Hacking Hardware Picofly - a HWFLY switch modchip

[Dee87]

Whilst I'm reading this thread FreeLander has killed more than 10 consoles. I know skilled guys who have done 100+ consoles without a single issue.

Well at least he doesn't give up

We live to learn some people have to learn the harder way to do the work properly, then others that's just how life is.

If done prob over 60 + by now and haven't had any issues from my install that I haven't solved YET but that day will probably also come sooner or later.

 

[bilalhassan341]

Well at least he doesn't give up

We live to learn some people have to learn the harder way to do the work properly, then others that's just how life is.

If done prob over 60 + by now and haven't had any issues from my install that I haven't solved YET but that day will probably also come sooner or later.

Most of them are oled which got killed. So, oled is hard to mod if anyone is doing it first time or never done v1 or v2 or lite. There is good point don't mod oled on your first hit.

 

[Switxh]

Does anyone know what causes the Picofly to reset training data and swap firmware? I did an OLED today and initially I flashed the Pico Zero over USB with 2.73 but after a few reboots it was randomly resetting the training data. I flashed 2.74 using the picofly toolbox because it was the version I had on my testing SD card but now what happens is it will randomly reset training data and then ALSO swap firmwares between 2.73 and 2.74. It happens both ways too. It will be on 2.73 and I reboot it a few times then it will reset training and swap to 2.74. Then I do the same checking glitch stability and it will reset training data AGAIN and swap back to 2.73.

Any idea what this could be? Is it a bad Pico zero maybe? When it's glitching it glitches fast on both firmwares but I just cant get more than around 10 reboots in to test stability before it resets it's training and swaps firmware back and fourth.

And update on this is that I flashed 2.67 and now it switches between 2.67 and 2.73. Sometimes it will be fine for many reboots but then all of a sudden it will retrain and switch firmware again. Not sure where to even start with this! It's a confusing issue. Never failed to glitch, just sometimes decides to swap firmwares and retrain.

 

[frozenboy]

I will check if smaller value capacitor works.
I am using the WS2812b LED from rp2040zero. The one from seeed Xiao seems have different spec. Will check the difference as well.

I am using the cap at the third pin below the rp2040, the led seem not work right, It show green but not blinking, not stable at all. The led on rp2040 also get interference from this second led, it became red. I guess a bigger cap or sth wrong with wiring. About wire and wireless mode still work fine. the video below is some rare case it change from green to blue then turn off. I just wonder if D out of the led place on the other pin of original led could be the problem

 

[FreeLander]

The current is limited by the firmware to 2ma, enabled only when talking to the eMMC


Whilst I'm reading this thread FreeLander has killed more than 10 consoles. I know skilled guys who have done 100+ consoles without a single issue.

Actually, it was 9. lol . I started to learn how to solder around the time Picofly came out. Made some awful mistakes but things are getting stable now <3

 

[postnutclarity]

Hello everybody.
I have a doubt with my rp2040, I passed fw_2.74.uf2 to the chip, proceeded as in the tutorials I saw. However, whenever I connect it back to the PC, the blue led lights up and then blinks yellow, but each time I connect it blinks in a different sequence. This is normal?
Obs. I just plug it into the PC, without holding the boot key.

Sorry for the English, I'm using an online translator

Thank you for your attention

Have you figured this out or at least found a pattern to the instability?

I’m pretty sure I managed to boot my forward back to 2.73. Band things were gravy until I was loading some corrupted cheats on Breeze and got a 2168-0002 error (Atmosphere crashing) then the picofly is not glitching anymore.

The only somewhat reliable pattern I found to getting it to glitch again is waiting 5-6 hours with battery disconnected, then reconnecting after then turning on the switch.

 

[Arakon]

Ive redone the instalation.
It seems this is software issue, but still im not sure.
You can try to replace the sdcard and also just install barebone hekate and also default atmosphere at least it minimize the issues.
Of course this not happen on other unit, not tried to replace the rp board yet. Maybe ill try to flash older firmware 2.6.4 later and see what happen

I used 2.61 before and it made absolutely no difference.

 

[karatefeet]

I can confirm that, this Oled only shows picofly logo, with micro sd black screen and vol+- blue screen and without picofly same blue screen, MAX77812 IC is shorted, waiting for replacement

I have a lite with the same issues. I didn’t find any shorts around MAX77812 though. Please update us once you have the replacement.

 

[Dee87]

Most of them are oled which got killed. So, oled is hard to mod if anyone is doing it first time or never done v1 or v2 or lite. There is good point don't mod oled on your first hit.

