Switch OLED issues with modchip, blue screen without

[RubyRoid]

I'm having issues with my freshly modded Switch OLED.

It was working and booting fine as soon as I installed the modchip but it was late so I shut it down and put it on charger for the night. The next day I went to install a larger SD card and got an error message. I've tried the old card but that didn't help. I've tried several other known good cards with no success. I've opened an issue in the hekate github repo and got a response that it's either fake or corrupted SD card or the SD connector itself (Update: contacted CTCaer directly and we came to conclusion that the issue is with one of the RAM modules). I don't think it's either one of those since I've been using tested good cards and opened the Switch and carefully inspected the SD connector and found no issues, all the pins look fine, nothing is bent or damaged.

Since I couldn't make the modchip work I decided to disconnect it. I desoldered and isolated all the wires from the chip and tried to boot the console. Got a blue screen. Tried to boot it holding the VOL+ and VOL- buttons but still getting the blue screen.

I'm not sure if simply desoldering the wires from the chip is enough to properly unmod the Switch but I couldn't find any proper instructions online.

Is there a way to make my Switch work again?

 

[RubyRoid]

On question can you dump you emmc or not ? Does it dump without error or do you can an error

Your case is really strange... I mean blue screen don't just come like that, and also missing a part of data in emmc can also give a blue screen

I was able to make a complete dump, got no errors. I can also mount it in Windows and see files on User and System partitions. Everything looks just fine.

 

[zakwarrior]

Can you uncrypt the rawnand using your prod.key? without errors ? And what heppens if you try to load atmosphere, black screen ?

I mean the reflow thing, ok of course i understand blue screen = reflow BUT this is the case when a customer comes and most of the time yeah the switch took a hit

In this situation, the oled was modded then left beside and if it had took a hit or fall down or anything i think you would know right ? Did you take out the qsb from the emmc and clk (other ones can stay connected without chaging anything to the switch boot

 

[RubyRoid]

Can you uncrypt the rawnand using your prod.key? without errors ?

Yes, I can, I get no errors.

And what heppens if you try to load atmosphere, black screen ?

I get the error message attached to my initial post.

In this situation, the oled was modded then left beside and if it had took a hit or fall down or anything i think you would know right ?

I modded it, checked that it booted fine and left it on charger for a night. It didn’t move until the next day when I took it to install a bigger SD card. That’s when I got an error the first time.

Did you take out the qsb from the emmc and clk (other ones can stay connected without chaging anything to the switch boot

Yes, I tried it with everything removed, I get blue screen.

 

[zakwarrior]

wierd.... And so if you check the prodinfo but decrypted everything is correct?
If so i really don't know more then, i gave you all the differents problems people brought me after installing their chip,
You could always reflow cpu, rams, emmc, but like i said it would require a hit to damage them or their soldering balls....
When you give it a try, i really really recommand double heating (pre-heater + top heater) else the intense heat you need if you do from on top can damage other components and in particular the connectors, also good liquid flux

 

[RubyRoid]

I found two shorted capacitors next to max77812 that powers RAM/CPU. Does this mean anything or is it normal?

 

[Rodel]

if you didnt try to reflow the APU.this not solve your problem..try to power on your switch while pushing the APU if its no BSOD means the APU need to reball

 

[Rodel]

try to look at this video

 

[Rodel]

If you reflow the APU and still BSOD it means need to reball the APU.i already repaired BSOD and reflow and i got lucky reflow the APU solve my problem i already repair 5 switch console BSOD.

 

[RubyRoid]

if you didnt try to reflow the APU.this not solve your problem..try to power on your switch while pushing the APU if its no BSOD means the APU need to reball

I already tried to push on APU and that didn't help, still getting blue screen.
Are shorted capacitors I posted above normal or not?

 

[zakwarrior]

I was thinking did you check the circuit and look if maybe you didn't hit a component ? Or maybe drop some soldering tin somewhere (never know just asking...)
Also i checked and those caps they seem shorted but in fact ehy have 15-18 ohms not shorted 0 ohms, so they seem shorted when you check diode with a multi-meter

You mind posting 2 pictures of the mobo top and bottom in good quility so we can have a better look ? maybe we could find something wrong

 

[Rodel]

I already tried to push on APU and that didn't help, still getting blue screen.
Are shorted capacitors I posted above normal or not?

thats normal.

 

[RubyRoid]

I was thinking did you check the circuit and look if maybe you didn't hit a component ? Or maybe drop some soldering tin somewhere (never know just asking...)
Also i checked and those caps they seem shorted but in fact ehy have 15-18 ohms not shorted 0 ohms, so they seem shorted when you check diode with a multi-meter

You mind posting 2 pictures of the mobo top and bottom in good quility so we can have a better look ? maybe we could find something wrong

Thanks for clearing things up about the caps, I didn't think to check the resistance values, only checked them in diode mode.

