Hacking Hardware Picofly - a HWFLY switch modchip

[Kioku]

Alright, I've got an OLED I'd like to mod. What are the cliffnotes here? If I purchase the correct kit and appropriate wire, do I need anything else? Thermal paste/pads? A LOT of information to sift through here, some of which confuses me.

 

[Nephiel]

In short, the main hurdle with OLEDs is that the DAT0 point is way harder to get to than other models. CLK is also hard to reach beneath the APU shield, but it mostly depends on the method you choose to access DAT0.

• Some installers use a flex PCB adapter that just slides beneath the eMMC chip to contact the DAT0 ball at the edge of the grid array. This is the less risky method, but the quality and reliability of the adapters varies.
• Some prefer desoldering the eMMC chip entirely from the mainboard, and solder a custom PCB adapter in between, which requires reballing skills and gear (heat gun, stencil, paste...). This PCB also exposes CLK, so the APU shield does not need to be cut, making this method the least destructive (as long as the eMMC chip doesn't get damaged in the process before a NAND backup can be made).
• Then there's the kamikaze method, which involves drilling through a couple of ground layers of the mainboard PCB at a specific spot to expose the DAT0 trace, and that calls for a precision drill pen. Very risky method, but it does not require reballing or extra PCBs/adapters.

In all cases, on top of the basic gear (iron with fine tips, flux, solder mask, tweezers...) a microscope of some kind is also recommended.

IIRC there are no thermal pads, only paste. Thin compound on the APU die and the copper foil on the APU shield, thick compound on the heatpipe.

 

[thesjaakspoiler]

Alright, I've got an OLED I'd like to mod. What are the cliffnotes here? If I purchase the correct kit and appropriate wire, do I need anything else? Thermal paste/pads? A LOT of information to sift through here, some of which confuses me.

Where did anyone mention thermal paste?
I must have missed that in the past 762 pages.

 

[mx_arment]

I would test it with H2TestW to see if you maybe have a fake one.

It seem original when I bought it, original package and not opened or smth like that. The test:

Test finished without errors.​

You can now delete the test files *.h2w or verify them again.​

Writing speed: 79.7 MByte/s​

Reading speed: 89.0 MByte/s​

H2testw v1.4​

 

[lightninjay]

Where did anyone mention thermal paste?
I must have missed that in the past 762 pages.

I mention it in the guide, you should give it a read if you haven't yet.

 

[Kioku]

Where did anyone mention thermal paste?
I must have missed that in the past 762 pages.

Just going off install videos, replacing thermal paste seems like the thing to do.

 

[SylverReZ]

Just going off install videos, replacing thermal paste seems like the thing to do.

Arctic MX4 is a good choice imo. I use it for nearly all my consoles.

 

[Nephiel]

MX4 is good. MX6 also works.
For the thick compound on top of the pipe, though, I prefer K5-PRO.

 

[snaker]

It seem original when I bought it, original package and not opened or smth like that. The test:

Test finished without errors.​

You can now delete the test files *.h2w or verify them again.​

Writing speed: 79.7 MByte/s​

Reading speed: 89.0 MByte/s​

H2testw v1.4​

View attachment 429219​

It has happened to me about 2 3 times. It has something to do with the card manufacturing. To make it work use any partitioning program and do a "complete wipe" also known as low level format. It will take some time be patient. Then do the usual stuff. It will work.

 

[thesjaakspoiler]

I mention it in the guide, you should give it a read if you haven't yet.

Mentioning thermal paste is like asking what type of screwdriver one ought to use.
If those are the things one worries about and gets confused about,
then my advice would be to take the Switch to a good craftsman or repair shop.
This isn't like modding a PS2 or XBOX.

 

[abal1000x]

"Failed to init sd card!"; Apparently a problem with SD card 512gb Samsung Evo Plus

I dont really know if this is the place to ask issues but in case anyone has a clue of what is happening Im copying-pasting the post I put in this github about this (github/CTCaer/hekate/issues/899), apparently more people is having the same problem:

Having the same problem on a friends switch OLED with the picofly,​

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Ive tried installing the HATS pack in the card in case some corrupted file but it always show the error "failed to init sd card"​

Also, trying that same pack on another SD card (a sandisk one) works perfectly.​

​

I dont know what could it be but it happened from one day to another without an apparent reason, and what is more curious, I personally have a switch lite with the same chip and the exact same card bought on the same place, and it still works for me.​

​

I dont know if it could be a manufacturing error but makes no sense because the PC can read the card and its files perfectly.​

​

I would appreciate any ideas in case someone has some clue about what can be happening​

​

(Attached photos, one from my lite with the card info and the other from the oled displaying the error)​

​

View attachment 428977​

View attachment 428978​

Try to manually install the hekate and atmosphere.
Don't use already cooked HATS package.

