Picofly AIO Thread

[cgtchy0412]

Those are capacitors that are the same as the ones being soldered to on the APU, that can be robbed off the RP2040-Zero (see the definitive guide). They are 100nF 0201 capacitors.

Fun fact, those two capacitors affect whether or not your console has bluetooth and wifi capability (ask me how I know)

How did you know?
Seriously, has anyone ever rebal/replace this IC, can i done it using hot air, also any advise on solder ball size?, as this is the first time i will do any bga reball.

 

[lightninjay]

How did you know?
Seriously, has anyone ever rebal/replace this IC, can i done it using hot air, also any advise on solder ball size?, as this is the first time i will do any bga reball.

I ripped my own capacitors off on my first ever install on my own Pikachu/Eevee edition switch And then soldered two off the rp2040-zero that I robbed in order to fix it

Also, here ya go, watch from this time tag and he reballs/replaces this chip

 

[blackheartme]

Check below the flex (1)
Remove some solder from the caps (2) if possible.
Check the soldering on this capacitor (maybe just bad photo)
Clean everything around APU with IPA just to be sure
It looks like one string of multicore wire is loose and might be touching the ground on cap (3)
Again, it's difficult to troubleshoot using a photo...

the short only happened when i close the heatsink cover on the photo, switch cant turn on only black screen, if its opened like in the second photo its booting normally to ofw

( picofly not installed yet , so the wires i soldered shouldnt cause any short)

*point 1 i need to recheck, but i assume it shouldnt be the problem because ive tried to isolate the flex connector with kapton tape and the switch can boot normally

*point 2 should i try thin the solder on point 2 in your picture? maybe its touching the heatsink cover when closed?

 

[abal1000x]

.

 

[blackheartme]

Why not kapton tape the point 2, or give uv resin on it?

i did already but short still happening, thats why im confused, will do uv resin all connection once i know all normal

 

[Adran_Marit]

the short only happened when i close the heatsink cover on the photo, switch cant turn on only black screen, if its opened like in the second photo its booting normally to ofw

( picofly not installed yet , so the wires i soldered shouldnt cause any short)

*point 1 i need to recheck, but i assume it shouldnt be the problem because ive tried to isolate the flex connector with kapton tape and the switch can boot normally

*point 2 should i try thin the solder on point 2 in your picture? maybe its touching the heatsink cover when closed?

do you have any cleaner photos of your cpu cap flex soldering?

 

[QuiTim]

the short only happened when i close the heatsink cover on the photo, switch cant turn on only black screen, if its opened like in the second photo its booting normally to ofw

( picofly not installed yet , so the wires i soldered shouldnt cause any short)

*point 1 i need to recheck, but i assume it shouldnt be the problem because ive tried to isolate the flex connector with kapton tape and the switch can boot normally

*point 2 should i try thin the solder on point 2 in your picture? maybe its touching the heatsink cover when closed?

So just to get thing strait, you still did not solder pico to this?
You only solderd the wires and flex and while the shield is off it boots to OFW when the shield is on then it's black screen?
Asuming the above is correct then:
- The flex on point 1 could be scratched and make contact with shield once closed.
- The shield might be putting pressure on the solder joints in caps (point 2) even though they are covered with capton. This might cause a crack in joint.
Retouch those points and try to have visible gaps when finished (as in photo)

 

[calishooter]

I'm currently on v2.65...what is the proper way to update OFW using v2.66 and v2.67? Thanks!

v2.66 + Bypass to OFW after update for proper fuse burning
v2.67 + Don't bypass to OFW on first install

 

[Phantomas77]

You can update from SD card with picofly toolbox. Follow tha guide from the first page.

 

[deeps]

I'm currently on v2.65...what is the proper way to update OFW using v2.66 and v2.67? Thanks!

v2.66 + Bypass to OFW after update for proper fuse burning
v2.67 + Don't bypass to OFW on first install

download update.bin and picofly toolbox, put update.bin in root of sd card, put picofly toolbox in bootloader/payloads, start hekate and press launch payload, select picofly toolbox, press update, done

 

[calishooter]

download update.bin and picofly toolbox, put update.bin in root of sd card, put picofly toolbox in bootloader/payloads, start hekate and press launch payload, select picofly toolbox, press update, done

I understand the process of updating to v2.67...but what does it mean about fuse burning on v2.66?
Same thing with v2.67? If you can please explain. Thanks!

