Can I Fix It? RP2040 APU Caps Missing Nintendo Switch

[@colinkempsell]

There’s a good chance the original owner applied way too much heat to the APU and all the surrounding caps. Replacing all those caps will be a pain. Swapping everything out with a donor board might be the best bet. Nice video, cheers mate!

[@QTronics]

So just to make sure i understand, it’s worth swapping all the caps with a donor board? I’ll give that a go. Thanks

[@colinkempsell]

Like a lot of other commenters said, the APU might be fried. Replacing the caps is worth a shot, but it might irreparably damaged if that doesn’t work. Best of luck!

[@QTronics]

Yeah, i might give it a go. Good practise.

[@jackipiegg]

9:04 What I usually do is using 130C solder paste (not wire), it stick easily with some heat (you can use an iron, no hot air needed) and won't destroy anything else. the switch apu at full tilt won't reach melting point on it so you don't have to worry. You could try 180C paste if you want, but yea in this case, paste is your friend. Regarding blue screen, you could try soldering the rp2040 and finish the mod. It might enable you to boot (since no gpu involved) to hekate and go from there.

[@QTronics]

Good shout I could see if i could get the mod still to work. Cheers

[@jackipiegg]

@@QTronics I had the APU caps shorted once, it enabled me to boot to hekate but not boot the console, no nintendo logo. black screen of death. Once I cleared the short, it was working again. When the APU caps were shorted, the 3.3v was not present as well, you could check 3.3v LDO.

[@QTronics]

Yeah i’ll have a look then thanks for the help 👍

[@falconmick]

Heat near the APU is always a risk, unlucky

[@QTronics]

Yeah it’s not looking good, at least i have another practise board

[@Bann2024]

Sometimes a faulty ram Point ist also giving a blue Screen Press on the two rams next to the APU and try again Greetings from a Guy like you from Germany.

[@QTronics]

sorry i've had a bit of time off. Yeah I need to check the ram too. It's very strange as this was working prior, so i'm not sure how the APU and RAM would have been effected from just a failed mod. But i'm going to try the ram too thanks

[@Bann2024]

@@QTronics i also had it one time that on the Back (on the other side of the Mainboard) two resistors has been bridged by some tiny Peace of Metal. It also caused a bluescreen. I cannot post pictures here otherwise i would Show you. Sorry for my bad english

[@Bann2024]

@@QTronics maybe its a random broken point. And Not caused by the mod I have another question. I have a Switch OLED which Just Shows a pink Screen when Boot in ofw after mod Installation. In Hekate theres absolutely no sign that the emmc is alive I already replacet the cmd / a Point.

[@QTronics]

Is it pink and Purple? IF it's pink : HAve you tried rebuilding the EMMC Sthetix has three videos on different Levels here's level one : kzbin.info/www/bejne/pKGrdpRsbbZ-haM IF it's purple, It will need cap changing at point A, as basically too much heat on that capacitor breaks it, and that is a direct link to the EMMC

[@Bann2024]

@@QTronics i cannot rebuild bcs it seems dead. And replacing a Point did also nothing. At its first few boots it started in ofw and i also created emuNand. it happend after a few days after the install

[@benjohnson9747]

The APU could be damaged from the heat transferred in the original attempt. This is what I would try in this sequence. Check if any of the other caps surrounding the APU are showing. This would indicate APU is damaged. Use lots of flux for all of this, otherwise you may bridge. - reflow APU - pull off APU. Clean and re-tin the board and APU. Reinstall APU. - replace APU from a donor board.

[@QTronics]

What do you mean by “check is any of the other caps surrounding the apu are show”? Do you mean their values? I thought the Apu was linked to the nand? So you couldn’t replace them?

[@falconmick]

350 when using braid isn’t too high imo, I would start at 340-350 and work my way up until I start getting sufficient heat to suck up the solder into the braid. I’ve found on some Xbox’s I’m using 360-370 so it can get really hot sometimes when your on a big plane for a 4 layer board

[@QTronics]

Yeah im starting to the think the ts101 is a good starting iron. But im going to need something beefier eventually:) Thanks for the help dude ❤️

[@solja_rgh6689]

it could be the m92T36 chip that is bad, as this chip has something to do with the screen/charging for the nintendo switch. Also, check the emmc(nand) that could also be corrupted and would cause boot loop or blue screen.

