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PSA: If you have your Switch wired via ethernet, it will warm up in the dock overnight!
- Thread starter Alvis
- Start date
From my experience it was the Switch itself. The dock did warm up a little, but I assume that's heat transferring from the Switch.
I am just ssuggesting to test if it's airflow related. FW5.0 wakes up the switch constantly. It heats up more and if the usb stick blocks the airflow it may be a problem.
I assumed that the stick resides inside the dock. If it was reported otherwise, my apologies
HORI adapter, Switch is always cool. FWIW I share my Switch so I rarely leave games suspended.
Personally, I disagree with the title and OP phrasing this as something that always happens when using an Ethernet adapter as there have been multiple reports claiming otherwise.
Still, it'd be worth it to experimentally rule out airflow since there are conflicting reports. Could someone experiencing this issue leave the back panel of the dock open overnight?
Personally, I disagree with the title and OP phrasing this as something that always happens when using an Ethernet adapter as there have been multiple reports claiming otherwise.
It's not really a stick so much as it is a block with a short cable attached. The block itself wouldn't fit in the dock.
Still, it'd be worth it to experimentally rule out airflow since there are conflicting reports. Could someone experiencing this issue leave the back panel of the dock open overnight?
I agree.
I left BOTW suspended over night and all day long and now checked again. Not warm at all (noname ethernet adapter)
Room temp is 23 something btw
I will test again tomorrow with another adpater (if i can find it)
Also using that exact adapter, and my Switch is probably the coldest thing in my TV room right now.
Does one have to have used it in the past couple of days? When did this update come out? Admittedly I have not fired it up in about 10 days (I did get an update when I last fired it up) as I have been playing God of War and Far Cry on other consoles.
I'd never use WiFi for gaming by choice, but especially not WiFi on the Switch.
I have enterprise-grade WiFi gear and get terrible connection speeds with the Switch. Even with it right next to the access point I get 1/10th the speed that I do on my phone.
When I was using my ISP router, I was getting less than 1Mb/s if I wasn't in the same room as it. It's almost comically bad.
Ah thanks. Didn't even know there was an official one yet, used the Wii U one from day 1, maybe I'll upgrade.
Yea, just pulled mine off the dock and mine is a little warm today, so it's either intermittent or something unknown is triggering it
I have them disabled and I'm getting the problem
And even if you do... I have 300 Mbps down / 300 Mbps up and a USB 3.0 adapter and my Switch gets 40 Mbps download / 11 Mbps upload via the adapter. I believe this is because Nintendo still hasn't enable the USB 3.0 capabilities of the 3.0 port (they said the port would act as a 2.0 one until a firmware update).
The only reason I use ethernet is to have a more stable connection and less ping while playing online, since actual bandwith speed barely matters there. But when downloading stuff my 5 GHz AC wifi is actually much faster, at least for now.
https://gonintendo.com/stories/3083...pters-might-be-causing-trouble-for-the-switch
Someone seems to have forgotten to include a source for his article
Someone seems to have forgotten to include a source for his article
I've done some experimenting with this, and have found some odd results. I actually noticed things related to this but didn't make the connection to the LAN adapter until this thread. As best I can tell, it's not that the LAN adapter itself that is causing the Switch to warm up, but rather all the USB ports remain active when the Switch goes into sleep mode. A side effect of all this means I've been able to wake the Switch from sleep mode using the home button on wired controllers, which is something that you couldn't do before. I use the Magic NS so my Wii U Pro works on the Switch, and the dongle flashes colors when it's turned on so it's easy to tell when the USB ports are active or not.
The odd thing is, sometimes the ports remain active and sometimes they don't. So far I haven't been able to keep the USB ports active WITHOUT a LAN adapter connected to the Switch when being put into sleep mode. But there's been odd times when I put the Switch into sleep mode and the ports go inactive anyways even with the LAN adapter connected (Magic NS doesn't light up). I think this is why some people haven't noticed their Switches being warm, since it's not happening 100% of the time. I assume the Switch won't get warm if the ports are inactive.
