Hacking Hardware Picofly - a HWFLY switch modchip

[abal1000x]

Oh, as for 3.3V, it's not flux there, just that UV solder mask resin stuff that hasn't been (mostly) cured.

I found a few little UV torches from one of the big electronics retailers here but they're pretty expensive and don't seem powerful enough. I did find this though: https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/MPPSGP05944/Spigen-Galaxy-S23-Ultra-5G-Premium-Tempered-Glass
Not cheap but coincidentally matches my phone and, more importantly, has a UV light to cure it. I'm thinking this might be worth getting just for the UV light but I'm not sure.

Until now i use the advise from @lightninjay on using laser.
https://gbatemp.net/threads/picofly-a-hwfly-switch-modchip.622701/post-10193981
Its fast to cure, and easy to remove if necessary.
One of the best stuff i learn on this thread.

Post automatically merged: Jul 10, 2024

Sometimes i use low temp solder too.
Reading from peoples experience here, i guess its better to avoid low temp melt solder.
The reasoning is logical and make a sense.

 

[TankedThomas]

Good stuff.
Can't say I'd go for that UV lamp. Something like this is what I'd go for personally.
What happened to that inductor near the Ground line? Mistaken point for ground at first!?

Post automatically merged: Jul 10, 2024

I don't know about you guys but I'm putting some thermal putty ontop of any SKHynix EMMC I come across. Just a pea sized portion but...I wonder

Thanks, I'll take a look. Guess it'll be good future-proofing anyway.

If you mean the inductor that looks like someone drove a truck into the back of it, it had a piece falling off which seems to have mostly just been solder and maybe a little of the metal on the side, so I repaired it with solder. Not sure why it was like that. It's not ideal but it still works so it beats getting a new inductor (for now).

Quick question about the ground wire though, I've cleaned up everything else but GND keeps breaking off of the top of that cap. Is there another ground plane somewhere nearby that my wire could attach to instead? Those little square pads below it seem like they may be ground, but not sure. I did check continuity but then everything should be grounded anyway so... I'm not sure.

Until now i use the advise from @lightninjay on using laser.
https://gbatemp.net/threads/picofly-a-hwfly-switch-modchip.622701/post-10193981
Its fast to cure, and easy to remove if necessary.
One of the best stuff i learn on this thread.

Much appreciated. I was going to search out the post later but that saves me from using temp's awful search.

I did look at something like this as another option: https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/TOLFNX0111/Fenix-Everyday-Carry-Torch-LD02-V20-Super-Compact
Site sucks (and the store does too, whole other story though) but they have a few like this. Figured I could get it today instead of waiting on AliExpress (though I'll grab those two from AliExpress in the interim). Don't really feel like a 30-minute round trip to pick it up but if you guys find one that suits on that site, I could be convinced. Not that it's your project, mind you.

 

[abal1000x]

I did look at something like this as another option: https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/TOLFNX0111/Fenix-Everyday-Carry-Torch-LD02-V20-Super-Compact
Site sucks (and the store does too, whole other story though) but they have a few like this. Figured I could get it today instead of waiting on AliExpress (though I'll grab those two from AliExpress in the interim). Don't really feel like a 30-minute round trip to pick it up but if you guys find one that suits on that site, I could be convinced. Not that it's your project, mind you.

I have looked the link.
Its looked like the light is not focus (something like laser point device).
I try to search, but that store doesn't have something similar, unfortunately.


What i use is something similar to laser point device.
And theres something like focus adjuster in front of it.
When i focus the light on a plastic bag surfaces, it smoke the plastic.
Shows the 20mW rate seems real, which at first i doubt it.

Using the battery powered, i think is enough to cured the resin.
But i love the higher powered laser, i could use it for other thing, when you go outside, like finding valueable rocks or material.

 

[TankedThomas]

I have looked the link.
Its looked like the light is not focus (something like laser point device).
I try to search, but that store doesn't have something similar, unfortunately.


What i use is something similar to laser point device.
And theres something like focus adjuster in front of it.
When i focus the light on a plastic bag surfaces, it smoke the plastic.
Shows the 20mW rate seems real, which at first i doubt it.

Using the battery powered, i think is enough to cured the resin.
But i love the higher powered laser, i could use it for other thing, when you go outside, like finding valueable rocks or material.

Awesome, much appreciated. The AliExpress link you provided only has a minimum of 50mW now - will that be okay? Not too strong?
Not sure how strong it needs to be to erase EPROMs but it'd be nice if I could get one that does that too. I think the strength between the two is quite different though. The only chip erasers on AliExpress don't have an Australian/New Zealand plug on the end. Could mod a Euro one or use an adapter but would rather not have to.

 

[Takezo-San]

Thanks, I'll take a look. Guess it'll be good future-proofing anyway.

