Hacking PermaRCM until Atmosphere

[Zumoly]

You can find some of what you're looking for here. In summary, the battery percentage becomes incorrect when doing what we did as a test.

I really find this hard to believe.
As far as I know Horizon read the battery being at 96%. So if anything it should still show this figure after what I did hence reporting a wrong figure although the battery had taken more charge.
From what I read this is what linux user are experiencing now.

 

[Lacius]

I really find this hard to believe.
As far as I know Horizon read the battery being at 96%. So if anything it should still show this figure after what I did hence reporting a wrong figure although the battery had taken more charge.
From what I read this is what linux user are experiencing now.

Voicing your incredulity doesn't help anybody. Instead, allow your Switch to discharge to maybe 20% or so. From there, power off your Switch and allow it to charge in RCM for an extended period of time. I'll bet one of two things happens:

1. Horizon reports a 100% battery percentage but mysteriously dies soon after, assuming you don't do any additional charging while in Horizon. This is what happened to me.
2. The system dies while attempting to charge it in RCM, since RCM consumes battery and the system was already at 20%.

Edit: If your system was in RCM for a long time while "charging," your system might already be close to death.

 

[Zumoly]

Voicing your incredulity doesn't help anybody. Instead, allow your Switch to discharge to maybe 20% or so. From there, power off your Switch and allow it to charge in RCM for an extended period of time. I'll bet one of two things happens:

1. Horizon reports a 100% battery percentage but mysteriously dies soon after, assuming you don't do any additional charging while in Horizon. This is what happened to me.
2. The system dies while attempting to charge it in RCM, since RCM consumes battery and the system was already at 20%.

Unless you have the proof and knowledge to back your claims you are not helping anybody either.
I tested and came up with concrete results. Now if anything comes up from the experiment I did, I'll let you know.

 

[Lacius]

Unless you have the proof and knowledge to back your claims you are not helping anybody either.
I tested and came up with concrete results. Now if anything comes up from the experiment I did, I'll let you know.

Developers have already told you why your experiment doesn't demonstrate anything. More information can be found here. The Switch does not charge in RCM. I've also also presented you with the results of my experiment, which was a little more thorough than yours. If we pretend for a moment that the Switch doesn't charge in RCM and causes a battery desync issue when attempting to charge in RCM for an extended period of time, then you have to admit that your experiment so far cannot demonstrate anything, since the results would be the same whether or not the Switch charges in RCM, so clinging to your results shows you care more about a positive result than the truth of the matter.

Edit: Pardon my bluntness, but considering I'm actively correcting misinformation, to say my posts here are unhelpful is laughable.

 

[Zumoly]

Developers have already told you why your experiment doesn't demonstrate anything. More information can be found here. The Switch does not charge in RCM. I've also also presented you with the results of my experiment, which was a little more thorough than yours. If we pretend for a moment that the Switch doesn't charge in RCM and causes a battery desync issue when attempting to charge in RCM for an extended period of time, then you have to admit that your experiment so far cannot demonstrate anything, since the results would be the same whether or not the Switch charges in RCM, so clinging to your results shows you care more about a positive result than the truth of the matter.

Edit: Pardon my bluntness, but considering I'm actively correcting misinformation, to say my posts here are unhelpful is laughable.

I actually went through the links you shared and they're pretty informative.
But check this statement:

As Tux pointed out in the Discord image: The Switch needs to deal with USB-PD, to accept a charge from the USB C port. If autorcm is installed it can't access that, because the bootloader will fail to validate the cert thus not reading anything, defaulting to RCM a mode that does not include any USB charging functionality.

Now if the battery does not take charge while in RCM, how do you explain my battery went from 96% to 98% as per Horizon reading?

Edit: Pardon my bluntness, but considering I'm actively correcting misinformation, to say my posts here are unhelpful is laughable.

I'm not arguing for the sake of arguing mind you. I'm just sharing my opinion which I see valid as you see yours valid.
If the battery incident happened to you after what you did, I'm now inclined to ask wether you use/used linux before?

