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Nintendo Says JoyCon Wireless Issues Were Caused By 'Manufacturing Variation'

epicnemesis

Member
I haven't opened my Switch yet cause I'm in the process of moving. How does one reliably test for dysnc issues? How quickly does it manifest?
There is a controller test in the settings. Pretty easy to see if you are affected by running that. Put the joy on behind you and then make circles with the sticks. If it's a smooth motion on screen you are good, if you see it shop you aren't. Mine is so bad that playing with the joycons at my side and the switch on my chest while lying down causes it to screw up. Going to get it fixed when I am back stateside.
 
There is a controller test in the settings. Pretty easy to see if you are affected by running that. Put the joy on behind you and then make circles with the sticks. If it's a smooth motion on screen you are good, if you see it shop you aren't. Mine is so bad that playing with the joycons at my side and the switch on my chest while lying down causes it to screw up. Going to get it fixed when I am back stateside.

Thanks epicnem! I'll give it a shot once I'm done moving.
 

Ushojax

Should probably not trust the 7-11 security cameras quite so much
There is a controller test in the settings. Pretty easy to see if you are affected by running that. Put the joy on behind you and then make circles with the sticks. If it's a smooth motion on screen you are good, if you see it shop you aren't. Mine is so bad that playing with the joycons at my side and the switch on my chest while lying down causes it to screw up. Going to get it fixed when I am back stateside.

I had the same thing, but I had the Switch dock behind the TV. Once I rearranged things and brought the dock in front, no problems.

I don't buy this excuse that it's all due to manufacturing defects, the Bluetooth signal from the joycons is simply weak and easily blocked. I've used 4 different joycons and I can replicate the signal loss on all of them.
 

Jedi2016

Member
Turns out I don't have the right screwdriver..

Which one is it? I'll order it from Amazon
It's a #00 tri-wing. I just got my screwdriver set from Amazon and that one fits the Joy-Con screws perfectly.

Edit: The surgery was surprisingly simple. Four tri-wing screws on the outside, move the battery out of the way (it's held in with double-sided tape), three #000 phillips screws under that to remove the plastic shell in the middle (also houses the ZL button), and there it is. I didn't even bother using tape or anything to hold the foam in place, since the middle shell sits right on top of it, that will hold it easily enough. Then back together again. The whole thing took less than ten minutes.

Remains to be seen how well it will work. I'll give it a whirl in a bit and report back.

Edit 2: Seems to work fine. No problems playing Zelda or Fast RMX, sitting cross-legged with my leg between the controller and the system. Even the behind-the-back trick worked fine (but I never actually tried that before now). No idea why it works, but it works.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
How bout right joycon issues? I've had issues with both during Zelda, I guess it's less noticeable with the right cause you're not necessarily always holding stick/buttons on there. I've had the camera get stuck spinning around occasionally, or laggy when moving around the inventory screen with the right stick.

Course both are usually fine, can get a decent distance away during the calibration test (like 10-15 feet behind the back gets stuttery), but sometimes there's bad bouts of lag within my usual distance (around 6 feet). Probably my phone/tablet doing something and causing interference but not sure on that.

Same. I noticed it during a hectic shrine when I was trying to quickly find some food to eat, and also the camera wouldn't respond sometimes. At one point it completely lost sync. This was about 8ft from switch to joycon and I was avoiding blockig it with anything so just open air.

Will get them replaced but will buy a spare controller first so I can still play.
 
I had my first run-in with the left Joycon issue in a "real world" scenario today.

I don't have a TV and when I first got the Switch weeks ago I did a quick test for the desync issue in kickstand mode and was able to trigger it by covering the joycons with my hand even from a meter or two away, but I didn't care much since I was never intending to use the Switch docked or played wirelessly from any considerable distance, and completely ​covering it or putting it behind my back was an unrealistic use-case...

Today I visited my friend and took the Switch and dock with me just for kicks and to give it a brief test on his TV:

iPhVWlV.jpg

I recon I was sitting no farther than 2 meters away from the dock and at first the left Joycon could not even begin to sync when it asks you to press both shoulder buttons at the same time. I had to stand up and take a step forward​ until it registered. Then I sat back on the chair and played some Zelda, and very quickly faced the desync issue with Link not responding to my movement commands (or he keeps walking after I've changed direction). I had to consciously​ hold the joycons in a way to try to minimize the surface area that my hand covers it. And it still wasn't perfect.

