Hacking Question UF2 modchip calrifications for noob

[carcalal]

Hey all, newb here, currently waiting for my first modded switch to arrive. The guy I bought it from said it's a V1 with a modchip, so I figured out it's probably based on matty's code. I've been diving deep into the modding rabbit-hole and wanted to familiarize myself a bit with the concepts. I have a few questions and would appreciate if someone more experienced could clarify some things

1. The guy I bought it from said the guy that modded it for him, told him not to let the battery fully drain or else the recovery would be much harder. Is it safe to assume this means that the chip is probably not running fusee-suite, thus lacking the code to prevent that the switch from dying?
2. If 1 is true and I want to boot it into UF2 update mode to add fusee-switch is there any way to check if Vol+ is soldered w/o opening the console?
3. This a more conceptual one, but I would like to understand what the modchip does to the boot process. Afaiu, the chip acts as a jig and shirts the joycon rail, basically acting as an "autoRCM" and injecting the part1 as sort of stage 1 bootloader (a la GRUB) . Then part1 loads part2 which can either be a hardcoded Hekate as as a stage 2 bootloader or, fusee-suite which acts as stage 1.5 bootloader which can itself load Hekate. Then with Hekate, we can do the usual and dual boot an OFW and CFW. Am I right in my assumptions? (sorry for the Linux analogies, I'm familiar with them, maybe they help)
   
4. For part1 what is the difference between dualboot and perma-cfw?

Thanks!

 

[thesjaakspoiler]

I think your modchip is an internal payload injector.
Instead of having to use a PC/Smartphone/external-payload-inector, the payload injector is just inside your Switch already.
It's all about the convenience not needing another device to turn your Switch on after you turned it off again or want to reboot is for some reason.

>>If 1 is true and I want to boot it into UF2 update mode to add fusee-switch is there any way to check if Vol+ is soldered w/o opening the console?
Then just turn it by pressing the power button (without the vol button) and see if it boots up your CFW.
If you end up in the official firmware, then Vol+ is not soldered to the ground.
Most mod chip installers do connect it because this also eliminated the need to carry around a jig.

Dual boot is just a boot screen where you select if you want to use the CFW or the original firmware.
Permanent CFW just boots directly into the CFW. Most CFW have an option to show the selection after rebooting.

I haven't heard about any code to prevent the Switch from dying, but I think he is refering to the AutoRCM mode.
After rebooting, the Switch automatically goes to the RCM mode and waits for a payload to be inejcted.
But since you have an internal payload injector, a payload will automatically be injected.
The only thing to take care of is not to leave your Switch completely drained for months.
Then the internal battery will be below a certain voltage and it will not turn on.
Leaving it a few days completely drained (after it shuts itself off) is no problem.
Just charge is for an hour and it's ready to boot again.

 

[carcalal]

I think your modchip is an internal payload injector.
Instead of having to use a PC/Smartphone/external-payload-inector, the payload injector is just inside your Switch already.
It's all about the convenience not needing another device to turn your Switch on after you turned it off again or want to reboot is for some reason.

Yeah kinda figure, and I'm guessing it's probably one based on some run-of-the-mill prototyping board.

>>If 1 is true and I want to boot it into UF2 update mode to add fusee-switch is there any way to check if Vol+ is soldered w/o opening the console?
Then just turn it by pressing the power button (without the vol button) and see if it boots up your CFW.
If you end up in the official firmware, then Vol+ is not soldered to the ground.
Most mod chip installers do connect it because this also eliminated the need to carry around a jig.

Now that I think of it, I guess if it's running the fusee-suite code, I should see the modchip led flashing if I hold down the Vol+ button.

I haven't heard about any code to prevent the Switch from dying, but I think he is refering to the AutoRCM mode.

The part I'm thinking about is the battery management stuff mattytrog mentions in the UF2 update thread:

Battery management:
Console will power off in autoRCM mode if under 5% battery until charging. This prevents bootloops eg in SXOS or any autoboot configuration in Hekate.
If boot fails for whatever reason, battery graphic and information is displayed for 5 seconds, then unit powers off.

Anyway, thanks, it helps wrap my head around it a bit better. If it turns out it doesn't run the latest version of fusee-suite, I might update it as loading Hekate from an SD card payload seems like the cleaner option to me. I might tinker a bit with it.