Hacking Hardware HWfly-shaped Picofly boards start shipping in China

[cgtchy0412]

Hi everybody, I am looking for some help here.

Long story short: I soldered the hwfly rp2040 (but basically is a clone based on picofly) and after after some problems, i got to a state where the modchip booted to the "No sd card" screen. So I was ready to close it.

I did various power-on tests while closing it. Until the metal cover was closed, it worked (booting to the screen mentioned). The moment I closed the black cover, the switch no longer turned on.

I disassembled everything, the modchip gives the following error (with led blinking): *== No eMMC CMD1 request (poor wiring, or dead CPU)

I'm posting screenshots, but basically I covered the metal plate where to allocate the modchip with kapton tape. I have also cut the cover to accommodate it. I have the impression that when closing, the modchip touched somehow the emmc board, which was not protected with kapton. Or something else. Also, I didn't even put the kapton above the capacitor soldered to the adapter (but I don't think it touched the metal cover).

So I unsoldered everything, cleaned the CPU, inserted the emmc in the original housing. Nothing, black screen here too.
A user in the other post assumes a problem with the emmc, probably hardware.
When I press the power button and the modchip powers up, that's why I talk about "black screen".

Somebody can help me?
Thanks in advance

Remove the emmc module, and try to inspect any bent pin? both on the male and female connector.

 

[minimanimo]

Remove the emmc module, and try to inspect any bent pin? both on the male and female connector.

Hi @cgtchy0412, at first inspection looks good, don't know exactly. Maybe you can help me?
Let me past some images. At the end of

Post automatically merged: Jul 23, 2023

Actually, the situation has changed in the last hour: I cleaned the contacts again and inspected. I reinserted the modchip and right now, when I turn it on, the modchip flashes blue a few times and then makes a yellow flash and turns off.
I don't know if the situation has improved or worsened.
@cgtchy0412

 

[Hassal]

Hi @cgtchy0412, at first inspection looks good, don't know exactly. Maybe you can help me?
Let me past some images. At the end of

Post automatically merged: Jul 23, 2023

Actually, the situation has changed in the last hour: I cleaned the contacts again and inspected. I reinserted the modchip and right now, when I turn it on, the modchip flashes blue a few times and then makes a yellow flash and turns off.
I don't know if the situation has improved or worsened.
@cgtchy0412

After you try to boot does your CPU get warm to the touch? Do you have a USB tester to see if your system enters the second stage boot?

 

[minimanimo]

After you try to boot does your CPU get warm to the touch? Do you have a USB tester to see if your system enters the second stage boot?

Hey @Hassal,
Thanks for stepping into this.

I forgot to mention that is a Nintendo Switch Mariko V2.

Not easy to say, but I think the CPU gets indeed warmer after half minute. I could also try to check the temperature with a IR temperature reader (is for kitchen, I don't know how reliable could be for temperature lower 30°).


Regarding USB reader, I have one for USB A. Could it be used for the scope you mentioned? I should have a USB A to C adapter. How should I use it? Attaching the charger and deattaching battery maybe?

 

[Hassal]

Hey @Hassal,
Thanks for stepping into this.

I forgot to mention that is a Nintendo Switch Mariko V2.

Not easy to say, but I think the CPU gets indeed warmer after half minute. I could also try to check the temperature with a IR temperature reader (is for kitchen, I don't know how reliable could be for temperature lower 30°).


Regarding USB reader, I have one for USB A. Could it be used for the scope you mentioned? I should have a USB A to C adapter. How should I use it? Attaching the charger and deattaching battery maybe?

Have you already plugged in the charger?
Both charger and battery needs to be plugged in as the system does not boot without the battery.

The tester is to rule out the possibility of a faulty backlight. What you need to look for is the power cut off between first and second stage boot. Its starts at 15V then drops to 9V. If it doesn't that means you have faulty IC (try probing around the power management chips). If you observe no signs of shorts worst case you have a faulty eMMC because that also can prevent you from booting.

 

[minimanimo]

Have you already plugged in the charger?
Both charger and battery needs to be plugged in as the system does not boot without the battery.

The tester is to rule out the possibility of a faulty backlight. What you need to look for is the power cut off between first and second stage boot. Its starts at 15V then drops to 9V. If it doesn't that means you have faulty IC (try probing around the power management chips). If you observe no signs of shorts worst case you have a faulty eMMC because that also can prevent you from booting.