Like I said it won't affect me 99% of the time, but it's disappointing to actually see how bad and real the issue actually is. I thought it was exaggerated before.

Can't send mine to Nintendo since I imported my Switch. I guess I might do the DIY fix just to know that in the odd chance I do play on a TV in the future I'd actually be able to.
 
Retested mines again, both controllers are actually much worse. In a living room setting, the left controller managed to lose sync completely with fast rmx, managing to turn my car around 180 while keeping gas going on right controller. I was at best 3-4 feet away with only my foot propped up.
 
Getting this.. but my wife being the SUPER CLEAN person she is.. I cannot find any conductive foam in the frikin house.. she throws away any empty box!!

If you're not married, and read this, add the above as one of the reasons not to get married
 
Waiting for a Y screwdriver to arrive then I will try the foam fix also, I think that my graphics card box has foam in it, if not i'll have to track some down.
 

Rarius

Member
I sent away my Joycon on Wednesday evening and it still says due in.

Halp. It was supposed to get the quick, free ship because they were being nice I guess?
 
Dozens fixed their joy-cons issue using foam, look at this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSw...conductive_foam_fixes_the_left_joycon_desync/

I got foam with my GPU card and I'll fix my brother in law joy-con this weekend, I'll report how it goes.
Nice to see.

Though I must say, watching people have to DIY fixes to brand new hardware makes me think considerably less of the hardware itself. I would prefer if Nintendo just did a standard issue recall and sent people new hardware rather than a patched up part for something less than a month old.
 

Neoweee

Member
There is a controller test in the settings. Pretty easy to see if you are affected by running that. Put the joy on behind you and then make circles with the sticks. If it's a smooth motion on screen you are good, if you see it shop you aren't. Mine is so bad that playing with the joycons at my side and the switch on my chest while lying down causes it to screw up. Going to get it fixed when I am back stateside.

I don't think that is a definitive test. Mine worked in my apartment, but fails when playing at a friend's place. There are other environmental conditions that can mask or exacerbate the problem.
 
I mean, a lot of gaffers aren't having the issue. Nintendo knows how many they sold and how many reported issues. If its less than half then "small" is accurate. If it's more than half then they're being intentionally misleading.
Red Ring of Death was less than half (30% ish), would you call that a small amount?
 
Nice to see.

Though I must say, watching people have to DIY fixes to brand new hardware makes me think considerably less of the hardware itself. I would prefer if Nintendo just did a standard issue recall and sent people new hardware rather than a patched up part for something less than a month old.

having to fix a new item is terrible I agree but i'm willing to self fix it using £3 worth of parts instead of sending it off and maybe waiting a week for a return, sad as it is.
 
Tested lots of left joycons, out of 13, they all had issues except for one. I plan to return them all to Amazon, I'm just waiting to make sure I'll get a controller out of the new batch, and that the issue is actually fixed.

What the fuck dude. Just have Nintendo replace one.

Amazon is gonna ban you for this shit and I don't blame them. This is why we can't have nice things.
 
Trying to figure out if I'm experiencing the same issue that this would fix.

I haven't had the joycon actually disconnect, lose signal, un-sync or anything like that.

I have, however, had 2-3 times playing Zelda where Link seems to have a bit of a mind of his own and doesn't feel like he's controlling properly. Last a short time but pretty annoying.

Is this something worth contacting Nintendo about for a replacement, or is this possibly and issue with the game?
 

foltzie1

Member
Trying to figure out if I'm experiencing the same issue that this would fix.

I haven't had the joycon actually disconnect, lose signal, un-sync or anything like that.

I have, however, had 2-3 times playing Zelda where Link seems to have a bit of a mind of his own and doesn't feel like he's controlling properly. Last a short time but pretty annoying.

Is this something worth contacting Nintendo about for a replacement, or is this possibly and issue with the game?

Go into the settings menu and look at the Joy-Con diagnostics screen and see if the analog cursor has any issues keeping up with your movement.
 
I detached my joycons and used the controller calibration software to test for desync issues as suggested. I placed each joycon behind my back and stood about 15 feet away. They didn't desync unless I also cupped the rail system with my free hand. Does that constitute dysyncing, or is cupping the rail system while behind your back overly excessive and not representative of real world conditions?
 

SRTtoZ

Member
Got mine shipped back from Nintendo today, so overall a turnaround time of 3 business days. Not sure if they fixed it or replaced it but it works like a charm now.