If you mean the inductor that looks like someone drove a truck into the back of it, it had a piece falling off which seems to have mostly just been solder and maybe a little of the metal on the side, so I repaired it with solder. Not sure why it was like that. It's not ideal but it still works so it beats getting a new inductor (for now).

Quick question about the ground wire though, I've cleaned up everything else but GND keeps breaking off of the top of that cap. Is there another ground plane somewhere nearby that my wire could attach to instead? Those little square pads below it seem like they may be ground, but not sure. I did check continuity but then everything should be grounded anyway so... I'm not sure.

Much appreciated. I was going to search out the post later but that saves me from using temp's awful search.

I did look at something like this as another option: https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/TOLFNX0111/Fenix-Everyday-Carry-Torch-LD02-V20-Super-Compact
Site sucks (and the store does too, whole other story though) but they have a few like this. Figured I could get it today instead of waiting on AliExpress (though I'll grab those two from AliExpress in the interim). Don't really feel like a 30-minute round trip to pick it up but if you guys find one that suits on that site, I could be convinced. Not that it's your project, mind you.

With your multimeter in continuity mode, black probe to ground and the red anywhere you think a ground plane might be on the board. If it beeps, voila you have a ground to ground continuity which means you found another ground point. Just make sure there's a zero ohm reading and or zero volt voltage drop on that point to be doubly sure.

 

[TankedThomas]

With your multimeter in continuity mode, black probe to ground and the red anywhere you think a ground plane might be on the board. If it beeps, voila you have a ground to ground continuity which means you found another ground point. Just make sure there's a zero ohm reading and or zero volt voltage drop on that point to be doubly sure.

It's too cheap to even beep, unfortunately. This drops to 0V and looks like it should make a nice ground plane though:

EDIT: Okay, so the Switch still boots.
New error code, long-long-short. Guide says for ==* "CPU always reach BCT check (no glitch reaction, check mosfet)", so I'm guessing there's still a mosfet problem. Dammit. Oh well, at least there seems to be some progress.

After it shuts down, it does blue then (long) yellow now, whereas it was only flashing blue before. The guide just says "USB flashing done" so I'm guessing this is intended behaviour.

 

[Takezo-San]

It's too cheap to even beep, unfortunately. This drops to 0V and looks like it should make a nice ground plane though:

View attachment 446373

EDIT: Okay, so the Switch still boots.
New error code, long-long-short. Guide says for ==* "CPU always reach BCT check (no glitch reaction, check mosfet)", so I'm guessing there's still a mosfet problem. Dammit. Oh well, at least there seems to be some progress.

After it shuts down, it does blue then (long) yellow now, whereas it was only flashing blue before. The guide just says "USB flashing done" so I'm guessing this is intended behaviour.

Well that's good. The cmd line is soldered on better I guess and your mosfets may need changing or joining together better.
Your source points on the mosfets did look a little shady but it's hard to tell from the pics themselves.
Honestly, now down to how you want to proceed. Try again or get a bigger size mosfet or flex cable.
Still, well done for getting this far. Your nearly there now.

 

[TankedThomas]

Well that's good. The cmd line is soldered on better I guess and your mosfets may need changing or joining together better.
Your source points on the mosfets did look a little shady but it's hard to tell from the pics themselves.
Honestly, now down to how you want to proceed. Try again or get a bigger size mosfet or flex cable.
Still, well done for getting this far. Your nearly there now.

Thanks. I guess I'll just try replacing both mosfets. I know some people have used a single one but I assume it's best just to go straight for using two again? I bought 10 so I have spares.

I've attached some photos of the cleanup. Still not perfect but it's better, at least.

 

[abal1000x]

Awesome, much appreciated. The AliExpress link you provided only has a minimum of 50mW now - will that be okay? Not too strong?
Not sure how strong it needs to be to erase EPROMs but it'd be nice if I could get one that does that too. I think the strength between the two is quite different though. The only chip erasers on AliExpress don't have an Australian/New Zealand plug on the end. Could mod a Euro one or use an adapter but would rather not have to.

Yeah its okay, theres focus tuner on front of it.
If its feel too powerful, adjust the focus so the light a bit more spread.

I don't know about UV eraser on EPROM.
I've known some EEPROM years ago, that have light opening. Usually erased by exposing it to the sunlight for a couple of minutes.

 

[Takezo-San]

Thanks. I guess I'll just try replacing both mosfets. I know some people have used a single one but I assume it's best just to go straight for using two again? I bought 10 so I have spares.

I've attached some photos of the cleanup. Still not perfect but it's better, at least.

Yeah those connections look better.
I would do the same if I was you. You bought 10 so you technically have 4 more tries to go. But be more vigilant with the connections, take your time and you should be golden.
On a personal note and I'm sure it better practise too, but I would use 30AWG on the wires that go to the capacitors because they are retrieving power from those points. Last thing you want is for them to burn out down the line with the thinner 40awg wires.

