SW3 in 5 easy steps

Summary:

Because so many people seem to be having problems with this, here is what I did. It has worked like a charm several times, without ANY issues.

SW3 in 5 easy steps

AtlasC1 20 Mar 2011 23:24

Before you begin, ensure your PBO is actually 'bricked'. If you see the "Cannot Boot From HDD" message, your box isn't bricked - just be patient and it will eventually pick up the firmware from the USB drive. If all you see when you turn your PBO on is the Box Office Logo (with possible infinite reboot cycle), this should solve the problem:

Step 1:

If you don't have soldering wire, or something similar, take a twist-tie and strip the paper off to expose the wire.

Step 2:

Turn the switch on the back of the PBO to "OFF". Open up the PBO using these two screws, and slide out the board.

Step 3:

Orient the PBO's board as such. You will be inserting the wire into hole "A", while hole "B" is where you will be using your eyes to look for SW3. Plug a flash drive with firmware (preferably P02) into the front USB port. Ensure the power cord is plugged in.

Step 4:

Locate SW3; a flashlight may help

Step 5:

Turn the switch on the back of the PBO to "POWER", while ensuring:
A) The wire is touching the metal casing, in order to ground the switch.
B) The wire is also touching the SW3 solder point farthest to you, AND ONLY that point!

The firmware should start loading in 5-15 seconds. When the firmware starts installing (USB starts flashing, if you have a light on your USB drive), pull the wire out as quickly as you can, without touching any other areas on the board.

-Atlas

Last edited on 21 Mar 2011 14:59 by AtlasC1 + Show more

Re: SW3 in 5 easy steps

nosnoop 21 Mar 2011 03:30

Excellent tutorial!
Thanks!!

Re: SW3 in 5 easy steps

AtlasC1 21 Mar 2011 18:18

Thanks everyone! I'm glad people will find this useful! I realized, after waking up this morning, that picture 5 was referring to the ground point itself. I fixed it and it should now be accurate.

-Atlas

Re: SW3 in 5 easy steps

Malouff 21 Mar 2011 03:57

Great guide Atlas,

Interesting that you use just one solder point and the case for the SW3.

I first tried it from underneath as as snappy46 showed us

I also was following aasoror tip to connect both of SW3's soldering points together.
So I stuck one wire in the hole snappy46 circled in red and the one to the left.

It didn't work so I did it from the top by removing everything like the HDD, HDD connecter/power board, etc.,

I learned that the reason why it did not work for me from underneath is that the solder points are not exactly next to the holes as seen in this image from the top.

The wire I tried was straight so never touched them.
I should have angled the wire in a L shape or some type of a bend so once through they would have touched the solder points.

flach79 also had an idea of using two pieces of wire from underneath so they can be separated easily.
(as you can't pull out a bent wire very fast especially if it is a stiff wire)

So he angled two paper clips and put them in the holes snappy46 mentioned and touched them together.
One the firmware updates starts (You see Can't boot screen or USB lights up) you disconnect the wires and take them out.

Re: SW3 in 5 easy steps

aasoror 21 Mar 2011 04:17

Interesting that you use just one solder point and the case for the SW3.

Because the other solder point is ground :) which he mimicked by touching the wire with the metal casing (point A at pic 5).

Thanks Atlas very fine work. :)