the nintendo switch mine's had a rough
few days
and the violence isn't over just yet
it's time to take it apart and review
the switch from the inside
remember don't ever attempt this on your
own device unless it's totally broken
and you have no other options
i'll be linking all available repair
parts in the video description so let me
know if you need something specific
let's get started
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
for the past few consoles nintendo has
been using their own proprietary
tri-point screw on the back panel
and the switch is no exception four
tri-point screws along the back side and
five phillips head screws along the side
rail and then the metal joy-con rail can
detach from the console
but be careful with it and don't pull it
off completely just yet i'll show you
why in just a second the bottom has two
screws also phillips head and the two
little circles next to the screws or
guiding posts for the usb-c port inside
of the dock
super smart because that'll put less
stress on the charging port when it's
docked helping it last longer now i
accidentally snapped my other joy-con
rail off the console in my last video
but normally this would have five screws
holding it in place as well
just pretend they're there lastly one
screw along the top next to the heat
vent
the cooling system on this thing is
actually pretty sweet i'll show you more
of that once we get inside
the kickstand is covering the last
little screw and once that's removed the
whole back panel can be pulled off the
nintendo switch console
interesting that this particular device
has never been opened before yet there
are still fingerprints
all over the place really not that
important but it is interesting to see
a human had to assemble this at some
point the sd card tray that is hidden by
the kickstand is here and it's 100
modular
with one screw holding it in and the
same lego light connection that we've
seen on pretty much every cell phone
there are six more normal phillips head
screws along the inside of this back
metal panel
then you can remove the metal plate from
the console now this metal plate is
interesting on two levels one it's got a
series of foam pads along the back to
keep the separation from the circuits
and keep vibrations to a minimum and
it's also got the largest glob of
thermal paste that i've ever seen inside
of a mobile unit but it makes sense when
we finally get a look at the size of
this heat pipe this heat pipe is used to
wick away heat from the main processor
which is the hottest
and hardest working component inside any
computer or gaming system like this
so the heat goes in two directions the
first is through the large glob of
thermal paste right into the large
silver metal backing
and the second is through the copper
heat pipe along the fan and spitting out
the top of the device
i'll remove that heat pipe and look at
that in just a second i'll disconnect
the battery first which is smart
practice anytime you work on anything
electronic i did warm up the screen for
a second to try and soften the super
strong adhesive under the battery
since this will probably be a repair
people want to attempt in a few years
when their own batteries start dying
this is normally not good for the
battery and is actually pretty dangerous
if you use a metal tool
i wish nintendo would have used the
magic adhesive pull tabs that we see in
most cell phones these days these pull
tabs cost pennies to manufacture and
make repairs so much easier and safer
for repair guys like myself
maybe next time nintendo the battery's
pretty large capacity at 4 300 milliamp
hours
remember how i said earlier to be gentle
with these side rails there's a small
ribbon cable that goes to the main board
and this is what will be charging your
joy-con controller so if this breaks
so does the charger to your controller
and you know the controllers are kind of
important
there are dual speakers at the bottom of
the game system these fire out through
the holes below the front screen
and the usb-c port is here in the center
soldered onto the main board
keeping your screw organized there are
three more here i'm pulling out the game
cartridge slot and the headphone jack
they are on the same circuit board
there's a large ribbon cable attached to
the top
each ribbon connector has a locking
latch that lifts up to unlock
and then the ribbon cable can slide out
then the board also has a lego type
connector under the heat pipe that
unsnaps
this thing looks pretty sweet and now
you know if multiple games stop being
read by your console this guy is
probably the culprit that needs to be
replaced if all else fails you might be
able to digitally download your games to
the console
this is what i did with the zelda game
that i'm currently playing let's get rid
of some more screws
there are three screws holding down the
copper heat pipe just over the processor
try to keep the thermal paste intact as
long as it's not dry and crusty you can
probably just reuse it if it's all dried
up you can probably just reapply some
normal thermal paste that we find on
amazon
i'll try to link some in the video
description there's a bunch more screws
holding the main board into place
remember to keep these organized
your life will be easier if you do the
other joy-con rail is plugged into the
side of the motherboard
unlatch the lock and the ribbon can
slide out the speakers can be found in
the bottom corners of the nintendo
switch
and the interesting thing is is that the
speaker cone is made from the same
rubber material that we saw inside the
apple airpods
so while the nintendo switch itself is
not waterproof if any liquid
accidentally falls into the speaker
slots the speakers themselves can
survive