Come on actually I love doing Oleds they are my favorite Xd
my personal oled was the 2nd switch I modded and the first time I did recalling cause I heard if people with so many bad experience with those dat0 adapters. the first one was a donor switch I bought with a damaged emmc ;-)

 

[Endracion]

I would guess the rp2040 is fried by now. This job looks great.

Post automatically merged: Jul 5, 2023

For those of you who like big pads and cannot lie, here's a super easy and perfectly working mosfet position for the OLED with virtually zero risk to surrounding components.

Amazing all the finds making all this easier!

So to confirm:

 

[deeps]

Amazing all the finds making all this easier!

So to confirm:
View attachment 382225

correct

 

[bilalhassan341]

Come on actually I love doing Oleds they are my favorite Xd
my personal oled was the 2nd switch I modded and the first time I did recalling cause I heard if people with so many bad experience with those dat0 adapters. the first one was a donor switch I bought with a damaged emmc ;-)

But there is a difference between you and us. You're the pro guy whose soldering pics are used as a sample in picofly main post.

Edit: the first switch I bought had a blue screen. but full new no scratch only 3 weeks used. I got it for 60$ only tablet and joycons(Plus Free Original Charger with it). I reballed the Cpu for 4$. After reballing, I came acrossed the corrupted nand (Black Screen after nintendo logo). Installed the picofly by my self restore the nand by v3restore script and boom. It wake up in home menu.


Attachment: [Reballing Tegra chip video]

 

[Dee87]

But there is a difference between you and us. You're the pro guy whose soldering pics are used as a sample in picofly main post.

Thanks for the complamaint , but im no pro in anyway.

well just cause there used as a sample that doesnt mean im a pro.

 

[RatchetRussian]

Excited to be trying your back-mosfet method @abal1000x

This is my first attempt and it is on a lite. I am getting the mosfet error (==*) and booting into OFW. Maybe there is not enough solder on the mosfet?

 

[Dee87]

Excited to be trying your back-mosfet method @abal1000x

This is my first attempt and it is on a lite. I am getting the mosfet error (==*) and booting into OFW. Maybe there is not enough solder on the mosfet?

Yeah add some more solder , that's what worked for me :-)

 

[Endracion]

Excited to be trying your back-mosfet method @abal1000x

This is my first attempt and it is on a lite. I am getting the mosfet error (==*) and booting into OFW. Maybe there is not enough solder on the mosfet?

I mean it looks like you didn't solder the correct pads? You only soldered the corners.

See:

 

[karatefeet]

But there is a difference between you and us. You're the pro guy whose soldering pics are used as a sample in picofly main post.

Edit: the first switch I bought had a blue screen. but full new no scratch only 3 weeks used. I got it for 60$ only tablet and joycons(Plus Free Original Charger with it). I reballed the Cpu for 4$. After reballing, I came acrossed the corrupted nand (Black Screen after nintendo logo). Installed the picofly by my self restore the nand by v3restore script and boom. It wake up in home menu.


Attachment: [Reballing Tegra chip video]

Can you point me to a guide on how to restore the nand? My understanding is if you don't have a prior backup, then the switch won't be able to go online? Not a biggie in my case, I'd just be happy to get it working.

 

[jkyoho]

I am using the cap at the third pin below the rp2040, the led seem not work right, It show green but not blinking, not stable at all. The led on rp2040 also get interference from this second led, it became red. I guess a bigger cap or sth wrong with wiring. About wire and wireless mode still work fine. the video below is some rare case it change from green to blue then turn off. I just wonder if D out of the led place on the other pin of original led could be the problem

where exactly is the cap from? most caps near type-c port on rp2040-zero are 2.2uF which I think is too much for this mod.

 

[RatchetRussian]

I mean it looks like you didn't solder the correct pads? You only soldered the corners.

See:

Spoiler: image

View attachment 382245

Those are connected within the mosfet itself. Same points. It's possible that bridging them externally increases how much current can enter the mosfet though.

Yeah add some more solder , that's what worked for me :-)

Flooded them in solder to bridge the points. Still getting the same error.

I ended up just using a CPU flex cable so that this doesn't keep me up all night. Excited to try the back mosfet another time.

 

[Endracion]

Those are connected within the mosfet itself. Same points. It's possible that bridging them externally increases how much current can enter the mosfet though.

Flooded them in solder to bridge the points. Still getting the same error.

I ended up just using a CPU flex cable so that this doesn't keep me up all night. Excited to try the back mosfet another time.

Ah I see yeah, makes sense though about them enabling higher current, I think that's what they were mentioning too, to have a good solid blob for current.
Unfortunate that it didn't work though.