Hacking Hardware Picofly - a HWFLY switch modchip

[BlueBeans]

Does it detect rcm mode on pc?

Haven’t tried. Why?

 

[Jkop]

Haven’t tried. Why?

Trying to pinpoint the problem. I have 2 OLED boards currently trying to repair. One is a emmc problem other is APU which I am pretty sure is dead but before I completely use it as parts I am trying to recover the emmc backup. But I think if you hear it in rcm mode on the pc it most likely is a emmc problem and if you dont hear anything then it could be a board problem

 

[BlueBeans]

Does it detect rcm mode on pc?

I

Trying to pinpoint the problem. I have 2 OLED boards currently trying to repair. One is a emmc problem other is APU which I am pretty sure is dead but before I completely use it as parts I am trying to recover the emmc backup. But I think if you hear it in rcm mode on the pc it most likely is a emmc problem and if you dont hear anything then it could be a board problem

i unfortunately didn’t have a backup. I’m going to pull the mod. If it turns on it’s not the nand. Will update.

 

[bvang913]

Hi All,
I got the below from AE. Installed, but getting the black screen on OFW/CFW.
Was able to boot into Hekate with no problems. Created partition and emummc.
Not sure where the problem is... after some research i think i will see if the firmware needs to be updated. If anyone have the similar issue and was able to fix this please let me know what you did? scratching my head all day. TiA!

View attachment 457187

If you read the past few pages, it seems a lot of people are having this issue. Mostly being bad quality clone chips. The resistor values are not always correct and are causing black screens. Picofly firmware was built for certain chips, such as the rp2040 zero/tiny etc. Even custom made boards are working better than these it looks like. Some times these hwfly style chips work, some times they don't. You're kind of just gambling at this point whether or not it's going to work. But good luck, hopefully you can find the answer you need in this thread.

 

[BlueBeans]

So I just pulled the chip and I have a purple screen.

 

[Jkop]

So I just pulled the chip and I have a purple screen.

Easy fix. A point resistor

 

[bvang913]

So I just pulled the chip and I have a purple screen.

Had this error. Turned out to be the cmd resistor was fried. Purple screen when trying to boot ofw. So hopefully that's the fix you need.

 

[malgamer]

Had this error. Turned out to be the cmd resistor was fried. Purple screen when trying to boot ofw. So hopefully that's the fix you need.

restart hekate choose console info then choose emmc info to check which partition data are missing

 

[bvang913]

restart hekate choose console info then choose emmc info to check which partition data are missing

What I meant to say was that I may have had a similar issue like the guy above. And that replacing my cmd resistor on the motherboard solved my issue.

 

[BlueBeans]

Just when I thought all hope was lost. Had already told the customer the board was toast and then I figured out what was going on. I had cut through the CMD line when doing the kamikaze method! Holy hell! Another lesson in the books!

 

[LuigiGad]

The resistor on the switch board or on the picofly ?

Switch

 

[Nephiel]

Which one is easier to work with rp2040-zero or rp2040-tiny from your personal experience

I prefer the Tiny now because it's thinner, and the USB port and buttons are on a separate board, so there's no need to desolder those. But watch out for the resistor values, current Tiny boards (v1.1) have 47ohm on CLK/CMD/DAT0 onboard, unlike the Zero.

 

[lightautodark]

I prefer the Tiny now because it's thinner, and the USB port and buttons are on a separate board, so there's no need to desolder those. But watch out for the resistor values, current Tiny boards (v1.1) have 47ohm on CLK/CMD/DAT0 onboard, unlike the Zero.

Do you have a picture of your installation? Need a reference for neat resistor placement.

 

[Nephiel]

Do you have a picture of your installation? Need a reference for neat resistor placement.

This is an OLED from a few weeks ago. The Tiny needs only two 47ohm resistors on CMD and DAT0, right at the edge of the board.

Placed like this, everything fits neatly under the shield, and the LED light is visible through the left speaker grill. Just make sure to leave enough space around the APU for the heatpipe assembly.

 

[lightautodark]

This is an OLED from a few weeks ago. The Tiny needs only two 47ohm resistors on CMD and DAT0, right at the edge of the board.

