Nintendo Dock Signal Issues

[TacoSenpai]

This has happened to me twice in the past couple of weeks and I wanted to see if anyone else here had encountered something similar.

 

It seems at times when I dock my NSwitch it shows its getting power yet the signal for whatever reason doesn't push to the TV and the screen on the Switch just goes black (as it should when it is docked)  however, where things get weird is that it gets locked up in a permanent sleep state where I have to hold the power button for 15 seconds then tap it again to power cycle and restart the console.  FYI I can only do this while its undocked.  Console works perfectly fine in handheld mode no issues what so ever so it would seem that its not bricked.  Below are the steps I've taken to troubleshoot.

 

• Tried on a different TV altogether.  My main TV is a 4K HDR smart TV and you know it can get wonkey since they like to try and detect things automatically and switch to them.  I tried on a vanilla ordinary 1080p HDTV and same exact issues persist so its not the smart tv. 
• Swapped the HDMI cable with a known good working one in addition to testing on the vanilla HDTV. Same issue.
• Tested the Official Nintendo AC Adapter that came with the dock by plugging it directly into the NSwitch in handheld mode.  Charged switch and power delivery is fine even while playing.
• Tried different HDMI ports on multiple TVs same issue. 
• Unplugged power and HDMI cables from the dock. Unplugged TV power.  Power cycled the switch then replugged in the TV, dock power, dock HDMI in that order same issue
• I dust out the dock port and the USB port lightly with a dry q tip and compressed air.  No dice.

Up till this point I'm thinking so dock must be faulty despite being very new possibly that will fix it...but this is where it gets weird...

I figured ok what the hell I'll put my Switch into the dock overnight and just let it sit keep in mind its been charged and has juice through the whole troubleshooting process.  Solid green light came on to show it was docked still no luck on the signal going to the TV so I go to bed.  I wake up see the green light off on the dock and test by turning on the console while its docked and the signal goes through to the TV like normal and works fine in spite of not being able to go through or turn on at all the night before while docked?

 

I should also mention I have also only ever used the official Nintendo dock.  I've only ever used battery packs in handheld mode.

 

What gives?  Any one else run into this its become more frequent lately.

[LukeNukem9]

You could go 1 of 2 ways. get a new $60 dock or get a generic dock like aaptor but risk bricking your console. (if that's a thing anymore)

[TacoSenpai]

2 minutes ago, LukeTheCoder05 said:

You could go 1 of 2 ways. get a new $60 dock or get a generic dock like aaptor but risk bricking your console. (if that's a thing anymore)

Yeah I would just get the official one.  Though I'm even wondering if thats even the issue given that the thing thing that makes it "work" is just to leave it in the dock for awhile then it works like normal mysteriously its just annoying.

[LukeNukem9]

Just now, LordOTaco said:

Yeah I would just get the official one.  Though I'm even wondering if that's even the issue given that the thing thing that makes it "work" is just to leave it in the dock for awhile then it works like normal mysteriously its just annoying.

make sure the port on the dock and console is clean and intact. a problem could lie there if its not consistent.

 

[TacoSenpai]

3 minutes ago, LukeTheCoder05 said:

make sure the port on the dock and console is clean and intact. a problem could lie there if its not consistent.

 

I'm generally thinking that as well I did clean both ports (the one on the Switch and the dock) with q tips and compressed air.  Didn't work immediately but worked the morning after...at least power delivery is consistent.

[LukeNukem9]

1 hour ago, LordOTaco said:

I'm generally thinking that as well I did clean both ports (the one on the Switch and the dock) with q tips and compressed air.  Didn't work immediately but worked the morning after...at least power delivery is consistent.

also make sure the rear ports and what-not is also cleaned-not damaged.

[Stefan Payne]

1 hour ago, LordOTaco said:

It seems at times when I dock my NSwitch it shows its getting power yet the signal for whatever reason doesn't push to the TV and the screen on the Switch just goes black (as it should when it is docked) 

I also experienced that. 

Though in my cases I didn't connect the Power adapter.
But I had to turn the switch and TV off and start new.

After that it worked...

 

1 hour ago, LordOTaco said:

however, where things get weird is that it gets locked up in a permanent sleep state where I have to hold the power button for 15 seconds then tap it again to power cycle and restart the console.

I think I also experienced that right in the beginning. Thought I bricked my brand new Switch (wasn't even a day or so old).

But after a while (and pressing the Power Button for a while) it began to work again...

 

 

So the conclusion we can take from this is that its not a defective but a hardware issue for whatever reason...

[TacoSenpai]

21 minutes ago, Stefan Payne said:

I also experienced that. 

Though in my cases I didn't connect the Power adapter.
But I had to turn the switch and TV off and start new.

After that it worked...

 

I think I also experienced that right in the beginning. Thought I bricked my brand new Switch (wasn't even a day or so old).

But after a while (and pressing the Power Button for a while) it began to work again...

