Has your Nintendo Switch stopped reading game cards ?
Disclaimer: do not take your game console apart or poke inside with any kind of object. We can not be responsible for damage to you or your Switch. If you need help our number is 01252 962898. This blog is informational fun as well as assurance that help is just a phone call away.
Symptom:
"The game card could not be read. Please remove and reinsert it"
At iLogix Computer Solutions we get a lot of customers ask us to help them with their Nintendo Switch Consoles not being able to read game cards. This is a fault that is common, however, like everything there is a solution.
Game cards with the Nintendo Switch, like most game consoles, are orientated. This means that you can only insert it one way. This has been the way with game consoles for decades. In the past game console cartridges where a lot bigger and the design of the console and cartridge would, in most cases, keep you from mis orientating the game cartridge. The Atari 2600 for example, from the 1980's, was one such game console. The cartridge was loaded into the top of the console and it would stick up with the label facing the player. The following classic, Frogger, meant that when it was loaded into the console the would "Frogger" would be the right way up.
Many Atari cartridge manufacturers also designed their cartridges in a way to make it easier to insert, the same Parker cartridge shown here was bevelled making game insert obvious, easy and straight forward.
The Sega Megadrive from the 1990's was similar but this time the game cartridge housing was designed to stop it being mis inserted. It was like a mushroom shape.
This design was superb because it meant the plastic housing for the electronics protected the delicate board interface. You would meet plastic with plastic before electronics with electronics.
With our examples of the Atari 2600 and Sega Megadrive the game cartridge was classed as a hardware upgrade. In itself, without the game, the console could do nothing. The cost associated with buying a new game back then for most kids was way out of reach. However, unlike today there were no greedy super corporations looking to get every last penny from the kids for stupid upgrades that would enhance the game play. You simply plugged in the cartridge and played for hours. Everyone was equal, whether your parents were rich or poor. I used to rent Atari 2600 games from "New Video Scene". This was a video tape rental shop which was located on Church Road, Ashford Middlesex. I remember Steve and John who ran the shop. Really nice guys who could not have been more different from each other. John was a super cool Psychobilly, he had a huge quiff that would have put King Kurt in his place and he was covered in Meteors tattoos where as Steve was a smooth cigar smoking guy in a suit but they were equally great guys and such a laugh. Sadly New Video Scene is long gone, killed off I think by the introduction of cable TV and the reduction in the cost of buying Videos. I can not tell you how much I wish I could walk back through that door, nod the usual "alright" and then look at the Atari Classics they had like PacMan, Asteroids and Space Invaders.
Moving forward in time, just a little, when the Spectrum and Commodore home computers came out most kids (and grown ups of course) would load games from a cassette.
A cassette or tape was a ribbon connected to two spools inside a plastic case. It took an age to load the game, it was not instant like a game cartridge but well worth the wait. You could not get the orientation back to front and often the game was on both sides. There were always exceptions. I remember when Gauntlet came out on the Spectrum. This was a multi player game based on the Arcade classic and you would go from room to room fighting all kinds of enemies. The rooms seemed endless and the computer could only hold and process a limited amount of data, this was the dawn of computing though and it did not matter one bit about the minor things that would now be inconvenient. When the time came for the computer to need additional room data it would ask the player to press "play" on the tape recorder to load more rooms and in the case of Gauntlet you even had an add on called "The Deeper Dungeons".
The clue here is that the label is only on one side of the cassette.
Back to our Nintendo Switch. The game card reader is orientated and often there is a mis orientation or alignment when inserting game cards which is then forced when resistance is met. This often causes damage resulting in the reader no longer reading game cards. We can check for damage by looking inside the game card reader, we use a super powerful AmScope Microscope to do this. There are two rows of pins and we look to see if any are missing or bent. Additionally if the game card gets jammed we see customers then having to pull the card out using a variety of ingenious methods. The issue here is that the game card slot is soldered onto an expansion board which is held in place with three screws. Pulling against the card reading has the potential to break some of the soldered connections and cause damage.
If there is nothing visible or obvious the first thing we do is go into settings on the Switch interface (the cog or Monster Munch icon) and check to see if there is an update to the console. The Audio jack is on the same expansion card, try connecting some earphones at the same time (a second or two apart is good) as you insert a game card. This latter method can revive the game card.
Failing this we need to dismantle your Nintendo Switch and look for any kind of short or damaged components.
iLogix Computer Solutions keep stock of many Game Console components including Nintendo Switch game card readers as well as game card reader boards. iLogix Computers Solutions have all the tools, the right environment for electronics repairs as well as the all important experience. We can have your Nintendo Switch reading game cards in no time.
Pokemon. Lets Go Pikachu!
Do you have a broken or faulty game console that you want repaired ? iLogix Computer Solutions are based in Yateley Hampshire and have been repairing electronic devices for a very long time.
If you need a repair with a Game Console, or even a PC, Mac, Phone, Tablet or Laptop call us on 01252 962898. You can also message us through Facebook Messenger.
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