 

[bvang913]

It's too cheap to even beep, unfortunately. This drops to 0V and looks like it should make a nice ground plane though:

View attachment 446373

EDIT: Okay, so the Switch still boots.
New error code, long-long-short. Guide says for ==* "CPU always reach BCT check (no glitch reaction, check mosfet)", so I'm guessing there's still a mosfet problem. Dammit. Oh well, at least there seems to be some progress.

After it shuts down, it does blue then (long) yellow now, whereas it was only flashing blue before. The guide just says "USB flashing done" so I'm guessing this is intended behaviour.

I've never had a problem with doing one mosfet on the CPU. If you're concerned with the spares you have left you can always try that. I used to do the rear mosfet installation, but it got tiresome removing the whole board for v1/2 and lites. Worked great, but always took more time, and I've broken a few connectors.

 

[thesjaakspoiler]

Good stuff.
Can't say I'd go for that UV lamp. Something like this is what I'd go for personally.
What happened to that inductor near the Ground line? Mistaken point for ground at first!?

Post automatically merged: Jul 10, 2024

I don't know about you guys but I'm putting some thermal putty ontop of any SKHynix EMMC I come across. Just a pea sized portion but...I wonder

It will help somewhat but the major problem is that the Switch wasn't designed for emmc's heating up.
In the design there is no active airflow to get rid of that heat.
A very small heatpipe from the emmc to the radiator/fan would make a huge difference.

 

[Takezo-San]

It will help somewhat but the major problem is that the Switch wasn't designed for emmc's heating up.
In the design there is no active airflow to get rid of that heat.
A very small heatpipe from the emmc to the radiator/fan would make a huge difference.

Good point however even a little bit of heat wicking away or dissipation, in my mind, would help. I'm thinking thermal relay of that heat to the putty and onto the metal shielding. The shield can handle it and its sitting connected atop the rest of the PCB. So even that little bit being wicked away!?....who knows, worth a try and the risk to reward is low risk with potentially high reward.

 

[Danook28]

Yes i have dead oled motherboard i know for learning Is kimkazi need mini grider or just any grider that have tiny head name of tool that you think it worth job??? Thank you picofly familly.

 

[TankedThomas]

Yeah those connections look better.
I would do the same if I was you. You bought 10 so you technically have 4 more tries to go. But be more vigilant with the connections, take your time and you should be golden.
On a personal note and I'm sure it better practise too, but I would use 30AWG on the wires that go to the capacitors because they are retrieving power from those points. Last thing you want is for them to burn out down the line with the thinner 40awg wires.

Well, I tried again (two mosfets again, just in case). Just finished now. Was too tired yesterday so waited until today to do the mosfets.
Unfortunately, it's still not working. I forgot to take a photo before I put the IHS back on but it was pretty clean. Only thing I changed was using a different ground point for the source pins. I checked for a ground point and found the right side of the capacitor above the square point (see attached for example).

What I get now is a blue screen with long-long-short (==*) again. So... no OFW boot this time. I'm not sure if that's better or worse. I'm going to guess worse.

Only things I did differently this time, other than making it cleaner and not using the solder mask stuff, is 30AWG wires for the mosfets (I ended up using them for all the wires instead of just the ones going to the caps - maybe a bad decision, not sure), and didn't take the whole motherboard out for convenience (battery unplugged, cart reader/headphone jack removed). I saw other people do it so I didn't think it'd be a big deal if I was careful and didn't touch anything else.

I can get CPU diode readings again. Forgot to do that before I closed it up bur I guess I'll have to open it again either way.

Would be nice if I could get it working though. This is very tiresome at this point...

EDIT: Found an amazing quote from this thread: "Recovery from blue screen is rare."

Fuck.

I tried booting the SD card with Hekate and such set up, should be right (not that I've ever done it before but it's not rocket science). Doesn't work. Gonna desolder all the wires from the chip end then see if it still boots, but I'm guessing I've killed the thing. Dammit...

Got a video clip coming.

EDIT 2:
Not even going to bother with a video. I desoldered everything. Blue screen still. It's dead. Goddammit. All I wanted was mods and editing Pokemon saves. Didn't ever want to pirate on it or anything. Ugh...

EDIT 3:
As I'm reassembling the poor Switch Lite's (mostly) lifeless corpse, I'm wondering if there's any chance of a repair. Obviously not by me, I'm clearly not skilled enough, but someone with actual skills.
I doubt they'll be in New Zealand and I doubt it'll be cheap, but even if I buy a new system, I can't recover my 500+ hours of Pokemon saves since those assholes at Nintendo refuse to let us back them up.
If anyone knows someone, well, feel free to let me know. It probably isn't even worth it, but if it means paying someone to un-fuck my fuck-ups, I'll take it.

