Hardware Can I move the EMMC chip from a broken board to a working one?

[I pwned U!]

A few months ago, the EMMC board on my unpatched hacked Switch stopped working.

I was managing some screenshots in the Album, and when I tried returning to my suspended game, the Switch crashed, and I had to do a hard shutdown. After rebooting to Hekate, it said that it failed to initialize the EMMC. I could not dump or restore the NAND, or use payloads to browse the filesystem. I even bought a mmcblkNX, but Linux was unable to detect the board. This leads me to believe that, rather than the NAND being corrupted, it could actually be a problem with the board.

I recently bought a replacement board (which Linux was able to detect), but rather than reformat it with my Switch's keys, I would like to replace the EMMC chip on the board with my old one. I was not in the habit of regularly backing up my saves with homebrew apps, so I really want to get my NAND from a few months ago up and running again. I assume the process would be similar to this, but the EMMC chip would have to reballed before trying to apply it to the working board.

I have a soldering / hot air rework station, but this is way beyond my skill level. My dad, who has more experience with soldering and fixing electronics, does not think that he can pull it off, either, and completely refuses to attempt it. Here is an idea of the work that this involves:

https://www.tronicsfixforum.com/t/n...g-the-emmc-chip-switch-it-is-functional-again

Does anyone here have experience with reballing a EMMC chip? I would be willing to ship it to someone to fix it for me (preferably in the U.S.), and since I accidentally ordered 2 mmcblkNX units, I can send you a free one (if you do not already have one) to help sweeten the deal.

Just to clarify, I want to move the (black) chip (highlighted in the attached image) off of the current (green) board to a new board.

 

[binkinator]

A few months ago, the EMMC board on my unpatched hacked Switch stopped working.

I was managing some screenshots in the Album, and when I tried returning to my suspended game, the Switch crashed, and I had to do a hard shutdown. After rebooting to Hekate, it said that it failed to initialize the EMMC. I could not dump or restore the NAND, or use payloads to browse the filesystem. I even bought a mmcblkNX, but Linux was unable to detect the board. This leads me to believe that, rather than the NAND being corrupted, it could actually be a problem with the board.

I recently bought a replacement board (which Linux was able to detect), but rather than reformat it with my Switch's keys, I would like to replace the EMMC chip on the board with my old one. I was not in the habit of regularly backing up my saves with homebrew apps, so I really want to get my NAND from a few months ago up and running again. I assume the process would be similar to this, but the EMMC chip would have to reballed before trying to apply it to the working board.

I have a soldering / hot air rework station, but this is way beyond my skill level, and my dad, who has more experience with soldering and fixing electronics, does not think that he can pull it off, either. Here is an idea of the work that this involves:

https://www.tronicsfixforum.com/t/n...g-the-emmc-chip-switch-it-is-functional-again

Does anyone here have experience with reballing a EMMC chip? I would be willing to ship it to someone to fix it for me, and since I accidentally ordered 2 mmcblkNX units, I can send you a free one (if you do not already have one) to help sweeten the deal.

Might not be as hard as you think:

https://gbatemp.net/threads/switch-oled-256gb-nand-upgrade.608377/page-5#post-9839200

also, it might not be your board. It might just be a bad chip. If you have backups you can restore it to another working chip and it will work just fine. I’ve had my 256G in for a month and have been going online and playing Splatoon3 every day as a test. So far so good on the new chip.

 

[I pwned U!]

If you have backups you can restore it to another working chip and it will work just fine.

I know, and I already have everything required to do that, but then I will lose several years worth of progress in my games. I want to get the saves off of the EMMC chip, and it appears that my only hope is transferring the chip to a working board.

 

[impeeza]

Yes you can, but only as the medium will not work as is, you need to re-crypt the files on the NAND with the keys of the new console.

look for the guides on recover a damaged emmc without a backup.

 

[I pwned U!]

you need to re-crypt the files on the NAND with the keys of the new console

Except that it will be the original chip from the original console, just on a different board. The chip is the black unit, and I want to move it to a new (green) board.

