Hacking Hardware Picofly - a HWFLY switch modchip

[linkref]

I've ordered 5 rp2040 chips, two of them worked but the 3 others no...
If i connect them on pc and flash the firmware, i do not have the light that confirm the flash.
If soldered to switch, nothing happens.
But i can see rp2040 in my pc.

I thought bad chip but for 3 of them.. ? Is it possible ? Am i missing something ?

Thanks

 

[superxoi]

I've ordered 5 rp2040 chips, two of them worked but the 3 others no...
If i connect them on pc and flash the firmware, i do not have the light that confirm the flash.
If soldered to switch, nothing happens.
But i can see rp2040 in my pc.

I thought bad chip but for 3 of them.. ? Is it possible ? Am i missing something ?

Thanks

after you flash it. unplug it and plug it in again, do it connect to pc again? if it does, that indicate your nand flash storage ic not sitting correctly .

 

[Razorbacktrack]

This may lose compatibility with Toshiba & SanDisk eMMC. The current design is made to support the widest possible range of hardware.

Also there was no "burning internal fuses", the update count was implemented by writing single bits on the specific flash page. This was made to avoid wearing out of the SPI flash where the firmware is stored (by reducing erases of that flash page). Complete re-write of the page on every update may eventually lead to the device failure.

P.S. Fixed the RP2040-Tiny LED indication in the fw 2.77, if someone still needs that.

Thanks for your hard work.
Could you please update the "main" post (https://gbatemp.net/threads/picofly-a-hwfly-switch-modchip.622701/page-78#post-10090767) or add the changelog on GitHub?
Thanks!

 

[Jkop]

Hi, wonder if anyone can help.

1 out 10 times my switch oled will boot into ofw. Error code is **=

My dat0 is kamikazed.

What could be causing this? Bad chip?

DId you figure out this problem? I am also having this problem. 1 out of 15 boots into OFW same error code. It's driving me crazy. Redid all points changed out the cpu flex. Mine is also kamikazed. I have retrained, different firmwares spent half the day trying to figure out this problem

 

[Nephiel]

DId you figure out this problem? I am also having this problem. 1 out of 15 boots into OFW same error code. It's driving me crazy. Redid all points changed out the cpu flex. Mine is also kamikazed. I have retrained, different firmwares spent half the day trying to figure out this problem

Which chip board? Can you measure ohms between CMD/DAT0/CLK and the corresponding pins on the RP2040 IC?

 

[Woody211]

does someone know where we can find this small chip and this kamikaze flex ??? thanks

These or a very similar one are appearing on aliexpress. Nice quality flex though, clean cut and lines up well. The kamikaze connection looks promising but i havent used it. from vaalpaev store.

 

[lightautodark]

DId you figure out this problem? I am also having this problem. 1 out of 15 boots into OFW same error code. It's driving me crazy. Redid all points changed out the cpu flex. Mine is also kamikazed. I have retrained, different firmwares spent half the day trying to figure out this problem

I just use a chip from a different batch/seller/supplier and that solved my problem. In some oled, you need to add a 47ohm resistor on the dat0 line. Something to do with the brand of the nand etc (you can look this up on this forum). However, the whole point of using a generic aliexpress chip is to save time. Some generic chips have the right resistor values, so if the one from this seller doesn't work, I just try a different design chip until it does. I'm sure you have noticed the design of these generic chips are not the same each time you received them.

Post automatically merged: Sep 1, 2024

These or a very similar one are appearing on aliexpress. Nice quality flex though, clean cut and lines up well. The kamikaze connection looks promising but i havent used it. from vaalpaev store.

vaalpaev store is kinda expensive. I normally pay half of that from random new listings that get removed very quickly. Give kamikaze a go, it cuts down the time taken to do the mod by a lot. The trick to do it successfully is being able to see the point on the second layer before you grind it by flooding the point with isopropyl alcohol or uv light.

 

[lowmist]

Hi there, my Picofly V2 Switch worked fine till today morning when I woke up. Till then it stays glitching till timeout (===). I already:
- checked soldering
- cleaned overflown thermal paste
- can boot OFW without sd card
- with sd card cannot boot OFW
- without sd card on CFW I recieve the "No SD card"
- with sd card on CFW it glitches till timeout (===)

Do you have any ideas?

