Hardware Help repairing Switch speaker & digitizer

nickwhit · Feb 23, 2020

I purchased an older Switch from someone on FB, cause it was cheap and I needed to guarantee itd be a hackable model. However there are a few problems with it, that I'd like to attempt fixing myself.. but I have a few questions first.

1) The left speaker doesnt work at all. I found a nice guide for replacing it.. but includes basically a full disassembly. A comment on that guide mentions that the majority of the steps possibly arent necessary. Particularly everything after removing the metal casing inside. Can anyone confirm if it's possible to replace a speaker without requiring removing EVERY component?

Here is the guide I'm referring to: https://www.sosav.com/guides/game-consoles/nintendo/nintendo-home/nintendo-switch/left-speaker/

2) How difficult is replacing ONLY the digitizer, and not the LCD underneath? Does it also require a full disassembly?

The 3DS had a plastic cover for the top screen that was easily removable/replaceable.. but I know one for the Switch screen has a ribbon cable that attaches it to the motherboard. I dont however know how difficult it is to access said ribbon cable internally

Xecuter04 · Feb 29, 2020

Hi nickwhit, I am pretty sure you can remove the speakers after the metal plate is taken off as long as the speakers aren't obstructed, here is a video of a tear down of a guy just removing them without taking everything out ( youtu.be/ETN97XOx4ZY?t=243 ).

As for the digitizer replacement here is a video guide on how to replace it youtube.com/watch?v=r0O_bRUF8BM

best of luck!

vulp_vibes · Mar 1, 2020

yeah, once the heat shield is off, the speakers are accessible and you can pop them out with something thin and flat, like a small flathead screwdriver (assuming a faulty speaker is the issue).

the digitizer is kind of a bastard though; nintendo used a horrifyingly strong adhesive for the screen assembly and it is very forceful yet delicate work to remove it without severing any of the ribbon cables, and god help you if you want to replace the digitizer itself with zero dust under the screen. I've repaired a torn backlight cable and managed a dust-free digitizer swap and let me tell you: unpleasant :wacko:

nickwhit · Mar 5, 2020

pyorin said:
yeah, once the heat shield is off, the speakers are accessible and you can pop them out with something thin and flat, like a small flathead screwdriver (assuming a faulty speaker is the issue).

the digitizer is kind of a bastard though; nintendo used a horrifyingly strong adhesive for the screen assembly and it is very forceful yet delicate work to remove it without severing any of the ribbon cables, and god help you if you want to replace the digitizer itself with zero dust under the screen. I've repaired a torn backlight cable and managed a dust-free digitizer swap and let me tell you: unpleasant

I'm honestly more concerned with the adhesive removal/replacement than the dust aspect. I have compressed air and large microfiber cloths to help keep everything dust free.. though I'm sure itll still be a slight pain the ass during actual execution lol

For the adhesive, I bought 1mm double sided tape from ifixit. Is that gonna work? And to remove the old adhesive, is alcohol and a tiny scraper enough to do the trick?

vulp_vibes · Mar 5, 2020

nickwhit said:
I'm honestly more concerned with the adhesive removal/replacement than the dust aspect. I have compressed air and large microfiber cloths to help keep everything dust free.. though I'm sure itll still be a slight pain the ass during actual execution lol

For the adhesive, I bought 1mm double sided tape from ifixit. Is that gonna work? And to remove the old adhesive, is alcohol and a tiny scraper enough to do the trick?

that tape should be alright if it is the one I am seeing (Tesa 61395), though you will need to apply multiple strips if it is only 1mm wide. if you're lucky, however, the original adhesive cutout may stay in one piece, and can be reused. if not, then yes, isopropyl will take it up after a bit of time and work. best of luck then

nickwhit · Mar 9, 2020

I recently performed some surgery and successfully repaired both my joycons (fixing drift issues) and the busted left speaker

I'll be attempting to replace the digitizer this weekend.. but I'm wondering if removing the card reader and heat sink are entirely necessary. The guides I see say to do so.. but if all I'm doing is switching digitizers, cant I just disconnect its ribbon cable, replace the old with new, reconnect ribbon cable, and close up shop?

Are both the heatsink or card reader in the way for that? I'd prefer disconnecting/removing as few things as possible lol

vulp_vibes · Mar 10, 2020

nickwhit said:
I'm wondering if removing the card reader and heat sink are entirely necessary. The guides I see say to do so.. but if all I'm doing is switching digitizers, cant I just disconnect its ribbon cable, replace the old with new, reconnect ribbon cable, and close up shop?

