Hacking PSA: Stop downgrading unless you know what you're doing!

[Kafluke]

Purple screens?
Black screens?
Just Switch logo and then nothing?

These are just a few examples of what you will face unless you fully understand what downgrading your switch means.

You cannot just willy nilly downgrade your switch to any firmware version that you find online and expect it to cold boot to official firmware without issues.

Your fuse count MUST match the firmware version that you are downgrading to and the boot0 and boot1 files that you use are console specific and firmware specific. If you just flash a firmware to your switch that you found online and it doesn't contain these console specific files and the fuse counts don't match then you are going to have issues.

Every time you cold boot your Switch to official firmware (not RCM and custom payload) the console checks to see if your fuse count matches the firmware that is on the sysnand. If you're booting a higher firmware than your fuse count then the Switch will just burn the fuses to match the higher firmware. If your firmware is lower than what your fuse count indicates then the switch won't boot at all. You'll only be able to boot at that point with RCM and a custom bootloader that ignores the fuse count.

If you previously updated your Switch using Choidejour and turned on AutoRCM then your fuse count should stay low enough for you to restore your nand backup that you made previous to upgrading the firmware on the sysnand.

If you didn't pay attention to any of the guides here on GBATemp and never made a nand backup and never preserved your fuse count there is still hope for a downgrade (many guides on here to help you with that) but you will always have to boot to RCM and load a custom bootloader in order to boot your Switch after that because your fuse count won't match and there is no way to "unburn" a fuse.

If none of this makes sense to you then you shouldn't be attempting any kind of downgrade anyway.

Use hekate to find your fuse count and check here to see the current known fuse count for all firmwares.

Edit: Added fuse count list.

 

[AmandaRose]

Totally agree with the above but nobody will take notice. And besides nobody on the temp ever bricks their consoles it's always a brother/cousin/friend ect ect that does dumb shit.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I would say that this should be obvious to everyone, but considering the number of threads saying "I downgraded from 7.0 and now I can't boot" that have popped up lately it clearly isn't as obvious as I would like it to be.
Doubt most of them will read this thread anyway if they've been blind enough to miss that information up until now, but hey, it's worth a shot.

 

[KHANV1CT]

Why downgrade anyway? Aren't most CFW compatible with all OFW?

 

[Kafluke]

Why downgrade anyway? Aren't most CFW compatible with all OFW?

Not 7.x yet

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I would say that this should be obvious to everyone, but considering the number of threads saying "I downgraded from 7.0 and now I can't boot" that have popped up lately it clearly isn't as obvious as I would like it to be.
Doubt most of them will read this thread anyway if they've been blind enough to miss that information up until now, but hey, it's worth a shot.

I agree 100% but like you said. The front page is littered with questions about this.

 

[mdmachine]

lol... The latest updated guide that's been passed around here and reddit literally has big red boxed warnings covering all of this, that the users have to scroll by, just to do the procedure.

If they can't be bothered to read that, why would they read this?

Honestly it would be great if there was a bot for here and reddit that could... Detect the wording, cuz its almost always the same. Reply VIA PM with the link they already failed to follow, then delete/lock the thread.

At best, just ignore them and let it fall with 0 replies lol. Straight up bump ANYTHING else that isn't "one of those" just to get em off the 1st page as quickly as possible... lol

But who am I kidding? If it isn't this, it's just the usual "X.X.X came out 2 minutes ago, is it hacked? should I update?", "where do I find keys!" or "updated now CFW no worky".

And NEVER underestimate what a goldfish can do when left unattended!

 

[Deleted-351540]

And NEVER underestimate what a goldfish can do when left unattended!

This. I cannot agree with this more. My goldfish learned to swim and breathe underwater all by himself! I still marvel at my goldfishes intelligence.

 

[Kafluke]

lol... The latest updated guide that's been passed around here and reddit literally has big red boxed warnings covering all of this, that the users have to scroll by, just to do the procedure.

If they can't be bothered to read that, why would they read this?

Honestly it would be great if there was a bot for here and reddit that could... Detect the wording, cuz its almost always the same. Reply VIA PM with the link they already failed to follow, then delete/lock the thread.

At best, just ignore them and let it fall with 0 replies lol. Straight up bump ANYTHING else that isn't "one of those" just to get em off the 1st page as quickly as possible... lol

But who am I kidding? If it isn't this, it's just the usual "X.X.X came out 2 minutes ago, is it hacked? should I update?", "where do I find keys!" or "updated now CFW no worky".

And NEVER underestimate what a goldfish can do when left unattended!

I agree. I more or less made this so I have something to reply to all these threads with. Hate typing out the same thing over and over again.

 

[natkoden]

lol... The latest updated guide that's been passed around here and reddit literally has big red boxed warnings covering all of this, that the users have to scroll by, just to do the procedure.

