Hardware Switch won't boot - black screen

[westghost]

Hi, I've seen similar posts to this, but a few things are different in my case, so thought I'd ask...

My Switch is frozen on a black screen - completely unresponsive.

I had plugged it in to charge (starting around 50% maybe?) and left for 2 hours. When I came back, it was backlit, but wouldn't respond. After holding down the power button, the screen turned black, and no combination of troubleshooting (suggested by Nintendo over the phone) will fix this. When I try to charge it via the dock, I get a blinking green light on the dock.

I have never added any mods/special programs to my Switch. It was purchased new in Dec 2018.

Two questions:

• Anyone know what might cause this issue?
  
• If I open the back panel, or mess around with software, will Nintendo refuse to repair it? (My warranty is already expired - would they at least repair/replace it for a cost?)

If you recommend I have my laptop talk to my Switch, note that I'm on a Mac (i saw someone recommend TegraRcmGUI for Windows). And I have no experience with this sort of thing, so please ELI5.

Thanks!!

 

[stellsnake]

Holding the power button for 30 seconds does not help? Was an atmosphere or other custom firmware installed on the console before that?

 

[Deleted User]

Have you tried doing a hard reset?

 

[westghost]

I have never added custom firmware or anything on my Switch.

Here's what I have tried that didn't work:

• Holding power button for 15 seconds, or 20 seconds, or 30 seconds, then pressing it once
  
• Holding volume up/down buttons at the same time as the power button for 5 seconds
  
• Different wall outlet
• Different charging cable
• Charging through the dock (get blinking green light)
• EDIT: Also tried all of this with the SD card removed

The Switch is unresponsive, no backlight, no logo, no maintenance mode. Just a black screen.

 

[stellsnake]

Try to remove the SD card.

 

[LeyendaV]

A corrupted SD card would freeze on the Switch logo, but could still be a potential cause, yes.

Was the console under some rough treatment? High/low temperatures? Abrupt electric shocks (sudden corrient cuts/returns)? High humidity/water damage?

 

[westghost]

I did also remove the SD card and then tried all of that again, should have mentioned that. I'll try everything again just to be sure.

No rough treatment on the Switch – though I did leave it alone for 2 hours, I suppose it's possible that there was an electrical issue from my power strip that I was unaware of?

 

[LeyendaV]

I did also remove the SD card and then tried all of that again, should have mentioned that. I'll try everything again just to be sure.

No rough treatment on the Switch – though I did leave it alone for 2 hours, I suppose it's possible that there was an electrical issue from my power strip that I was unaware of?

Did you try to boot after unattaching the joycons? If, by any reason, that works, try again, this time with only the left joycon attached.

 

[westghost]

Did you try to boot after unattaching the joycons? If, by any reason, that works, try again, this time with only the left joycon attached.

That did not work but thank you for the suggestion. I really appreciate your help!! Anything else I could try? Should I take a look inside, and if so, would Nintendo refuse to repair a Switch that has been opened?

 

[LeyendaV]

That did not work but thank you for the suggestion. I really appreciate your help!! Anything else I could try? Should I take a look inside, and if so, would Nintendo refuse to repair a Switch that has been opened?

No problem, bud. Let's try any possible problem to isolate possibilities.

The warranty details are here if you wanna take a look, it's a short document.
https://www.nintendo.com/consumer/manuals/warrantytext_eng.jsp

 

[westghost]

My warranty is already expired, but they said they would repair it at cost. My question is whether, if I open the back panel and can't identify/fix anything, they would still repair it at a cost or refuse to repair it.

 

[LeyendaV]

My warranty is already expired, but they said they would repair it at cost. My question is whether, if I open the back panel and can't identify/fix anything, they would still repair it at a cost or refuse to repair it.

I don't think just taking off the back panel could make you loss the warranty. In any case, you lost it already, so you are gonna get charged either way.

 

[westghost]

Could overcharging the battery cause an issue like this?
Any thoughts on why I get the blinking green light when I put it on the dock, what does that indicate?

 

[SheriffBuck]

Welcome to the forum.

Couple of things to check:

• Take a really close look at the USB Type-C port. It's ever so easy to lift a pin and have it crushed into the back of the connector. Get the wrong pin and you can take out the M92, which would prevent charging and the Switch would simply be unresponsive because the battery would be run down so far.
• Could the backlight have gone? Shine a bright light on boot and see if you can see anything on the screen. It will be really faint.
• If you want to avoid opening it up at this point, I'd recommending getting a USB voltage/current meter and taking a look at what is being pulled by the Switch when on charge. If you are getting 0A, then I'd suspect the connector, M92 or internal fuse.

Sheriff.