I would tear the whole thing down and rebuild it bit by bit, but that's just me

imo the only thing you need to disconnect to free the digitizer safely is the cart reader, but it is a little tricky to remove and reseat the cart reader by itself. I went ahead and took a video to demonstrate:

nickwhit · Mar 10, 2020

pyorin said:
I would tear the whole thing down and rebuild it bit by bit, but that's just me imo the only thing you need to disconnect to free the digitizer safely is the cart reader, but it is a little tricky to remove and reseat the cart reader by itself. I went ahead and took a video to demonstrate:

You're the mannnnn. Appreciate the help, I'll let ya know how it goes once I get to it

pure3d2 · Apr 8, 2020

How do you get this rubber gasket onto the digitizer properly? Nearly all of the replacement digitizers I see for sale comes without this rubber gasket.

vulp_vibes · Apr 8, 2020

pure3d2 said:
How do you get this rubber gasket onto the digitizer properly? Nearly all of the replacement digitizers I see for sale comes without this rubber gasket.

when I did my digitizer replacement, the gasket was still attached to the LCD; it was a matter of carefully straightening it out with tweezers so it aligned with the edges of the LCD, and then allowing the digitizer to lay down onto it as well as the frame adhesive at the same time. I am not sure where you would source this gasket otherwise, aside from crafting your own with a thin adhesive strip

a side note, since I was reminded of it: the LCD has a significant amount of play (about a mm on both dimensions) in the housing before the digitizer is mounted, and can easily become misaligned. I used a trimmed used gift card as a spacer to ensure that the LCD was centered properly, though it wouldn't be too difficult to do it by eye. it may also be beneficial to put a small strip of double sided tape underneath the LCD during alignment, to ensure it stays in place during the absolute nightmare that is getting a digitizer on without any dust underneath it :wacko:

pure3d2 · Apr 8, 2020

pyorin said:
when I did my digitizer replacement, the gasket was still attached to the LCD; it was a matter of carefully straightening it out with tweezers so it aligned with the edges of the LCD, and then allowing the digitizer to lay down onto it as well as the frame adhesive at the same time. I am not sure where you would source this gasket otherwise, aside from crafting your own with a thin adhesive strip

a side note, since I was reminded of it: the LCD has a significant amount of play (about a mm on both dimensions) in the housing before the digitizer is mounted, and can easily become misaligned. I used a trimmed used gift card as a spacer to ensure that the LCD was centered properly, though it wouldn't be too difficult to do it by eye. it may also be beneficial to put a small strip of double sided tape underneath the LCD during alignment, to ensure it stays in place during the absolute nightmare that is getting a digitizer on without any dust underneath it

Brother, it's like we have both been fighting the same battle! I've been experimenting with initially how to easily detect that there's dust on the LCD screen. I found that a bright flashlight shining from the left or right side does a good job showing the dust, but no matter how hard I try, a few will still land on the LCD screen. I recently repaired a Switch I bought on eBay (broken metal mid-frame and front bezel) so I had to do a complete teardown, including removing all of the antennas and buttons. I thought I did a good job, but saw that 2 or 3 dust particles are on the screen (they look like dead pixels when the screen is all white).

I'm looking into constructing some sort of dustless hood rig

nickwhit · May 1, 2020

pyorin said:
a side note, since I was reminded of it: the LCD has a significant amount of play (about a mm on both dimensions) in the housing before the digitizer is mounted, and can easily become misaligned. I used a trimmed used gift card as a spacer to ensure that the LCD was centered properly, though it wouldn't be too difficult to do it by eye. it may also be beneficial to put a small strip of double sided tape underneath the LCD during alignment, to ensure it stays in place during the absolute nightmare that is getting a digitizer on without any dust underneath it

UPDATE

I finally went through with the digitizer replacement today Wish I had came back and reread this thread first though. After successfully replacing the digitizer and popping a screen protector on it to ensure I'd never have to go through that god awful process again, I turned the Switch on and was greeted with a very tiny sliver of black on the right and bottom sides of the screen lol. It's hardly noticeable at all though, especially when playing a game.

The bigger issue is if you shake the Switch too aggressively, the screen very slightly slides into the bottom left corner. I should have aligned it better and used the adhesive to secure the LCD in place as you suggested. What I'm left with now is still MUCH better than the abused screen I had before though.. so I'll live with it. Definitely not worth the trouble of opening it up again and reseating it properly lol

Thanks again for the help, Pyorin

Hardware Help repairing Switch speaker & digitizer

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