Hey @Hassal,
I've tried but I'm not sure if I executed as you intended.

Because of the USB A ports of the tester, I had to find a "workaround".
I took the Macbook charger, which produces up to 20V, USB C to USB A cable, tester, USB A to USB C adapter (used to connect USB pen drives to the smartphone) and finally to the USB C port of the nintendo switch. I also have the photo

Procedure:
- Connected the battery
- Connected the cable to the USB C port of Nintendo Switch
- Pressed the power button

The usb tester always gave me a value just a bit over 5V.

 

[Hassal]

Hey @Hassal,
I've tried but I'm not sure if I executed as you intended.

Because of the USB A ports of the tester, I had to find a "workaround".
I took the Macbook charger, which produces up to 20V, USB C to USB A cable, tester, USB A to USB C adapter (used to connect USB pen drives to the smartphone) and finally to the USB C port of the nintendo switch. I also have the photo

Procedure:
- Connected the battery
- Connected the cable to the USB C port of Nintendo Switch
- Pressed the power button

The usb tester always gave me a value just a bit over 5V.

Check your USB port at both ends. 5V means your system isn't taking charge usually that's an issue with the M92T chip. Check for shorted caps around that chip.

 

[minimanimo]

Check your USB port at both ends. 5V means your system isn't taking charge usually that's an issue with the M92T chip. Check for shorted caps around that chip.
View attachment 384725

Yeah, I was actually looking to a YouTube video that performed the same check: no shorts on caps, they looks good!
Anything else I can check more?

 

[Hassal]

Yeah, I was actually looking to a YouTube video that performed the same check: no shorts on caps, they looks good!
Anything else I can check more?

Your other chip that could be responsible is the BQ chip next to the USB. If that one is also alright I'm going to take a hunch and say your port could be the issue.

Does your USB gives the same reading from front and back?

 

[minimanimo]

Your other chip that could be responsible is the BQ chip next to the USB. If that one is also alright I'm going to take a hunch and say your port could be the issue.

Does your USB gives the same reading from front and back?

I am going to check the chip too.

Honestly, I was thinking that measurements taken from the USB tester might be no so relevant, because anyway I've used adapters to connect a USB C to A and viceversa. Having less power lines, charge probably is not able to provide more then 5V.
I will check if I can find a USB tester USB C native

 

[vdroid1211]

I have a problem, I installed the RP2040 which is very similar to the HWFly model, but it always boots in emunand and sometimes I can boot in OFW, but sometimes it hangs on the Nintendo Switch logo when I try to boot in OFW, or it gives an error 2002-3539 /3540, does anyone know how to solve this problem?

I also get slower mode messages when I try to create an emunand, backup and sometimes when doing a benchmark in emmc, but sometimes everything passes normally.
Has anyone already solved this problem and would know an effective way?

I have the exact same problem with me, would you say the problem was withchip , the cables , the installation or the resistors that you mention?
Pretty sure its not a bad emmc as the switch has been literally used only a handful times.
I have a v2 switch though and not an oled.

It did. I reinstalled the chip and changed the postfix, it was great. also check the other installations as well as cleaning after installation. Another item to be observed is the resistor, I changed them all to 47ohms.

Got mine installed with a hwfly like RP2040 by a modder,

Everything would boot normally,
no problems with loading into or using OFW
but I could not factory reset / "initialize" the switch from OFW normally or through maintenance mode
it would reach 99% after about 30 minutes or so but then would crash with 2002-3540.
, ultimately decided to do system wipe with TegraExplorer instead.

I tried restoring a NAND backup , it took forever(45minutes+) and succeeded with "EMMC initialized in slow mode" (ouch) with multiple Init failures in Hekate.
This happens randomly whenever I try to restore backups,

Happened once when checking / benchmarking emmc with hekate.


I think Ill keep using it as is as its not affecting my emummc at all,
Any harm to keep using it as is or should I get it corrected / reinstalled?


my other post regarding the issue: https://gbatemp.net/threads/error-code-2002-3540.635990/post-10208340

 

[DuffGnR]

I have the exact same problem with me, would you say the problem was withchip , the cables , the installation or the resistors that you mention?
Pretty sure its not a bad emmc as the switch has been literally used only a handful times.
I have a v2 switch though and not an oled.




Got mine installed with a hwfly like RP2040 by a modder,

Everything would boot normally,
no problems with loading into or using OFW
but I could not factory reset / "initialize" the switch from OFW normally or through maintenance mode
it would reach 99% after about 30 minutes or so but then would crash with 2002-3540.
, ultimately decided to do system wipe with TegraExplorer instead.

