Dead Switch (bricked autoRCM?) charging OK battery OK

oomeen · May 28, 2022

Hello. Maybe you guys can help me.

I was using my Switch v1 from I think 2 years, it has autoRCM so I was injecting payloads by my phone. Everything was ok. At beggining of this week I was playing last time and after I finished I left it in dock (I always left game on but I went back to main menu and then I put it back into dock, it went to sleep mode after some time).

Yesterday I was going to play and I can't turn on my Switch.
Dock wasn't powered all the time but it never was a problem as in sleep mode I left this console for over a week and it still has some battery %%%.

I tried to charge it like 24h directly via original power adapter - no help.
I tried to keep pressed turn on button for 15, 20, 30, 45 sec and then turn on - no help.
Today I even tried unmounting battery for some time - no help.
I probed battery and it's 3.78-3.79V so it's full, also charging port works because there is a current when I probe some elements on mobo.

What else can I check ? My mobile don't see RCM device, my PC also (Tegra).

Some small clues I hear:
What I hear is that after connecting the batter there is very quiet "beep" hearable from mobo.
Also there is even more quiet "beep" hearable when I connect charger or PC cable.
When I connect it to phone (as always usb-c - usb-c cable) there is hearable noise (also very quit but at high frequency I think) all the time it's connected.

I checked mobo - there are no fried elements on it.

Is it completly dead ?

Mikolaj · May 28, 2022

Hi,
I'm not an expert but apparently there's no valid reason for your console being fried.

About auto-RCM: when you power up your console (from a complete shutdown, so) there is a quick and very faint greyish flash on the screen meaning your console is effectively powered on while the screen will still remain black. You can check it in a closed dark room, with no light at all.

It rather looks like your usual way to inject payloads doesn't work anymore. I always used TegraRCM-Gui + zadig USB drivers + USB cable to inject payloads. With all of this and with a correct Hekate setup on your SD card, then Hekate should launch instantly...

oomeen · May 28, 2022

Yup, it's like backlight for a second but there isn't any now...

Last thing (basic) which I suppose could not work is power and volume buttons board.
To check it I can short circuit pins on connector of this board. Do anyone have idea which one are pwr vol- vol+ and gnd ?

Dabiolos · May 28, 2022

3,8v for the battery is too low. If I am not mistaken a full battery will have 4,2V.

binkinator · May 28, 2022

The Switch likely powered on from being plugged into a non-powered dock and went into AutoRCM mode.

AutoRCM is a high power drain state so it has tapped the battery below the point the Switch will turn on.

AutoRCM, unfortunately, is also a trickle charge state so it takes a REALLY long time to charge like this.

It's OK, just leave it on charge overnight, and tomorrow about this time you should be able to power it enough to inject a payload and then plug it right back in to fully charge at a normal rate.

impeeza · May 30, 2022

Also, check the cables used to inject the payload from your phone, some time ago a faulty cable make me turn around pulling my hair for a while.

TomSwitch · May 30, 2022

3.8V is very far from full. It is good news that the battery isn't still in the fault condition where the protection circuit disconnects the battery. I do expect 3.8 to be good enough to boot though. Maybe it is still too weak. I haven't touch battery charging for a long time and memory is fuzzy about just how good is 3.8, leave it to charge for longer and see what happens.

Phord · May 30, 2022

I have had this happen to me before. I didn't have the OG charger and had to leave it charging for almost 48 hours to get my PC to recognize it in RCM mode. Hopefully it just needs more time. Good luck!

oomeen · May 30, 2022

After +- 30h of charging still nothing.
I tried different cables, nothing helps.

Also I checked battery today after those 30h, it's still 3.79 (original charger is working I tried it on charging mobiles and it does).

Can you tell me why it should be 4V or more if original voltage is 3.7 ? I was thinking it's like other devices, if it's full it's just like +-5% more than should be but that's maxi and ok.

binkinator · May 30, 2022

oomeen said:
After +- 30h of charging still nothing.
I tried different cables, nothing helps.

Also I checked battery today after those 30h, it's still 3.79 (original charger is working I tried it on charging mobiles and it does).

Can you tell me why it should be 4V or more if original voltage is 3.7 ? I was thinking it's like other devices, if it's full it's just like +-5% more than should be but that's maxi and ok.

Yeah…here’s mine sitting at 30% and it‘s at 3736mV and it boots just fine. Yours should boot.