I'm attaching the photos, that's about the highest quality I can do with my equipment. Let me know if more detailed shots of some areas are needed.

 

[zakwarrior]

Ok, didn't see anything wrong except one thing that looks strange, i don't know if it's metal but if it is there on the oscillator then it could be your problem, but the quality of the picture doesn't let me see what this thing is...

 

[RubyRoid]

Ok, didn't see anything wrong except one thing that looks strange, i don't know if it's metal but if it is there on the oscillator then it could be your problem, but the quality of the picture doesn't let me see what this thing is...

View attachment 325122

Hey, nice catch! Unfortunately that's just a piece of junk stuck to the board from my bench while I was taking photos. I also inspected the board myself and couldn't find any other issues or shorts.
At this point I have no idea what to do next with the board. I've ordered proper flux to reflow the APU but I'm now sure that will help.

 

[zakwarrior]

What is the diode value on dat0 ? Give me also CLK and CMD values, both to GND and 3,3v

 

[RubyRoid]

What is the diode value on dat0 ? Give me also CLK and CMD values, both to GND and 3,3v

I checked in both directions, here's my measurements, first number with black probe on the point, second with the red one (reversed):
DAT0 - GND: 404 / 605
DAT0 - 3.3V: 965 / 0
CLK - GND: 410 / 532
CLK - 3.3V: 0 / 871
CMD - GND: 438 / 600
CMD - 3.3V: 0 / 956

 

[zakwarrior]

0 you mean short ? or 0 is nothing ? because if you got a short someplace then there is a problem...

Tests made without battery plugged or anything to the motherboard right ?

 

[zakwarrior]

this is what i get on a working OLED that i just started to mod, nothing plugged to motherboard

DAT0 - GND: 434 / 657
DAT0 - 3.3V: 1020 / 1183
CLK - GND: 430 / 685
CLK - 3.3V: 1099 / 1195
CMD - GND: 480 / 683
CMD - 3.3V: 1107 / 1242

And i will tell you again and other members told you also, you should really try to poweron the switch without clk, cmd and dat0 connected to anything (not wires, not qsb, nothing)
if you cannot do anything with clk or cmd because of the glue. AT LEAST take the dat0 qsb out and see if the switch still does blue screen

Because i see you put glue there, now you need to understand even super glue will get hard and full sticky within maybe 12 or 24h, the more hard it goes the more the risk of slightly moving your qsb, this is why i never use glue
I done it once, had the correct values, then put glue, finished 1h after and didn't have the values on dat0 anymore, the glue while getting more hard had moved the qsb

And like i said before there is a good chance that the qsb is shorting 2 balls together, thing is we cannot continue giving advices if you don't try what we ask in the beginning

 

[RubyRoid]

0 you mean short ? or 0 is nothing ? because if you got a short someplace then there is a problem...

Tests made without battery plugged or anything to the motherboard right ?

0 is nothing. I can see some digits appear at the moment I touch the point with the probe but then it goes to zero. It's not shorted, the multimeter doesn't beep. I disconnected the modchip and the battery from the Switch before testing.

this is what i get on a working OLED that i just started to mod, nothing plugged to motherboard

DAT0 - GND: 434 / 657
DAT0 - 3.3V: 1020 / 1183
CLK - GND: 430 / 685
CLK - 3.3V: 1099 / 1195
CMD - GND: 480 / 683
CMD - 3.3V: 1107 / 1242

And i will tell you again and other members told you also, you should really try to poweron the switch without clk, cmd and dat0 connected to anything (not wires, not qsb, nothing)
if you cannot do anything with clk or cmd because of the glue. AT LEAST take the dat0 qsb out and see if the switch still does blue screen

Because i see you put glue there, now you need to understand even super glue will get hard and full sticky within maybe 12 or 24h, the more hard it goes the more the risk of slightly moving your qsb, this is why i never use glue
I done it once, had the correct values, then put glue, finished 1h after and didn't have the values on dat0 anymore, the glue while getting more hard had moved the qsb

And like i said before there is a good chance that the qsb is shorting 2 balls together, thing is we cannot continue giving advices if you don't try what we ask in the beginning

I did try to remove the DAT0 QSB already and that didn't work. This time I did it again and also removed all the wires and the ribbon cable from the APU:

That white stuff wasn't glue by the way, it is UV solder mask, and it hardens really fast.

Anyway, with all the modifications reverted I still get the blue screen on power on

 

[urherenow]

Beep? The “beep” happens in diode mode. You shouldn’t be checking for shorts using that. Unless you have a really crappy meter that uses one setting for both. Set it for ohms (resistance) to see if that 0 is an open (open should read OL).