Hacking Hardware Picofly - a HWFLY switch modchip

[HackMan37]

Can you post a link for the right tiny boards?

https://www.waveshare.com/product/rp2040-tiny.htm

 

[jmmc]

Can you post a link for the right tiny boards?

https://www.waveshare.com/rp2040-tiny.htm

Edit: HackMan37 was quicker

 

[jkyoho]

Hello. I removed the buttons and USB before flashing, duh.

I resoldered the USB points but I always get multiple flashes (like being plugged in without boot button pushed).

Could not boot it into flashing mode. How can I simulate the boot button being pushed with wires? Thanks.

View attachment 378293

I do believe you have a wrong connection from you breakout board wiring.
And make sure you have a clean soldering on the rp2040 side.(seems having bridge from the right jumper cable).

If I were you, I would use DN2 & DP2 which make more space for solder and less chance bridging near by

 

[lightninjay]

Can you post a link for the right tiny boards?

https://www.waveshare.com/product/raspberry-pi/boards-kits/raspberry-pi-pico-cat/rp2040-tiny.htm

The correct ones will have V1.1 on them.

Some of the older batch are still floating around places like Amazon and Ali, those will have the wrong size 0201 resistors (470 Ohm instead of 47 Ohm) presoldered, but they can be removed and regular resistors added like the original RP2040-Zero.

 

[Switxh]

Hello. I removed the buttons and USB before flashing, duh.

I resoldered the USB points but I always get multiple flashes (like being plugged in without boot button pushed).

Could not boot it into flashing mode. How can I simulate the boot button being pushed with wires? Thanks.

View attachment 378293

Did you figure out the pinouts for the Pico USB-C pads? Because I remember from before when I soldered a ZIF connector and make a ribbon cable with a USB-C i discovered they aren't the standard USB-C pinout.

 

[frozenboy]

After digging a bit into the fw, it seem rehius doen't use max brightness for the led. I think it is useful to maximum the brightness so we can easy see it though the sw shell, easy for debug I guess

 

[lightninjay]

After digging a bit into the fw, it seem rehius doen't use max brightness for the led. I think it is useful to maximum the brightness so we can easy see it though the sw shell, easy for debug I guess

You should not need to debug after a proper install. Lower power consumption on the LED is negligible in this case, but the source code is public, so if you want brighter LED's feel free to make your own build.

 

[jkyoho]

Did you figure out the pinouts for the Pico USB-C pads? Because I remember from before when I soldered a ZIF connector and make a ribbon cable with a USB-C i discovered they aren't the standard USB-C pinout.

search for rp2040-zero datasheet and you should find the c-port printout

 

[chronoss]

even after remove everything about the mod (yup including microsdcard) and clean whatever to be cleaned, still bsod?
Please post pictures of all points cleaned.

still black screen after Nintendo logo...

 

[MertX2]

Thanks for the advice!
Resistance on the right cap was 20.3ohms after installation.
Is it really fine to blast the APU with hot air? 350C should be fine right?
And pictures are coming shortly as I currently dont have the switch with me.

Alright I removed everything that wasnt stock(so my mosfet board and all the wires going to the rp2040), stole a cap from a non working rp2040, attached it and it boots again! Im pretty tired for today so I will propably try to redo everything tomorrow after work but I dont think I will be touching that left capacitor again. Also I attempted to secure the right cap wire with super glue(dumb idea, I know) which is why that area looks so dirty. Any advice on getting it off without further making this poor switch suffer?

 

[FreeLander]

I do believe you have a wrong connection from you breakout board wiring.
And make sure you have a clean soldering on the rp2040 side.(seems having bridge from the right jumper cable).

If I were you, I would use DN2 & DP2 which make more space for solder and less chance bridging near by

Did you figure out the pinouts for the Pico USB-C pads? Because I remember from before when I soldered a ZIF connector and make a ribbon cable with a USB-C i discovered they aren't the standard USB-C pinout.

Thanks, I thought I messed up the connections. I loosely related on "AlignGames" diagram when he attempted this.

 

[QuiTim]

Alright I removed everything that wasnt stock(so my mosfet board and all the wires going to the rp2040), stole a cap from a non working rp2040, attached it and it boots again! Im pretty tired for today so I will propably try to redo everything tomorrow after work but I dont think I will be touching that left capacitor again. Also I attempted to secure the right cap wire with super glue(dumb idea, I know) which is why that area looks so dirty. Any advice on getting it off without further making this poor switch suffer?View attachment 378329

Acetone should disolve super glue. You need to soak the glue so maybe keeping a cotton swab with acetone on top of the area for a few minutes will do the trick.
In this case however, I think you best option is to still to use the left cap. Just so you know Switch works fine without those caps and there are people here who do this mod by always removing the caps and soldering directly to the pads.
I am not advising that you remove the cap, just letting you know that it works without it.

