Hacking Hardware Picofly - a HWFLY switch modchip

[thesjaakspoiler]

If you're making money off doing the service, you should always use pre-assembled flex.

With a stack of RP2040's and a roll of the right wire, you can perform an install on any device a customer brings in.
With all these flex cables, you do need to have the right one in stock to do the mod.
And Ali doesn't always send the best quality products.

 

[lightautodark]

With a stack of RP2040's and a roll of the right wire, you can perform an install on any device a customer brings in.
With all these flex cables, you do need to have the right one in stock to do the mod.
And Ali doesn't always send the best quality products.

yea but it takes way too long compared to preassembled flex. Can't really argue against 2 solder points on v1/v2 vs 14 points (both ends of wires) + 3 resistors. my work colleagues brought in 7 units the other day. If I were to do all wires for these 7 units then my Saturday would be gone. Mind you I do these for free as well.

 

[DumbMJ]

Looking at all these threads of fortunate people modding their switches, not like I'll ever be able to do it. I'm to young and I'll probably risk getting my switch stolen if I go and get it modchipped. Rather than just selling it like a normal human being :/

 

[abal1000x]

Looking at all these threads of fortunate people modding their switches, not like I'll ever be able to do it. I'm to young and I'll probably risk getting my switch stolen if I go and get it modchipped. Rather than just selling it like a normal human being :/

When i around 13, i already mod my cga monitor into vga monitor.

 

[thesjaakspoiler]

Looking at all these threads of fortunate people modding their switches, not like I'll ever be able to do it. I'm to young and I'll probably risk getting my switch stolen if I go and get it modchipped. Rather than just selling it like a normal human being :/

Get an old unpatched V1.

Or start practicing with a soldering iron and rework station.
This is how most of us got started.
For $30 you can get a brand new Chinese knock-off rework station with soldering iron.
Enough electronics in the dumpster to take apart and practice on.
This might also land you a nice engineering job in the future.

 

[AceCuba]

hey guys i mod consoles here in cuba , using the rehius fw for a year now alwys 2.73 and never an issue , so my question . its necesary to change to the 2.80 whats the chagelog ? . the onyl issue i found on 2.73 its some samsung 256 500 gb sdcards sais fail to init . but the rp2040 works with no issues

 

[twins333]

hey guys i mod consoles here in cuba , using the rehius fw for a year now alwys 2.73 and never an issue , so my question . its necesary to change to the 2.80 whats the chagelog ? . the onyl issue i found on 2.73 its some samsung 256 500 gb sdcards sais fail to init . but the rp2040 works with no issues

Hello. Please at least 2.75, or newer. The latest version(2.80) has additional glitch retries, but 2.75 works just fine in almost all cases.

 

[JonJaded]

There is a tool called a 'screw extractor'.
I have only used the ones for normal sized screws but they do sell them for small screw as well :
https://www.ifixit.com/products/precision-screw-extractor-set

Post automatically merged: Oct 15, 2024

Damn, bro. I feel for you.
I haven't seen this much carnage in a long time.

Did he also manage to chip off a part of your emmc in the middle?!

I'll take a look at the screw extractor, thanks. And yeah like everyone else said it was some flux on the pcb... Complete mess. I cleaned up as best I could with 99%.

The audacity to charge / sell a service when the quality of work is so poor

Yup, do not work with FB market place people. His "work" on the page was way better than this but clearly he knows the uninformed/less technical users will go to him. Fool me once.

You're lucky the device still works.

tried a different orientation today; think it lines up rather nicely

Now these are some great looking installs.

Its not that bad though. My first try way more ugly than this.

And yeah, I've seen CRAZIER installs on reddit.. You'd think they're using welding guns (and some how those work...)

Congrats for the succeed.
[...]
Or maybe my skills on flex are not that good. Who knows, maybe someone could master the technique.

Thanks for all the insight. I'll take a look the next time I have to open the switch up, which I know will likely occur because of the flex. I feel adapters are only viable if you know how to reinstall/adjust them. But obviously kamikaze is the be all, end all if you got the skill.

 

[darkgunsou86]

hello. i installed a picofly with firmware 2.80 in my oled switch but it got the failed to init sd card error.
can any problem with the installation cause this error?
i tried sandisk 32 gb and 512 gb both fat32 and exfat and it still gives this error.

 

[abal1000x]

hello. i installed a picofly with firmware 2.80 in my oled switch but it got the failed to init sd card error.
can any problem with the installation cause this error?
i tried sandisk 32 gb and 512 gb both fat32 and exfat and it still gives this error.

Check the connection to emmc (CMD, CLK, Dat0)

 

[darkgunsou86]

Check the connection to emmc (CMD, CLK, Dat0)

would you guide me on how to check it?

 

[abal1000x]

would you guide me on how to check it?

Check the continuity between the point on mainboard to the picofly board.

If its possible send the picture in here.

Is it oled? If its oled, is the dat0 using flex?

 

[darkgunsou86]

yes im using the flex. the resistance reading is i think 0.460

 

[Nephiel]

But obviously kamikaze is the be all, end all if you got the skill.

Kamikaze is also my current choice, but IMHO the best and cleanest install method for OLEDs (especially for brand-new ones with no userdata to lose) is the full-size eMMC adapter PCB. The only downside is the two reballings it needs (with all the heat stressing that entails) before a backup can be made.

 

[abal1000x]

yes im using the flex. the resistance reading is i think 0.460

To my experience, Dat0 flex are famous to that problem.

Second are CLK.

Picofly check the voltage on CMD and Dat0. So the voltage are PASS. But it doesn't mean that its free from problem.
Both CMD and Dat0 are used to send signal of binary digital (bit). CMD like the name its to control and status of the emmc. And Dat0 is where the data actually read and written into.

CLK are problematic, because theres no check in there.
And the CLK on OLED are kind of difficult point to work on.
CLK are for synchronizing the CMD and Dat0, so picofly could read and write into the emmc.

The init error (cmiiw) happened because picofly couldn't read from the emmc to check whether the payload in there.
Or couldn't write the payload onto the emmc via Dat0.

 

[darkgunsou86]

To my experience, Dat0 flex are famous to that problem.

Second are CLK.

Picofly check the voltage on CMD and Dat0. So the voltage are PASS. But it doesn't mean that its free from problem.
Both CMD and Dat0 are used to send signal of binary digital (bit). CMD like the name its to control and status of the emmc. And Dat0 is where the data actually read and written into.

CLK are problematic, because theres no check in there.
And the CLK on OLED are kind of difficult point to work on.
CLK are for synchronizing the CMD and Dat0, so picofly could read and write into the emmc.

The init error (cmiiw) happened because picofly couldn't read from the emmc to check whether the payload in there.
Or couldn't write the payload onto the emmc via Dat0.

so its not the problem with the gamecard reader/sd card daughterboard?

 

[abal1000x]

so its not the problem with the gamecard reader/sd card daughterboard?

No, its way before that.
Its even before the glitch happened.
Its right after the voltage check stage.

 

[darkgunsou86]

thanks. will check it once i have time.

 

[psycho-neon]

don't know why you'd bother with the wires even if you're a hobbyist. It's so clean with the template flex.

Wires can be clean also depending on how tidy you can get.

 

[Mr Skinner]

Quick Question:
Purple Screen in Switch lite, when boots is fixable like in oled ( replacement of the resistor)? Or only reballing?