So its been a while since I last posted something similar, and I have yet again to return to this forum about a repair question for a Switch I am currently repairing for a relative.
Anyways, the consoler does not turn on nor does it give any signs of life off of it. Plugging in the battery or a charging cable results in a faint high pitched noise from the mainboard (that usually can be heard when the console is fully functional and running), which suggests the motherboard does receive power. As it appears to be, after comparing the motherboard of a functional Switch against this one, is that on the faulty board, a 1,8V power line is shorted to Ground through a component that I am trying to find. Powering that 1.8V rail with a lab bench power supply results that on the faulty board around 0.4 Amps of power is running through the rail to ground, and measuring the resistance between that power rail to ground shows that we only have a resistance of about 3,4Ω between those lines.
When calculating the wattage that this power loss is occuring at, we get around 0.7 Watts of power loss, which is barely heating up the component that is shorted, yet because of the short of those two rails the processor, and all caps/resistors that are near the processor on the opposite side of the board dont get the full 1,8 Volts they are supposed to get, hence why the console does not turn on or do anything at all.
Since we are dealing with a short here, one could assume that the area of the short heats up, but using the freeze spray or alcohol method to see what area evaporates first did not bring any results, as about 1 Watt of power loss in that area is not providing enough noticeable heat. So, since we cannot use heat to find the fault, how else could I possibly find a short? I have known locations where to measure the 1,8V lines, but as well all know we cant accurately measure if a component is shorted while it is still soldered into place.
I have attached a cutout of the back of the mainboard where the short is most likely to be.
Now, I know this is not a technicians forum, but perhaps one of you guys might have an idea. And of course, feel free to ask me any questions regarding the motherboard or what Ive tried already.
Thanks in advance!
Anyways, the consoler does not turn on nor does it give any signs of life off of it. Plugging in the battery or a charging cable results in a faint high pitched noise from the mainboard (that usually can be heard when the console is fully functional and running), which suggests the motherboard does receive power. As it appears to be, after comparing the motherboard of a functional Switch against this one, is that on the faulty board, a 1,8V power line is shorted to Ground through a component that I am trying to find. Powering that 1.8V rail with a lab bench power supply results that on the faulty board around 0.4 Amps of power is running through the rail to ground, and measuring the resistance between that power rail to ground shows that we only have a resistance of about 3,4Ω between those lines.
When calculating the wattage that this power loss is occuring at, we get around 0.7 Watts of power loss, which is barely heating up the component that is shorted, yet because of the short of those two rails the processor, and all caps/resistors that are near the processor on the opposite side of the board dont get the full 1,8 Volts they are supposed to get, hence why the console does not turn on or do anything at all.
Since we are dealing with a short here, one could assume that the area of the short heats up, but using the freeze spray or alcohol method to see what area evaporates first did not bring any results, as about 1 Watt of power loss in that area is not providing enough noticeable heat. So, since we cannot use heat to find the fault, how else could I possibly find a short? I have known locations where to measure the 1,8V lines, but as well all know we cant accurately measure if a component is shorted while it is still soldered into place.
I have attached a cutout of the back of the mainboard where the short is most likely to be.
Now, I know this is not a technicians forum, but perhaps one of you guys might have an idea. And of course, feel free to ask me any questions regarding the motherboard or what Ive tried already.
Thanks in advance!