If they can't be bothered to read that, why would they read this?

Honestly it would be great if there was a bot for here and reddit that could... Detect the wording, cuz its almost always the same. Reply VIA PM with the link they already failed to follow, then delete/lock the thread.

At best, just ignore them and let it fall with 0 replies lol. Straight up bump ANYTHING else that isn't "one of those" just to get em off the 1st page as quickly as possible... lol

But who am I kidding? If it isn't this, it's just the usual "X.X.X came out 2 minutes ago, is it hacked? should I update?", "where do I find keys!" or "updated now CFW no worky".

And NEVER underestimate what a goldfish can do when left unattended!

People will do whatever they feel like doing, most don't even stop 5 minutes to consider the repercussions, that's why you see threads that make you go "why? how?" all the time.

The other day a guy was asking on another forum why his switch showed a black screen after following a video on youtube, turns out that black screen was AutoRCM doing it's job and he didn't even had tegraRCMGUI/smash and his microSD ready.

Like... watch the video until the end, Jesus...

 

[The Catboy]

It should honestly go without saying but don't do anything extremely risky without investing some time into learning the risks, benefits, and you know just knowing something about what you are getting into. People don't realize that they are playing with fire and if they aren't careful, they will get burned.

 

[digipimp75]

Reading is fundamental

 

[Budsixz]

Also what I find annoying are people who don't let us know when an issue is fixed or not fixed on a thread that they started
And let's not forget the ungrateful bunch who bash devs for stuff they got for free and keep pestering every1 by asking eta
Really people should learn Patience and Respect

 

[natkoden]

Also what I find annoying are people who don't let us know when an issue is fixed or not fixed on a thread that they started
And let's not forget the ungrateful bunch who bash devs for stuff they got for free and keep pestering every1 by asking eta
Really people should learn Patience and Respect

That really gets under my skin... you google something and you're lucky if you see a "I finally fixed it, thanks" post if anything...

 

[AngeloftheNight091]

This Post should be Pinned to the forums so its the first thing people see

 

[mdmachine]

This place could use a post-count restriction, with the exception of one sub that allows say 1-20 postcount people to spam away in.

8 out of 10 times it's somebody with 1-5 posts. Never to be seen again more often than not.

Or at least an IT section, for those who want to help others and not earn $15 an hour.

"Sir, is the unit plugged in? Did your press power?"

 

[Nononoki]

Quick question: Do the boot0 and boot1 files change after an upgrade or do they always stay the same?

 

[The Real Jdbye]

lol... The latest updated guide that's been passed around here and reddit literally has big red boxed warnings covering all of this, that the users have to scroll by, just to do the procedure.

If they can't be bothered to read that, why would they read this?

Honestly it would be great if there was a bot for here and reddit that could... Detect the wording, cuz its almost always the same. Reply VIA PM with the link they already failed to follow, then delete/lock the thread.

At best, just ignore them and let it fall with 0 replies lol. Straight up bump ANYTHING else that isn't "one of those" just to get em off the 1st page as quickly as possible... lol

But who am I kidding? If it isn't this, it's just the usual "X.X.X came out 2 minutes ago, is it hacked? should I update?", "where do I find keys!" or "updated now CFW no worky".

And NEVER underestimate what a goldfish can do when left unattended!

That's not a bad idea. I'm thinking that a Xenforo mod to detect common keywords when posting a new thread, to show them a link to common solutions and suggesting them to post in noob paradise if they still need help, and requiring them to actually confirm they've read it if they still want to post the thread would be quite effective. I've seen similar things in email support, where you often just get a bot reply with common solutions and you have to reply to that before an actual human being will read your message. It would certainly help cut down on repeated questions.

 

[mdmachine]

That's not a bad idea. I'm thinking that a Xenforo mod to detect common keywords when posting a new thread, to show them a link to common solutions and suggesting them to post in noob paradise if they still need help, and requiring them to actually confirm they've read it if they still want to post the thread would be quite effective. I've seen similar things in email support, where you often just get a bot reply with common solutions and you have to reply to that before an actual human being will read your message. It would certainly help cut down on repeated questions.

That's a glorious idea!
Would improve qol around here greatly!

 

[The Real Jdbye]

That's a glorious idea!
Would improve qol around here greatly!

If it was up to me, I'd definitely write something like this. It would certainly take effort to write it and to constantly tweak it to detect more keywords and always have up to date suggestions. But I think it'd be worth it since it would result in a better forum experience for everyone.

 

[Draxzelex]

The real PSA is stop updating your console to 7.0 and leaving Wi-Fi settings on a hacked console. CFW updaters only work once you reboot the console so might as well turn it off and remove the SD card and no point in FTP when we have nxmtp instead.

 

[ZachyCatGames]

leaving Wi-Fi settings on a hacked console.

But muh online play