The worst part about all of this, other than not being able to back up some of the saves, is that I didn't have some kind of Switch gore in the end. It just kinda went out with a whimper...

 

[s4n0suk3]

Well, I tried again (two mosfets again, just in case). Just finished now. Was too tired yesterday so waited until today to do the mosfets.
Unfortunately, it's still not working. I forgot to take a photo before I put the IHS back on but it was pretty clean. Only thing I changed was using a different ground point for the source pins. I checked for a ground point and found the right side of the capacitor above the square point (see attached for example).

What I get now is a blue screen with long-long-short (==*) again. So... no OFW boot this time. I'm not sure if that's better or worse. I'm going to guess worse.

Only things I did differently this time, other than making it cleaner and not using the solder mask stuff, is 30AWG wires for the mosfets (I ended up using them for all the wires instead of just the ones going to the caps - maybe a bad decision, not sure), and didn't take the whole motherboard out for convenience (battery unplugged, cart reader/headphone jack removed). I saw other people do it so I didn't think it'd be a big deal if I was careful and didn't touch anything else.

I can get CPU diode readings again. Forgot to do that before I closed it up bur I guess I'll have to open it again either way.

Would be nice if I could get it working though. This is very tiresome at this point...

EDIT: Found an amazing quote from this thread: "Recovery from blue screen is rare."

Fuck.

I tried booting the SD card with Hekate and such set up, should be right (not that I've ever done it before but it's not rocket science). Doesn't work. Gonna desolder all the wires from the chip end then see if it still boots, but I'm guessing I've killed the thing. Dammit...

Got a video clip coming.

EDIT 2:
Not even going to bother with a video. I desoldered everything. Blue screen still. It's dead. Goddammit. All I wanted was mods and editing Pokemon saves. Didn't ever want to pirate on it or anything. Ugh...

EDIT 3:
As I'm reassembling the poor Switch Lite's (mostly) lifeless corpse, I'm wondering if there's any chance of a repair. Obviously not by me, I'm clearly not skilled enough, but someone with actual skills.
I doubt they'll be in New Zealand and I doubt it'll be cheap, but even if I buy a new system, I can't recover my 500+ hours of Pokemon saves since those assholes at Nintendo refuse to let us back them up.
If anyone knows someone, well, feel free to let me know. It probably isn't even worth it, but if it means paying someone to un-fuck my fuck-ups, I'll take it.

The worst part about all of this, other than not being able to back up some of the saves, is that I didn't have some kind of Switch gore in the end. It just kinda went out with a whimper...

Hi, just try to see if any short on apu capacitors (happens to me on 2 oled for working late at night) and the 2 times the blue screen was for micro shorts on those caps, if apu heat up when you turn on the console i think is still alive

Edit: look continuity on that cap looks to me is shorted

 

[Takezo-San]

Hi, just try to see if any short on apu capacitors (happens to me on 2 oled for working late at night) and the 2 times the blue screen was for micro shorts on those caps, if apu heat up when you turn on the console i think is still alive

Edit: look continuity on that cap looks to me is shorted

I'd say you're right. @TankedThomas your console was working and now blue screened after you worked on a certain area. Retrace your steps in that area and there'll be a short or bridge or damage there somewhere. @s4n0suk3 looks to be correct. Might be bridged or damage on those caps.
I think your Lite is recoverable

 

[NintendoDisco]

Already tried to help you in the AiO thread, but most people here will tell you the same thing here. Your only option is to wire directly from the RST point on the motherboard to the RST/B point on the chip you have. There is a reason why those chips have pads on there; for those that choose to wire directly instead of using those ribbons.

Hey just logging back in, I posted in here too because I thought this one was used more / current. Sorry I am new here.

I ended up trying what you suggested and the chip worked for a second but then stopped working because the RST to wire solder was not good / strong enough

Ended up burning the pads off the board…. You can see the little pad to the right of the right RST pad.

Do I need to use an alternate point? Or is it too far gone?

Thanks for your time btw

 

[bvang913]

Hey just logging back in, I posted in here too because I thought this one was used more / current. Sorry I am new here.

I ended up trying what you suggested and the chip worked for a second but then stopped working because the RST to wire solder was not good / strong enough

Ended up burning the pads off the board…. You can see the little pad to the right of the right RST pad.

Do I need to use an alternate point? Or is it too far gone?

Thanks for your time btw

I'm not sure if there is another point for RST. But yes those pads look too far gone. Maybe someone else can chime in. If it can't be repaired the switch might be toast.

 

[ItzMeGab]

Hello guys, can you tell me where is the other spot of the other dat0 kamikaze mod, If I remember it is near the nand