Dear all,
I got a broken switch from a friends friend and it was only trickle charging (0.45-0.46A). When I turned it on it was shortly displaying the “Nintendo” screen then the charging symbol only. I switched it off and left it charging for ~2h then I switched it on again. It then drew 1.44-1.45A and got one screen further, to the “Nintendo Switch” screen, but is stuck there indefinately.
Recovery (holding volume+/- and power) results in the same “nintendo switch” screen.
Does anyone have a solution for this?
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Typically this is the result of 1 of 3 things (or a combination of all)
- Bad BQ24193 IC
- Bad fuel gauge IC
- Bad battery
Typically in this order. The Nintendo switch tries to check battery info by following the circuit of these 3 components, it one can’t report back then it causes a kernel panic and you get no further.
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Ok, thanks, there are no shorts in the caps around the ics. I don’t have a spare battery, yet. Could the chips have gone bad without shorts?
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Hey there,
Yes, the ICs can break, even without shorts. If you have an unpatched switch, try to start hekate and loot at the battery info. Usually, if the BQ24193 (which also is the fuel gauge IC) is not ok, you’ll see abnormal readings there. Usually, not always.
Otherwise I do agree with @KiloooNL, sounds like this IC or the battery.
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ok, thanks, I don’t know if it is patched. Is there a danger if it is patched to try it? Can I even try without recovery?
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Hey there,
finding out if your Switch is patched can be done in multiple ways.
Either, you check your serial number. Here you can check, if the serial number of your Switch indicates if it is patched or not. The Serial number is on the white Sticker on the same face of the Switch as the USB C port.
Otherwise, just try going into RCM and start hekate with a tool like TegraRcmGUI. If your Switch is patched it will simply do nothing. If the battery or the BQ24193 are broken, usually RCM and hekate will start, only horizon (the original OS) usually refuses to start, due to the checks @KiloooNL mentioned.
Hope that helps.
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Thanks for that reply. I will try that soon. Since I had the switch apart I went through all capacitors and found only one shorted! Should I replace that capacitor (see image) ?
Edit:when I try to view the image, I get 404.So i will try to descibe it. Left of the display connector there are a couple of capacitors. It is the very big one!
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Hey there,
I assume you mean the big silverish component next to the display connector. By the looks of it, I don’t think it is a capacitor. I’d rather guess (! guess, don’t know !) that it is some sort of resistor or even fuse. Maybe for the display’s backlight. That guess is supported by the fact that the component is also shorted in a known good Switch. So, it’s no fault, it is designed that way.
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Wow, thanks, you guys are super helpful. I will try the RCM thing today or tomorrow. Also the replacement battery should arrive. So I will give it a go.
I did some reading and found out the USB charging system on the switch is as bad as on the Raspberry pi4… does anyone know a cheaper charger that is known to work well? The person I got this from used 3rd party chargers now and again, so that might have been the culprit…
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Hey there,
yes, sadly 3rd party chargers are the most common cause for defects for Switches. The main problem is the very very low absolute maximum rating of the M92T36’s inputs, and there is no overvoltage protection of any sorts. Any quality charger should be ok, just stay away from the very cheap chargers.
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Hey all, @kage-chan and @KiloooNL sorry I took such a long time to test your suggestions.
I tried to make my own jig until the ordered one arrived, but did not succeed.
Now it is here and I was able to do some testing. My switch is inpatched. I loaded hekate and viewed the batterie info. As far as I can tell, everything looks ok. So no 200% or 0% batterie, what else can I look at? I also loaded Lakka and it started fine. I was able to see my wifi in lakka (I read somewhere, that the wifi/BT chip might come loose and will let the switch be stuck at the logo). So the Wifi chip is probably/maybe not the problem.
Is there any more troubleshooting, I could do, before changing out ICs randomly?
Just a reminder, the switch charges completely normal.
One additional thing I noticed: When it is stuck in the logo screen and plugged it, there is a loud zapp, when I do the 12 second power button hard switch off. Is that normal?
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My opinion is that you need to change the M92T36…
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I agree. Had a couple of units like that. Changed out the M92t36 chip and loaded right up.
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Ok, thanks, I’ll give it a try some time later this week!
Cheers!
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Ok, it got a lot later than I planned. It was the first time, I did reflow work on such small packages and I did a horrible job ( I knocked of two caps and had to reflow the chip 3 times until it was aligned).
However, I am relatively confident, I got everything back on again correctly and exchanged the M92t36 to a new one. Now, the switch shows the same fault - Stuck at “nitendo switch logo”.
Does anyone have any more ideas?
I have a switch that is currently stuck in the same place.
It was booting into an orange screen, and I tried the method of reheating the WiFi chip which stopped the orange screen showing but now won’t pass the Switch logo screen. I found that same short next to the display connector and thought the same, I can’t find any others though.
I will update if I find anything.
Switch of the same problem
I saw it a lot. It stopped at the logo.
Who has solved this problem?
@jojo did you replace BQ24193 chip? you only mentioned replacing the m92t36 chip.
I also have a switch stuck at the switch logo.
I managed to boot hekate, but what are abnormal readings and what are normal readings?
Hey guys, with two kids at home (corona), I did not have much time to look at it again. I only replaced the M92t36 chip. While doing that I either burned the chip or did some other damage. It was behaving like before but soon stopped charging.
Didn’t have time to look at it again. Sorry.