Repairing a blue screen bricked switch. any suggestions?

Discussion in 'Switch - Exploits, Custom Firmwares & Soft Mods' started by oriam, Mar 25, 2019.

  1. oriam
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    oriam Member

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    Hi guys,
    I couldn't resist to buy a blue screen bricked Switch from eBay which is capable of CFW and I want to try to fix it. Otherwise if it will not work I will sell the spare parts.

    So here is the current status of the Switch:
    I was told by the seller that the Switch was opened and it was tried to disconnect/connect the battery for fixing (I don't know how this should solve any blue screen bricks...). After receiving I noticed additionally that the +/- vol buttons are not correctly working (- is always pressed). Nevertheless, I managed to start Hekate. In Hekate could read out the fuse count of 8 (FW 6.2.0). However, I can not dump anything because the SD slot seems not to be connected. In addition, I saw that the boot0 and boot1 partition sizes are 0 bytes, so I would guess that the previous owner tried to do a downgrade and something went terribly wrong.

    Right now, I think about the next steps:
    1) I should open the switch and try to see if the SD slot connection is loose
    2) I should see why the vol buttons are not correctly working (maybe misfitted in the case?)
    3) somehow I should try to restore the original partition layout to manually rebuild the NAND by choidujour.

    Regarding the partiton layout I am not sure. I have a working second switch and I know NAND dumps are incompatible but can I use that dump to create the correct partiton layout and then overwrite everything with choidujour afterwards? Or is there any other easier way?

    Regarding the 0 byte size of both boot partitions. Might it be possible that the EMMC is defect or not correctly connected? Would Hekate say something like "no EMMC module found"?

    Anyone tried to fix a Switch with similar problems? Any further suggestions?

    Due to job duties I will not have time to work on the switch until next weekend. So thanks in advance for your suggestions.
     
    #1 Mar 25, 2019
  2. GothicIII

    GothicIII GBAtemp Advanced Fan

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    1st make a nand dump before anything else. I know you currently can't so fix the sd slot beforehand.
    If prodinfo is missing then the switch is not recoverable atm. This is device specific.Without a valid prodinfo you can't boot horizon. So only homebrew like hekate or the upcoming linux would work with it.
    I think hekate is capable of fixing the partition layout if it is borked. But make a dump first. E.g. if the partition table is borked you could fix it and restoring prodinfo might be possible.
     
    #1 Mar 25, 2019
  3. oriam
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    oriam Member

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    Sorry, misread:(
     
    Last edited by oriam, Mar 25, 2019
    KiiWii likes this.
    #1 Mar 25, 2019
  4. Creatable

    Creatable GBAtemp Advanced Fan

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    (insert wacky and amusing place here)
    use gptrestore to attempt to recover it
     
    #2 Mar 26, 2019
  5. Budsixz

    Budsixz GBAtemp Regular

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    what i think he did is kinda tried to restore nand to downgrade and then he failed and left it in autorcm
    later the battery drained entirely and he tried to open the switch and externally tried to charge it
    which he failed again
    when he opened the switch he didnt take proper care i think thats why its malfunctioning in hardware too
    this is just my speculation though
    as for fixing the switch my ideas coincide with yours so unfortunately i cant think of anything more to add
     
    Last edited by Budsixz, Mar 26, 2019
    #3 Mar 26, 2019
  6. Milenko

    Milenko GBAtemp Advanced Maniac

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    Open it and see if the SD slot is disconnected
     
    #4 Mar 26, 2019
  7. PyroGoat

    PyroGoat GBAtemp Regular

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    If I recall correctly and my knowledge isn't out of date, you need your the device specific keys and/or prodinfo to successfully rebuild and encrypt nand to be restored. If I am incorrect please correct me and shoot me a pm :) I have 2 sitting around awaiting better Linux support or for parts until/if any further development comes about.
     
    #5 Mar 26, 2019
  8. oriam
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    oriam Member

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    The keys are no problem. You can get your biskeys with Hecate dumping tsec and fuse info and use the sdsetup website. Their downgrade guide using choidujour explains how to do that. All other keys one can get with lockpick RCM.

    The only problem is the prodinfo.
     
    #6 Mar 26, 2019
  9. oriam
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    oriam Member

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    I have a strange error. When I print the partiton layout Hekate stops to work while showing EMMC user partiton table.

    Also gptrestore stops after decompressing with a crc32 fail. Any ideas what I could do now?
     

    Attached Files:

    #7 Mar 27, 2019
  10. Fanoh

    Fanoh Newbie

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    Any updates to this guys
     
    #8 May 14, 2019
  11. oriam
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    oriam Member

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    No, I can't proceed. The person who owned the switch before (and disconnected/connected the battery for unknown reasons) accidentally damaged one pin of the SD connector:cry:. Or someone has an idea how to fix a broken connector pin/leg?

    So I can't proceed with anything. Neither I can't start Lakka nor try to repair NAND.

    It's useless for me. I want to sell it to people who need spare parts for repairing stuff. E.g. the screen is in very good condition and without scratches or pixel errors. But I had no time up to now to start an eBay auction.
     
    #9 May 14, 2019
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