[Solved] My Switch just got Black Screen of Death, but with a twist!

Hi guys! I’ve got a strange problem with my Switch, and I hope this is a somewhat fitting community for this.

The SOLUTION

Using this youtube video I was able to rebuild the firmware it failed to update. Unfortunately all the data got lost, but that’s a small price to pay.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ5ZATlMS5U

Note: this works only on Windows. (had to borrow my gf’s laptop for this)

My question

Is there any way I can… reformat the NAND with a completely fresh system from RCM and is it safe? Maybe I have NAND backup somewhere, but I’m not counting with it.

Why do I ask

My Switch is 24/7 on its dock. Honestly, we rarely use it, few times a year, maybe? Or some games here and there for 30 mins max., but it’s always on, always in sleep, connected to the dock.

Same thing today, I turned it on with the joycons and went to upgrade the controllers, then wanted to redeem a code in eShop, cause, what a coincidence, I just bought a game yesterday (Lucky’s Tale). eShop needed me to update the system - sure thing, go ahead.

The update was downloaded successfully and the console rebooted. And… never came back. After sitting there for… not too long, but long enough for a system update restarting thingy, I checked the Switch, and, well, it was completely black.

Tried to turn it on - nothing. But that was, because it was already on. The fans were spinning, it seemed alive at least.

I held down the power button for around 20 seconds, then tried it to power on. This time, Nintendo logo appeared on the screen - oh yeah, that’s what I’m talking about… or maybe not, because after the logo the screen went suspiciously black… so not even backlight. And… that’s pretty much it. I was unable to enter Recovery Mode (or… how is it called), because same thing; Nintendo logo, black screen, the end.

If I just plug in a charger, it shows charging and reports full battery for a moment at the top, and then… it gets again into this state, where I have to force power off the console.

Now, after reading up online what the heck just happening to my Switch, I’ve found some articles and posts about this being a relatively common thing amongst v1 Swtiches (which mine is), and there’s no really great answer, what causing it. So, it’s pretty much a black screen of death. Maybe a faulty power chip, maybe the memory, maybe the storage, maybe the battery… and the list goes on.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE

So… the reality is it’s not that dead, as anyone may think.

Since, it’s a v1 Switch, I can enter RCM mode no problem and push payloads for the console to boot up.

This is what I did, and for my biggest surprise, the console just booted up Hekate no problem (it’s a… boot manager of some sorts) and for my even biggest surprise, I was able to boot up the system to emuMMC (basically a clone of the Switch’s OS, just on the memory card), and… it was alive. Had no issues with anything.

However, when I try to start up my Switch “normally”, it just dies, RIP.

So my guess is then, that System Update messed something up big time.

It’s not under warranty, and I’m from a country where I don’t think I could send it in to Nintendo. There is an official Nintendo repair here, maybe they can help me, if flashing is not possible, or if it’s hardware related issue. (It can be, IIRC emuMMC runs from the SD card)

Thanks! And have a nice day.___