand but you won't be able to go online on a rebuilded NAND.

I thought prod.keys are something I download online. If I dad that though, is it possible to 'uncorrupt' my NAND? Or is that data forever gone. Rebuilding means that my Nand has a clean slate right?

 

[Hayato213]

I thought prod.keys are something I download online. If I dad that though, is it possible to 'uncorrupt' my NAND? Or is that data forever gone. Rebuilding means that my Nand has a clean slate right?

You can't use someone else keys, you need to launch lockpick_RCM to dump your keys, since you didn't backup your boot0/boot1 and the rawnand that is a bad idea.

 

[Mustigusti]

You can't use someone else keys, you need to launch lockpick_RCM to dump your keys, since you didn't backup your boot0/boot1 and the rawnand that is a bad idea

So I can still get my keys with Lockpick_RCM? Or did you say that I cant use Lockpick_RCM as I didnt backup boot0, boot1 and Rawnand.
You say there is hope with Lockpick_RCM?
I want to mention that my switch is V2 and I used a modchip. Im not quite sure you can use lockpick RCM with that.

 

[notsu]

My question was, is there any way to unbrick the switch without losing all game states?

Get a new eMMC chip. A faulty unit worth $50 should do if you're happy with 32/64GB.

If I recall correctly, 256GB is also possible and it'll be superior to what Nintendo uses if you're into that sort of thing.

As for your saves, an eMMC reader *might* be able to rescue them from your goatfucked NAND.

 

[Hayato213]

Get a new eMMC chip. A faulty unit worth $50 should do if you're happy with 32/64GB.

If I recall correctly, 256GB is also possible and it'll be superior to what Nintendo uses if you're into that sort of thing.

As for your saves, an eMMC reader *might* be able to rescue them from your goatfucked NAND.

It won't work as he has no nand to flash to it

 

[Mustigusti]

Get a new eMMC chip. A faulty unit worth $50 should do if you're happy with 32/64GB.

If I recall correctly, 256GB is also possible and it'll be superior to what Nintendo uses if you're into that sort of thing.

As for your saves, an eMMC reader *might* be able to rescue them from your goatfucked NAND.

So you say my current eMMC chip is done for? If a eMMC chip is corrupted there is nothing to be done and I need to buy a new one?

And with a eMMC reader, how would you go about uncorrupting it?

 

[Hayato213]

So I can still get my keys with Lockpick_RCM? Or did you say that I cant use Lockpick_RCM as I didnt backup boot0, boot1 and Rawnand.
You say there is hope with Lockpick_RCM?
I want to mention that my switch is V2 and I used a modchip. Im not quite sure you can use lockpick RCM with that.

You can use lockpick_rcm, what exact error were you getting when you used the cartridge? I hope you didn't wipe the internal emmc.

 

[notsu]

It won't work as he has no nand to flash to it

The 256GB won't but the NAND from a broken Switch will, inmost cases, have HOS on it [except if it's been dead for way too long, maybe?]. Sure, the sticker might mismatch, but it's better than nothing.

So you say my current eMMC chip is done for? If a eMMC chip is corrupted there is nothing to be done and I need to buy a new one?

If you've exhausted every other possibility [fucked microSD card, some utility fucking with atmosphere, Switch not turning on without SD, etc.], then it's very likely that your eMMC is done for.

And with a eMMC reader, how would you go about uncorrupting it?

I don't believe you can, but the saves might be recoverable.

 

[Hayato213]

The 256GB won't but the NAND from a broken Switch will have HOS on it [except if it's been dead for way too long, maybe?]. Sure, the sticker might mismatch, but it's better than nothing.

In his case he doesn't have a dead emmc, the thing is you can't take the emmc from another switch and put it into another switch expect it to boot.

Even if he take the emmc from another switch he need to either restore his original emmc nand backup or rebuild the nand.

 

[notsu]

rebuild the nand.

But his eMMC seems to be gone? I don't see how else a game might malfunction on an emu clone otherwise. Again, hard to tell but a new one would be required anyway.

 

[Hayato213]

But his eMMC seems to be gone? I don't see how else a game might malfunction on an emu clone otherwise. Again, hard to tell but a new one would be required anyway.

