Hacking Hardware Picofly - a HWFLY switch modchip

[Takezo-San]

IMO, I'd still double check everything around the APU and everything on the other side of the motherboard for the APU, visual\short test. Especially the caps, I don't see how a Lite-PFly install would mess up the APU BGA, so a reflow\reball wouldn't help.

Yep, did the visual and short test. Front side and back side showed nothing out of the ordinary. Went for a reball twice, still BSOD. Should have figured because the pressure test with fingers on the apu and ram should've showed normal boot with screen when turning it on but nothing...we hope....we hope. So, now I will be patient. Put this jumble to the side and will have to invest in a thermal cam and voltage injection tool. Might be a blessing in disguise. who knows. Still perplexed as to what it could be but I will find the flaw that I made.

 

[abal1000x]

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[Takezo-San]

If i were you, the first thing i am gonna check is the max ic and the surrounding capacitor and resistor.
Check using diode value or continuity test.

Do you have a picture of where thats located?

 

[lightninjay]

Do you have a picture of where thats located?

http://lmgtfy2.com/?q=nintendo+switch+max+ic

 

[abal1000x]

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[Takezo-San]

What is your device?

View attachment 373069

For lite there max ic in the bottom of the apu.

There is lot of resources on tronicsfixforum about bsod or repair such as diode value, you might interested.

thanks. lite is my switch version

 

[abal1000x]

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[jkyoho]

View attachment 373070

Post automatically merged: May 22, 2023

You might need to check this too. It seems power ic, but i still not confirmed it yet.
View attachment 373071

Post automatically merged: May 22, 2023

For all rp2040, the procedure is the same. To flash the firmware, you need to press Boot button while power it up using cable.

I want to advise further but it seems you don't know about embedded device.
What i concern is, when the usb is connected to the pc, did the 3.3v from the board connected to the switch or not.
I do not know the effect when the 3.3v connected to the switch.
If the manufacturer doesn't give a clue or manual book about procedure to update the firmware.
If i were you, i will disconnect the 3.3v manually. Then do the update firmware as usual (press boot while inserting the usb cable to power it up).

I've done all cable connected except switch battery when doing rp2040 uf2 flash. The 3.3v won't do anything in that case.

 

[Takezo-San]

View attachment 373070

Post automatically merged: May 22, 2023

You might need to check this too. It seems power ic, but i still not confirmed it yet.
View attachment 373071

Post automatically merged: May 22, 2023

For all rp2040, the procedure is the same. To flash the firmware, you need to press Boot button while power it up using cable.

I want to advise further but it seems you don't know about embedded device.
What i concern is, when the usb is connected to the pc, did the 3.3v from the board connected to the switch or not.
I do not know the effect when the 3.3v connected to the switch.
If the manufacturer doesn't give a clue or manual book about procedure to update the firmware.
If i were you, i will disconnect the 3.3v manually. Then do the update firmware as usual (press boot while inserting the usb cable to power it up).

Checked both Max chips' caps and resistors and they all were clear. This is super weird.

 

[lightninjay]

Checked both Max chips' caps and resistors and they all were clear. This is super weird.

possible that something got under your RAM chips while you were soldering APU stuff and causing a short now?

 

[Takezo-San]

possible that something got under your RAM chips while you were soldering APU stuff and causing a short now?

Does seem plausible. You reckon I should try a reflow on them two!?

 

[lightninjay]

Does seem plausible. You reckon I should try a reflow on them two!?

Or at the very least try an air-duster can to blow any possible solder debris out first.

 

[LogicalMadness]

@Takezo-San Worth a shot reballiing the RAM. I don't think the max chips cause BLOD, they're more charging or powering-on issues.

Have we seen pics of you install?

 

[QuiTim]

Does seem plausible. You reckon I should try a reflow on them two!?

There was also a post in some other thread, a guy with similar issue tried pushin down (quite hard) on RAM while booting and Switch booted OK. Afterward he did a reflow.
It might be worth trying with APU amd RAM just to see what happens

 

[Adran_Marit]

There was also a post in some other thread, a guy with similar issue tried pushin down (quite hard) on RAM while booting and Switch booted OK. Afterward he did a reflow.
It might be worth trying with APU amd RAM just to see what happens

Would that be caused be reflowing emmc and having the heat spread too far or depending on board go through from one side to rhe other?

 

[Nephiel]

Update: POC (Proof of Concept)

Modify the adapter little bit.
View attachment 373066

Shift it slightly to the right.
View attachment 373067

The diode value will not be different, when Dat1 Short Circuit (SC) with Dat0.
Its around 600.

When Dat1 SC with the Dat0 picofly will throws error:
=*== eMMC test failure - read failed

I've confirmed this and the picofly working until nosd shown (by shift the adapter a little bit to right).

I've been thinking about this, in other adapters the contact point protrudes more, so I would also trim the edge a bit like so. But maybe it's not needed.

 

[QuiTim]

Would that be caused be reflowing emmc and having the heat spread too far or depending on board go through from one side to rhe other?

In this case bsod happened because of pcb bending. I think that emmc is to far away for it to cause problem all the way to RAM during reflow but APU might be possible. Still, if you are applying heat on top of emmc and manage to break a connection on APU in the process that Emmc chip is probably dead already

 

[bilalhassan341]

In this case bsod happened because of pcb bending. I think that emmc is to far away for it to cause problem all the way to RAM during reflow but APU might be possible. Still, if you are applying heat on top of emmc and manage to break a connection on APU in the process that Emmc chip is probably dead already

I also have a Blue screen switch. I tried to reflow it and blue screen gone. It shows nintendo logo and then black screen. But it is making a buzzing sound coming from APU or RAM but speaker or fan is not connected so it is not from them. I'm also thinking about reflowing it again.

Edit: I throw my switch in a suitcase without case and we all know how the airport handle our bags. Lesson learned don't throw your switch without case. Because it can bend due to pressure.

 

[QuiTim]

I also have a Blue screen switch. I tried to reflow it and blue screen gone. It shows nintendo logo and then black screen. But it is making a buzzing sound coming from APU or RAM but speaker or fan is not connected so it is not from them. I'm also thinking about reflowing it again.

Edit: I throw my switch in a suitcase without case and we all know how the airport handle our bags. Lesson learned don't throw your switch without case. Because it can bend due to pressure.

For buzzin sound you should check the coils. I dont know which model you have but they look like this:

 

[Nephiel]

Any docs or sources on how to build the payload? I'm referring to the one that's only present in header file payload.h as an array. I'd like to tweak the logo shown on boot when no SD card is inserted, maybe the Vol+ button behavior as well.
For fun, not for profit.

All I've been able to gather is that it's likely derived from sdloader in some way.
(edit: this thread is close but it applies to hwfly rather than Picofly)