Aliexpress is fine, if you don’t receieve it your protected in the same way you are on eBay, just open a dispute and get your money back. If somethings not as described, open a dispute and get a partial refund etc. I’ve had a few dissapointments over the years on a a handful of orders and more often than not the dispute process will resolve it… worst case and if it doesn’t, just get your bank to reverse the whole transaction… which I’ve done a couple of times on more expensive stuff.
Yes, that’s part of it, but on a deeper level it’s also down to opamps, ADC’s, voltage/current limit at the probes and software. The Vichay stuff is basically duplicating the results you would expect on a fluke… trouble is most of the “hobby” level flukes are built on a 30 y/o out of date design…
I had a Vichay meter many years ago (I think a VC97) it was ok but the range switch developed problems leading to further inconsistent and duff results. Tbh your probably fine continuing to use the Vichay provided you know the results will be slightly wonky in some cases
@Severence
Thank you for that information. I will consider placing an order through Aliexpress.
Is there any preference to the Uni-t model, because when I look there are quite a few different models to choose from.
Also…how good is the PC software?
So I removed the M92 and tried it out… no such joy
I replaced the M92 still no joy
I purchased (for testing purposes) a spare battery - checked its voltage and it was at 4.059 v
Plugged that battery in as a tempory test and still no LCD even with pressing Power button
I am thinking it is something else but no idea what it could be - surely its not the LCD connector is it???
Is there any components I can test for resistance / diode mode that will at least give me a clue as to why this bleeding headache of a Switch won’t turn on
IMO if you’re seeing all the signs of a normal boot and not getting any display, then your issue most likely lies with the FPC connector or maybe the LCD driver. Seeing as you fitted a new FPC connector, my guess would be to inspect it at the least. Preferably you should reflow it again and then test and make sure you’re getting continuity to the pins in the connector. Verify continuity from the leg of the connector to its corresponding pin, then try to find a component on that same line and see if you have continuity from the component to the same pin. It might show you a leg or two that need some more soldering done at the least.
@coda
I have my multimeter leads and have done the mod to a set by using a needle and soldering to one of the multimeters detachable pins……
BUT even this needle is not small enough to check for leg to pin continuity….
So…. My next question is; what do you use that is small enough to do that I can check for continuity against these pins etc please??
before that, might be worth trying in a dock… if it is indeed booting behind the scenes then you’ll see it on your TV
if not, next port of call is checking the fuel gauge (sorry if you’ve checked this already, this topic is long) but that would be consistent with the other symptoms you mentioned from first post
@zyrex
Amp meter ; do you mean the USB meter that I recently purchased and if so what set up would I need to test this if I am wanting to see the Battery charging status.
I am guessing:
PD charger to Amp Meter (I would like to say “USB-C Input) then Amp meter USB-C Output to Switch USB-C port
@Severence
The docking station is a brilliant idea…because as you say it would bypass the LCD screen and at least give me some identification of what is going on.
@Severence
Fuel gauge was mentioned some time ago by yourself (post 38) along with checking USB and M92….
Also zyrex mentioned in (post 15) about the fuel gauge but he mainly just said to check it and make sure no cracks etc…
I can confirm that there are no cracks in the fuel gauge, but I do not have a spare to even swap it out with…nor do I have a spare USB port either.
Is this something that maybe I should look at purchasing and swapping out perhaps.
I have put down my tools for the evening (nearly midnight here in UK) and will continue with this tomorrow morning.
In the meantime any additional info /assistance is always appreciated
Many thanks
I ordered a set of precision leads for my meter to test with. Easily findable on amazon, here is the set i ordered which so far has been just fine for what i need.
You simply plug the usb Meter between the charger and the switch, so yes, if it has a usb c input use this, then plug in an output Port another cable wich charges the console. You should See how much voltage and ampere the console draws.
After the Boot at around 0.4amps it will jump to over 1 amp if it successfull booted into the OS (if it charges 0.2-0.3 amps at first it can be due to a empty battery)
@coda
I have that precision test set…. I find that a lot of the connections I can use the supplied connectors but when I need to test the actual smd pins for continuity or diode mode checking they are just too big.
The needles that I have installed on a set of the smallest connectors are also just a tiny bit to big.
I have seen on a couple of YouTube videos people using some type of hard copper wire but I have no idea what this is.
@Severence
To do the dock test do I need to reinstall the board into the switch enclosure and connect “EVERYTHING” back up
Or would just inserting the barebones board alone be enough without causing other components to be overpowered
@zyrex
Okay brilliant I will try this method shortly - before I try the dock method that Severence has mentioned….and will provide the readings
I might also try the battery (one bought for testing) that I know has charge to see if Amp meter shows any other readings.
Not really, it would still boot (ordinarily) without it and given your previous tests it doesn’t look like there is anything wrong with the existing one.
If the fuel gauge is good then there’s not much else which would cause blue screen / intermittent/no boot issues aside from ram or SoC… you might want to swap the BQ IC on the off chance that that resolves it but tbh the symptoms your describing aren’t in line with that being at fault (unless you had a SYS rail short)
So, what I’d say is cut your losses on this one and reserve it as a donor and maybe transfer the SoC and EMMC over to another board in the future on the off chance that the potential SoC/Ram issue is relating to their joints (becoming more and more common as time goes on)
If you get 0,4x Amps means the switch is still in Boot state and cant enter the OS for some reason.
There are a few things which can causing this:
Bad M92
Bad Fuel Gauge
Bad PI3USB
Bad NAND
To rule out the NAND you can plug the switch into a PC with TegraRCM open, if it detects the switch in RCM Mode, its like the NAND cant be read or is bad
none of these cause such symptoms…unless either visibly damaged or failing short to ground on one of their related primary rails - which based on the info provided earlier it doesn’t seem like any are. That all being said, might still be worth replacing the fuel gauge as Zyrex mentioned incase there is some non obvious physical damage… they’re cheap enough to do it just to rule it out.
Based on the info provided earlier - blue screen and drop damage, I think this is an SoC/Ram issue and most likely in relation to their joints as the cause.
EMMC as Zyrex noted is a valid cause for these symptoms, but it’s quite rare. It can cause the BSOD but generally this occurs due to corruption of a single partition and with drop damage typically causing no boot from the off (no BSOD leadup) - just to note, RCM is just recovery mode, it isn’t exclusive to EMMC related issues, boards with SoC/Ram issues will commonly also be in an RCM state.
While were on the subject of RCM though, (and apologies again if this was also already mentioned) is this console actually patched?
Even it’s not typical, there are cases where the PI3USB is broken even if there are no shorts. There is also a video I think by theCoder with this problem.