Well he might have fucked up the nand doesn't mean dead emmc

 

[notsu]

Well he might have fucked up the nand doesn't mean dead emmc

I won't say it's impossible but how would your NAND be pre-fucked if this is your first rodeo? God, please tell me he didn't write anything unsigned to the NAND...

 

[Mustigusti]

You can use lockpick_rcm, what exact error were you getting when you used the cartridge? I hope you didn't wipe the internal emmc.

In the very beginning when the Game cartridge game didnt work but everything else didnt I cannot remember the error code. It might be 2002-3540, but im not sure.
To fix that I tried Maintenance Mode repair. That essentially bricked my switch. Then I continuously got the error code 2002-3540 which indicates that my modchip is faulty.
I then removed my modchip in order to see if its actually the modchip but got the error 2002-4687 which indicates that "Invalid FAT format for BIS System partition".

Now if I put the modchip back in i always see the latter error message, never the former.
I tried deleting and reinstalling all my files, atmosphere, hekate, etc. which changed nothing.
After that I created a new emuMMC, changed it to that, allocated new emuMMC storage (29GB) and tried booting.
At that point I actually booted, but the switch acted as if I booted for the first time, asking me the time and all the games gone.

All of this is so weird and has many layers. Why did it boot all of the sudden?

Post automatically merged: Feb 12, 2025

I won't say it's impossible but how would your NAND be pre-fucked if this is your first rodeo? God, please tell me he didn't write anything unsigned to the NAND...

It isnt my first. I cracked my own switch before with no issues.
I didnt write anything unsigned to the NAND. At least not that I know of

 

[Hayato213]

Well try to dump the prod.keys then rebuild the nand I guess if you don't have a backup of original nand and the emmc without rebuild won't boot then you would have to rebuild the nand. Unless you want to dig around and see if you can get the emmc to boot without rebuild.

Rebuild nand can't go online so keep that in mind.

 

[Mustigusti]

Well try to dump the prod.keys then rebuild the nand I guess if you don't have a backup of original nand and the emmc without rebuild won't boot then you would have to rebuild the nand. Unless you want to dig around and see if you can get the emmc to boot without rebuild.

Rebuild nand can't go online so keep that in mind.

I somehow managed the EmuMMC to boot. How could that work with a corrupted eMMC? I thought the emuMMC just copies the eMMC. I think there is something here that I cant really communicate well.
Is there something here Im or were missing?

Post automatically merged: Feb 12, 2025

Well try to dump the prod.keys then rebuild the nand I guess if you don't have a backup of original nand and the emmc without rebuild won't boot then you would have to rebuild the nand. Unless you want to dig around and see if you can get the emmc to boot without rebuild.

Rebuild nand can't go online so keep that in mind.

Thanks for the tip though. Im definitely rebuilding the NAND once I exhausted all options.

 

[Hayato213]

I somehow managed the EmuMMC to boot. How could that work with a corrupted eMMC? I thought the emuMMC just copies the eMMC. I think there is something here that I cant really communicate well.
Is there something here Im or were missing?

Post automatically merged: Feb 12, 2025

Thanks for the tip though. Im definitely rebuilding the NAND once I exhausted all options.

If the emummc is a copy of the emmc before it got corrupted then it would explain why it would boot

 

[Mustigusti]

If the emummc is a copy of the emmc before it got corrupted then it would explain why it would boot

Yes that I thought too. But the order was: EmuMMC didnt work --> I created new EmuMMC and selected it --> it started to work --> I tried booting into SysMMC --> didnt work --> tried booting into emuMMC --> stopped working also

Im so confused. I thought about it a bit and looked into my root folder and found out that hekate_ipl.ini didnt exist. This file is supposed to explain how the booting process for SysMMC and EmuMMC works right? Me not finding it maybe has something to do with that?

 

[Hayato213]

Yes that I thought too. But the order was: EmuMMC didnt work --> I created new EmuMMC and selected it --> it started to work --> I tried booting into SysMMC --> didnt work --> tried booting into emuMMC --> stopped working also

Im so confused. I thought about it a bit and looked into my root folder and found out that hekate_ipl.ini didnt exist. This file is supposed to explain how the booting process for SysMMC and EmuMMC works right? Me not finding it maybe has something to do with that?

It will throw the no entries if you don't have a hekate ipl