[@QTronics]

MT92 was on my potential list. I think i;m going to install the mod fully and see if i can get it to boot Hekate and go from there. I'll film it if i do

[@solja_rgh6689]

@@QTronics also, if the rp2040 mod was installed before and autorcm was active, this would definitely corrupt the nand, and that would cause black screen/no charge signal.

[@KeilDaBaker]

If a switch smokes when turned on but only shows backlight and there's a chip missing. Does that mean the switch is dead or just need a new capacitor

[@QTronics]

What chip is it missing? Which part is smoking?

[@KeilDaBaker]

@@QTronicsthe right capacitor you solder the chip to and smoked around the same area down the bottom

[@KeilDaBaker]

@@QTronics also the switch turns on just the screen flashes on and off

[@UnlockerOSW]

Los capacitores los puedes obtener también de los chips rp2040, si se lo quitas no afectas nada en el funcionamiento del rp2040

[@QTronics]

hola, si, eso es correcto. si utiliza una placa RP2040 estándar. No estoy seguro de que estos tengan condensadores de repuesto.

[@justinbouchard]

looks like they would never even be able to get the cpu cover back on either with those massive solder blobs holding the ribbon in place on the frame

[@justinbouchard]

thank you for balancing the audio for your music cut scenes so the music matched the level of your mic/rest of the video so frustrating when people put in music overlay and the audio is like 12 db higher than the rest of the video.

[@QTronics]

Yeah, I was going to say they were a novice, but so am I. Yeah you need just enough solder to hold it in place.

[@QTronics]

I will tell my editor you appreciate it :) He's good at doing stuff like that.

[@justinbouchard]

@@QTronics i don't think i would ever see a need for either of those points to be soldered, maybe a tiny dot on one of them, but other than that I think it's a waste of time, would have also made your job easier to remove it if that solder wasn't there to remove too after the failed attempt love from canada :)

[@QTronics]

@@justinbouchard I think the only reason is to stop the tape moving prior to soldering the caps. I've seen someone knock a cap off by moving the tape while it was only connected to one of the caps.

[@FabioKastro]

I was scared of knocking the caps off on my first mod, but turns out its not that easy to do.

[@QTronics]

Yeah, knocking them off seems really hard. I assume people only do it if they hold the soldering iron on the caps too long and it heats the whole thing up. Probably using the wrong size iron tip

[@LGTechRepairs]

Cpu problem, bq usually gets hot as it is. The switch can work without the Cpu caps no problem

[@QTronics]

The bq had blown, I was getting a black screen only till i changed it. I think the previous guy must have shorted something. But yeah i think the cpu is toast too.

[@wizard-wm7gh]

Do you offer send in services for V2 modchip install

[@QTronics]

I dont sorry, try here : facebook.com/share/skzmu8T4b75vk2S6/?mibextid=K35XfP

[@obnoxiousmods]

i personally think you should use a low temp solder for this repair to avoid ruining the apu bga

[@QTronics]

Might have been a shout. I think the damage was already done by the point i got it though :(

[@obnoxiousmods]

@@QTronics You're probably right, the APUs are very good at dissipating heat. Never know tho

[@QTronics]

@@obnoxiousmods Yeah, tbh the heat gun could have messed with a solder ball underneath too. It's something i will revisit

[@obnoxiousmods]

@@QTronics I like to use MG Chemicals Low Temperature Solder Paste it has a melting temp of 138C which isnt so low that the console will melt it, and isnt anywhere near the melting point of the factory solder. Something like 150c or 180c could be nice too I suppose. I find 180c still needs like a 300c~ hot air gun tho, but with 138C I find I can get away with being at 240C

[@AJMandourah]

with blue screen its either the cpu, the ram or the emmc. i would try to reflow them one by one (worth the try as you basicly just practising) and hopfully some life will come to it.q

[@QTronics]

Sorry been away awhile. It's on my list to try. I've got to buy a new screen for it first though. as i used the screen as a donor

[@richgame2331]

That fool worked on the machine without removing the theme paste first no wonder they had to call you for help

[@QTronics]

Yeah, he was a little inexperienced

[@acidloch7929]

oops reball cpu

[@QTronics]

one day my friend, one day

[@Tony501-gg2ej]

Apu Reball pal

[@QTronics]

Im still not sure that would fix it, i’m probably gonna go for a reflow regardless. But applying pressure doesn’t work, and i know for certain it wasn’t dropped :/ Still think a reball might help? I have all the tools for it

[@acidloch7929]

Really cpu

[@QTronics]

one day my friend, one day