Hacking Question Has anyone else encountered this screen issue?

[Aryxa]

For clarity’s sake, I will start by saying that my switch is on 5.0.2 and I started using hekate last night to see how easy/difficult getting into RCM was and basically just testing the waters with the homebrew scene.

Now to my main point/question. I don’t want to point fingers, but after a few hours of use while booted into hekate, this odd flickering, white circle appeared in the upper middle section of my screen. It’s barely noticeable if you’re looking right at it, but if you shift your eyes off of it, the flicker is super noticeable. It looks more blue in the picture than it does on the actual screen.

Has anyone seen or heard of something like this before with the switch screen? It seems like something internal got too hot and damaged the lcd, based on how perfect the circle is and the way it radiates outward.

If the attached photo is not good enough, I can try and get a better picture, but it was hard to get it to show up on camera.

Thanks for any insight you guys may have.

 

[notimp]

Found another instance of this happening (not on the Switch) on google:
https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/256877/Why+do+I+have+a+circle+in+the+middle+of+my+screen

I've no idea what could have caused it though.

On the Macbook Air there is nothing behind the screen that could produce much heat though, so it might not be heat related.

Pressure from the outside also seems unlikely though, as your issue profile is strangely similar to the Macbook Air case. And the chance of you and that guy imprinting something circular onto that screen, seem low to me.

 

[xy-maps]

That looks a lot like an imprint from the active fan (google a picture of the inside of the switch). This can certainly be caused by heat (elongation), but also by too much pressure on the display. I dropped my phone once and since then I got a print on the edge of my phone screen.

 

[Shinryuu]

I believe that GPU is located at that spot so overheating is a possible cause for that to happen. I'd stay away from continous fiddling on RCM and tools at this point. I've made a NAND dump myself via hekate but I haven't noticed anything suspicious after that. I hear mixed information about running hekate or any other tool to be dangerous for your hardware.

 

[notimp]

This is an image of the backside of the fan:

The round plastic part in the middle would actually be the least likely part to "get hot".

 

[Kubas_inko]

Water damage, fan (heat difference), screen burn-in, something else

 

[notimp]

I believe that GPU is located at that spot so overheating is a possible cause for that to happen. I'd stay away from continous fiddling on RCM and tools at this point. I've made a NAND dump myself via hekate but I haven't noticed anything suspicious after that. I hear mixed information about running hekate or any other tool to be dangerous for your hardware.

GPU is part of the CPU on the Switch and located in the lower right part of the device:

So - probably not that likely as well.

 

[Addconsult]

Looks like a pressure point too me. Have had that on other LCD screens. Like you had your finger there and it has now a permanent mark. It also looks like it can be heat related. 50/50 it is one of those two in my opinion.
CAN it be possible that this was an issue BEFORE you tried hekate and you just realized it after, cause you are now looking for errors?

EDIT : I see that his has happend before on other LCD Screens like Galaxy tab 2. It happens VERY rarely and it comes at factory assembly line when they use a SUCTION CUP. It is supposed to fade away over time. But a very few units have this error... See here :http://www.wirefresh.com/update-on-the-samsung-galaxy-s2-screen-circle-issue/

"
Best described as the kind of mark a small cup of tea might make (!), it’s only visible against dark to mid-tone colours and doesn’t appear at all on pure black or white screens.

Despite thoroughly trawling the web for information, it looks like this issue is comparatively very rare indeed as we could barely find anyone suffering the same problem (and the Galaxy S2 has already shifted millions of units).

One of our readers pointed out that others have reported that the mark was created by the suction cup used on the assembly line."

 

[Aryxa]

Looks like a pressure point too me. Have had that on other LCD screens. Like you had your finger there and it has now a permanent mark. It also looks like it can be heat related. 50/50 it is one of those two in my opinion.
CAN it be possible that this was an issue BEFORE you tried hekate and you just realized it after cause you are now looking for errors?

I would be willing to say that is it some sort of imprint damage like you and xy-maps suggested, as that area does appear to be right behind the fan, but at the same time the spot just seemed to appear while I was playing.

It is 100% possible that my fat ass cat stepped or laid down on my switch and cause the damage while I was at work, and I just happened to notice while I was playing, but I really feel like I would have noticed that awful flicker sooner, since it just suddenly caught my eye during use. I’m not sure what to think of it. I guess try and get a replacement from Nintendo before they release a new hardware revision that is non-moddable?

*editing for discussions sake*

The spot on the screen is damn near a perfect circle as well, which is another thing pushing me away from the pressure damage as a cause. It seems like you know more about screen damage than I though, so feel free to correct me if that is not really that strange.

 

[Shinryuu]

@notimp When you're holding the device; CPU/GPU is around the top a bit to the right.

 

[notimp]

@notimp When you're holding the device; CPU/GPU is around the top a bit to the right.

Ehm. The loud speakers are at the bottom (so is the CPU/GPU), the fan exhaust is at the top.

The part likely to get "most hot" (apart from the cpu die) as a result of the heat pipe design is the dissipator at the very top, the part least likely to get hot, is the (larger) black plastic cycle at the back of the fan (heat can not accumulate there).

 

[Shinryuu]

@notimp Ah, that's true. Fan's a whole different thing.

 

[Addconsult]

I would be willing to say that is it some sort of imprint damage like you and xy-maps suggested, as that area does appear to be right behind the fan, but at the same time the spot just seemed to appear while I was playing.

It is 100% possible that my fat ass cat stepped or laid down on my switch and cause the damage while I was at work, and I just happened to notice while I was playing, but I really feel like I would have noticed that awful flicker sooner, since it just suddenly caught my eye during use. I’m not sure what to think of it. I guess try and get a replacement from Nintendo before they release a new hardware revision that is non-moddable?

*editing for discussions sake*

The spot on the screen is damn near a perfect circle as well, which is another thing pushing me away from the pressure damage as a cause. It seems like you know more about screen damage than I though, so feel free to correct me if that is not really that strange.

100% Certain its not enough for a cat to cause that pressure. It had to be pressure from the hand/finger or dropped it or something similar. But maybe suction cup theory? How long have you owned your switch? Is the ring always visible? or just when its dark background?

 

[Aryxa]

100% Certain its not enough for a cat to cause that pressure. It had to be pressure from the hand/finger or dropped it or something similar. But maybe suction cup theory? How long have you owned your switch? Is the ring always visible? or just when its dark background?

Trust me, he’s a hefty cat lol. But, I have had my switch since launch day. The ring is only visible from about 75% brightness and up, and you can only physically see the ring on a grey background, like on the joycon screen I was on. However, the flicker from the ring is apparent regardless of background color. I could notice it while playing BOTW and Enter the Gungeon.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Okay, here’s an update. I let my switch die fully, and the plugged it back in to charge. It’s charged about half way now. I turned it back on, and it actually seems like the spot has dissipated a bit. The flicker is gone for the most part, but there is just a little white spot you can see if you hold the screen at an angle. Weird stuff.