Hardware Nintendo Switch heat sink problem

atavol · Jan 20, 2021

Hey guys, so i did a reflow on the soc to fix a blue screen issue. Unfortunately, when i was screwing down the heat sink the screws didnt tighten at all therefore not holding the heatsink in place.. Is there anyway to fix this?

Jokey_Carrot · Jan 20, 2021

What do you mean, reflow?

CHTechRepair · Jan 21, 2021

atavol said:
Hey guys, so i did a reflow on the soc to fix a blue screen issue. Unfortunately, when i was screwing down the heat sink the screws didnt tighten at all therefore not holding the heatsink in place.. Is there anyway to fix this?

Jokey_Carrot said:
What do you mean, reflow?

This isn't sounding good. Reflowing these GPUs isn't something you really want to do. Reballing is preferred entirely as reflowing if it does work will not be reliable. This isn't something you can do with even intermediate level tools. You need preheaters, a careful approach, a stencil, the right flux, and a lot of experience with large BGA chip replacement. That's assuming your issue is related to cracked solder joints in the first place. The heatsink screws bite into the metal midframe of the device. My fear, if they aren't biting, is that your board is significantly bowed from uneven heating. This will mean the end of the board.

atavol · Jan 21, 2021

Thanks for the reply. I did the refow with a heatgun and some flux. No more than 3 mins at about 350c. The blue screen went away and so far its working. Only one screw is really holding the heat sink in place. Can 3 mins of heat cause the board to bow? To me it just feels like the screw hole threading stripped. I will report back if the switch fails.

CHTechRepair · Jan 21, 2021

atavol said:
Thanks for the reply. I did the refow with a heatgun and some flux. No more than 3 mins at about 350c. The blue screen went away and so far its working. Only one screw is really holding the heat sink in place. Can 3 mins of heat cause the board to bow? To me it just feels like the screw hole threading stripped. I will report back if the switch fails.

They could be stripped, though I've never seen it personally. I would take the board out and see if you can drive the screws without the board in the way. Any small bow is going to misalign the screws and make it very difficult if not impossible to get them in. There isn't really another good way to get pressure on the heatsink unfortunately. If it is just stripped screw points, a housing swap, or at the very least a mid-frame swap will solve it. Let me know what happens here. Blue screen is almost always GPU never LCD or LCD driver so you may have a permanent fix here even if you do have a little bow. Just need to get some pressure somehow. Getting the tools to reball would cost a lot anyway.

BigOnYa · Jan 21, 2021

If they are stripped out, would it be possible to do like tap n die method of dabbing tiny bit epoxy in hole, then drill out hole for screw to thread- just a thought anyways.

atavol · Jan 21, 2021

I check the board again and it seems there is a little bow thats affecting 2 of the 3 screws. If i can find longer screws of the same size as the original it would fix it permanently. For now ill use a temporary fix till i can find proper screws. I guess 3 mins of heat is enough to start slightly warping the board.

Hardware Nintendo Switch heat sink problem

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