Hacking Hardware Picofly - a HWFLY switch modchip

[nico77]

uhm
eto desu nee~~

any idea
why switch screen is so ez getting dead/black vertical lines ??

here my story :
so about a week ago, i was playing some games for an hour. and then i wanna rest a bit, put my lite switch sleep.
and then , couple hours after that, i plan to continue gaming.
but when i wake up my switch lite, and i recognize something odd with the games thumbnail picture. like getting pixelated.
i take look more closer to check it details, and turn out the whole screen got black vertical lines.

for my whole time using it , i never drop, bump, throw or even smack it. ive been using my lite, very very gently.
and this vertical line came out of no where.
like , "surprise"

Spoiler: vertical lines

ive tried research , and
the only one way to fix it , = replace with new lcd screen.

i think, this part on the flex cable, getting ages. some of those connection bent from time to time, and snap.
wonder if someone know how to fix/replace those part. kinda impossible btw


for a moment, i can still play this lite by lowering the brightness, color etc using Fizeau
if i didnt use Fizeau, the screen gonna getting that ghosting > white screen, entire screen.
for 1-5 title games, it still playable with this view vertical line, as long the line not getting thicker, and thicker.
its getting bad to read the text. ive been using zoom funtion , to read game text.

im waiting for discount, and gonna get new lcd soon on future.


btw
im also found this guy using sysdvr to play with his tablet.

Spoiler: sysdvr

ive test using sysdvr 6.0
but its not really great to play
idk how to settings/tweak sysdvr
so i can play more less lag

any tips settings to improve , less lag ?
im still impressive with sysdvr btw
really great hmbrw




hey
your screen

 

[abal1000x]

uhm
eto desu nee~~

any idea
why switch screen is so ez getting dead/black vertical lines ??

here my story :
so about a week ago, i was playing some games for an hour. and then i wanna rest a bit, put my lite switch sleep.
and then , couple hours after that, i plan to continue gaming.
but when i wake up my switch lite, and i recognize something odd with the games thumbnail picture. like getting pixelated.
i take look more closer to check it details, and turn out the whole screen got black vertical lines.

for my whole time using it , i never drop, bump, throw or even smack it. ive been using my lite, very very gently.
and this vertical line came out of no where.
like , "surprise"

Spoiler: vertical lines

View attachment 422976

View attachment 422977

View attachment 422978

ive tried research , and
the only one way to fix it , = replace with new lcd screen.

View attachment 422983
i think, this part on the flex cable, getting ages. some of those connection bent from time to time, and snap.
wonder if someone know how to fix/replace those part. kinda impossible btw


for a moment, i can still play this lite by lowering the brightness, color etc using Fizeau
if i didnt use Fizeau, the screen gonna getting that ghosting > white screen, entire screen.
for 1-5 title games, it still playable with this view vertical line, as long the line not getting thicker, and thicker.
its getting bad to read the text. ive been using zoom funtion , to read game text.

im waiting for discount, and gonna get new lcd soon on future.


btw
im also found this guy using sysdvr to play with his tablet.

Spoiler: sysdvr

ive test using sysdvr 6.0
but its not really great to play
idk how to settings/tweak sysdvr
so i can play more less lag

any tips settings to improve , less lag ?
im still impressive with sysdvr btw
really great hmbrw




hey
your screen

Yupz the screen is the famous bug.
All except oled, because oled is different, more sealed.

The problem is lack of protection on corrotion.
And it will be faster to broke if you live near beach.
Or place with huge humidity such as rain forest.
I might put silica bag to reduce humidity.

Even if you bought from aliexpress the replacement. Its shitty quality. I have change twice and both have dead pixel on the corner.

And change the lcd is not that easy, similar to placing the screenguard, those pesky dirt is difficult to totally clean.

 

[nico77]

Yupz the screen is the famous bug.
All except oled, because oled is different, more sealed.

The problem is lack of protection on corrotion.
And it will be faster to broke if you live near beach.
Or place with huge humidity such as rain forest.
I might put silica bag to reduce humidity.

Even if you bought from aliexpress the replacement. Its shitty quality. I have change twice and both have dead pixel on the corner.

