Hacking Hardware Picofly - a HWFLY switch modchip

[danielrezaie]

Hi, hobbyist here, so I have an oled (edited I said old by accident lol) switch, installed a pico fly with both flex pcbs, when I disconnect the cables n turn it on I can hear it boots into stock mode, when I attach it, it once flashed blue then white, and every other time went blue then quick yellow which as you all know, glitch successful, ANYWAYS, ever since the white led, the screen hasn't turned on, touch works fine (I can hear it) but screen is completely black, tried to disconnect battery reconnect, use dc power, but ive ran out of ideas, anyone got any idea what it could be?

 

[Dee87]

Hi, hobbyist here, so I have an old switch, installed a pico fly with both flex pcbs, when I disconnect the cables n turn it on I can hear it boots into stock mode, when I attach it, it once flashed blue then white, and every other time went blue then quick yellow which as you all know, glitch successful, ANYWAYS, ever since the white led, the screen hasn't turned on, touch works fine (I can hear it) but screen is completely black, tried to disconnect battery reconnect, use dc power, but ive ran out of ideas, anyone got any idea what it could be?

since u dont have a display it might be smart to check ur lcd connector (if it sits properly if it does check for bent pins)

if everything is fine there check ur backlight driver

 

[danielrezaie]

since u dont have a display it might be smart to check ur lcd connector (if it sits properly if it does check for bent pins)

if everything is fine there check ur backlight driver

ill check the pins out, I cant decide if I hope its the pins or not lol, also I corrected the previous message (I meant oled silly me)

edit: pins look fine im gonna try plugging it into the dock and see if it outputs a signal

 

[FreeLander]

yes, green adapter to board, then emmc to green adapter.

ngl it's pretty difficult. Reballing one side then trying to reball the other ruins the first reball.

 

[deeps]

ngl it's pretty difficult. Reballing one side then trying to reball the other ruins the first reball.

i usually put mine on a piece of toilet paper while working on it. it eases the pressure on the balls on the back a bit. they will still lose shape while reballing the other side, but not enough to blend together, so then you can just flip the adapter over and heat it again with some flux for the balls to regain their proper shape.

 

[Dee87]

ill check the pins out, I cant decide if I hope its the pins or not lol, also I corrected the previous message (I meant oled silly me)

edit: pins look fine im gonna try plugging it into the dock and see if it outputs a signal

well then u have a issue with backlight probally since oled and digitizer use the same connector.

how did u check the pins inside the connector ?

 

[twins333]

We already changed 3 mosfets. The plot thickens. It seems that there was another person that tried to mod it and failed, the switch always boots to ofw. Already tried with a ribbon. Will try @Dee87's suggestion with two mosfets on the apu and will keep you updated.

Edit: Used these mosfets, which worked with other switches:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EHg6lY7

Turns out it was the rp2040 all along. We used the client's one which refused to work. swapped it out for a known working one and it glitched on the first boot with the no sd image.

 

[danielrezaie]

well then u have a issue with backlight probally since oled and digitizer use the same connector.

how did u check the pins inside the connector ?

I just took the flex out and used a magnifier to see if any pins were bent or missing, im doubting it would be the oled since it worked this morning before the white led

 

[Dee87]

I just took the flex out and used a magnifier to see if any pins were bent or missing, im doubting it would be the oled since it worked this morning before the white led

The white led is normal after the first install u get blue then white led (i think its succes writing to emmc) and then ur yellow for ur glitch succes or morse code for issue.

ur black screen does not come from the pico specially when u boot and get sound .

the issue is eather ur backlight driver or resistor or ur lcd flex cable.

Nothing Else

Post automatically merged: Aug 10, 2023

Turns out it was the rp2040 all along. We used the client's one which refused to work. swapped it out for a known working one and it glitched on the first boot with the no sd image.

did u try the original raspi with the 2 mosfets or did u install the mosfet and then use the "new" raspi straight ahead

 

[FreeLander]

i usually put mine on a piece of toilet paper while working on it. it eases the pressure on the balls on the back a bit. they will still lose shape while reballing the other side, but not enough to blend together, so then you can just flip the adapter over and heat it again with some flux for the balls to regain their proper shape.

Thanks, I’m currently trying it on a V2 emmc just so I can heat the breakout board alone to avoid main board damage, what I’ve noticed is that when I solder the adaptor to the small breakout, I’d check for a beep between dat0,clk,cmd from the breakout points to the adaptor, but nothing. I’m guessing I need to check my reballing.

 

[twins333]

The white led is normal after the first install u get blue then white led (i think its succes writing to emmc) and then ur yellow for ur glitch succes or morse code for issue.

ur black screen does not come from the pico specially when u boot and get sound .

the issue is eather ur backlight driver or resistor or ur lcd flex cable.

Nothing Else

Post automatically merged: Aug 10, 2023

did u try the original raspi with the 2 mosfets or did u install the mosfet and then use the "new" raspi straight ahead

tried everything before switching to the new raspi. the new raspi was the last resort. just to clarify, tried back of the board mosfet and dual apu mosfet BEFORE switching to the new one.

My suspicion is that it came with 2.74. I don't think it was worth checking this, since we needed to solder a usb port.

 

[Dee87]

tried everything before switching to the new raspi. the new raspi was the last resort. just to clarify, tried back of the board mosfet and dual apu mosfet BEFORE switching to the new one.

My suspicion is that it came with 2.74. I don't think it was worth checking this, since we needed to solder a usb port.

just throw those thash clone boards away and use a tiny or zero and be happy

 

[twins333]

just throw those thash clone boards away and use a tiny or zero and be happy

That's the problem, it looked like the real deal.
The tiny ones really look nice. got two of them now, will see how they behave, but I doubt there will be any problems.

