No power, charging OK, few shorts - where to start?

Looks like I found the culprit. The power supply cut the current instantly but I could see it flash up for a second. This was the only component to do so. I’ll desolder it and we’ll see.

Great, I desoldered that cap and the shorts disappeared from the cap at the PI3USB and also at M92T36 pin 6. But when I reconnect the battery I still don’t have 3.3V. Injected voltage appears at the 3.3V testpoint near ENXX. Nothing gets hot.

One thing I noticed is that this component measures short between its legs, but not to ground. I couldn’t find what this is, maybe it’s normal.
unknown

I guess the removed PI3USB and those 2 caps doesn’t influence not having 3.3V when turned on from battery. What else could be the issue?

The EN chip generates 3.3v, so if you don’t have 3.3v my next step would be replacing that.
Maybe it died since that cap next to it was shorted to ground and it pulled more power that it can provide.
That “shorted” component is an inductor, so it’s normal to have continuity.

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Do you know the type and brand of that chip?

RP602Z330C is the ENxx chip

Thanks. If you can tell me the value and rating of this cap as well, I’ll order them along with a new PI3USB.
cap

22uF 4v or up voltage rates should be good

if your not getting the 3.3V rail being produced (following clearing the short) by the EN IC you should first check if it’s even being enabled following a prompt to boot (you can searcg the forum for this) if it’s not then you likely have something else causing a halt prior to this… You should verify all this before bothering / attempting to replace the EN IC. As a guess, your M92 IC is probaly bad and/or soldering and I’d start there, I’d also verify there is ono USB issues too. Also, save yourself the effort for now and just leave the P13 and the cap off for now as they won’t have any impact on boot throughout testing and verifying other issues with the board.

I was lucky, not having 3.3V was my fault. So far I was only testing with battery, with USB it’s there.

So, what I have at the moment:
No shorts on 3.3V line, voltage at PI3USB big cap and M92T36 pin5 (3.281V) and pin 6 (3.291V).
I have all the 1.8Vs according to this one.


I don’t have the 5V on the blue point though. (nothing else is connected, just the battery)

it will be present with battery only too you just have to make sure it’s prompted to boot (and the battery is charged enough) :slight_smile:

Disregard that image it’s basically worthless. Who knows what blue is from that image… maybe a 5Vrail for LCD :man_shrugging: which you wont get if it’s not getting to that stage in the boot process.

What is your charge current since getting your 3V3PDR back?

I don’t have a USB ampmeter, I’ll try to hack a cable together for measurement.

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33 mA from a 5V phone charger (4.7V actual voltage) for the board without anything connected.
80-90mA from the same supply with battery connected, pulling the voltage down to 4.4V.

assuming no other shorts present on the board (SYS for example) this current draw would suggest it’s booting. Connect up a known good display and see if you get anything. If nothing or if you don’t have a known good display then hookup the speakers, ensure console is booted and not in sleep, put volume up (keep pressing) tap the digitizer and see if you can hear the clicks through the speakers while unlocking.

Also might be worthwhile prior to all this taking a very close look at the LCD connector as beginners almost always bend the pins here. Use your phone camera zoomed in with good lighting if you don’t have a microscope

Just to add to this - Based on your info above I’ve made the assumption in my above reply that when your saying 33mA you actually mean 330mA (IE: 0.33A) as this would be typical aproximate current draw on a switch with no battery connected… likewise when you say 90mA I assume you mean 900mA (0.9A)… but let me know if this is not the case.

No, it’s 90.

However, we’re making progress. Connected back everything except the card reader and the jack and booted and it starts! Minor problem is that touch input doesn’t work. Note that PI3USB, cap at ENXX and M92T36 pin 6 are still not soldered back, even though I don’t think it matters. Also, left joycon was recognized, right not yet, but they are probably totally drained so I’m charging them now.

I didn’t see damage on the LCD cable.

Can you take a snap of your meter reading this? I’m guessing it;s dropping the digit or it’s down to the meters mode as it doesn’t make sense for it to be 90mA based on your previous replies. Either that or your manner of measurings is off. If you turn the console off and then connect the USB I imagine you’ll see it start at 0.33/0.4 and then jump to 0.9 (and this is in Amps)

just a guess but probably relates to the GC PCB, check the connector on the flex and see if it’s warped, if it is bend it back gently

Right joycon also works now

Reassembled it again, now it looks like everything works in handheld mode, touch, joycons, sound. Wanted to do a quick data backup before getting the missing parts and soldering them, just to realize to Nintendo only lets you backup saves if you pay per user. Greedy bastards.

Thanks everyone for helping me, I’ll order the desoldered stuff and with some luck it will be perfect in a few weeks.

Nce one :+1:

What was the touch issue?

And can you confirm the charge current situation otherwise if your readings were as you say then you have another issue (?)

Touch issue was a simple improper connection I guess. Connected everything again and it worked.

For the charging I have a theory, it’s most probably the makeshift cable I used for current measurement. I don’t have a USB ampmeter for I created a quick temporary setup where I used an old mouse cable and a female USB connector as an extender for the USB C cable, with only the 5V and GND wires used and routed through a multimeter. Because it was a very temporary setup I didn’t even solder all joints, just used some screwed connectors and thin wires which could fit into the original connector of the mouse cable (yeah, I was lazy :smiley: ). I assumed it won’t handle hundreds of amps but it looks like the resistance the too high even for this. Connected it to my phone for a check and it also warned me about unusually slow charging and to check the charger.

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