Hardware Repair Sites & Nintendo

Jiehfeng

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Does anyone know some good repair sites that allow me to ship my Switch to get it repaired and back? I need to repair it for it not being able to charge or send HDMI output through the dock, so probably USB C port/resistor values/charging controller issues. I found two so far, tfix and tronicsfix. Tfix is 99 pounds, and tronicsfix is 99 dollars, so tronicsfix is slightly cheaper due to currency differences. Is there any site that offers less? The amount seems like a ripoff considering it's not a huge cost repair and only requires you to have standard equipment and boards. Please help me by listing all the sites you know, or even if you could fix it for me, I'd be happy to pay a good price for everything (PM). :D

Also is there any way I can get it repaired by Nintendo despite me being in Asia? There's not any kind of official Nintendo centre in my country, so I need to somehow arrange a shipment either through a service who specializes in this, or by myself. I would like to know if Nintendo ships it back internationally. Plus, do they charge around $100 for this kind of thing?

Thanks guys, any help appreciated, help a brother out. :)
 

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I should note that Nintendo tends only to repair stuff of the same region. Remailing services do exist, and if you know someone in the location you can also ask them to do it.

What Nintendo will do will vary depending upon where you are (the US for instance has far worse warranties than countries in Europe -- US wise they could probably get away with 1 year, EU wise they would be compelled for a reasonable amount of time which in this case is probably about 5-7 years), and whether they reckon it was user error or their own bad design/manufacture. Also while recent rulings have at least restated what goes with mods then could also be a factor.

Price wise what you listed is on the lower end of electronics repair prices for surface mount work. Looking at aliexpress then the USB port and IC are not the next to nothing of a lot of similar items, some come with minimums as well and if they are only going to go on a rarer failure mode for the switch then yeah. You might find someone on a forum that has a better deal (give or take warranties). Equally if this is one of those no fix - no fee situations then those that pay the fees also pay for the no fix set.
 
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Jiehfeng

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I should note that Nintendo tends only to repair stuff of the same region. Remailing services do exist, and if you know someone in the location you can also ask them to do it.

What Nintendo will do will vary depending upon where you are (the US for instance has far worse warranties than countries in Europe -- US wise they could probably get away with 1 year, EU wise they would be compelled for a reasonable amount of time which in this case is probably about 5-7 years), and whether they reckon it was user error or their own bad design/manufacture. Also while recent rulings have at least restated what goes with mods then could also be a factor.

Price wise what you listed is on the lower end of electronics repair prices for surface mount work. Looking at aliexpress then the USB port and IC are not the next to nothing of a lot of similar items, some come with minimums as well and if they are only going to go on a rarer failure mode for the switch then yeah. You might find someone on a forum that has a better deal (give or take warranties). Equally if this is one of those no fix - no fee situations then those that pay the fees also pay for the no fix set.

When you put it like that the price does sound reasonable, especially when they're specialised in repairs. Hopefully I can still find someone helpful here to fix it at a much more reasonable price close to the replacement parts, maybe someone who doesn't do this often and who would just like to help.

You said "a forum", do you recommend any good forums I can visit? :)

I got my Switch from the UK on launch date, I wonder what's the warranty on that! I'm gonna check now, this excites me haha! Thanks again for such a detailed reply!
 

FAST6191

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Are there many big forums dealing with Nintendo gear where people that know their way around a soldering iron are likely to appear other than GBAtemp these days? Most of the old guard from the GBA and DS era are gone now and what little remains is chat rooms and social meeja type setups. I guess some of the portable console making types might be able to help but I am not sure where they mostly hang out these days, in that case though you might as well just go to more general electronics repair. Afraid I don't really keep up to date on people offering such services though as I can do most of what I would want myself.

Depending upon where you are in Asia if you sourced the components, pulled apart the Switch yourself, printed out the component locations and asked someone in a mobile phone repair shop to solder them on you might get somewhere. That said where a repair service might just figure out what is broken (possibly even to the point of just having to reflow the solder) this would be a full replacement (aka firing the parts cannon) and arguably a waste of money.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/MLL...r-Nintendo-Switch-NS-Console/32845672043.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Ori...witch-NS-Game-Console-Repair/32828938043.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/For...arging-IC-Chip-Bq24193-Audio/32868125714.html
You mentioned resistors. Surface mount resistors cost next to nothing but I have not looked up what values they are, and even if they need replacement. For that matter I have not paid much attention to any fixing circles and what they discovered about Switch failures.

I forgot to also mention the cowboy option if you can live without the HDMI side of things, one that will be far cheaper to do. Those nice wireless charger adapters you can get for next to nothing to turn an old phone into a wireless charging one? Such a thing would work here as well. Some slight discussion on it https://gbatemp.net/threads/does-anyone-know-who-can-repair-a-switch-in-the-uk.488641/#post-7672297
 
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Jiehfeng

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Are there many big forums dealing with Nintendo gear where people that know their way around a soldering iron are likely to appear other than GBAtemp these days? Most of the old guard from the GBA and DS era are gone now and what little remains is chat rooms and social meeja type setups. I guess some of the portable console making types might be able to help but I am not sure where they mostly hang out these days, in that case though you might as well just go to more general electronics repair. Afraid I don't really keep up to date on people offering such services though as I can do most of what I would want myself.