The ports were staying active for me 100% of the time until I went into the internet settings and switched to wireless, and then back to the LAN adapter, then went into sleep mode. All the sudden the Magic NS wasn't lighting up anymore and the LAN adapter obviously wasn't blinking and was inactive as well. After putting it into sleep mode and waking it multiple times, it stayed this way until I undocked the Switch, or I unplugged and plugged back in a USB device while it was awake. Even then, sometimes the ports would go inactive in sleep mode and sometimes not. I'm having a hard time finding a pattern.
So yeah, this is super weird. There's a bug here somewhere, but I can't tell if the USB ports remaining active are supposed to be a new feature that isn't working correctly (Because waking the Switch from sleep mode with a wired controller is kinda nice), or the ports being active in sleep mode is a bug itself. This is why Nintendo really needs to do better with their patch notes so users can know what's up. It'd be nice if some journalists could pester Nintendo during interviews at E3 about transparency on patches...
The odd thing is, sometimes the ports remain active and sometimes they don't. So far I haven't been able to keep the USB ports active WITHOUT a LAN adapter connected to the Switch when being put into sleep mode. But there's been odd times when I put the Switch into sleep mode and the ports go inactive anyways even with the LAN adapter connected (Magic NS doesn't light up). I think this is why some people haven't noticed their Switches being warm, since it's not happening 100% of the time. I assume the Switch won't get warm if the ports are inactive.
The ports were staying active for me 100% of the time until I went into the internet settings and switched to wireless, and then back to the LAN adapter, then went into sleep mode. All the sudden the Magic NS wasn't lighting up anymore and the LAN adapter obviously wasn't blinking and was inactive as well. After putting it into sleep mode and waking it multiple times, it stayed this way until I undocked the Switch, or I unplugged and plugged back in a USB device while it was awake. Even then, sometimes the ports would go inactive in sleep mode and sometimes not. I'm having a hard time finding a pattern.
So yeah, this is super weird. There's a bug here somewhere, but I can't tell if the USB ports remaining active are supposed to be a new feature that isn't working correctly (Because waking the Switch from sleep mode with a wired controller is kinda nice), or the ports being active in sleep mode is a bug itself. This is why Nintendo really needs to do better with their patch notes so users can know what's up. It'd be nice if some journalists could pester Nintendo during interviews at E3 about transparency on patches...
interesting observation. I guess Nintendo screwed something up with the 5.0 update.
I experienced quite the opposite though. regulary working/lighting up LAN adpater before 5.0 in sleep mode and complete inactivity now (after the 5.0 update).
oddly enough my Switch is always "up to date" when I wake it up. news are updated etc etc
Bump for awareness because somehow this is still a thing. Nintendo pls.
I try to remove the Ethernet cable every time I stop using the switch but sometimes I forget and the Switch spends all night getting warm for no reason.
I try to remove the Ethernet cable every time I stop using the switch but sometimes I forget and the Switch spends all night getting warm for no reason.
I thought of getting an adapter and glad I saw your bump. I'm not grabbing one until they fix this.
Yeah tried reconnecting my adapter when playing Fortnite and it's still a thing. No way I'm connecting and removing the thing from the internal USB every time I play / stop playing so I'm just keeping the console on wifi. Does Nintendo even know about this? Weird that they still didn't fix it.
You can just disconnect the ethernet cable from the adapter which is easier. Still a pain in the ass tho.
Easier but I don't want to do that because I don't want to wear out the cable's connector. They're not meant to be connected and disconnected constantly like USB
I've had mine wired to ethernet almost since I got the thing and have not had this problem. Maybe its a specific brand of ethernet adapters? I have this one if it matters.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MYTSN18/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MYTSN18/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It just looks cleaner and more organised in the back port. Besides, it's the 3.0 port, and I own a 3.0 adapter, so I don't want to use the 2.0 ports. I don't know if Nintendo enabled the USB 3.0 functionality already, but still. It just makes more sense to have it there.
