Hardware Switch with No Video (Neither Docked nor handheld mode)

MrGolfMK4 · Dec 21, 2019

Good evening ladies & Gentlemen.

Few days ago, i received a rather old switch (with an HAC-CPU-10 board) which refused to do anything.
Once finished checking the usual suspects on the board, i found out that the 1uf 16v 0805 mlcc next to the BQ24193 was shorted to ground.

After switching it for a spare one, the short was gone and the console was charging (both in handheld and docked mode),
but won't show anything on the Screen, yet the Touchscreen would work and even sound would be played upon touching the screen and/or disconnecting the JoyCons.

Tried two additional known working screens, but they wouldn't work either.
The only thing i'm getting is a working backlight and the above mentioned working sound.

Double and tripple checked the components around M92T36, BQ24193 and P13USB,
but none of them seem to be faulty.

Since i'm running out of ideas (and since i haven't found any additional shorts),
i'd know like to ask you if you've got any ideas on what might be wrong with this particular switch.

Any Help would be highly appreciated

Greetings from Germany,

MrGolfMK4

PS:
I'm currently awaiting a shipment of the three chip's i've mentioned above,
so i can't test if it'll be fixed by swapping them right now.

Agilato · Dec 22, 2019

You must check LCD connector, very common situation with bent pins.

MrGolfMK4 · Dec 25, 2019

Agilato said:
You must check LCD connector, very common situation with bent pins.

I'm sorry that i didn't respond earlier, but the past few days have been really busy both at work and at home.

After seeing your hint regarding the LCD connector, i checked it again (this time with a microscope) and saw that there have been two pins which where quite bend.
Pushed them back into place, reassembled everything and.... the console is now fully operational

Thanks for your suggestion regarding said connector, it really saved me alot of hassle with this particular console.

Merry christmas to everyone off you.

MrGolfMK4

Stevie_fadhil · Dec 30, 2019

MrGolfMK4 said:
Good evening ladies & Gentlemen.

Few days ago, i received a rather old switch (with an HAC-CPU-10 board) which refused to do anything.
Once finished checking the usual suspects on the board, i found out that the 1uf 16v 0805 mlcc next to the BQ24193 was shorted to ground.

After switching it for a spare one, the short was gone and the console was charging (both in handheld and docked mode),
but won't show anything on the Screen, yet the Touchscreen would work and even sound would be played upon touching the screen and/or disconnecting the JoyCons.

Tried two additional known working screens, but they wouldn't work either.
The only thing i'm getting is a working backlight and the above mentioned working sound.

Double and tripple checked the components around M92T36, BQ24193 and P13USB,
but none of them seem to be faulty.

Since i'm running out of ideas (and since i haven't found any additional shorts),
i'd know like to ask you if you've got any ideas on what might be wrong with this particular switch.

Any Help would be highly appreciated

Greetings from Germany,

MrGolfMK4

PS:
I'm currently awaiting a shipment of the three chip's i've mentioned above,
so i can't test if it'll be fixed by swapping them right now.

Hey man,
I have the same problem with my switch but only when docking to a tv..
The rest is working fine..
Any ideas of what's the component responsible for connecting the switch to a tv? GPU?
Sorry but I had to ask..

The Real Jdbye · Dec 30, 2019

Stevie_fadhil said:
Hey man,
I have the same problem with my switch but only when docking to a tv..
The rest is working fine..
Any ideas of what's the component responsible for connecting the switch to a tv? GPU?
Sorry but I had to ask..

That would be the PI3USB30532 USB/DP matrix switch most likely.
Does the LED on the dock light up at all? Does it go solid, or flash?
Does the console still fast charge? You should be able to tell by how quickly it charges while playing, without fast charging it charges very slowly when playing, and might even stay at the same battery level.
If the console doesn't fast charge, there may be an issue with the USB-C port itself.
Also, one more thing (mostly out of curiosity), if you go into settings to select the HDMI output resolution, does it let you select any higher resolution than 480p? For some reason, some consoles that have a HDMI output issue won't let you select higher resolutions, it probably has some significance as to what the problem is, though I couldn't tell you what.

MrGolfMK4 said:
I'm sorry that i didn't respond earlier, but the past few days have been really busy both at work and at home.