 

[jkyoho]

Thanks, I thought I messed up the connections. I loosely related on "AlignGames" diagram when he attempted this.

View attachment 378336

screenshot from rp2040-zero c-port pinout.
If green cable goes to breakout board D+, that's correct.

 

[Jagovi]

Hi! After reading and reading I have decided to do my Erista V1. I have done all the installation but the Nintendo only start in stock. Picofly flash blue, after that flash green but Nintendo screen appear. What should I test?

 

[QuiTim]

Hi! After reading and reading I have decided to do my Erista V1. I have done all the installation but the Nintendo only start in stock. Picofly flash blue, after that flash green but Nintendo screen appear. What should I test?

1st you should post pictures of all solder points and a video of picofly booting so we can see whats going on. Afterwards someone here will eventually figure out what the problem might be.
Also, what version of firmware did you flash on pico?

 

[frozenboy]

You should not need to debug after a proper install. Lower power consumption on the LED is negligible in this case, but the source code is public, so if you want brighter LED's feel free to make your own build.

sometime it take long to be success glitching, and the led could be useful for me to see if things go right, I just need to wait more or sth wrong just happen, It happen for my oled with data0 is not stable. As far as my remember, sx core led is very bright and easy to see though the micro sd slot, the hwfly board even move the led close to the intake mesh to see though.
Another thing I just got is sw lite with 3.3v point at the sd card is not stable, unable to glitch when sd card is insert as some people just mention a few page above. This weird, all sx lite and hwfly take 3.3 and gnd from the cap above the sd card. I guess I will be back with previous point on the right of ram

 

[Switxh]

sometime it take long to be success glitching, and the led could be useful for me to see if things go right, I just need to wait more or sth wrong just happen, It happen for my oled with data0 is not stable. As far as my remember, sx core led is very bright and easy to see though the micro sd slot, the hwfly board even move the led close to the intake mesh to see though.
Another thing I just got is sw lite with 3.3v point at the sd card is not stable, unable to glitch when sd card is insert as some people just mention a few page above. This weird, all sx lite and hwfly take 3.3 and gnd from the cap above the sd card. I guess I will be back with previous point on the right of ram

The newer HWFLY for the Lites no longer take from that SD card slot capacitor. They added a 3.3v and gnd to the ribbon that they supply for the dat0 cmd clk etc.

 

[QuiTim]

sometime it take long to be success glitching, and the led could be useful for me to see if things go right, I just need to wait more or sth wrong just happen, It happen for my oled with data0 is not stable. As far as my remember, sx core led is very bright and easy to see though the micro sd slot, the hwfly board even move the led close to the intake mesh to see though.
Another thing I just got is sw lite with 3.3v point at the sd card is not stable, unable to glitch when sd card is insert as some people just mention a few page above. This weird, all sx lite and hwfly take 3.3 and gnd from the cap above the sd card. I guess I will be back with previous point on the right of ram

Well, i don't think that comparing a (originaly) $60 SX and $150hwfly hardware that was mass produced with the single purpose in mind with $3 RP2040 general purpose board is fair.
SX was designed by people who reverse engineered and found an exploit in Nintys design so they probably had more knowledge about these things than most of us here combined, but that does not mean that their design is 100% compatible with a totaly different board with different circuitry. Adjustment/compromises need to be made so we can "profit" from this cheap open source project that is now availabe to us, and even those who still continue to use hwfly/instinct are benefiting from the drastic price drop that picofly brought.

 

[frozenboy]

The newer HWFLY for the Lites no longer take from that SD card slot capacitor. They added a 3.3v and gnd to the ribbon that they supply for the dat0 cmd clk etc.

yep, that make me wonder what happen make they change the original design. Did they change the way hwfly glitching so more power needed, or just make it more stable, but I guess the cap above sd card cant provide enough power to supply both sd card and the glitching at the same time.

 

[Jagovi]

1st you should post pictures of all solder points and a video of picofly booting so we can see whats going on. Afterwards someone here will eventually figure out what the problem might be.
Also, what version of firmware did you flash on pico?

Ok, I attach the photo/video. In addition, I took the 3,3V from nand because I ripped the 3,3v capacitor and I wanted avoid do more damage in the area. The version of firmware is fw_2.74.uf2.