Today, after having sent in my old Switch unit last week (shipped to a Nintendo-authorized repair center on July 19), I received a refurbished one. It has the serial number of XAW94100xxxxxx. To my disappointment, this unit is ipatched, but I don't know if the stock OS version is <= 4.1.0. It seems more likely that this unit has 8.1.0 installed instead, but I can't test as I have no Joy-Cons to use. I tried the fusee-test.bin, and the screen didn't light up, and Hekate 5.0.0 didn't work either. That's how I determined that my new unit is ipatched.
The problem I had with my old unit was not something I could fix myself (but at least I had some fun with L4T Ubuntu while I had it), so a repair center was my only choice if I wanted to try saving money.
I need to know what I should do next so that I can utilize downloaded ROM images (Switch games, whether cartridge or digital) and not let them get wasted. For now, I want to keep things simple by not messing around with OS versions (prefer latest whenever possible), and I don't plan on doing online play. If I have to sell this unit and get another one, I don't want to spend more than the cost of a new Switch unit at ~$300. Someone help me, please, before I give up and go back to playing open-source games.
The problem I had with my old unit was not something I could fix myself (but at least I had some fun with L4T Ubuntu while I had it), so a repair center was my only choice if I wanted to try saving money.
I need to know what I should do next so that I can utilize downloaded ROM images (Switch games, whether cartridge or digital) and not let them get wasted. For now, I want to keep things simple by not messing around with OS versions (prefer latest whenever possible), and I don't plan on doing online play. If I have to sell this unit and get another one, I don't want to spend more than the cost of a new Switch unit at ~$300. Someone help me, please, before I give up and go back to playing open-source games.