Switch detected by TegraRCMGUI but will not turn on

teddyk · Dec 9, 2023

Hey all,

When trying to use my Switch today I noticed it was unresponsive on the dock and then saw that it would not turn on at all.

I recently updated my Nintendo switch to 17.0.0 along with the latest atmosphere + hekate packages last week and all has been well (installed and played multiple games, etc.) since then until today. I believe the battery was drained after not plugging in the dock (I unplugged it to free up the outlet for something else for a few days), but ofc I wouldn't have expected it to fail to turn back on after recharging it.

When I plug the unresponsive, dead Switch into my PC TegraRCMGUI does detect it and allows me to inject into it, but nothing happens on the Switch when I do that even though TegraRCMGUI does show a green checkmark and says that the injection was successful. The Switch remains completely dead without any visuals, sound, etc.

I'm not sure at this point if it's even related to using custom firmware, etc since it doesn't even seem able to turn on to get to that point. At this point I'd like to try and figure out what exactly is at fault but I'm unsure how to diagnose it further.

Things I've tried:

Holding the power button for 20s and then tapping it again (as suggested by Nintendo's docs)
Multiple chargers
Hooked it up to my PC and tried using TegraRCMGUI to boot it via injection
removed joycons, games, sd card and tried turning it on like that

Sadly nothing has worked. Any ideas?

EDIT: The fix was simply to inject the payload from another USB port on my laptop (I was using a USB port on my KVM switch originally).

BigOnYa · Dec 9, 2023

Leave it charge in the dock overnight, or for many hours. Should come back alive. Mine has done the same when I let the battery die all the way.

Dust2dust · Dec 9, 2023

Plug your Switch directly in the official power brick, don't use the dock (the dock does use some power, which your Switch cannot afford to share right now). Charge overnight, as suggested by @BigOnYa

teddyk · Dec 9, 2023

Thanks for the advice. As recommended I've plugged in my dead Switch directly to the original charger after confirming it still works by testing it with my phone. I'll leave it on there for 24h (no change after ~4h so far) and see what happens.

Does anyone know if there is something like a flowchart for diagnosing what else could be wrong? I'm curious if it something like the USB-C port (I don't think so since my computer recognizes it), the battery, etc how I could figure out what component I need to replace (but maybe I'm getting ahead of myself here as charging longer may just work).

Thanks again!

BigOnYa · Dec 9, 2023

teddyk said:
Thanks for the advice. As recommended I've plugged in my dead Switch directly to the original charger after confirming it still works by testing it with my phone. I'll leave it on there for 24h (no change after ~4h so far) and see what happens.

Does anyone know if there is something like a flowchart for diagnosing what else could be wrong? I'm curious if it something like the USB-C port (I don't think so since my computer recognizes it), the battery, etc how I could figure out what component I need to replace (but maybe I'm getting ahead of myself here as charging longer may just work).

Thanks again!

Breathe! Just be calm and don't get ahead of yourself. Let it charge atleast 24 hours without unplugging/ testing it constantly.

teddyk · Dec 10, 2023

I checked again after >24h on the official charger (confirmed to be working with both my phone and another nintendo switch) and sadly there's no change and it's still dead (tried to power it on and hold the power button for 20s + another tap).

I believe the USB port is still functional since my PC detects it but I'm unsure of how I can diagnose the problem further. Are there any guides on diagnosing hardware issues?

BigOnYa · Dec 10, 2023

teddyk said:
I checked again after >24h on the official charger (confirmed to be working with both my phone and another nintendo switch) and sadly there's no change and it's still dead (tried to power it on and hold the power button for 20s + another tap).

I believe the USB port is still functional since my PC detects it but I'm unsure of how I can diagnose the problem further. Are there any guides on diagnosing hardware issues?

Sorry to hear. Cheapest thing to try first would be replace the battery. You can find kits online that come with the tools needed and a new battery. Plenty of tutorials and videos on replacing it also, not that hard, other than the stupid glue they use on it. After that would prob be the charging chip on mobo, but that would require advanced tech, (reflow). Good luck.

teddyk · Dec 11, 2023

Ordered a 5$ battery off aliexpress. I should have my tools and such at some point in the next few weeks which'll let me swap it and check what other components might be busted if that doesn't work. Will update the thread then.

Thanks!

teddyk · Jan 5, 2024

I just wanted to update this thread now that I've found a solution mentioned in another thread on this forum (I can't seem to link it because of anti-spam filtering but it's posts by Madotsuki) that I failed to find initially. The fix was simply to inject the payload from another USB port on my laptop (I was using a USB port on my KVM switch originally).

Thanks all!

yvn · Jun 26, 2024

Hey, I'm facing the same issue right now, I've left it overnight while downloading with tinfoil. Mine is Modchipped oled how do i fix it? it is being detected in TegraRCMUI

teddyk · Jul 4, 2024

yvn said:
Hey, I'm facing the same issue right now, I've left it overnight while downloading with tinfoil. Mine is Modchipped oled how do i fix it? it is being detected in TegraRCMUI

Did you try my last suggestion of using a different USB port?

kidkat210 · Jul 5, 2024

yvn said:
Hey, I'm facing the same issue right now, I've left it overnight while downloading with tinfoil. Mine is Modchipped oled how do i fix it? it is being detected in TegraRCMUI

Tegrarcmgui is only for the v1 unpatched units. It won't be useful for oled

Switch detected by TegraRCMGUI but will not turn on

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