Diagnostic confirmation request on what I think is a faulty APU

Nintendo Questions Nintendo Switch
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Hello! It’s my first post here, I have been watching TronicsFix videos on Youtube for a while and I wanted to try to fix Nintendo Switches :slight_smile: hello from Switzerland, nice to meet you all!

I purchased a lot of 4 Nintendo Switch that did not turn on, and I’ve been able to fix 3! But the last one seems like a lost cause. I just wanted to see if you agree with me before I declare it unfixable and use it as a donor board.

Here are my observations so far, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong on my assumptions:

  • As soon as I plugged it in, it made a horrible buzzing noise coming from the APU, so I did not try to plug it again after because I did not want to definitely fry it
  • The capacitor below M92T36 is shorted, I think it is this one that likely means the APU is faulty?
  • The capacitor on the left of M92T36 is also shorted, I think this one can mean either PI3USB or APU is faulty?
  • The other capacitors near M92T36 seem ok, so there’s a chance that M92T36 itself is good and I could use it as a donor?
  • The capacitor below PI3USB is shorted, I think this also means either PI3USB or APU is faulty?
  • Also the rightmost filter above PI3USB has the left lane that is broken, I think this is common when PI3USB fails?
  • Finally, since I was pretty sure there was a problem with the APU, I removed the metal shield, and the APU is not centered, so it would indicate to me that someone tried and failed to reflow it? Or did anyone ever see an off-center APU like that in a working Nintendo Switch?

Here are pictures:

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I think what I will do next is to remove PI3USB, retest the short below, remove the one shorted cap, retest the short, remove M92T36, retest the short, remove the 2 shorted caps, and if the short is still here then it means it’s definitely the APU?

Should I test something else before trying anything?

Thanks a lot in advance for your help :slight_smile:

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Some updates: I did remove PI3USB and M92T36 as well as the capacitor below PI3USB, and all the shorts are still here (yes I was impatient :grin:). I measured the desoldered capacitor and it was 11.5 µF.

I also found more shorts: the two caps here:

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I have seen a video where TronicsFix said that when those are shorted, it’s probably a problem with the SoC.

Now the question is, is the SoC faulty or is it just because it’s off-center? Maybe I could resurrect the motherboard by reballing and resoldering the SoC?

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I dont think the soc is off centre, the board i have here looks the same.

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Interesting, all the pictures I found online the SoC had the same spacing with the metal shield on the 3 sides. I guess it has more tolerance than I expected in the placement.

Thank you for checking on your board :slight_smile:

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Those 2 caps are on the 3v3 output from the RP602Z330C ic next to them