Depending upon where you are in Asia if you sourced the components, pulled apart the Switch yourself, printed out the component locations and asked someone in a mobile phone repair shop to solder them on you might get somewhere. That said where a repair service might just figure out what is broken (possibly even to the point of just having to reflow the solder) this would be a full replacement (aka firing the parts cannon) and arguably a waste of money.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/MLL...r-Nintendo-Switch-NS-Console/32845672043.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Ori...witch-NS-Game-Console-Repair/32828938043.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/For...arging-IC-Chip-Bq24193-Audio/32868125714.html
You mentioned resistors. Surface mount resistors cost next to nothing but I have not looked up what values they are, and even if they need replacement. For that matter I have not paid much attention to any fixing circles and what they discovered about Switch failures.

I forgot to also mention the cowboy option if you can live without the HDMI side of things, one that will be far cheaper to do. Those nice wireless charger adapters you can get for next to nothing to turn an old phone into a wireless charging one? Such a thing would work here as well. Some slight discussion on it https://gbatemp.net/threads/does-anyone-know-who-can-repair-a-switch-in-the-uk.488641/#post-7672297

That's quite a brilliant idea haha, I guess that would be the last resort, still keen on getting it to regular condition.

Thanks for the aliexpress links, these are much better than the ebay ones I found. You said the repair is something like a mobile phone, so is it just simple soldering? That I can definitely do as I've done it before, unless it's something more, then again I'm willing to learn. I doubt I would need to replace the port, the charging controller chip that also does video is what screams out to me as broken. There's a guide here that says regular soldering won't work: https://www.tfix.co.uk/guides/damaged-nintendo-switch-charging-port-repair/

Also, would those suction pump desoldering things work here? I could get one from ebay, I already have a basic soldering kit with me. If I need some sort of station like that guide says then guess I can't do it on my own.

Thanks for all the info man, really helps.
 

Jiehfeng

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After long hours of research, I'm pretty sure the M92T36 chip is responsible for both charging and HDMI is the fault here. It can't be the port as no physical damage was done to it.
How difficult is it to replace this chip? Apparently you need a reflow oven or hotair rework station for this as it's an SMD component, so would mobile phone repair shops be able to do this?
This chip seems to be way easier to replace than the USB port though, this one has flat pins, the port has two sets of pins, one going into the PCB itself so a proper rework station is mandatory.

TB2FRL4tXuWBuNjSszbXXcS7FXa_!!361526033.jpg



This fix also apparently helps with third party dock bricking, I'm tempted to get this tried out. I just wonder if mobile repair shops can do this without messing up. I'm in China currently, so is the teardown self-explanatory? I have no idea where to begin with explaining how to tear apart the system to the people there as I'm not fluent in Chinese.
 

FAST6191

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China is a rather big and varied place. A tier 1 city should be able to have something, or better yet if you are Shenzhen (or can get there, I don't know if they still do short visas from Hong Kong) you can probably buy the parts in person and have them soldered in if not by that stall then one a couple up or down from it. Someone able to speak the lingo might not be necessary but will help immensely.

For the teardown for this you only need the board out (as opposed to replacing a screen or something) which is fairly simple as these things go. https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nintendo+Switch+Teardown/78263 if you want some idea of what it would entail.

For that chip I would say a hot air station is necessary, and anybody that could do it with a regular iron would not do it in their day to day repairs.
 

Jiehfeng

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China is a rather big and varied place. A tier 1 city should be able to have something, or better yet if you are Shenzhen (or can get there, I don't know if they still do short visas from Hong Kong) you can probably buy the parts in person and have them soldered in if not by that stall then one a couple up or down from it. Someone able to speak the lingo might not be necessary but will help immensely.

For the teardown for this you only need the board out (as opposed to replacing a screen or something) which is fairly simple as these things go. https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nintendo+Switch+Teardown/78263 if you want some idea of what it would entail.

For that chip I would say a hot air station is necessary, and anybody that could do it with a regular iron would not do it in their day to day repairs.

I already found one neat mobile repair shop with a ton of soldering equipment, they should be having a hot air rework station.
I'm scared the hot air might melt other components on the PCB, and even melt the new part I am going to replace it with. What temperature of the hot air station to be set do you recommend?
I'll try to use google translate for the most part, hopefully it goes well. I bet they know a few english words of the lingo, it's pretty improbable that they don't.
 
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Look up desoldering braid. It's basically a special copper weaved wire that you heat with your soldering iron over a component and it draws in the solder for safe removal. It also saves you if you screw up and blob solder across multiple data points etc. Amazon and most electronic parts vendors will sell it as the stuff is a life saver in the repairs world lol

As for the heat gun I agree in a part like that you would go that route. You basically use tape and foil to isolate the area you want heat and protect the other components then ramp up the heat slpwly until the part comes loose the actual temp can vary on the type of solder used.

