If you find your Nintendo Switch not turning on all of a sudden, there’s no need to panic right away as the battery may have simple run out of juice. This is a common scenario for many gamers who often use their consoles for longer periods. What you need to do in this case is to simply place the console in its charging dock or plug in the charging cable and wait for at least 3 hours. You’ll have to ensure that the console is fully charged before attempting to turn it back on by pressing the power button normally. After the stated time, your console should be working normally again.
Should nothing change though and you still have an unresponsive Nintendo Switch console, the next good thing that you can do is to try to check if there’s an issue with the charger. If you’re using a charging cable, ensure that there’s no visible signs of damage in it. Also, try to stick to the original charger from Nintendo. If you’re using a third party charging dock, try to see if it’s malfunctioning by using it to charge another console. If you have no other console to use, then switch to a charging cable.
Some Nintendo Switch consoles may not power on normally due to an app or software glitch. Try doing a soft reset to see if that will fix the problem. Otherwise, consider wiping the device with a factory reset.
Troubleshooting a Nintendo Switch that won’t turn on
Time Needed : 10 minutes
There are four troubleshooting steps that you can do to fix a console that has no power.
Charge your Nintendo Switch.
Use the official Nintendo charger that came with the console to do this. If you’re using a third party charger, ensure that it’s compatible and known to be working. Sometimes, all it takes for a console is 30 minutes but if it still will not power back on, continue with a full charging session of at least 3 hours.
Check the charging accessories.
Make sure that you check for a possibility that your Nintendo Switch may have a charging issue. If it’s not charging normally, this may be the reason why it’s also not turning on at this time. You also need to check the charging port to see if there’s any dirt, lint, debris, or foreign object that might block the charging cable while charging.
Perform a soft reset.
Your console may have encountered an error that it can’t be resolved on its own. This usually results to the system being unresponsive. Perform a forced reset while the console is connected to the charger to fix it. Press and hold the Power button for up to 12 seconds, 15 or 20 seconds to reset the device. Once you press the Power button for 15 seconds, release it and wait for a few moments before finally turning on the device normally again.
Try a hardware reset (factory reset).
If the other solutions above has not fixed the issue at all and your Nintendo Switch is still not turning on, there may be a deeper issue with the software. Try to perform a factory reset using the hardware buttons as detailed in this hard reset article. This might fix the Nintendo switch won’t turn on problem right away.
Should the issue persists up to this point, you might need to contact Nintendo customer support for further assistance. Just provide the procedures that you’ve already performed to narrow down the situation.
If you want to extend the battery on your Nintendo Switch in future, turn it off (press the Power key for at least 30 seconds or until your Nintendo goes into blank screen) if not in use or put it in sleep mode. This will clear use cookies and cache that may have been accumulated while using the device. Connect it to an AC adapter if you have the time to do so once the battery level is below 50%. You can read the terms of use on the users manual for more details on how to use your Switch properly.
Suggested readings:
- How To Fix A Frozen Or Unresponsive Nintendo Switch
- How To Perform A Hard Reset On Nintendo Switch (Factory Reset)
- Easy Ways To Fix Nintendo Switch Not Charging
- How To Fix PS4 (PlayStation 4) Console Won’t Turn On
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