 

[CTCaer]

OK so basically, the shared screenshots/links say that HOS thinks that it has 100% but actually it's lower than you left it from the previous HOS session.
It's strange then, that I can play for hours with this pattern: HOS 6% -> Dev in RCM -> HOS 100% -> Gaming.

I don't have a USB sniffer right now, but hopefully my motherboard supports exact mA readings (PC connection)
and also I have a power socket meter for Amps/Watt (wall charger connection).

I'll reply back if I see or don't see any significant current going through.


EDIT:
Something important btw, I don't use autoRCM. The bootrom can actually read my BCT.
I'll do a test with autoRCM also.

 

[hackotedelaplaqu]

Not debunked at least for me.
I swear that my switch didn't charge in RCM mode. Couldn't boot horizon. The only way was to quicly boot into hekate and remove autorcm. Then I was able to charge normaly.
Happens to me 2 times.

 

[baretbh]

Not exactly sure about it not charging while in "RCM" mode, but then again, realistically, why would you leave it in RCM mode? RCM mode is a middle man to pass into Hekate..just boot into CFW or into the original SFW...I can prove it charges in either one of those, and that's even reflected in https://gbatemp.net/threads/important-psa-autorcm-battery-warning.505192/ which hasn't been updated, since hekate has supported sleep mode for half a week now.

Am I missing something? Or misunderstanding?

I think he meant charging in just RCM alone and not loaded into CFW with hekate. That's what i took from what he said.

 

[Lacius]

Now if the battery does not take charge while in RCM, how do you explain my battery went from 96% to 98% as per Horizon reading?

The same thing happened to me, and I don't know why it's happening, but here's what the developers have said happens:

1. In RCM, the Switch drains battery.
2. In RCM, the Switch battery will not charge.
3. Horizon will be unaware of any battery drain that occurs while in RCM, causing a battery desync issue. In other words, being at 95%, entering RCM for an hour, and then booting Horizon will show a false 95% battery life remaining when there might only be 40% remaining, for example..
4. Plugging in the Switch while in RCM will not charge the battery, and the battery will actually continue to drain in RCM, causing a worse battery desync issue. Horizon will not take into account any battery drain in RCM, and Horizon may take into account the charge the Switch was receiving while plugged in but didn't actually receive because it was in RCM. In other words, being at 95%, entering RCM and charging for an hour, and then booting Horizon will show a false 100% battery life remaining when there might only be 40% remaining, for example.

If the battery incident happened to you after what you did, I'm now inclined to ask wether you use/used linux before?

I've never used Linux on my Switch.

 

[Zumoly]

Not debunked at least for me.
I swear that my switch didn't charge in RCM mode. Couldn't boot horizon. The only way was to quicly boot into hekate and remove autorcm. Then I was able to charge normaly.
Happens to me 2 times.

Could you give more details? Did your battery die or did you forget your Switch in AutoRCM mode?
I'm always amazed at how the Switch is quick to boot even with a slight button press of the power button.

 

[Lacius]

I think he meant charging in just RCM alone and not loaded into CFW with hekate. That's what i took from what he said.

The Switch will charge just fine in CFW. We are only talking about RCM.

 

[hackotedelaplaqu]

Could you give more details? Did your battery die or did you forget your Switch in AutoRCM mode?
I'm always amazed at how the Switch is quick to boot even with a slight button press of the power button.

I thought I powered off (12 sec press) but I guess my finger press was wrong and it rebooted in rcm mode.