Also, if this is still at thing when Smash releases (I fucking hope it isn't) my external slots will permanently have a GameCube controller adapter plugged in lol
A mobile chip getting warm and stressed 24/7 permanently without ever going to sleep and with the fan disabled may cause issues in the long run.
We are talking about the Switch NEVER settling down. Never ever. Constantly working and getting warm. This is a bug that *needs* to be fixed.
You know when you haven't used your phone all day and you pick it up and it's cold? That's how the Switch is supposed to work, and it actually does when using wifi instead of cable.
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For those who say someone's it is warm and sometimes not, an experiment for you.
Did you put switch in sleep mode before docking it? Or was it docked when you put it to sleep. Please try both and see if you get a different result. Perhaps the bug occurs in handshaking when you put a sleeping switch back into the dock.
Did you put switch in sleep mode before docking it? Or was it docked when you put it to sleep. Please try both and see if you get a different result. Perhaps the bug occurs in handshaking when you put a sleeping switch back into the dock.
I have the official one from the Wii days. The same thing happens.
I can confirm 100% that it happens when putting the Switch to sleep while it's already in the dock. I'm not sure about docking it while in sleep mode. Will test
A keyboard and an arcade stick. One more peripheral and I'll need a hub. I could switch them around but I wanted the ethernet adapter in the internal port just because it's supposed to be faster (well it's actually probably not but they plan to enable it for USB 3.0 so technically it's capable of that).
Anyway, the point really is that having the ethernet adapter connected shouldn't require me to think about what it does to my console and joycons.
hmm I use an insignia dock and have never really noticed this issue. I think the insignia dock might actually be better than the offiicial nintendo one since it doesn't enclose the system... gets more air that way... I think?
Is there a good explanation why this happens with Ethernet and not with WiFi?
For some reason I would have expected the opposite if anything.
For some reason I would have expected the opposite if anything.
The exhaust fan is on the top so I don't think there's any blockage
I use Magic-NS too. anytime I put the Switch to sleep docked the USBs deactivate also.
I only noticed the usb ports were powered when the switch goes to sleep by itself (dictated by the power setrings). This occured once
It's a bug, there's no reason why this should happen.
And even if it was some kind of unavoidable consequence of using wired (it isn't) they should just put an option to disable ethernet while in sleep mode and fallback to wifi
The same. Using a 8 Dollar Adapter and it is docked 24/7. No problems here.
But yeah, sucks for some people. Nintendo better fixes this.
Since I read about this problem I just leave my Switch on WiFi. I'd like to get gigabit to the Switch of course but it's just not worth the worry for me at this juncture.
Even if that's the case, which doesn't appear to be, one of the affected ones would be the officially licensed Hori adapter, and the official Nintendo-made Wii one too (as tested by my gf), so, yeah..
By the way, with my adapter, I can see that the adapter is on all the time when the Switch is sleeping (it has activity LEDs). If that's really the problem (tho I can't see why keeping the wifi module on all the time is not a problem but keeping the ethernet adapter is) then either let me disable the feature and set a timeframe to check for updates and stuff (like the Wii U, you could set it to check for stuff every hour, every two hours, three, etc) or just let me set it to never use ethernet when in sleep mode, only wifi (though this would be a rather stupid solution)
I use Ethernet and I've never noticed it being unusually hot. Warmer than other non-electronic objects nearby, sure, but never anything I'd consider out of the ordinary for an electronic device that's running, even in low power mode. I'd compare it to the temp of a my cell that's been updating apps or been charging overnight.
The last Nintendo Switch firmware update was 5.1.0, which was released on May 30th. So, it wouldn't be fixed until a new firmware release.
As the title indicates, this is a PSA, meaning the point of the thread is to raise awareness, which won't stop being a reasonable thing to do until it's fixed. It's not like the whole resetera community is aware of the problem, and they should be.
You make it sound like this is a fire hazard. As I said, I'm using Ethernet myself and I have not once picked up my Switch (when it had sit overnight) and thought it was warm enough to warrant concern from either a fire hazard or a risk of damage to the unit.