I assume this comes from hekate source code.
Maybe you need to playing around with the hekate version.
Could be some bug in hekate, who knows.

Editted:
I search on github on the exact word "failed to init sd card!" its on 'ReiNX'
https://github.com/Reisyukaku/ReiNX
I don't know what module is this, never use it.

Try to install the usual hekate + atmosphere first manually, does it throws the same error?

 

[mx_arment]

Try to manually install the hekate and atmosphere.
Don't use already cooked HATS package.

I assume this comes from hekate source code.
Maybe you need to playing around with the hekate version.
Could be some bug in hekate, who knows.

Editted:
I search on github on the exact word "failed to init sd card!" its on 'ReiNX'
github/Reisyukaku/ReiNX
I don't know what module is this, never use it.

Try to install the usual hekate + atmosphere first manually, does it throws the same error?

Nothing, I alredy tried that

It has happened to me about 2 3 times. It has something to do with the card manufacturing. To make it work use any partitioning program and do a "complete wipe" also known as low level format. It will take some time be patient. Then do the usual stuff. It will work.

I'm happy to hear there are people who have had the same problem and could resolved it.
Could you tell me with what program you did the formatting? Just to be sure to do exactly what you say because I have tried to delete the partitions from the windows disk manager but I do not think that is what you mean, that was instant clean.

UPDATE:
I've used the programm HDD LLF Low Level Format Tool, after 3 hours of waiting Im still having the problem.
What I tried and why Im writing this is that while making tests with hekate+atmosphere I tried using the "broken" card in my switch lite and it worked, for my surprise. Also, my personal switch lite sd card dont work on the OLED so now Im thinking this is maybe about the chip or the sd card reader.
What is strange, and I think I mencioned it, is that a 128GB card from another brand is working without issues. I would try with another no samsung 512GB card but I dont have anyone, Idk what to do know honestly.

 

[abal1000x]

Nothing, I alredy tried that

I'm happy to hear there are people who have had the same problem and could resolved it.
Could you tell me with what program you did the formatting? Just to be sure to do exactly what you say because I have tried to delete the partitions from the windows disk manager but I do not think that is what you mean, that was instant clean.

UPDATE:
I've used the programm HDD LLF Low Level Format Tool, after 3 hours of waiting Im still having the problem.
What I tried and why Im writing this is that while making tests with hekate+atmosphere I tried using the "broken" card in my switch lite and it worked, for my surprise. Also, my personal switch lite sd card dont work on the OLED so now Im thinking this is maybe about the chip or the sd card reader.
What is strange, and I think I mencioned it, is that a 128GB card from another brand is working without issues. I would try with another no samsung 512GB card but I dont have anyone, Idk what to do know honestly.

Is it worth your time to investigate that lol.
If i were you, simply use the working one.
And spent my time for something more valuable.

But if you want to goes down to that road.
You said you've used the standard hekate + atmosphere, and the problem exist.

My cheap guess is about the power supplied to the microsd reader.
Maybe those 'faulty' microsd need a higher power than the 'ok' microsd.
The power ic might degrade, which is common issue on digital device.
On smartphone its common for the power ic degrade and fault eventually.

 

[Seco_Gobbo2]

Hey guys

Nothing, I alredy tried that

I'm happy to hear there are people who have had the same problem and could resolved it.
Could you tell me with what program you did the formatting? Just to be sure to do exactly what you say because I have tried to delete the partitions from the windows disk manager but I do not think that is what you mean, that was instant clean.