This isn’t normal behavior as far as I know. You’ve already tried all the basics. You might have to take it in to a local repair shop.

oomeen · May 30, 2022

I will try to give it some ultra long charging marathon, including power bank, if it'll still be dead I will try to sell it for parts and I will order a new one.
Worst things are that it looks like brand new even inside (compared to WiiU or Ps4 used for few years) so there's no chance that it got some overheating or something, reason will be really strange... also I will loose my saves because even those games installed on SD are saving progress on internal memory right ?

binkinator · May 30, 2022

oomeen said:
I will try to give it some ultra long charging marathon, including power bank, if it'll still be dead I will try to sell it for parts and I will order a new one.
Worst things are that it looks like brand new even inside (compared to WiiU or Ps4 used for few years) so there's no chance that it got some overheating or something, reason will be really strange... also I will loose my saves because even those games installed on SD are saving progress on internal memory right ?

If you were on emunand your games saves would be saved to “internal memory” which in the case of emunand is actually also on the sd card! So, you can use NXNandManager to mount and export your game saves.

Dabiolos · Jun 1, 2022

Maybe your USB port is broken/bent or there is some dirt inside.

If it doesn't charge at all it could be p13usb or m92t36. Both could be found easily if you have a multimeter and check certain caps for shorts.

Is the buzzing sound you mentioned coming from the original charger? Or does it come from any charger (phone charger). Is it from the charging circuit?

oomeen · Jun 1, 2022

Dabiolos said:
Maybe your USB port is broken/bent or there is some dirt inside.

If it doesn't charge at all it could be p13usb or m92t36. Both could be found easily if you have a multimeter and check certain caps for shorts.

Is the buzzing sound you mentioned coming from the original charger? Or does it come from any charger (phone charger). Is it from the charging circuit?

Charger is totally quiet. Contionous buzzing sound is coming from console inside, it's like from left side (looking from backside). And it's only when I connect Switch to my mobile via usb-c - usb-c cable. It's contionous and stable, no changes if I press power or power and vol button. Other beeps are when i connect battery (inside console) or when I connect any other usb-c device (og charger, usb-c cable connected to pc).
But those sounds are very very quiet, if you don't put your ear near back of console you won't hear it for sure. Maybe you can try it on yours, I suppose it's normal, I think I heard those on some electronics already but I cannot remind in which device it was.
Those beeps are like pc bios beep but 20x quieter.

Dabiolos · Jun 2, 2022

I am just guessing but the hissing beepy sound could come from the coil (near bq24193) or from the backlight circuit (DC converter).

Try leaving the switch connected to your phone for maybe 20 minutes and hold the power button for 10 seconds (my thoughts are that maybe the hissing beeping sounds indicate a charging switch, which doesn't happen on the original charger since your battery voltage didn't rise. Maybe your battery isn't as good as @binkinator and drops under load, so if you are lucky the phone will charge the switch enough to allow Hekate to run) and only your OG charger doesn't work on the switch. (You have nothing to lose if you try).

It still could be a broken chip like p13usb or a broken backlight (try shining a light on the screen?).

If you have a multimeter try measuring the typical caps for shorts.

oomeen · Jun 4, 2022

Dabiolos said:
I am just guessing but the hissing beepy sound could come from the coil (near bq24193) or from the backlight circuit (DC converter).

Try leaving the switch connected to your phone for maybe 20 minutes and hold the power button for 10 seconds (my thoughts are that maybe the hissing beeping sounds indicate a charging switch, which doesn't happen on the original charger since your battery voltage didn't rise. Maybe your battery isn't as good as @binkinator and drops under load, so if you are lucky the phone will charge the switch enough to allow Hekate to run) and only your OG charger doesn't work on the switch. (You have nothing to lose if you try).

It still could be a broken chip like p13usb or a broken backlight (try shining a light on the screen?).

If you have a multimeter try measuring the typical caps for shorts.

If only backlight died then console should be visible in rcm mode by pc at all shouldn't it ? But I recorded and uploaded this single "beep" sound after connecting any USB charging device (even mobile).

https://sendeyo.com/en/2b7298ef8c
Password: 1234

It's hearable at 3-4sec.

I checked on another Switch - it doesn't make any of those "beeps". Also i checked another og charger and on dead console is still same beep. What's strange is that this dead Switch isn't even getting warm after charging it for few hours.

Dabiolos · Jun 4, 2022

I think I have never heard this sound before on a switch (I am not sure if a fully empty switch makes a noise when connecting a charger while showing the empty battery sign, without Auto RCM since I always use Auto RCM...) . I misunderstood it being a high pitched whiny sound like coil whine. That sound is a dead end for me.

Correct if RCM is working and USB connection is fine the PC will recognize the console. No matter what state the switch display is in.

That's bad. I can't help you further without you measuring the switch for shorted caps.

Sorry mate.

Dead Switch (bricked autoRCM?) charging OK battery OK

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