Hacking Hardware Picofly - a HWFLY switch modchip

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Does someone know why when turning of the switch 5 seconds after, sometimes the picofly goes "blue... blue.. light" (like when booting) but nothing happens.

I've seen this phenomen with rp2040 tiny and also pre-assemble rp2040 from aliexpress
 
and your wiring pictures on the board?
Here. Not particularly clean since I redid every wire at least twice. Anyway, the cause of the error was an extra 47 ohm resistor I had on CLK, now removed everything works fine.
 

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Here. Not particularly clean since I redid every wire at least twice. Anyway, the cause of the error was an extra 47 ohm resistor I had on CLK, now removed everything works fine.
I normally replace the resistors on the tiny directly instead of adding on on the pin hole
 

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Does someone know why when turning of the switch 5 seconds after, sometimes the picofly goes "blue... blue.. light" (like when booting) but nothing happens.

I've seen this phenomen with rp2040 tiny and also pre-assemble rp2040 from aliexpress
Something to do with the tegra nvidia chip and how it does its post shutdown.
 
Hey all, I installed a RP2040 in my switch lite: when I turn it back on, I get a long blue light, a single yellow flash, then the backlight goes on but the screen stays black. I checked continuity on the chip-connections and diodes on the others, all seem to be OK. Any idea what I'm doing wrong ?

Thanks!
 
Hello guys,

Took me some time to come post, dont know why i didnt earlier. I installed picofly aliexpress on my switch lite with a very professional installer shop, it booted to hekate the first time but couldnt read the emmc, then it purple screen everytime to ofw. After troubleshooting it and resoldering, it just boots to purple screen even with or without chip. We got the emmc out and read the dump, it was locked and we couldnt reflash it, so we got a new emmc, installed it and filled it with dump, but it would stuck on nintendo logo. I saw the video about guide 1 unbrick on youtube and thought lets do it, so we reinstalled the chip and now its back to purple screen again. What can i do in this case? We checked the soldering points and there isnt a short anywhere. Any advice on what to do? We are super lost and i really dont know what else to try. Pics included are the install:

First problem i see is your cpu flex, it is supposed to sit flush against cpu, with the anchor pads (the big pads under se1 and2 on the flex)under the cpu frame and they need to be soldered to that.

The problem you have now is that your flex sits on top of the Capacitors. And i bet you dont even have proper connection between caps and flex.

After that you need to check resistors on the chip itself.

And why start messing with the emmc? Thats the last thing you should do, hope you didnt turn your switch into a brick.

Last thing, a short measument dosen’t mean that it is a correct install.
You need to measuring in diode mode and then you can tell whats bad or not
 
the anchor pads (the big pads under se1 and2 on the flex)under the cpu frame and they need to be soldered to that
Just a quick note on this: according to Sthetix those big pads don't really need to be soldered to the frame, as the ground on the caps is enough. It helps to anchor the flex, but on the other hand makes it harder to remove, and if you use too much solder, the frame cover won't fit well.

But yes, the flex should be flush against the APU and with all pads below the edges of the frame.
 
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First problem i see is your cpu flex, it is supposed to sit flush against cpu, with the anchor pads (the big pads under se1 and2 on the flex)under the cpu frame and they need to be soldered to that.
Those pads have the sole purpose of anchoring the flex and making sure that when you move the connector the force is not only discharged on those small caps with the risk of breaking them
 
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finally did one of these RP2040 installs; good learning experience after several years since my last SAMD21 install. went with a seeed xiao RP2040, dual mosfet. relocated the status LED to the front of the board where the (nearly) unused home button LED was, so it can act as an external status indicator. boot times seem good. quite pleased

edit: I have posted wiring diagrams for both the lite and normal switch for this status LED mod. feel free to let me know if you try it out

View attachment 379924 View attachment 379925

View attachment 379927

hehe

PXL_20240818_092615622.jpg



 
Need some help.

V2 samsung. Connected everything always getting *== code. Checked all lines, tried another chip (rp2040 tiny), changed the mosfests (back side install) and always getting no emmc cmd1 request code.

Not sure what else to try. Should I try a picofly on this system or i2c wires? Never had this sort of issue on a v2 before. Just bad luck?
 
Need some help.

V2 samsung. Connected everything always getting *== code. Checked all lines, tried another chip (rp2040 tiny), changed the mosfests (back side install) and always getting no emmc cmd1 request code.

Not sure what else to try. Should I try a picofly on this system or i2c wires? Never had this sort of issue on a v2 before. Just bad luck?

I'd guess you've mixed up the cmd/clk wires. go double check
 
Last edited by vulp_vibes,
pay attention to the mosfet Drain, Source and Gate connectivity you should tell this is the way when v2 flex fits to v1 CPU
Hi dear, I’m face issue with V1 (clarify board requires V1 flex). I’m running more than 80 installation on differents console and models and face this issue, just for this console.

It only allow me initialise on OFW for the first time, CFW works fine with Emmunand every time.
I well know that it’s not the sd card, nor the sysnand nor the the chip.
So I finally change the cpu flex V1, again, first time can move in OFW and second time stuck on second nintendo switch logo, By the way, the rest of functionalities works fine.

I’m desperate on this.

Pico FW 2.74
OFW 18.1.0 and latest Hekate and atmosphere versions as usual.
 
Hi dear, I’m face issue with V1 (clarify board requires V1 flex). I’m running more than 80 installation on differents console and models and face this issue, just for this console.

It only allow me initialise on OFW for the first time, CFW works fine with Emmunand every time.
I well know that it’s not the sd card, nor the sysnand nor the the chip.
So I finally change the cpu flex V1, again, first time can move in OFW and second time stuck on second nintendo switch logo, By the way, the rest of functionalities works fine.

I’m desperate on this.

Pico FW 2.74
OFW 18.1.0 and latest Hekate and atmosphere versions as usual.
On DAT0 and CMD did you put 100ohm?
 

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