 

[baretbh]

The same thing happened to me, and I don't know why it's happening, but here's what the developers have said happens:

1. In RCM, the Switch drains battery.
2. In RCM, the Switch battery will not charge.
3. Horizon will be unaware of any battery drain that occurs while in RCM, causing a battery desync issue. In other words, being at 95%, entering RCM for an hour, and then booting Horizon will show a false 95% battery life remaining when there might only be 40% remaining, for example..
4. Plugging in the Switch while in RCM will not charge the battery, and the battery will actually continue to drain in RCM, causing a worse battery desync issue. Horizon will not take into account any battery drain in RCM, and Horizon may take into account the charge the Switch was receiving while plugged in but didn't actually receive because it was in RCM. In other words, being at 95%, entering RCM and charging for an hour, and then booting Horizon will show a false 100% battery life remaining when there might only be 40% remaining, for example.

I've never used Linux on my Switch.

With that being said, even if we go into RCM normally with our jigs, doesnt it desync a little every time? Or am I misunderstanding what you're saying?

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

The Switch will charge just fine in CFW. We are only talking about RCM.

I get that.... i think there was a misunderstanding somewhere.

 

[Lacius]

With that being said, even if we go into RCM normally with our jigs, doesnt it desync a little every time? Or am I misunderstanding what you're saying?

That hasn't been confirmed, but I think that is probably the case, yes. Desync issues are easy to fix by discharging and recharging the Switch completely, so it's not a big deal.

 

[Zumoly]

The same thing happened to me, and I don't know why it's happening, but here's what the developers have said happens:

1. In RCM, the Switch drains battery.
2. In RCM, the Switch battery will not charge.
3. Horizon will be unaware of any battery drain that occurs while in RCM, causing a battery desync issue. In other words, being at 95%, entering RCM for an hour, and then booting Horizon will show a false 95% battery life remaining when there might only be 40% remaining, for example..
4. Plugging in the Switch while in RCM will not charge the battery, and the battery will actually continue to drain in RCM, causing a worse battery desync issue. Horizon will not take into account any battery drain in RCM, and Horizon may take into account the charge the Switch was receiving while plugged in but didn't actually receive because it was in RCM. In other words, being at 95%, entering RCM and charging for an hour, and then booting Horizon will show a false 100% battery life remaining when there might only be 40% remaining, for example.

I've never used Linux on my Switch.

Then thank you for the clarifications. I did not know that Horizon was this buggy. I might be affected by the battery desync syndrome now. As a matter of fact all Switch users are to some extend due to the fact that we either leave our device plugged to the computer while injecting some payloads or while backing up our NAND.

 

[baretbh]

That hasn't been confirmed, but I think that is probably the case, yes. Desync issues are easy to fix by discharging and recharging the Switch completely, so it's not a big deal.

Okay good to know, i havent had any battery issues yet but i was using my jig a lot before FTPD got fixed and the hekate sleep bug got fixed as well.

 

[Deleted-442439]

Oh boy, this needs clearing up.

Originally several devs claimed that Switch does not charge in RCM, this is still technically true, but we later figured that the PD controller does "trickle charge" in RCM, to clarify it will only sustain a charge level, not increase the battery. This is a safery feature if the SoC has not power.

This can however randomly fail causing the PD controller to lock. This happened to @rajkosto and he had to unplug the battery to fix the issue.

RCM can cause minor battery desync, as RCM and Horizon don't talk, but this should be very minor from normal usage.

What was disproved (false alarm) is that the Switch can be bricked if the system runs out of bettery with autorcm.

 

[Zumoly]

I thought I powered off (12 sec press) but I guess my finger press was wrong and it rebooted in rcm mode.

Not likely. If you kept pressing and did not let go then you did it right.
Considering above posts RCM does not charge the battery correctly.

Edit: Considering @CTCaer's experiment, the battery charges fine in RCM but not in AutoRCM due to boot files being corrupted.

 

[Deleted-442439]

This is old statement get updated
do some research before saying misinformation

You are the one who needs to do research.

The issues discussed are more involved than what you are portraying them as.

 

[Draxzelex]

This is old statement get updated
do some research before saying misinformation

You have been disproven wrong because you were misinformed. Please get your facts together next time before you start swearing at users who may have information that contradicts your personal experiences.