Hacking Question A few questions about Fusee Gelee and Atmosphere

[vladone97]

Hello there. I've just managed to save enough money for a Switch and I want to buy one for CFW and homebrew. However, I have a few questions first:

1. Will I be able to install Atmosphere via software methods only? Or will I be required to mess with the pins and boot the console into RCM mode?
2. Have there been any reports of newer units not being hackable? I know that Nintendo was planning to do a hardware revision to fix Fusee Gelee. Have they already done it?
3. If the answer to question nr 2 is yes, then how can I find out what units are from older, and thus hackable, batches?

 

[NightStorm1000]

1. AutoRCM
2. No new Revision out there as far as i know.
3. -

 

[Deletedmember438770]

1. Depends on your firmware. 4.1.0 and below are already confirmed but that's not gonna be available at launch of Atmosphere
2. Not that we know of.

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

1. AutoRCM
2. No new Revision out there as far as i know.
3. -

You still need to boot into RCM once for AutoRCM

 

[MichiS97]

1. You will need to boot into RCM every time you want to boot into atmosphere on all firmwares >4.1.0. All other firmwares will apparently get a software solution at some point. However, you will still need to boot into RCM at least for the first time you use Atmosphere

2. There are reports that there will be a hardware revision that will use a different SoC, called Mariko, which will most likely patch the bootrom exploit. This revision has not been released yet, though.

 

[Kubas_inko]

1. Depends if you need to boot to RCM.
- If it is needed at least once, 1.0.0 is the only FW that can truly go software only.
- However, if you don't need to boot to RCM, up to 4.1.0 can get software solution.
2. Until Mariko is out, every unit will be hackable.
3. Probably via S/N
- Don't worry. Every switch will be hackable (sometimes).

 

[andijames]

Oh for crying out loud.

1. Search please
2. Not as such but search and 0 results would imply not.
3. N/A due to empty no 2 search.

It's not hard. I really appreciate not everyone has time but for god's sake you could have identified this within 10 minutes. Can people genuinely not be arsed these days?

/Rantoff

 

[Lacius]

Will I be able to install Atmosphere via software methods only? Or will I be required to mess with the pins and boot the console into RCM mode?

If you're on 1.0.0-3.0.0, you will likely be able to boot CFW from the web browser around the time Atmosphere is released.
If you're on 3.0.1-4.1.0, you will likely be able to boot CFW from the web browser in the distant future.
If you're on 5.0.0-5.1.0, it's possible you will always need to use RCM to boot into CFW.

If you use RCM to boot CFW, you can use a jig of some sort (3D-printed, bent paperclip, wire, etc.) to boot into RCM, or you can use AutoRCM. If you install AutoRCM, your console will automatically boot into RCM when it's powered on, making it so you only need to manually boot into RCM using a jig one time. It will, however, tether your console to something that can load an RCM payload over the USB-C port (a computer, Android phone, etc.) each time you freshly power on the device. To avoid this problem, you can just keep it in sleep mode all the time. You can also keep a console with CFW loaded in sleep mode all the time so you don't have to use a jig often.

Have there been any reports of newer units not being hackable? I know that Nintendo was planning to do a hardware revision to fix Fusee Gelee. Have they already done it?

It has not happened yet, but we know for a fact from recent-ish software updates that new hardware revisions are coming, and there's unlikely to be any sort of announcement. Someday weeks or months from now probably, someone is going to post that RCM payloads don't work on his or her Switch. If you don't already have a Switch, you should get one sooner rather than later.

If the answer to question nr 2 is yes, then how can I find out what units are from older, and thus hackable, batches?

Once it does happen, you can compare a new Switch box's serial number to a maintained spreadsheet, increasing your likelihood of getting an exploitable console. You'll want to get one in the serial number range of exploitable consoles, and you'll want to avoid the known range of unexploitable consoles. Serial numbers are a very good indicator of when Switch systems were produced and where. As of right now though, all systems appear to be vulnerable, but that won't forever be the case.