Here's a good link with videos on prep and hot air work to give you an idea

https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/102
 
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Look up desoldering braid. It's basically a special copper weaved wire that you heat with your soldering iron over a component and it draws in the solder for safe removal. It also saves you if you screw up and blob solder across multiple data points etc. Amazon and most electronic parts vendors will sell it as the stuff is a life saver in the repairs world lol

As for the heat gun I agree in a part like that you would go that route. You basically use tape and foil to isolate the area you want heat and protect the other components then ramp up the heat slpwly until the part comes loose the actual temp can vary on the type of solder used.

Here's a good link with videos on prep and hot air work to give you an idea

https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/102

Good idea, I'll consider that if I were to do that myself if I can't get it done by a store. For now a heat gun is the best solution yeah. :)
 
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Good idea, I'll consider that if I were to do that myself if I can't get it done by a store. For now a heat gun is the best solution yeah. :)
Yeah you can see how it would be tricky unless you have some practice. Hopefully you can find a good local repair shop to help out. If you do attempt it on your own practice on some old broken parts and you will get a better feel for it.
 
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vb_encryption_vb

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Does anyone know some good repair sites that allow me to ship my Switch to get it repaired and back? I need to repair it for it not being able to charge or send HDMI output through the dock, so probably USB C port/resistor values/charging controller issues. I found two so far, tfix and tronicsfix. Tfix is 99 pounds, and tronicsfix is 99 dollars, so tronicsfix is slightly cheaper due to currency differences. Is there any site that offers less? The amount seems like a ripoff considering it's not a huge cost repair and only requires you to have standard equipment and boards. Please help me by listing all the sites you know, or even if you could fix it for me, I'd be happy to pay a good price for everything (PM). :D

Also is there any way I can get it repaired by Nintendo despite me being in Asia? There's not any kind of official Nintendo centre in my country, so I need to somehow arrange a shipment either through a service who specializes in this, or by myself. I would like to know if Nintendo ships it back internationally. Plus, do they charge around $100 for this kind of thing?

Thanks guys, any help appreciated, help a brother out. :)


But it's not a rip off, I assume he's paying return shipping at $99, paypal fee's etc, so in the end he's at around $75... I mean I don't know them 2 at all, but it's in the ballpark of what I'd charge. Your buying hardware, someones time, someones skills, etc. It's not like these are 30 minute jobs... Youtubes fault, videos make repairs look to easy, when typically it's not.
 
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Jiehfeng

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But it's not a rip off, I assume he's paying return shipping at $99, paypal fee's etc, so in the end he's at around $75... I mean I don't know them 2 at all, but it's in the ballpark of what I'd charge. Your buying hardware, someones time, someones skills, etc. It's not like these are 30 minute jobs... Youtubes fault, videos make repairs look to easy, when typically it's not.

I see your point, sure. In any case I'm going to try fixing this myself first before I cash in $100, I myself could save a lot of money by doing so.

Just tore apart the Switch, noticed a lot of crumbly black pieces scattered all around the switch boards. It looks like dirt. Upon further inspection I think it's the black packing sponge material used under the heatsink, probably got burnt and scattered.

Got the motherboard out, and inspected the USB port, looks fine. I have no idea how to tell what's the issue here, but I did a small test. I plugged in only the display connector and battery to the motherboard, then plugged in the AC Adapter. No response from the display or system at all, but after touching every chip, I noticed the M92T36 chip is heating up dramatically. I let it cool and checked again immediately after I again plugged in the charger, and it immediately heated up slightly. No other chip has any temperature change I can feel with my fingers.

I do hope this chip is indeed the issue, I have a replacement chip sitting on my table waiting to get installed. It heated up, but that could probably be normal as it is responsible for charging, or so I think it's normal. Be back in a few hours to get the soldering done by a mobile repair shop, fingers crossed.

Edit: Make that a day lol. Paid $12 for the solder job, guess those guys don't want me around when they do it, or the price would seem too expensive. xD
 
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vb_encryption_vb

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Nope, no change, same issue. Welp, at a loss here. No idea what the issue could be, guess I'll just maybe wait and see if any other person goes through this issue and provudes a solution. Thanks guys! :)


Personally, I'd swap the USB-C port. Assuming it don't charge? Next I'd follow the USB-C traces and see if they lead to another "CHIP" and swap that out. I've never seen the inside of a switch so I have no idea.
 
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Jiehfeng

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Personally, I'd swap the USB-C port. Assuming it don't charge? Next I'd follow the USB-C traces and see if they lead to another "CHIP" and swap that out. I've never seen the inside of a switch so I have no idea.

Alright yeah, sounds like a great idea. I've seen other fixes of the not charging problem and they do involve replacing the C port, but that's when it was physically damaged. Mine isn't, or so I'm almost certain, it looks fine to me.

I will try all that, thanks a bunch!
 

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