 

[deeps]

I understand the process of updating to v2.67...but what does it mean about fuse burning on v2.66?
Same thing with v2.67? If you can please explain. Thanks!

oh sorry. the switch burns fuses when its firmware is updated, and the firmware checks that the correct amount of fuses is burnt or it refuses to boot. it's a kind of downgrade prevention. with 2.66/2.67 you can just update like normal. it didn't work properly with 2.65 and earlier because the modchip intervened after reboot which is when fuse burning was supposed to take place. (at least this is how I've understood it; if anyone knows better feel free to correct)

 

[blackheartme]

So just to get thing strait, you still did not solder pico to this?
You only solderd the wires and flex and while the shield is off it boots to OFW when the shield is on then it's black screen?
Asuming the above is correct then:
- The flex on point 1 could be scratched and make contact with shield once closed.
- The shield might be putting pressure on the solder joints in caps (point 2) even though they are covered with capton. This might cause a crack in joint.
Retouch those points and try to have visible gaps when finished (as in photo)

Hey QuiTim thanks for the tip, i resolder and clean the flex, turns out the short came from point 2 of the flex cable wrong soldering point after comparing with video sx core installation.

at last its alive after 5 hours of shady first timer micro soldering lol, this photos taken before putting solder mask

quick tips for beginners or first timer like me:
*right tools for the job is important, especially microscope if you can effort to risk $200 switch tablet, why not invest in $100 microscope instead, you wont regret it.
*read all the threads, find other people comments and installation photos to make sure you know what to do, compare it with the definitive guide, also installation video of hwfly sxcore would help your understanding of the whole picture better before doing it yourself.
*buy SMD training kit or other dead micro electronic board for solder practice, i use my dead RCM dongle + smd training kit for this.
* flux and IPA 99% are your bestfriend always use before and after soldering, making it your reflex
*also you can use single wire 36 AWG for all installation, i use one from stethix.

next will try full mosfet v1 install before moving on to oled ( mosfet is super hard for me i gave up first time, i do recommend use flex v1 or v2 instead) THANK YOU guys ...

 

[Adran_Marit]

Yes tools are a must

 

[QuiTim]

Hey QuiTim thanks for the tip, i resolder and clean the flex, turns out the short came from point 2 of the flex cable wrong soldering point after comparing with video sx core installation.

at last its alive after 5 hours of shady first timer micro soldering lol, this photos taken before putting solder mask

quick tips for beginners or first timer like me:
*right tools for the job is important, especially microscope if you can effort to risk $200 switch tablet, why not invest in $100 microscope instead, you wont regret it.
*read all the threads, find other people comments and installation photos to make sure you know what to do, compare it with the definitive guide, also installation video of hwfly sxcore would help your understanding of the whole picture better before doing it yourself.
*buy SMD training kit or other dead micro electronic board for solder practice, i use my dead RCM dongle + smd training kit for this.
* flux and IPA 99% are your bestfriend always use before and after soldering, making it your reflex
*also you can use single wire 36 AWG for all installation, i use one from stethix.

next will try full mosfet v1 install before moving on to oled ( mosfet is super hard for me i gave up first time, i do recommend use flex v1 or v2 instead) THANK YOU guys ...

I"m glad you made it work bro. Half of the fun here is figuring stuff out.
Cheers

 

[calishooter]

oh sorry. the switch burns fuses when its firmware is updated, and the firmware checks that the correct amount of fuses is burnt or it refuses to boot. it's a kind of downgrade prevention. with 2.66/2.67 you can just update like normal. it didn't work properly with 2.65 and earlier because the modchip intervened after reboot which is when fuse burning was supposed to take place. (at least this is how I've understood it; if anyone knows better feel free to correct)

So now that 16.0.3 is out...whats the proper way to update OFW when considering fuse burning? Thanks!

 

[lightninjay]

So now that 16.0.3 is out...whats the proper way to update OFW when considering fuse burning? Thanks!

Well, most importantly, make sure to update Hekate (and Atmo if you're using it), because 16.0.3 breaks 1.5.2 builds of atmo, but SciresM and CTCaer worked hard to get us all updates in under 24 hours.

 

[agus]

Fw 16. 0.3 is safe? For picofly?

 

[TheCatsMeow]

How did you know?
Seriously, has anyone ever rebal/replace this IC, can i done it using hot air, also any advise on solder ball size?, as this is the first time i will do any bga reball.

Just buy another one that's pre-balled.

If you can't though - Find a stencil and get some leaded solder paste, should have a melting temp of ~183c. Clean all of the solder off of the pcb and the component. Place the stencil on the component, add some solder paste and spread it around. Use a tiny squeegee/metal scraper/xacto knife to scrape off all of the extra. Then use hot air on a low air speed like 10, and a temperature of 250-300c. Heat the whole chip, moving the hot air around in a circle, for about 5 seconds, then hold the hot air in one corner. Once the balls start to melt, slowly move over the whole chip. Once melted, remove the hot air and keep holding the stencil there for another 20-30 seconds. From there you should be able to remove the component from the stencil, and then install it on the pcb


I haven't done that exact component, but I've done a lot of bga work on graphics cards, and that's almost exactly what I do.

 

[lightninjay]

Fw 16. 0.3 is safe? For picofly?

Have you read the definitive guide? Specifically the opening paragraph about how picofly is compatible with ALL switches on ANY firmware?