 

 

So the conclusion we can take from this is that its not a defective but a hardware issue for whatever reason...

Yeah it still frustrates me to no end not knowing what the issue is.  More over why is it that the dock is just flat out unusable for a long period of time then suddenly perfect after seemingly doing nothing. 

 

I'm kinda at my wits end I did actually try the first thing you mentioned though I'll have to try it without the power adapter for the dock and see what happens the next time this issue happens.  What concerns me more is how this has only happened recently and I never had issues with it before. 

[Stefan Payne]

3 minutes ago, LordOTaco said:

d though I'll have to try it without the power adapter for the dock and see what happens

nothing as the dock does not work with the power adaptor...

That is required for it to operate for whatever reason...

[TacoSenpai]

9 minutes ago, Stefan Payne said:

nothing as the dock does not work with the power adaptor...

That is required for it to operate for whatever reason...

I think it has to do with the CPU ramping up and needing more power docked and connected to the TV.  At least thats my guess. 

[Stefan Payne]

3 hours ago, LordOTaco said:

I think it has to do with the CPU ramping up and needing more power docked and connected to the TV.  At least thats my guess. 

If that was the only thing happening...

But they also hot plug/switch the Display Output and switch to the DP to HDMI Switch and the USB 3.0 Switch...

That's a lot happening:

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nintendo+Switch+Teardown/78263

 

[Cyberspirit]

I had a similar problem but, my Switch just died overnight. (Lasted 3 days )

My dock kept flashing green while the Switch was docked and it wouldn't charge or turn on at all.

 

When I was researching that I came across a lot of similar posts like this and, I saw people mentioning that the "Match TV power state"

setting might be the cause of this. Try turning that off and see if that helps.

 

If not, then the other alternative I saw (from people who's console didn't even boot anymore) was to factory reset it.

It didn't work for me but, it's worth a shot though,

if you do this, you will be unable to access your old save files that are locally saved on your SD card!

 

Cloud saves will be fine but, not everything syncs to it so this should be your last resort.

[TacoSenpai]

15 hours ago, Cyberspirit said:

I had a similar problem but, my Switch just died overnight. (Lasted 3 days )

My dock kept flashing green while the Switch was docked and it wouldn't charge or turn on at all.

 

When I was researching that I came across a lot of similar posts like this and, I saw people mentioning that the "Match TV power state"

setting might be the cause of this. Try turning that off and see if that helps.

 

If not, then the other alternative I saw (from people who's console didn't even boot anymore) was to factory reset it.

It didn't work for me but, it's worth a shot though,

if you do this, you will be unable to access your old save files that are locally saved on your SD card!

 

Cloud saves will be fine but, not everything syncs to it so this should be your last resort.

I'm sorry to hear that I hope you can refund it.  I was messing around with the match tv power state setting I have mine still left on and it seems to work fine though I think I'll keep mine off more stuff like that with "smart tvs" cause more problems then convenience. 

[Cyberspirit]

8 hours ago, LordOTaco said:

I'm sorry to hear that I hope you can refund it.  I was messing around with the match tv power state setting I have mine still left on and it seems to work fine though I think I'll keep mine off more stuff like that with "smart tvs" cause more problems then convenience. 

Thanks but I already got it fixed. Took 'em two months but it happened.

I still have no idea what caused it but, once I got it back, I turned that setting off immediately. Didn't want to risk it.

[Stefan Payne]

After a bit of thinking about the issue:
What is the condition of your connectors?

Something maybe a bit damaged??

Like the Eject Button in the Modern Wintage Gamer Wii system...

 

Could be "just" a Connection Issue...

[TacoSenpai]

15 hours ago, Cyberspirit said:

Thanks but I already got it fixed. Took 'em two months but it happened.

I still have no idea what caused it but, once I got it back, I turned that setting off immediately. Didn't want to risk it.

Yeah I've turned the auto power state thing off as well it just complicates things particularly with many TVs auto-detecting things.  Its more pain than convenience.

2 hours ago, Stefan Payne said:

After a bit of thinking about the issue:
What is the condition of your connectors?

Something maybe a bit damaged??

Like the Eject Button in the Modern Wintage Gamer Wii system...

 

Could be "just" a Connection Issue...

Well so far going on two days the issue has not returned.  I did end up swapping out the included HDMI cable with a different one but even with the included one the issue has seemed to resolve itself.  As far as I can tell from the outside the USB C connector (both the one in the dock and the receptor in the Switch are both undamaged.  I never have the thing around water or water vapor so that eliminates that possibility. 

 

[TacoSenpai]

So miniupdate apologies for the double post.

 

I've turned off the auto power state setting along with the sleep timer for when the console is docked.  Issue no longer persists and every-time I turn off the console while docked I physically get up to turn off the console from the power button as thats the only way while docked to get to the power options to turn it off completely without entering sleep mode.  I will of course use sleep mode in handheld mode and have a sleep timer for that.

 

I don't know if the issue will return but for now its been consistent