I tried restoring a NAND backup , it took forever(45minutes+) and succeeded with "EMMC initialized in slow mode" (ouch) with multiple Init failures in Hekate.
This happens randomly whenever I try to restore backups,

Happened once when checking / benchmarking emmc with hekate.


I think Ill keep using it as is as its not affecting my emummc at all,
Any harm to keep using it as is or should I get it corrected / reinstalled?


my other post regarding the issue: https://gbatemp.net/threads/error-code-2002-3540.635990/post-10208340

So, my case was a bad installation in the postfix of Dat0, although it was signaling well in the multimeter measurement.
Anyway, if I were you, I would try to reinstall such postfix, as it can cause damage to your nand in the future.
Ideal is always to boot without problems, both Nand Original(OFW) and Emunand(CFW).
Always do Benchmark tests on OFW to ensure that the error is not slow anymore.

 

[vdroid1211]

So, my case was a bad installation in the postfix of Dat0, although it was signaling well in the multimeter measurement.
Anyway, if I were you, I would try to reinstall such postfix, as it can cause damage to your nand in the future.
Ideal is always to boot without problems, both Nand Original(OFW) and Emunand(CFW).
Always do Benchmark tests on OFW to ensure that the error is not slow anymore.

You mention postfix of dat0, l am assuming its an oled switch?
Mine is a v2 so the only things soldered were sp1 and sp2.

That's here's the thing about benchmark

I can use OFW no problem,
I can use emummc no problem.
Emmc check on hekate shows no problems (even in benchmark)

The only problem I see are these
1: ramdom init failures (slow mode ) when restoring NAND backups
2: error 2002-3540 when initializing / factory reset in OFW
3: Sometimes when booting, chip give a comstant yellow LED and it will just stay on until I restart(no problem booting into ofw or cfw emunand )

Any idea what could be the problem?

 

[troydm]

Hello everyone,
Bought a pre-modded OLED switch which apparently uses HWFly OLED RP2040 board from China, everything works fine except that restart and power off almost always result in black screen and no blue light on modchip and rp2040 lockup (as even after few minutes nothing happens) and I need to either press reset button on modchip itself (which is not always working) if I have switch disassembled or hold power for 15-20 seconds and press again to do hard reset which also not always results in blue light appearing. Sometimes reboot works fine tho so I can't understand what's going on. Haven't extensively tested OFW as I'm more interested in CFW and not a big fan of online gaming

What I've tried so far
1) different CFW (so it's definitely not something related to either Hekate or Atmosphere)
2) Upgrading picofly firmware via toolbox from v2.67 to 2.73, it's mostly works but sometimes after hard reset it rolls back to 2.67, also tried resetting training session data, nothing changes
3) Measured voltages on installation via diode probing points
A 0.474v
B 0.389v
C 0.632v
D 0.644v
4) Measured voltage B point with battery on and switch running
When it's working it's around 1.7v
When it's black screen it's 0.540v

I have basic understand of electronics so would like some suggestions of what might be wrong

Modchip is exactly like in picture attached except that it has HWFLY OLED written on first line and RP2040 on next line

P.S. person who did installation and sold me this Switch doesn't want to fix this as quote 'you messed something up with CFW so it's not a modchip's fault' which is obviously a bullshit reason not to take a responsibility of fucked up job
P.S.S. rebooting also works fine if I shorten the reset contacts by placing red probe on one of reset contacts and black probe on gnd on PCB itself

 

[Hassal]

Hello everyone,
Bought a pre-modded OLED switch which apparently uses HWFly OLED RP2040 board from China, everything works fine except that restart and power off almost always result in black screen and no blue light on modchip and rp2040 lockup (as even after few minutes nothing happens) and I need to either press reset button on modchip itself (which is not always working) if I have switch disassembled or hold power for 15-20 seconds and press again to do hard reset which also not always results in blue light appearing. Sometimes reboot works fine tho so I can't understand what's going on. Haven't extensively tested OFW as I'm more interested in CFW and not a big fan of online gaming

