I have a use scenario that requires the WIFI be disabled permanently via hardware. What would be the best way? I want to avoid an Orange Screen scenario, and cant rely on a setting change like parental mode. Removing the wifi antenna cables isnt sufficient, sadly.
Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!
could just remove these two components, this would break the path from the antenna to the chip. Best bet next to just removing the wifi ic entirely as these would be a lot easier to replace if you want to reverse the job.
This looks like a good solution! I gotta try it out, and when I do, Ill let you know the outcome.
I was looking to remove the 2 SMCs on the back of the board that provides one of the many sets of power to the chip (directly under where the main chip is, they connect to the chip @ B1 + C1, PCIE_RDP and PCIE_RDN respectively), but I want to avoid the dreaded orange screen on boot. This looks like it may not be self-checked by the switch, and hopefully bypass that issue. I like it!
Sadly, Removing those components did NOT remove wifi capability. It DID lower the range, but WIFI can still be utilized while those components are no longer on the board, So back to the drawing board for me.
Yeah this won’t disable wifi truly as the’s IC’s relate to the antennas. To truly disable WIFI or BT you’d have to cut the trace for the BT/WIFI reg enables (search the forum and see if you can find my post where I’ve provided there location before) . Also have you tried just disabling wifi and then enabling airplane mode in the settings?
That all being said, it would be better to just replace the IC all together as disabling WIFI or BT still doesn’t guarantee you won’t get an orange screen… chances are pretty high that the orange screen your getting is as a result of IC damage, likely causing some internal shorts within the IC, itself and then likely comms are being interfered with triggering the OSOD, which probably means cutting the traces won’t solve anything and even if it does I imagine the OSOD will return at a later date
Well Im dealing with multiple switches and have a use scenario that needs them to permanently NOT have wifi access. Airplane mode can be turned off, etc. So one switch may get the OSOD, but if I can find an accurate process, I can disable WIFI in the other switches I have without causing IC damage, hopefully.
Id love to know where the trace is for the wifi_reg_on. Ive looked into the datasheet on the IC, but it appears the trace from the IC goes directly into the second or third layer of the board, and its the entire board (im new to soldering, bare with me as i stumble). If I could find a surface layer trace to simply scratch off, id be up for that!
I did find your post (pictures with a few colored boxes, blue ones being the WIFI REG ON it appears) Though the reference image is on a switch. Ill try to find where they would be on a switch lite, though any assistance, by anyone, Is completely accepted!
Thank you all!
Hi, as I mentioned earlier the reason for the orange screen would be because of internal damage to the IC to begin with, so disabling WIFI by cutting the enable trace as I mentioned above will likely not resolve the issue and even if it does it will be termporary and the issue will return regardless I’m afraid, not only that but bear in mind the IC is connecting directly to the SoC so as time wears on and as the chip continues to fry itself it will likely kill the SoC and at that point replacing the WIFI IC will make no difference.
Just practice you soldering / hot air rework skills on some other scrap boards and and just keep doing that and come back at a later date and replace the IC properly which will resolve your problem 
The orange screen isnt an issue im seeing in MY boards, but boards when theyve been modified. Again to clarify, its not MY issue, but an issue I wish to avoid when modifying my boards.
Practicing my skills aside, I still need to have some switches modified to remove wifi access. Short of reballing the IC (as im waiting on the template), I need to produce quite a few (40+) nintendo switches that are wifi-disabled in hardware, or another method that cannot be changed via factory reset.
If I were to reball and replace the IC properly, it would NOT disable the wifi, which is what im looking for, unless i specifically miss certain pins (Im assuming the WL_REG_ON pin at this point).
So my question is…
Where on the Switch Lite motherboard would be easiest to disable wifi permanently? If its leads, please show me. If its re-balling the IC, which ballpin would I remove? I cannot test reballing the IC for a while, So I would love an alternative approach for now.
WL_REG_ON pad is A10 (A1 is in the corner right down with no pad) according to the datasheet.
Its line goes to the via. From there on the belower layer direct to the SoC.
Thx @tonike for sharing the link: Switch board layers
So If I’m understanding right, you want to disable WIFI so that on board which you’ve modified aren’t banned from going online? If yes this makes no sense 
Or If you think disabling wifi is going to somehow prevent an orange screen in the future then it won’t do that either.
Or If you think that doing this will prevent any type of kernal panic colour code as a result of a bad modification of a switch board (hardware or software) then this will not solve the issue.either
Hope that helps and hopefully one of my points above corresponds with your case, I think there is a bit of a lnaguage barrier thing going on here
How about removing the capcitors next to the SoC shield? That disables wifi AFAIK.
See my post Switch Error 2110-1118, Wifi error - #15 by Severence
I don’t think I’ve ever verified if these caps actually relate to the WIFI IC in any way, I think damage to them can trigger similar fault symtoms to that of a bad WIFI IC which is maybe where this association has came from.
Cutting the enable line will do it but as I say, I really am at a loss as to what the point of this is… especially if he’s going to do it on like 40+ consoles… literally the biggest waste of time as this won’t do anything to prevent OSOD in the future or anything of that nature.
Those capacitors are on the opposite side of the switch lite, under the SoC. I removed them, with no impact to Wifi, sadly.
The use-case is I need 40 switch devices that are defined as “secure” by standards that arent my own. To them, that means BT and WIFI are disabled. Thats all.
When I get another test board with wifi enabled, im going to attempt scratching out the trace for the WL_REG_ON Power for the IC that you referenced, as I cant find an external reach to it. It may be a bit though.
Did you try removing thr oscillator next to the WiFi Chip?
I have not. Would that be a better option than removing the wl_reg_on section? Id imagine an oscillator would have multiple uses in the switch, and more likely to result in causing other issues, though if scratching out the WL_REG line doesnt work, that may be my next attempt.
Maybe I’m dumb here, but can’t you just remove the wifi chip then? I’m probably wrong, but I thought the boards could function just fine without the broadcom chip installed.
Nope, it would show error code after boot up and can do nothing just like you removed m92t36
interesting, i was under the impression the boards would only display the error when you went to try and connect to wifi.
Thanks!
Then you wont have an typical orange screen stuck if you were correct. NS diagnose WIFI function before going to Home page(3clicks lock screen)
