Nintendo Switch fans fix JoyCon Drift with cardboard



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Image of article titled Nintendo Switch fans say they're fixing Joy-Con drift with a little cardboard

Photo: Nintendo

Earlier this week, a video by YouTuber VK Channel claimed to have finally the fix for the pernicious drift of Joy-Con that plagues countless Nintendo Switch fans. It is the last of a large number of home remedies tempted by desperate people who don’t want to see $ 70-80 fly away. And since the method described seems to work for some people, the video has since gone viral.

Joy-Con Drift, for those who are lucky enough to have never experienced it, is a known flaw with analog controllers on Switch controllers. Over time, the controllers begin to act as if you are moving the stick in a particular direction even when you are not touching anything. Even the Switch Lite is not immune to this. It sucks!

He mostly null because even the just announced The OLED model of the switch won’t do bullshit for what is probably the number one problem with the console. The Japanese company offers fast repair and replacement solutions at no additional cost, but not only is it tedious to pack your controllers and wait for them to come back (or your entire console, if you have a Switch Lite), it doesn’t really solve the root problem at the manufacturing level. . Sometimes even Nintendo can’t fix it and the company ends up sending you a Joy-Con in a different color from the one you submitted. Many people end up learn to live with, even if luck is that Stick drift now also appears in next-gen consoles.

Okay, but what is this effective and deadly method that overcame years of Nintendo incompetence? It turns out it’s a small piece of cardboard. You can watch VK’s channel describe how he got there below, although it takes 10 minutes for something that takes a lot less time to explain. Go to 6:35 am if you’re short on time. Note that if you don’t have cardboard lying around, people also use multiple sheets of paper, pieces of business cards, and electronics-friendly tape. Basically anything that can be cut to fit the area shown during the video is fair play.

The simplicity of it all is a bit misleading. In a number of son and comment sections reviewed by Kotaku, there were as many people saying it wasn’t working for them as there were people swearing by it. The likelihood seems high that the Joy-Con drift is caused by a variety of different factors, meaning there is no one-size-fits-all solution. It could be that your drift is caused by dirt or degradation of the material. It may be quite another thing.

While it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what could be causing your particular case of drift, there is indeed an easy way to find out if the YouTube trick will work for you. A Switch owner who goes by the handle river_rage Told Kotaku that before attempting the cardboard patch, they “verified that applying pressure to the housing, as shown in the video, neutralized the drift.” If your drift doesn’t stop when you press the empty areas on your controller, it probably won’t help you at all.

A man presses a red Nintendo Switch Joycon to test for drift.

This is where you need to tap to test if the method will work for you.
Screenshot: VK chain

There is also the more basic barrier of opening controllers in the first place. Kotaku Staff member Ethan Gach wanted to try the solution, but found he didn’t have the right screwdriver. In addition, there is the prospect of cancel your warranty here– it doesn’t matter if you mess up your Joy-Con even more if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Then again, for people whose controllers are already overwhelmed, what is there to lose? Alan Goodsmith, a Switch owner who tried the cardboard method, said Kotaku via email that he had already tried several things since his Joy-Con stopped working in 2019. These included using alcohol to cleanse the bowels and using and blowing l compressed air through the controllers, which has helped some people to solve this problem. in the past. The only reason he didn’t try more things, he said, was because he bought replacement devices rather than keep trying to troubleshoot what appeared to be doomed devices. This is what a lot of people end up doing, but because it is such a widespread problem, this approach can quickly become expensive.

“I already have a iFixit electronic repair kit which contains the three-wing bit needed to open the shell, ”he wrote, before detailing his procedure in detail. Those of you who are curious to try it might find this useful:

After removing the screws, you need to carefully open both halves of the shell as there are ribbons attached to the main PCB and rail so your Joy-Con can talk to the Switch when attached, but also to charge on the rail. Once inside, carefully lift the battery … From here you will see some Philips screws holding the battery holder in place.

When removed, it opens to expose the back of the joystick. From there I applied two thin pieces of card stock to reach the recommended thickness of 1mm and reversed the steps to close it.

The three-wing screws, he also noted, must be handled with care, as there is a risk of stripping them. It’s also not a bad idea to refer to guides on how to properly open your controllers. But since implementing the cardboard patch, he says, he’s been using the controller for over a day at this point and now it’s working perfectly.

“I spent about an hour trying to force the drift by clicking the stick and pushing in the direction it tended to drift,” he said. “Nothing.”

Even so, there is uncertainty involved here. Yes, there are documented cases of people trying it, and testimonials of people saying it is legitimate. What we don’t know is how it works in the long run, as most people who made this change have only had it for a few days, if it is. Some fear that while cardboard works right now, it could make the problem worse in the long run as well. If problems arise because the bowels are damaged or taxed in some way, it is possible that the cardboard is accelerating this degradation. It will be worth seeing if it stays effective months or years later.

But even if this is only a temporary relief, being able to squeeze a little more playtime out of your broken controller might not be such a bad deal. At least that seems to be the attitude on social media, where many are sharing their experiences with cardboard Joy-Con patches after watching the video. But hey, better than this time everyone was lick their Switch cartridges, right?

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