After seeing your hint regarding the LCD connector, i checked it again (this time with a microscope) and saw that there have been two pins which where quite bend.
Pushed them back into place, reassembled everything and.... the console is now fully operational

Thanks for your suggestion regarding said connector, it really saved me alot of hassle with this particular console.

Merry christmas to everyone off you.

MrGolfMK4

That fixed docked mode too? Odd.
And yes, that connector is extremely fragile... You're lucky you didn't break the flap off while trying to unbend the pins as that can be a pain to get back on. Or break any of the pins, as at that point you would be extremely unlikely to be able to repair it, though the connectors are for sale online, getting hot air anywhere near it will melt the plastic, you have to be extremely skilled.

Agilato · Dec 30, 2019

It is not actually that hard to replace LCD connector as it sounds you have to just follow procedure:

1) Take off CPU Cover and connected NAND chip with cover under it to make sure nothing on the board will not pull out stuff such as nearby connectors.
2) Heat treat the board for about 5 mins 200-250(C) to make sure all normal moisture that stuck between the layers has evaporated (skipping this step might result fully dead bubbled board).
3) Slowly preheat ALL BOARD from other side up to 300(C) and after localize on area under connector and slowly take LCD connector off the board.
4) After removing connector tin the soldering pads with leaded solder(i prefer 60/40) it will give room to heat board second time with lower temps without unnecessary overheat.
5) Clean pads with IPA and put thinnest layer of no-clean flux you can on the row of pads and position your connector flux will hold connector on place and prevent from forming cold joints.
6) Repeat heating process similar way as in step 3, surface tension will do the work.

Main thing that board designed to radiate heat fast so when you preheating it from behind try to not stay on one area for a long time it will delaminate PCB.
Better you will preheat all board less risk of damaging it you will have.

I learn each of this step on my own failures so if you want to skip any of the steps be ready to take risks.

Stevie_fadhil · Dec 31, 2019

The Real Jdbye said:
That would be the PI3USB30532 USB/DP matrix switch most likely.
Does the LED on the dock light up at all? Does it go solid, or flash?
Does the console still fast charge? You should be able to tell by how quickly it charges while playing, without fast charging it charges very slowly when playing, and might even stay at the same battery level.
If the console doesn't fast charge, there may be an issue with the USB-C port itself.
Also, one more thing (mostly out of curiosity), if you go into settings to select the HDMI output resolution, does it let you select any higher resolution than 480p? For some reason, some consoles that have a HDMI output issue won't let you select higher resolutions, it probably has some significance as to what the problem is, though I couldn't tell you what.

That fixed docked mode too? Odd.
And yes, that connector is extremely fragile... You're lucky you didn't break the flap off while trying to unbend the pins as that can be a pain to get back on. Or break any of the pins, as at that point you would be extremely unlikely to be able to repair it, though the connectors are for sale online, getting hot air anywhere near it will melt the plastic, you have to be extremely skilled.

Thank you for your answer.
Could you tell me where the PI3USB30532 USB/DP matrix switch is located on a HAC-S-US/AU/C0 (HAC-001) Model?
And yes the green light stays solid green on the dock and I think the switch charges within a reasonable time..
I didn't get a chance to play it yet still waiting for am sdcard and to exploit it using atmosphere..

The Real Jdbye · Dec 31, 2019

Stevie_fadhil said:
Thank you for your answer.
Could you tell me where the PI3USB30532 USB/DP matrix switch is located on a HAC-S-US/AU/C0 (HAC-001) Model?
And yes the green light stays solid green on the dock and I think the switch charges within a reasonable time..
I didn't get a chance to play it yet still waiting for am sdcard and to exploit it using atmosphere..

https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/ikTQ6tTjHE4O6VbZ.huge
The chip with the red outline, closest to the USB-C port.
You can test the nearby capacitor (not visible in the picture, its under the red outline), it should not be shorted to ground on both sides, only on one, if it is that's a sign either the capacitor or the chip is bad, but the chip can still be bad if the capacitor tests good.

Stevie_fadhil · Dec 31, 2019

Oh okay.
Thanks a lot man, yeah there's a lot of capacitors there, should be fine tho..
I'll check it out and let you know..
Thanks for the tip

Stevie_fadhil · Jan 27, 2020

The Real Jdbye said:
https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/ikTQ6tTjHE4O6VbZ.huge
The chip with the red outline, closest to the USB-C port.
You can test the nearby capacitor (not visible in the picture, its under the red outline), it should not be shorted to ground on both sides, only on one, if it is that's a sign either the capacitor or the chip is bad, but the chip can still be bad if the capacitor tests good.