 

[rehius]

DId you figure out this problem? I am also having this problem. 1 out of 15 boots into OFW same error code.

Tried to resolve this issue in 2.78

 

[jkyoho]

Tried to resolve this issue in 2.78

WOW, more defined error LED code, awesome

 

[rehius]

WOW, more defined error LED code, awesome

erm, no, the indication is the same

 

[NizNoz]

New clone hwfly install on OLED. Is this amber or yellow.. and what does it mean?? I had checked just before installing metal back cover, and received the “no SD card message”. I turned the console off, inserted the SD card, and continued closing up. Now there’s nothing on the screen, and this sequence lights up.

 

[ElMeteK]

New clone hwfly install on OLED. Is this amber or yellow.. and what does it mean?? I had checked just before installing metal back cover, and received the “no SD card message”. I turned the console off, inserted the SD card, and continued closing up. Now there’s nothing on the screen, and this sequence lights up.

** RST is not connected

 

[deeps]

New clone hwfly install on OLED. Is this amber or yellow.. and what does it mean?? I had checked just before installing metal back cover, and received the “no SD card message”. I turned the console off, inserted the SD card, and continued closing up. Now there’s nothing on the screen, and this sequence lights up.

RST not connected

 

[AstralVoyager]

Hey guys
Sorry to hijack the post, I could do with your wisdom.

To cut to the chase: Modding a switch lite, after soldering all the cables (SP and new FPC one) put kapton tape on some solder points, I connected the RP2040, it glitched and got the "NO SD" screen which seemed to be Spacecraft-NX. Got an SD card, put hekate and AMS, I could create emuMMC and go to CFW.

Ok so then I proceeded to put everything back and it was alright until I put kapton tape on the RP2040 chip and screwed the metal shield back and tried to turn the switch on: nothing.

So, I unscrewed the shield, it seemed that the RP2040 didn't give any light while pressing the power button, it's a bit messy and I don't remember well but it seemed to light back on, a few blue blinkings, a short white and nothing (I may also have hotplugged it and got different yellow blinks, then back to original)... It seems I couldn't turn the switch back on too without the RP2040 connected.

I tried to plug the RP2040 to a PC but the best I got while holding BOOT was seeing the explorer opens with the 2 htm and txt files and then a disconnection chime and USB device not recognized... on different ports, PC, cables; eventually I got nothing while BOOT presed and just 2 flashing yellow light when connecting as is...

So I'm a bit lost, I don't understand what happened for it to turn that bad, I tried to prevent any short, I don't know what could have happened. Thank you

 

[NizNoz]

Fixed! Thanks for the help! It was indeed point B, but because I seated the chip slight in the way of the heat shield. Worth checking if anyone has a similar issue.. as you can see, B runs right next to the shield in my setup. I rerouted it, and shifted the chip a millimeter away.

 

[Danook28]

If the black S red D GIVE read for mosfet and black D red S GIVE read meaning bad mosfet.????

 

[Aymenmoham]

I have this error *=* not boot ofw

 

[remlei]

I just use a chip from a different batch/seller/supplier and that solved my problem. In some oled, you need to add a 47ohm resistor on the dat0 line. Something to do with the brand of the nand etc (you can look this up on this forum). However, the whole point of using a generic aliexpress chip is to save time. Some generic chips have the right resistor values, so if the one from this seller doesn't work, I just try a different design chip until it does. I'm sure you have noticed the design of these generic chips are not the same each time you received them.

also experienced this issue back then, **= error code.

what fixed mine is not use any rp2040 based modchip, its a little bit pricier but the fpga based modchip (instinct nx) did fixed this erratic issue.

mine is not kamizeed but using a interposer or board that sandwich between the switch motherboard and the mmc chip. based on samsung mmc with OLED switch.

 

[superfiege]

also experienced this issue back then, **= error code.

what fixed mine is not use any rp2040 based modchip, its a little bit pricier but the fpga based modchip (instinct nx) did fixed this erratic issue.

mine is not kamizeed but using a interposer or board that sandwich between the switch motherboard and the mmc chip. based on samsung mmc with OLED switch.

Yes, same here. Nobody can help, but in this case i change to instint, too. For me now its the only solution.