Placed like this, everything fits neatly under the shield, and the LED light is visible through the left speaker grill. Just make sure to leave enough space around the APU for the heatpipe assembly.

Thanks I'll give this ago. Hopefully it works without having to use instinct.

 

[remlei]

I found a technician who tested picofly with his own switch oled with erratic **= issue.

Here's what he said:

2.75 - initial just to test things out, stills gets that **= error once every 10 tries
2.76 - nothings changed
2.78 - same
2.79 - same
2.80 - somethings changed, now the error code throws *==. which is he said weird, usually if he gets that *== it usually give you a black screen but it boots to OFW.

still the issue is still present, he soldered back the instict-nx chip on it and 50/50 tries all glitches are success.

 

[lightautodark]

I found a technician who tested picofly with his own switch oled with erratic **= issue.

Here's what he said:

2.75 - initial just to test things out, stills gets that **= error once every 10 tries
2.76 - nothings changed
2.78 - same
2.79 - same
2.80 - somethings changed, now the error code throws *==. which is he said weird, usually if he gets that *== it usually give you a black screen but it boots to OFW.

still the issue is still present, he soldered back the instict-nx chip on it and 50/50 tries all glitches are success.

I believe its *=* in 2.80, I swapped to instinct and it works fine. But I've ordered a rp2040-tiny, will test it out with the 47/100/100 as soon as it arrives. To be fair, it's hard to notice this issue because nobody actually restart 20 times in a row. Most people would just turn it on off a few times to make sure it works before reassembling the switch. The one I had only booted to ofw on the 18th tries the first time.

Every time it boots into ofw, I noticed that it never attempted to glitch, just straight to ofw, once the power button is pressed, just blue once then mmediately **= (2.75), or *=* (2.80)

Post automatically merged: Sep 12, 2024

I just want to share the tinyfly i just install today as i receive all the pieces needed. MASSIVE thanks to @psycho-neon to share your work, the glitch is faster than hwfly clone you can find on Aliexpress. I just forget to adjust the wideness of the board when i ordered the pcb but it fits well in the case. As some people said earlier, yes it is maybe cheaper and faster to buy chips on Ali, but it is so satisfying to do all the process yourself. Moreover you have the control on the quality of every components you buy.

​

Where did you order it from. Pcbway gives me error on the uploaded gerber file

 

[abal1000x]

I believe its *=* in 2.80, I swapped to instinct and it works fine. But I've ordered a rp2040-tiny, will test it out with the 47/100/100 as soon as it arrives. To be fair, it's hard to notice this issue because nobody actually restart 20 times in a row. Most people would just turn it on off a few times to make sure it works before reassembling the switch. The one I had only booted to ofw on the 18th tries the first time.

Every time it boots into ofw, I noticed that it never attempted to glitch, just straight to ofw, once the power button is pressed, just blue once then mmediately **= (2.75), or *=* (2.80)

Post automatically merged: Sep 12, 2024

Where did you order it from. Pcbway gives me error on the uploaded gerber file

I use picofly myself.

My oled not just only use hos, but also ubuntu and android.
I already use it maybe around 1 years or more.
No issue like theres no glitch. Its always glitched.

Every glitch point will be save, so the more you reboot the more it better at finding the glitch point.

Don't know with the custom board. But i use the rp2040 zero/tiny which i already know how it work.

For me the the only problem is rp2040 cannot be totally shutdown. What i could do only partial shutdown.
Use my firmware if you want to experiment about it. I try my best to turn off whatever could be turn off in the rp2040.

One of my idea is to put some physical switch on the game card, so picofly only work when you put some gamecard.
And when you take it of, it will switch off mechanically. But i don't have time to execute it.

 

[thesjaakspoiler]

For me the the only problem is rp2040 cannot be totally shutdown. What i could do only partial shutdown.
Use my firmware if you want to experiment about it. I try my best to turn off whatever could be turn off in the rp2040.

RaspberryPI's can be turned off completely according to this discussion :
https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=137114

 

[Nephiel]

RaspberryPI's can be turned off completely according to this discussion :
https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=137114

That's not the RP2040, very different kind of Raspberry Pi.