UPDATE:
I've used the programm HDD LLF Low Level Format Tool, after 3 hours of waiting Im still having the problem.
What I tried and why Im writing this is that while making tests with hekate+atmosphere I tried using the "broken" card in my switch lite and it worked, for my surprise. Also, my personal switch lite sd card dont work on the OLED so now Im thinking this is maybe about the chip or the sd card reader.
What is strange, and I think I mencioned it, is that a 128GB card from another brand is working without issues. I would try with another no samsung 512GB card but I dont have anyone, Idk what to do know honestly.

is facing a problem similar to mine, and I have no solution too.

I have a problem with my switch, I've already looked for some information on the forum and haven't found anything that helps me. I don't know where to ask, if not here, I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

Well, what happens is that I installed a picofly on a V2 switch, apparently everything is fine, I can start Hekate with the SD, but when I create the emunand the following error appears (attached a photo with all the error information):

A fatal error occurred while running Atmosphere.
Program ID: 010041544d530000

And emunand does not start, I managed to solve this problem using the Fix Archive Bit tool.
Emunand starts normally, but when installing games through DBI they corrupt both XCI and NSP.

The process of creating the emunand occurs without any errors, and the DBI also does not report any errors when installing the games.

Every XCI title I tried corrupted.
NSPs, some corrupt others not, and it has happened that the same title works in an installation, and when I install it again it corrupts, there is no pattern. (An example is Mario RPG, the first time it worked normally, when I redid everything on another card it corrupted)
And there's no point in reinstalling the corrupted game, it's still corrupted

The problem is not the SD card, I ran the cards through an SD check program (h2testw), I tested with different cards and the same problem occurs, I redid the emunand on different cards and the fatal error always occurs, and when it fixes the error, the games continue to corrupt.

To format the SD cards I used Guiformat.

I tried two different versions of Hekate, v6.0.7 (which I used on another V2 and had no problems), and v6.1.0
The switch presenting the problem is in version 17.0.1
and Atmosphere in 1.6.2lE

I even tested changing the SD slot from one Switsh to another, and the problem persists.

Attached are the SD cards I used, the 64gb one included, I use it on a V1 switch without any problems.

My question is: could there be a problem with the Picofly installation that is causing this problem?
If it's not picofly and this isn't the place for this type of problem, where can I go for help?
I learned how to install Picofly here on this forum, so I thought it worth asking here, due to the knowledge of those involved in installing Picofly.

And just to be clear, I'm not working with picofly installations, I only did it on my switch (V1) and for two friends, as a learning experience.

Thank you in advance for your attention and sorry for the long text.

 

[Nephiel]

Hold on, what points are your chips using? Could it be they're drawing power from the SD card slot? That might explain the issues with SD cards with higher power requirements.

 

[thesjaakspoiler]

A fatal error occurred while running Atmosphere.
Program ID: 010041544d530000

SciresM answered that error 010041544d530000 is likely related to a malformed user-configuration ini file.
https://github.com/Atmosphere-NX/Atmosphere/issues/1914
It could be an humand error, some editor leaving some invisible unicode junk or maybe you have some corruption on your card.
The user reporting the issue said he had to comment out the setting : power_menu_reboot_function
More people are having issues with this setting it seems.

 

[Kioku]

Mentioning thermal paste is like asking what type of screwdriver one ought to use.
If those are the things one worries about and gets confused about,
then my advice would be to take the Switch to a good craftsman or repair shop.
This isn't like modding a PS2 or XBOX.

I'm asking to make sure that I have my ducks in order before I take it apart and get stuck somewhere. Asking about thermal paste is not the same thing as a screwdriver. Weird comparison..

 

[rsilveira1991]

Hello guys.
At Nintendo Switch OLED have 2 Resistor near CMD Point.
One is 4.7k ohms, the CMD Point. Anyone can check the valeu of the other resistor near of It?
Regards

 

[Seco_Gobbo2]

Espere aí, quais pontos suas fichas estão usando? Será que eles estão consumindo energia do slot para cartão SD? Isso pode explicar os problemas dos cartões SD com requisitos de energia mais elevados.

I installed the picofly using the method of just one mosfet on the back of the board, the other points I used from the PicoFlyGuideV.6.2 tutorial here on the forum, the same way I did it on another V2 switch that works normally. Would it be a case of redoing the installation or even replacing the picofly?

 

[raksmey1231]

Hello guys.
At Nintendo Switch OLED have 2 Resistor near CMD Point.
One is 4.7k ohms, the CMD Point. Anyone can check the valeu of the other resistor near of It?
Regards

47k