What I've tried so far
1) different CFW (so it's definitely not something related to either Hekate or Atmosphere)
2) Upgrading picofly firmware via toolbox from v2.67 to 2.73, it's mostly works but sometimes after hard reset it rolls back to 2.67, also tried resetting training session data, nothing changes
3) Measured voltages on installation via diode probing points
A 0.474v
B 0.389v
C 0.632v
D 0.644v
4) Measured voltage B point with battery on and switch running
When it's working it's around 1.7v
When it's black screen it's 0.540v

I have basic understand of electronics so would like some suggestions of what might be wrong

Modchip is exactly like in picture attached except that it has HWFLY OLED written on first line and RP2040 on next line

P.S. person who did installation and sold me this Switch doesn't want to fix this as quote 'you messed something up with CFW so it's not a modchip's fault' which is obviously a bullshit reason not to take a responsibility of fucked up job
P.S.S. rebooting also works fine if I shorten the reset contacts by placing red probe on one of reset contacts and black probe on gnd on PCB itself

Using wires or fpcb? That flex sometimes comes defective. If you want to rule out the possibility of a faulty chip you have to get rid of that ribbon first.

 

[troydm]

Using wires or fpcb? That flex sometimes comes defective. If you want to rule out the possibility of a faulty chip you have to get rid of that ribbon first.

flex cable connection, apparently, my understanding is that when switch reboots it should send high voltage over the B wire to signal modchip reset, and if the wire is too long or too thick it has higher resistance than it should and modchip doesn't interprets it as high enough to do a reset, correct me if I am wrong and this is not the case

 

[Hassal]

flex cable connection, apparently, my understanding is that when switch reboots it should send high voltage over the B wire to signal modchip reset, and if the wire is too long or too thick it has higher resistance than it should and modchip doesn't interprets it as high enough to do a reset, correct me if I am wrong and this is not the case

You can try wiring to the pads instead.

 

[tsukimaru]

Hi, I've been sent here from another thread so I'll report my question:

I purchased a few hwfly Rp2040 which are compatible with PicoFly but there's something odd happening on an OLED. I get this LED pattern and black screen (no response whatsoever from the console)

*=* No eMMC block 0 read (eMMC init failure?)

Now I've tripple checked all my solder work. I've verified the values with the multimeter and this is what I get in diode mode:

A: 0.53
B: 1.0
C: 0.867
D: 0.909

I didn't check 3v since the chip is getting current. The strange thing there is that if I detach the chip the console boots fine. Any ideas on where to check? The one I'm baffled on is CLK/B which reads 1 but the error doesn't reflect on it whatsoever.

Something that I need to mention that could probably affect it (which I don't see how) but the console was recently freshly factory reset and no new profile has been created.

Also ease note that I updated it to.the latest version of picofly 2.73 but I was told in the picofly thread that the board isn't compatible but the problem happened from before I updated it.

 

[cgtchy0412]

Hi, I've been sent here from another thread so I'll report my question:

I purchased a few hwfly Rp2040 which are compatible with PicoFly but there's something odd happening on an OLED. I get this LED pattern and black screen (no response whatsoever from the console)

*=* No eMMC block 0 read (eMMC init failure?)

Now I've tripple checked all my solder work. I've verified the values with the multimeter and this is what I get in diode mode:

A: 0.53
B: 1.0
C: 0.867
D: 0.909

I didn't check 3v since the chip is getting current. The strange thing there is that if I detach the chip the console boots fine. Any ideas on where to check? The one I'm baffled on is CLK/B which reads 1 but the error doesn't reflect on it whatsoever.

Something that I need to mention that could probably affect it (which I don't see how) but the console was recently freshly factory reset and no new profile has been created.

Also ease note that I updated it to.the latest version of picofly 2.73 but I was told in the picofly thread that the board isn't compatible but the problem happened from before I updated it.

What do tou mean with clk being 1.. thats is not conected.. also its 1 from ground ?
Try to replace wire on clk then.

 

[CorvusCorax]

I installed PicoFly (or how they call it, HwFly RP2040) with FW2.73 using flex cables in my Switch Lite. It works, but the time to glitch it varies a lot - from 3 seconds up to 90 seconds. It glitches every time and boots without any issues, the only issue is the time to do it.

A: 0.712
B: My multimeter can't measure it, should be good
C: 0.712
D: 0.712

CPU: 0.14 on both sides

This is the second Switch Lite I installed a PicoFly modchip in and it was the same case with the first one. I tried 3 PicoFly modchips, tried reworking the CPU solder joints, but nothing changed.

Any ideas what to try next or what to check? Or I should consider this normal behavior for this Switch and use it as is?