Hello
I have finally had the chance to open up my motherboard and check my switch..
I did what you told me and no capacitor is shorted or grounded on both side, the motherboard looks new tho, I don't see any sign of a discoloring on any component.
Could it be the usb-C port? I mean it's charging tho.
So what's next?

The Real Jdbye · Jan 27, 2020

Stevie_fadhil said:
Hello
I have finally had the chance to open up my motherboard and check my switch..
I did what you told me and no capacitor is shorted or grounded on both side, the motherboard looks new tho, I don't see any sign of a discoloring on any component.
Could it be the usb-C port? I mean it's charging tho.
So what's next?

Look inside the port with a flashlight, see if you can see any bent or broken/missing pins. Most of the pins are not needed for charging, but if just one of them is bent or broken (and you didn't get lucky and it's a redundant ground pin), something is going to not work correctly. There are several different types of pins: Power (incl ground), negotiation, USB 3 data, and USB 2 data.
Power and negotiation are always needed for anything more than slow charging.
USB 2 data is not needed for anything important, just the USB 2.0 ports on the dock.
DP alt mode (what the Switch uses) uses one or more USB 3 data pairs (out of 4), so that's the most important one.

If the Switch is correctly fast charging that means power and negotiation are OK (I think those are the ones that will cause the flashing dock LED if they're broken, not sure), what you can do if you have a USB-C extension cable is to connect it to the dock and plug it into the Switch both ways, it might work in the backwards orientation if one of the pins are bent or broken, but the dock will not let you connect the Switch backwards unless you disassemble the dock. Which is not difficult to do by the way, just a few screws.

Stevie_fadhil · Jan 27, 2020

The Real Jdbye said:
Look inside the port with a flashlight, see if you can see any bent or broken/missing pins. Most of the pins are not needed for charging, but if just one of them is bent or broken (and you didn't get lucky and it's a redundant ground pin), something is going to not work correctly. There are several different types of pins: Power (incl ground), negotiation, USB 3 data, and USB 2 data.
Power and negotiation are always needed for anything more than slow charging.
USB 2 data is not needed for anything important, just the USB 2.0 ports on the dock.
DP alt mode (what the Switch uses) uses one or more USB 3 data pairs (out of 4), so that's the most important one.

If the Switch is correctly fast charging that means power and negotiation are OK (I think those are the ones that will cause the flashing dock LED if they're broken, not sure), what you can do if you have a USB-C extension cable is to connect it to the dock and plug it into the Switch both ways, it might work in the backwards orientation if one of the pins are bent or broken, but the dock will not let you connect the Switch backwards unless you disassemble the dock. Which is not difficult to do by the way, just a few screws.

Hello and thanks for your answer.
So we're establishing that there are any issues with the motherboard, capacitors and IC are fine..
And we're focusing on the USB C port instead..
Okay then I'll check the pins carefully and let you know what happened for sure.

The Real Jdbye · Jan 28, 2020

Stevie_fadhil said:
Hello and thanks for your answer.
So we're establishing that there are any issues with the motherboard, capacitors and IC are fine..
And we're focusing on the USB C port instead..
Okay then I'll check the pins carefully and let you know what happened for sure.

Not sure, but the USB-C port seems the most likely and it's the easiest to check.

ollicnat · Apr 4, 2020

Hi I have something similar,my old switch works great in handle mode, but on dock mode it doesnt work, at The begging it worked on tv mode few seconds, now no display on tv, usb-c port looks good,green light on Dock is permanet and charge fast, i changed 480,720, 1080 settings, some idea?

Stevie_fadhil · Nov 25, 2020

Hello guys,
After a long time I am updating this post with some news.
So I have replaced the PI3USB chip on my motherboard and made sure it was soldered from every pin on the sides! Boy what a bunch of work it was!
I am now getting no power, but my ampreader reads something like 0.60A when plugged in, also when I try to charge it using a dock it quickly turns green then no light at all..
I tried a new battery on, poked around for some shorts I don't see any so far..
What could've happened? What should I do next?
Thanks!

Hardware Switch with No Video (Neither Docked nor handheld mode)

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