I've SWITCHed! - General discussion - WARNING IN POST 1

LineageOS 15.1 for Nintendo Switch by switchroot. This is the first publicly available Android ROM for the Nintendo Switch. Based on the Nvidia Shield TV builds it brings a smooth and powerful Android experience to your Switch in both handheld and docked mode.

Suckit wrote: »

Is there a risk of bricking with an unoffical dock? :eek:

Starting backwards, we know a majority of bricking incidences result in a malfunctioning Power Delivery (PD) chip; there are now numerous electronic repair shops and online stores that actually stock the M92T36M PD chip for bricking repairs.

Now this may sound a bit confusing because many are stating the Switch is not PD compliant, but in reality it is using a proper PD Chip and controller. You can find many YouTube repair videos of the switch with replacing the M92T36 and its the sole USB-C PD controller present within the Switch; it controls all of the PD negotiations and ALT Mode (upscaling for HDMI output) functions of the Switch. Though the exact data-sheet of the M92T36 isn’t available publicly I was able to find the closest variant of it, the M92T30 made by ROHM and seem to only differ only by operating voltage. In the details I discovered the absolute max voltage rating for the Configuration Channel (CC) pin to be 6 volts. This means voltage traveling through the CC at more than 6 volts can and will fry the M92T36 chip.

Bricking Happens when the M92T36M PD Chip gets more than 6V

Surprisingly, bricking seems to comes down to corner cutting more than proprietary algorithms. The prevailing theory that the Switch isn’t PD compliant has very little to do with docking actually, and the power consumption of a docked Switch and a non-docked Switch is generally pretty consistent, maxing out at 18W. The inconsistencies of power draw and PD protocol errors are easily managed by the PD chip.


A much more common reason for bricking, are those third party docks that are cutting corners and not actually implementing dedicated PD controllers. For example, the Nyko dock itself uses a microcontroller that emulates the PD protocol and signal input/output voltages. Nyko’s PD emulator sends 9V to the Switch through the CC pin to the M92T36M, putting it 3V higher than the 6V max rating on the M92T36 which leads to a bricking Russian Roulette.

Another cause of bricking is simply bad quality Type-C connectors. One of the flagship design features of the official Nintendo Switch dock is the smoothness in which the Switch slides into and out of the dock. The thing is, there is no certified USB-C head connector works like this. In order for this mechanism to work, Nintendo actually designed a USB-C connector that was ever-so slightly narrower than the traditional head so that you don’t get that snug click feeling you would typically get when you plug a USB-C cable straight into your Switch. Since third party docks want to emulate this, and there are no certifications for this style manufacturers are free to design their own USB ports.


The USB-C standard has 24 pins with only 0.5mm spacing, (in comparison, the simple USB-A standard only has 4 pins with 1mm spacing). Therefore, any slight defect on the USB-C connector could cause the ports to fail. And when they do fail, there are two distinct failure modes: broken open and broken closed. Broken open means the USB-C port break without electrical connections, this is safe, but at times it could be annoying, as it may work when pressed at certain angle (similar to broken headphone jacks). Broken closed is where problems occur, this means that the pins are actually touching and crossing onto other pins. This can be caused by excessive wear on poorly manufactured USB-C ports or in some extreme cases copper that has been grounded resulting in conductive debris bridging these gaps. This is quite problematic as the main VBus (power line of USB-C) is optimized for 15v on the Nintendo Switch, and the CC pin being next to the VBus pin only 0.5mm apart on the USB-C connector. A crossed connection will therefore allow 15V to transfer to 6V rated CC pin, causing damage to the M92T36 again leading to potential brick in the making. There are also scenarios where VBus comes in contact with other pins on the USB-C such as the USB 3.0 data lines, which will fry the P13USB30532 matrix switch, since its even less tolerate of overvoltage; at a maximum rating of only 4.3v. Frying the matrix switch will pretty much disable the USB3.0 and docking, however it wont directly cause the Switch to brick.

USB-A to USB-C Cables: Many Switch users, Nathan K, and even Nintendo official has warned against the use of the cable without 56k ohm resistor. The 10K variant of the cable is said to be dangerous, to which I agree to the extent that the 56K ohm prevent overloading of non 3A capable AC adapters. The 10K ohm resistor only applies to legacy cables (A to C), which does not even negotiate PD with the Switch. The resistor only serves to tell the AC adapter how much current to provide to the Switch.


USB C Protocol Error: Power delivery is a standard between the way a charger communicates and negotiate the most suitable voltage level to enable fast charging. Rumors claim that Switch is non PD compliant, and according to Nathan K, what that means is the switch overdraws power by 300% when still negotiating the PD protocol. What he said is true, and is technically not the right way of doing things. But in practice, considering its actually a 0.5A to 1.5A increase its unlikely to effect the Switch and is well within the limits of the Nintendo Switch. In fact, the switch actually regularly consumes 2A, which is a 400% increase in current from 0.5A.


TLDR: It’s unlikely Switches are bricked because of it not being PD compliant. Bricking results from a fried M92T36M PD chip (which manages docking and power). Without this the Switch can no longer charge. Docks lacking dedicated PD chips and/or cheap uncertifiable USB-C dock connectors can result in overvoltage and thus frying this PD Chip.

Banjo wrote: »

https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/ckaiiv/an_engineers_pov_on_the_3rd_party_dock_switch/

Mr E wrote: »

Update 9.0.0 is out now. Nothing major. Friend invites is possibly the big one, plus some system settings for Switch Lite, screen sensitivity for stylus, a "check in" function, a fire Emblem fix and some much needed stability.

Underwhelming.

chrislad wrote: »

Jedi Knight looks to be launching at 9.99 on the US Espoo. Fair price and that’s a day one for me now.

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Isn't it a port of the GC version?
I enjoyed it, for a while, on PC back in the day, not sure the GC version is as good, or is it?

Lord Spence wrote: »

Has anyone managed to get a joycon with a drift issue repaired for free by Nintendo? Just had the below response from a Nintendo support rep

Hi Daniel, My daughters switch left joy con is suffering from drift issues, I have read that Nintendo are offering to repair these free of charge due to the issue being so widespread. The console was bout in late 2017

Daniel S.: Unfortunately, no region of Nintendo is currently offered free repairs. However, we do have some recommended troubleshooting steps and repair options