Going to start with this question and remove it from the Xbox thread.

Hodge360 wrote:

Sounds good. I do wonder if these sellers have already tried fixing them and are just passing them on. Are there any seals that prove a Switch has been opened? Doesn't make much odds really, more interested in the learning experience and will either lose patience or fry the internals anyway.

There are no seals on a Switch console, but there are a few things that will tell you whether someone has been in there already. 

First up, the screws on the back of the console are either cross slot, or Y security screws. Depending on the age of the console and the quality of the pictures, you may be able to tell by the listing whether someone has had a driver on them, as they're not the strongest screws.

You also have 2 signs inside the console - albeit it is a bit late then. The first is the water damage sticker. The most likely repair on a Switch is port replacement and the little pink polka dot sticker near the port being greyed or brown would be a sign of flux near the port. The second is the heatsink pipe is stuck to the fan with a foamy sticker. 9/10 people will rip that foam when removing the heatsink to get to the board. After 1 year, I'm now capable of not doing that.

If you're interested in doing this to learn, then there's no issue. If you are trying to bring in a little extra income, you need to assume that you are going to get ripped off every time you buy on eBay. The trick is never to pay more than you'd get back if you need to flip it in a broken state (with an honest explanation) and you'll be fine. I'm buying and selling on pure profit and it's possible to bring in a decent amount on the side here.

I have a fresh Switch coming soon, so I'll post pictures of that as soon as I can to demonstrate the above and we'll make it the first one I show and tell in here.

Interested...

Have been looking to try out soldering for many years to do some simple things like replace buttons in arcade sticks. also have a broken diff switch in my old 2600 that needs replacing.

Hey syph,
Any experience with the ps vita?
I have had one for an age now that has stick drift and that means I can't even use the menus to start a game.
I was hoping I could use it as a emu machine do you know how to do this and do you know how much it would cost to get this fixed and working how I want it?

PICS of your PCBS, people.

digi wrote:

Hey syph, Any experience with the ps vita? I have had one for an age now that has stick drift and that means I can't even use the menus to start a game. I was hoping I could use it as a emu machine do you know how to do this and do you know how much it would cost to get this fixed and working how I want it?

Zero experience with the Vita, but I've watched enough fix videos to know they're not that complex. Stick drift can either be cleaned or repaired through replacement. More often than not, some isopropyl alcohol will sort it out.

Gav would be the person to speak to about using it as an Emu device, as I know he's does it already. I believe he said it was fairly simple.

That was obviously supposed to be smell like fish, not small!

Item #1: Nintendo Switch (2017), Unpatched model (Part 1, external inspection)
So we've had our first contender for a repair arrive! This Switch console was purchased for a grant total of £59.99 delivered. The listing is here (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/126173552370) and the description was, as follows:

This was received in a bulk lot and we can offer no  information on it's history.
It is completely dead, won't turn on and won't charge .
No returns on this faulty item please

After a visual inspection of the charging port, I have applied some power via an amp meter. The inspection is to make sure that none of the pins in the port are bridged, which could cause charge to go to where it shouldn't. The amp meter helps me understand what the device is pulling from the charger:



When a Switch boots, it will normally sit at around 0.48a, so anything above that initially is not a great sign. This was sold as no power and it hasn't booted, so at least the description is accurate!

As this is an early model, I'm able to push a payload to the APU and find out a little more about what's happening inside the console before opening it. This is achieved via the TegraRcmGUI programme (https://github.com/eliboa/TegraRcmGUI/releases):



The good news is that it has reacted to the payload - meaning the screen is fine (and likely the APU) and we can start to make some assumptions on what is causing the non-power. It's going to be the M92T36 power management IC, or the P13USB IC, which manages the screen and docking process. Staking my claim here that it's the latter not the former.

Tune in for more updates and to find out if I'm right.

TronicsFix and StezStixFix were very much what inspired me to get into this.

But how could you see that fiddly screw without glasses!

Item #1: Nintendo Switch (2017), Unpatched model (Part 2, getting inside)

Apologies for the quiet/boring voice and the occasional Dad breathing noise.

I have a plan to improve my microscope set up that will help on that front. I’ll muddle by for this one. I could just do it off camera, but thought this would better for those who want to try themselves.

Syph after strapping 5 Series S' to an X to give it an additional 1tb of storage

Item #1: Nintendo Switch (2017), Unpatched model (Part 3, removing the mainboard)

You can do a limited visual inspection without removing the mainboard, but in most cases you will need to take it out. This video covers the main things to be aware of and the steps to get the board out so you can see both sides of it:

While I'm pessimistic, it would be good to get a win for the first one on here.

Diluted Dante wrote:

If you start working on any Multi-Mega's give me a shout.

You want more at stake?

Those things are pricey!