And change the lcd is not that easy, similar to placing the screenguard, those pesky dirt is difficult to totally clean.

yeah
its my first time getting this screen error.
no idea im gonna get this screen problem, like others. i though nintendo lcd screen quality is good (lite ), turn out super crappy fragile.

that lcd flex cable position, i really dont like how they design it hehehe.
the bent position ( the flex cable press by the motherboard plastic piece )

thats why the line connection snap fast :V

with your humidity info, also explain how it broke fast snap



ive been watch some tutorial to replace the lcd screen.
it does need 1000% patience
1st challenge
that adhesive part.
(my plan im gonna use that ipa trick, to release the sticky adhesive from the lcd-digitizer)

and then, 2nd challenge
that tiny dusty/dirt=annoying
between lcd screen - digitizer.

my room having those tiny hair dirt.
hope wiping with ipa+microfiber cloth/ or Lens Cleaning Wet Wipes can remove em

 

[deeps]

Tinyfly v2.0 - the layout is based on the well known rp2040-tiny from waveshare but made for switch.

very cool! Can I suggest swapping positions of the lower RST and CPU pads? since the wires would have to cross with their current positions. I'd also like gnd and 3v3 pads to the right of the other pads, to avoid crossing wires (gnd usually comes from the right on oled, and both gnd and 3v3 come from the right with default non-emmc solder locations on v1/v2)
I tried to enter your files in the jlcpcb ordering system with assembly but a bunch of components show up as "extended" which they charge extra for, while they have matching "basic" components available - except for the 27 ohm resistor which isn't available in 0402. the closest one was 33 ohm, or a different resistor size. So some manual changes necessary to avoid extra fees.
Also, why are the pads listed as a component?
Anyway, it sounds like I'm complaining but I'm mostly intrigued. Nice work!

 

[psycho-neon]

very cool! Can I suggest swapping positions of the lower RST and CPU pads? since the wires would have to cross with their current positions. I'd also like gnd and 3v3 pads to the right of the other pads, to avoid crossing wires (gnd usually comes from the right on oled, and both gnd and 3v3 come from the right with default non-emmc solder locations on v1/v2)
I tried to enter your files in the jlcpcb ordering system with assembly but a bunch of components show up as "extended" which they charge extra for, while they have matching "basic" components available - except for the 27 ohm resistor which isn't available in 0402. the closest one was 33 ohm, or a different resistor size. So some manual changes necessary to avoid extra fees.
Also, why are the pads listed as a component?
Anyway, it sounds like I'm complaining but I'm mostly intrigued. Nice work!

Sure I'll modify the layout a bit and regarding the basic parts I will check again to prevent extra charges which you were right.

For the pads, I am not sure why they were considered as components. It should be pads only. @.@

Thank you for the feedback I appreciate it

 

[ItzMeGab]

Can we use 10k resistor on dat0 rp2040, I don't know if I bought the correct resistor, the number that is written in the smd is 103 but the packaging has a text written to it 10k

Edit: From what I understand, 10k is 10,000 ohms, Im not sure about that but can someone clarify it?

 

[psycho-neon]

Can we use 10k resistor on dat0 rp2040, I don't know if I bought the correct resistor, the number that is written in the smd is 103 but the packaging has a text written to it 10k

Edit: From what I understand, 10k is 10,000 ohms, Im not sure about that but can someone clarify it?

Won't work. Even maybe cause damage to the emmc. Don't use it. Use 100ohm instead.

 

[deeps]

Can we use 10k resistor on dat0 rp2040, I don't know if I bought the correct resistor, the number that is written in the smd is 103 but the packaging has a text written to it 10k

Edit: From what I understand, 10k is 10,000 ohms, Im not sure about that but can someone clarify it?

103 means "10 with 3 zeroes after" = 10000. it won't work

 

[ItzMeGab]

103 means "10 with 3 zeroes after" = 10000. it won't work

Won't work. Even maybe caused damage to the emmc. Don't use it. Use 100ohm instead.

Thanks guys

 

[etnicor]

Accidently chipped APU when removing "metal bar" on an oled(guess I wasn't carefull enough). Don't know if this is problematic, should i put some uv mask on and hope for the best?

 

[psycho-neon]

Accidently chipped APU when removing "metal bar" on an oled(guess I wasn't carefull enough). Don't know if this is problematic, should i put some uv mask on and hope for the best?

