Nintendo Switch with no backlight on the LCD. The Switch will boot up and make noise, respond to touch or button inputs but LCD seems like it's not working unless you shine a light on it.
== Symptoms ==
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* Switch will power on and make noise, respond to touch or button inputs but screen seems to not work
* When shining a light on the display at the right angle you'll be able to see that the LCD is working just without a backlight, when testing with a light the easiest thing to see in order to confirm a bad backlight is the Nintendo logo when Switch is first booting up.
== Solution ==
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The problem is going to be related to either the LCD itself or the LCD circuit.
* First you will want to test with a known good LCD. You can dry fit a working LCD without removing the original by either just the bottom backlight cable or dry fitting both the LCD ribbon and backlight ribbon
** [[File:55655B83-25E2-471F-AC87-15C37CF83F7C 1 201 a.jpg|thumb|Figure 2. Back side of Nintendo switch motherboard showing locations of backlight circuit points of interest with the backlight IC circled in red and test points circled in blue]]If just the backlight ribbon is plugged in and the backlight circuit is working you should notice a slighter brighter screen when Switch is turned on, if the backlight circuit is bad then there will be no difference in the brightness of the screen
** If you want to test with the backlight and LCD ribbon plugged in you will have to bend the LCD cable a bit to test without fully installing it. If you do this be very careful to not bend the LCD cable too much as it is pretty fragile and can easily rip and ruin your known good LCD
* If you test with a known good LCD and still aren't getting a working backlight then your problem is going to be related to the backlight circuit.
* First check the backlight connector for damage or loose pins
* [[File:DDDFB133-3764-46E2-B95D-2A806FA4B9A8 1 201 a.jpg|thumb|456x456px|Figure 3. Backlight test points on the opposite side of where the backlight connector is on Nintendo Switch]]Next pull the board out and on the opposite of the backlight connector there will be test points as seen in Figure 3. Set your multimeter to diode mode and place the red probe on ground and use your black probe to test each of the test points labeled in Figure 3. If any of the readings are off by more than 0.200v that will confirm a problem with the backlight IC or one of the capacitors around the backlight IC.
*
Revision as of 09:07, 20 August 2025
Nintendo Switch No Backlight
Device
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Nintendo Switch with no backlight on the LCD. The Switch will boot up and make noise, respond to touch or button inputs but LCD seems like it's not working unless you shine a light on it.
Symptoms
Switch will power on and make noise, respond to touch or button inputs but screen seems to not work
When shining a light on the display at the right angle you'll be able to see that the LCD is working just without a backlight, when testing with a light the easiest thing to see in order to confirm a bad backlight is the Nintendo logo when Switch is first booting up.
Solution
The problem is going to be related to either the LCD itself or the LCD circuit.
First you will want to test with a known good LCD. You can dry fit a working LCD without removing the original by either just the bottom backlight cable or dry fitting both the LCD ribbon and backlight ribbon
Figure 2. Back side of Nintendo switch motherboard showing locations of backlight circuit points of interest with the backlight IC circled in red and test points circled in blueIf just the backlight ribbon is plugged in and the backlight circuit is working you should notice a slighter brighter screen when Switch is turned on, if the backlight circuit is bad then there will be no difference in the brightness of the screen
If you want to test with the backlight and LCD ribbon plugged in you will have to bend the LCD cable a bit to test without fully installing it. If you do this be very careful to not bend the LCD cable too much as it is pretty fragile and can easily rip and ruin your known good LCD
If you test with a known good LCD and still aren't getting a working backlight then your problem is going to be related to the backlight circuit.
First check the backlight connector for damage or loose pins
Figure 3. Backlight test points on the opposite side of where the backlight connector is on Nintendo SwitchNext pull the board out and on the opposite of the backlight connector there will be test points as seen in Figure 3. Set your multimeter to diode mode and place the red probe on ground and use your black probe to test each of the test points labeled in Figure 3. If any of the readings are off by more than 0.200v that will confirm a problem with the backlight IC or one of the capacitors around the backlight IC.