 

[Dee87]

i promis u there will be no problem , only thing max gotta do is use 100 for dat0 and cmd thats it

 

[snaker]

ngl it's pretty difficult. Reballing one side then trying to reball the other ruins the first reball.

The method that must be used with this green adapter is the same method that is used for reballing smartphones that use cpu and ram combo ic. For example the A9 chip on iphones 6s. The main idea is to use a higher melting point paste on the base cpu chip and then a lower melting point paste for the ram upper body chip. The pastes that are recommened for such jobs are these:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/400....order_list.order_list_main.15.73241802IexgkM
Tin the uper body of the green adapter with the 138 degree solder paste and tin the lower body of the green adapter and the switch board emmc contacts with the 183 degree soldering paste.Then use solder wick to clean all three spots. This is done to get rid from the solder that is pre applied on the green adapter and switch board.
Reball the under side of the green adapter the 183 degree paste. Solder it on the switch board. Tin the emmc chip with the 138 degree paste and use also solder wick to cleant it. Then reball the emmc chip with the 138 degree paste and use lower heat and air with your hot air station to solder it on the top of the green adapter.
You must know how to use your individual hot air station very well as the use from station to station varies. And you job is done with 100% success rate.

But again for the last time if you want my humble opinion.... stop using these stuff because it is a waste of time and money.
if you want good high quality adapters you can find them here:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005674625886.html?spm=a2g0o.store_pc_groupList.8148356.5.402117e2JFqdfO&pdp_npi=3@dis!EUR!€ 8,68!€ 8,68!!!!!@2101df8a16916997548017110e265d!12000033975255933!sh!GR!129211643

Times have changed. The prices that we knew have long gone. 10 high quality adapters cost 11 euro...
I have done almost 40 oled. I dont use reflows and i dont use reballings, i just press the adapters with tension in palce and solder at 4 points. After many many months even after a year i haven't got not even one! return from a customer..
If the reballing was a must i whould be the first one to agree that it is a must. I have done hundrends of reballings on much harder ics like cpus, combo cpus, charging ics and other much much smaller stuff.
If you have the extra time and you know how to reball do it. It is not bad to do but it is not necessary!

And if you have the slightest uncertainty that you may fail at reballing or even damage you console just dont do it as long as the high quality adapters exist.
That is my humble opinion as a technician.

 

[Weird-Parking356]

good night , what is usually the working temperature of a v1 ? mine it is giving me around 42 while playing

 

[Xocide]

D

 

[blackheartme]

good night , what is usually the working temperature of a v1 ? mine it is giving me around 42 while playing

i suppose its a wrong thread to ask, but to answer your question 42C is within normal temperature, as tegra x1 SOC working temp -40C to 80C, as for switch i consider 60C the max threshold that i would consider the device needs repaste or change fan as ninjas underclock their device lower than normal tegra device,

AFAIK installing PICO would have little to no impact to the temp, i did compared it to my softmod switch

Post automatically merged: Aug 11, 2023

I picked up a RP 2040 lite, though I have some concerns...

I Already have games installed both on the internal storage and Micro SD. Will I be able to leave them there? Will they still work after the RP2040 install? Will they just show up on Sysnand and Emunand? Or is there something I need to do

I enjoy playing online with some games, is it safe to play online while using Sysnand, or should I boot into OFW?

Will I be able to transfer a save from Sysnand to Emunand, modify it, then move it back to sysnand? (ex inventory mods for ToTK)

another misplaced thread questions but ill answer it anyway, yes if you previously have game in sysnand theyll show up in emunand as it is a copy from sysnand, the sysnand will work just fine after pico instal if you make emunand as it is a separate world, yes you can do it, how? google it

is it safe to play online while using Sysnand

short-long answer imagine you can get banned from using 100% OFW without even knowing the reason why ? it happened to some people,
and now you want to use CFW+OFW together so is it safe? you can answer by yourself

(PS: it can be pervented+ using precautions by lots of method but im asure you no one would guarantee 100% safety)

 

[abal1000x]

I picked up a RP 2040 lite, though I have some concerns...

I Already have games installed both on the internal storage and Micro SD. Will I be able to leave them there? Will they still work after the RP2040 install? Will they just show up on Sysnand and Emunand? Or is there something I need to do

I enjoy playing online with some games, is it safe to play online while using Sysnand, or should I boot into OFW?

Will I be able to transfer a save from Sysnand to Emunand, modify it, then move it back to sysnand? (ex inventory mods for ToTK)

If you are concern about safety, the safest route is don't mod your device.

If safety is not your concern, then the most risky route is goes online, since in that route the N could do something to your device via internet. If you ignore the risk, then the most safest route is using emunand for the rest, and use sysnand only when you goes online.

Yet if you discard the risk again, you might goes online in emunand, while activating ip blocker for nintendo sites.

The golden rule in sysnand, is don't modify anything. So modify game, save, or whatever, will make you banned.

Play the mod gave, save, or whatever on emunand.

 

[Dee87]

I picked up a RP 2040 lite, though I have some concerns...

I Already have games installed both on the internal storage and Micro SD. Will I be able to leave them there? Will they still work after the RP2040 install? Will they just show up on Sysnand and Emunand? Or is there something I need to do

I enjoy playing online with some games, is it safe to play online while using Sysnand, or should I boot into OFW?

Will I be able to transfer a save from Sysnand to Emunand, modify it, then move it back to sysnand? (ex inventory mods for ToTK)

what is a rp2040 lite?