nintendo did use quality speaker
material the water damage indicator is
right here next the corner of the
battery and then we release the large
ribbon that sits right below where the
cartridge used to be
and finally the beastly heat pipe can be
removed
this helps wick heat away from the
processor without this the system might
overheat and turn off if you remember i
used a thermal imaging camera on my lg
g6 teardown to see if the heat pipes
actually work
and they do and this heat pipe is even
bigger than the ones we've seen inside
of other smartphones
it's even got fins up at the top to let
the air flow through and let it cool
down faster just a few more things to
unplug like the volume and power ribbon
and the fan ribbon i'll show you more on
these in just a second
one more wire cable on the left side and
then this little guy right here is
extremely interesting this is the
built-in memory for the device
and it looks like it's replaceable
normally phones and tablets have their
memory soldered directly onto the main
board and it looks like this system
might be able to upgrade and hold more
memory in the future it'll be easy for
nintendo to start selling larger
capacity switches because
none of the board schematics would have
to change if the memory is swappable
like this
just plug the new memory in and you're
good to go finally here is the main
board the brains of the device
the charging port is directly soldered
in place and not replaceable
unfortunately but i imagine that the
dock is pretty sturdy so wear and tear
on the port should be minimal
but even then it would be nice to see a
replaceable charging port like we have
on most cell phones these days
the last thing to come out of the frame
is the fan with its three screws
this fan coupled with the large copper
heat pipe and heatsink should do a
pretty good job of keeping the tablet
cool
especially since it's only running at
720p when it's not docked
the super long ribbon cable at the top
is for the volume and power buttons
and then there is this last joy-con rail
on the side that we unplugged earlier
now the screen the exterior plastic
layer and the lcd layer are not glued to
each other like we see on most cell
phones
they are actually independent components
like on an ipad but they are glued to
the console itself it has not been easy
to find replacement parts for nintendo
products in the past but if i do find
replacement screens they'll be linked in
the video description
you'll need to use heat to separate the
screen from the frame and then the new
screen will have its own adhesive
i personally want to play zelda later
though so i'm going to leave my screen
intact for now
it's time to reassemble this thing and
see if it still works when i put it back
together
putting it back together should be
easier than taking it apart if you kept
your screws organized fan goes in first
then the motherboard gets set into place
charging port in first making sure no
ribbons or wires are stuck onto the
board when you set it down into the
frame
everything has its own slot to slide
into like the speakers i'll get the fan
ribbon cable tucked into the slot
and the volume ribbon tucked into its
slot and make sure that they are both
locked down with their little latches
the larger ribbon is the same deal slip
it in and lock it down then the
cartridge and headphone jack board can
get plugged in with a little lego light
connector
you'll feel it click into place and the
heat pipe gets set down
grill side first and the three screws
hold it snug against the processor
remember if your thermal paste is super
crusty you might want to glob some new
stuff on
if your console is overheating or
something joy-con rails get put into
place and latch down
make sure it has a good connection
before latching it in place ribbon cable
that plugs into the cartridge gets
slipped in and latched down
and then the other joy-con rail gets
lined up along the side and the two
ribbon cables at the bottom near the
speaker get tucked into place
and latch down like the rest of them set
down the black plastic bracket over the
headphone jack and then we can set the
4300 milliamp battery back into place
and plug it in i'm just reusing the same
adhesive as before but if you buy a new
battery it will probably come with its
own adhesive
get the rest of your motherboard screws
into place assuming you had them all
organized this should be relatively easy
another interesting thing is that this
black tape on the metal backing this is
a super cheap way to keep the silver
from shining through with the little
grille slots on the back of the console
pretty cost-effective way of keeping the
controller looking clean and blacked out
and a final screw next to the sd card
slot after you finish plugging that into
the main board like a little lego
and a fixing the foam pad over the top
of the connector the foam pad will help
it keep from accidentally disconnecting
if it's ever dropped
the back plastics can fall into place at
this point with one screw at the top of
the console
two more screws at the bottom and five
screws on either side of the device
all these are your normal phillips head
screws and lastly four screws along the
back
with the little guy underneath the
kickstand as well and it looks like
everything works
i can keep playing zelda now at least
until i take apart the joy-con
controllers to see how they work this
poor system has been through quite a lot
and it keeps on chugging
i'm pretty impressed my instagram
followers got to watch me stream this
teardown
live on instagram we just hung out and
talked for about an hour as i took this
thing apart for the video
follow me over there if you want to jump
in and chat during the next down
thanks again for watching i'll see you
around