View attachment 423144

Try to turn on the switch. At most, there shouldn’t be problem. Just cover it with uv mask.

 

[deeps]

Accidently chipped APU when removing "metal bar" on an oled(guess I wasn't carefull enough). Don't know if this is problematic, should i put some uv mask on and hope for the best?

View attachment 423144

Doesn't look like anything important was damaged, unless you hit it hard enough to crack something else that might not be visible. Go ahead and try

 

[etnicor]

Doesn't look like anything important was damaged, unless you hit it hard enough to crack something else that might not be visible. Go ahead and try

Nah there wasn't any hit or big force involved, was from my blade nipper when cutting.

 

[karatefeet]

Does anyone know the value of this cap (circled in black) from the eMMC board? Also would I be able to steal one from a rp2040 tiny? Don't have any zeros unfortunately.

 

[psycho-neon]

very cool! Can I suggest swapping positions of the lower RST and CPU pads? since the wires would have to cross with their current positions. I'd also like gnd and 3v3 pads to the right of the other pads, to avoid crossing wires (gnd usually comes from the right on oled, and both gnd and 3v3 come from the right with default non-emmc solder locations on v1/v2)
I tried to enter your files in the jlcpcb ordering system with assembly but a bunch of components show up as "extended" which they charge extra for, while they have matching "basic" components available - except for the 27 ohm resistor which isn't available in 0402. the closest one was 33 ohm, or a different resistor size. So some manual changes necessary to avoid extra fees.
Also, why are the pads listed as a component?
Anyway, it sounds like I'm complaining but I'm mostly intrigued. Nice work!

I've updated the initial post regarding the comments you mentioned.

 

[Blakejansen]

Accidentally did this when cutting SoC shield.



I haven't turned on the switch. The cut/chip looks really small on the APU and my points still read as they should. I wanted to see how bad it was before turning on switch.

 

[MoeXzl]

Everything's fine, nothing should happen.

 

[etnicor]

So was happy getting splash screen on my OLED but that turned sour pretty quickly when going to backup emmc.
Anyone have any idea what could be the problem?

Could it be "ribbon" cable below emmc? Although I got good diode reading.
I belive emmc is Samsung, atleast it's not hynix

Using this chip which has a 250ohm resistor on dat0.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006234088316.html

My diodes readings were(black on gnd)
B=1.164
A=0.634
C=0.629
D=0.63
3v3=0.729

 

[QuiTim]

So was happy getting splash screen on my OLED but that turned sour pretty quickly when going to backup emmc.
Anyone have any idea what could be the problem?

Could it be "ribbon" cable below emmc? Although I got good diode reading.
I belive emmc is Samsung, atleast it's not hynix

Using this chip which has a 250ohm resistor on dat0.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006234088316.html

My diodes readings were(black on gnd)
B=1.164
A=0.634
C=0.629
D=0.63
3v3=0.729
View attachment 423450View attachment 423451

The chip you are using is not supported in this thread mainly because of the reasons like these. You got the one with 250ohm on dat0 the next batch might have one with 600ohms or be missing that resistor completely.
Read the Guide, use one of the supported boards and if you have any soldering skills (which it seems you have) you will not have any issues and even if you have people here will know how to help because everyone is using the same hardware as you.
That being said, swap the 250ohm resistor with 100 and you should be good.

 

[etnicor]

The chip you are using is not supported in this thread mainly because of the reasons like these. You got the one with 250ohm on dat0 the next batch might have one with 600ohms or be missing that resistor completely.
Read the Guide, use one of the supported boards and if you have any soldering skills (which it seems you have) you will not have any issues and even if you have people here will know how to help because everyone is using the same hardware as you.
That being said, swap the 250ohm resistor with 100 and you should be good.

Thx didn't know.
I remembered incorrectly I did this mod on a switch lite to train soldering and that one had 250ohm when I measured. (On that board it actually worked.)

Measured on this OLED board and actually seems that the resistor is broken on this board, don't get any reading at all. Other ones meassure 47 ohm but dat0 resistor is dead.(desoldered it just to be sure)

So need to order some resistors don't have any SMD in correct size at home.

Is it the rp2040-tiny "dev board" which is the supported one in the thread?

Is it this guide you refer to ?
https://gbatemp.net/download/a-definitive-picofly-install-guide.37968/