 

[jkyoho]

Reballing emmc is fairly easy. The hard part is backup&restore emmc raw data without mod chip/soft mod on original board.

 

[binkinator]

I know, and I already have everything required to do that, but then I will lose several years worth of progress in my games. I want to get the saves off of the EMMC chip, and it appears that my only hope is transferring the chip to a working board.

Gotcha. Take a look at the vids in the link Imsent. The guy reballed his chips on what looks to be his floor with a paper towel with a hot air gun. It sounds like you might be better equipped. If you have a complete replacement chip you can practice on that one before working on the real deal.

 

[I pwned U!]

My dad insists that reballing the EMMC chip onto a new board is beyond his skill level, and he absolutely refuses to try it. He did try swapping the capacitors between the working board and the broken board, but the results were the same as before.

Is there anyone skilled enough and properly equipped (preferably in the U.S.) who wants to attempt to move the chip to the working board? Unless the EMMC chip itself is dead, then this is definitely my last hope for recovering my saves. As I have said before, when I send you the two boards and the mmcblkNX, I am willing to let you keep that extra mmcblkNX I ordered to help compensate you for your work.

 

[binkinator]

My dad insists that reballing the EMMC chip onto a new board is beyond his skill level, and he absolutely refuses to try it. He did try swapping the capacitors between the working board and the broken board, but the results were the same as before.

Is there anyone skilled enough and properly equipped (preferably in the U.S.) who wants to attempt to move the chip to the working board? Unless the EMMC chip itself is dead, then this is definitely my last hope for recovering my saves. As I have said before, when I send you the two boards and the mmcblkNX, I am willing to let you keep that extra mmcblkNX I ordered to help compensate you for your work.

Take it to a local phone repair shop. They do this sort of work all the time (although they will probably want real money and not a ball of string, a dead spider and a half of a stick of chewing gum.)

 

[I pwned U!]

Take it to a local phone repair shop. They do this sort of work all the time (although they will probably want real money and not a ball of string, a dead spider and a half of a stick of chewing gum.)

It seems that the only places near me are Asurion and Assurant, so I called both places. Asurion does not offer the repair I am requesting. The Assurant guy I spoke with says that the chip is married to the board, and would automatically be reformatted by attaching it to a new board (although I am pretty sure he is wrong about that). He said that if I want them to attempt it anyway, they would have to ship it to a motherboard repair center, and it would cost me $200 (No thanks!).

 

[binkinator]

It seems that the only places near me are Asurion and Assurant, so I called both places. Asurion does not offer the repair I am requesting. The Assurant guy I spoke with says that the chip is married to the board, and would automatically be reformatted by attaching it to a new board (although I am pretty sure he is wrong about that). He said that if I want them to attempt it anyway, they would have to ship it to a motherboard repair center, and it would cost me $200 (No thanks!).

Yes, he’s wrong about married to the board. I have swapped out several in mine.

$200 is way out of line for a repair. He’s probably not familiar with the process and therefore hedging his bets.

Your other option is going to be to learn to do it yourself.

Here’s a good thread from when I did my first one…

https://gbatemp.net/threads/switch-oled-256gb-nand-upgrade.608377/

 

[I pwned U!]

Yes, he’s wrong about married to the board. I have swapped out several in mine.

$200 is way out of line for a repair. He’s probably not familiar with the process and therefore hedging his bets.

Your other option is going to be to learn to do it yourself.

Here’s a good thread from when I did my first one…

https://gbatemp.net/threads/switch-oled-256gb-nand-upgrade.608377/

I do not really have the time or reballing experience to attempt this myself. Since you have successfully pulled it off and live in the U.S., would you be interested in moving the chip to the new board for me?

 

[binkinator]

I do not really have the time or reballing experience to attempt this myself. Since you have successfully pulled it off and live in the U.S., would you be interested in moving the chip to the new board for me?

As it turns out, I greatly value my time as well.