I detached my joycons and used the controller calibration software to test for desync issues as suggested. I placed each joycon behind my back and stood about 15 feet away. They didn't desync unless I also cupped the rail system with my free hand. Does that constitute dysyncing, or is cupping the rail system while behind your back overly excessive and not representative of real world conditions?

Cupping my hand over my fixed joy-con does not cause any sync issues at all.
 

PAULINK

I microwave steaks.
I detached my joycons and used the controller calibration software to test for desync issues as suggested. I placed each joycon behind my back and stood about 15 feet away. They didn't desync unless I also cupped the rail system with my free hand. Does that constitute dysyncing, or is cupping the rail system while behind your back overly excessive and not representative of real world conditions?

should not be desyncing after cupping the rail.
 
How bout right joycon issues? I've had issues with both during Zelda, I guess it's less noticeable with the right cause you're not necessarily always holding stick/buttons on there. I've had the camera get stuck spinning around occasionally, or laggy when moving around the inventory screen with the right stick.

Course both are usually fine, can get a decent distance away during the calibration test (like 10-15 feet behind the back gets stuttery), but sometimes there's bad bouts of lag within my usual distance (around 6 feet). Probably my phone/tablet doing something and causing interference but not sure on that.
I've started testing that now that I know my lefts are screwy, yes it is reproducible. It was Bomberman where we were using both joycons separately, and the right joycon performed better, but can completely get desynced within 6-8 feet with body obstruction.

I'm now batting 4/4 for trying to return controllers.
 
I've got some appropriate foam on order. It'll probably be a couple of weeks before it shows, but I'm going to repair my own. I've already got the tools. Popped open a controller today just to confirm that it's as straightforwards as everyone said, and indeed it was.

I'll use all the extra foam to do all my joy cons even though only one is really an issue, and to help the friends of mine with the same problem. It's about 50% of my friends that have the left joy con problem and 50% have no issues. In one case it's a couple that both have a switch and are playing in the same exact environment, so even if I didn't have one that worked fine and one that didn't, I'd completely believe the manufacturing variation story.
 

AbaFadi

Banned
Was anyone able to send in both joycons without sending in the system? The customer rep told me that if only the left joycon is having issues I can just send that in, but if both joycons are having problems I have to send the system in with them.
 

NYR

Member
Was anyone able to send in both joycons without sending in the system? The customer rep told me that if only the left joycon is having issues I can just send that in, but if both joycons are having problems I have to send the system in with them.
Said the same thing to me. I only sent in my left.
 
Is this something to do with the manufacturing company they recently acquired in Japan to help produce units? I mean, the onus is still on Nintendo to ensure quality at the factory level, but it'd make sense that certain batches all have issues and the rest are absolutely fine. I've tested my left joycon and tried to reproduce the issue and can't. None of my friends, family or colleagues have experienced issues either.
 

NOLA_Gaffer

Banned
Was anyone able to send in both joycons without sending in the system? The customer rep told me that if only the left joycon is having issues I can just send that in, but if both joycons are having problems I have to send the system in with them.

Uhhhhh, fuck.

Both of my joycons have definite issues when obstructed. Not in the mood to send in my system right now. Bah!
 

Rootbeer

Banned
Goodbye, left Joycon... hope I see you soon.

Dropped it off at my closest UPS Dropbox... crossing my fingers that I get a replacement before week's end. Pro Controller doing me just fine while I wait.
 

Faiz

Member
I had the same thing, but I had the Switch dock behind the TV. Once I rearranged things and brought the dock in front, no problems.

I don't buy this excuse that it's all due to manufacturing defects, the Bluetooth signal from the joycons is simply weak and easily blocked. I've used 4 different joycons and I can replicate the signal loss on all of them.

Dock behind the TV was my problem too... unfortunately it's the most convenient place to put it and really shouldn't be an issue. But I'll live :/.
 
Red Ring of Death was less than half (30% ish), would you call that a small amount?

Shouldn't RROD have been 100%?

I understood it was a cumulative effectwthat couldn't be stopped and would happen to all launch models eventually (and every model before Jasper I think, but defo the launch Xenons).
 

Deja

Member
I sent away my Joycon on Wednesday evening and it still says due in.

Halp. It was supposed to get the quick, free ship because they were being nice I guess?

Mine took a WEEK mate. They sent me a "48H" label, I posted it on 21/03 and it didn't arrive with Nintendo until today, one week later. No tracking information until yesterday afternoon either, even though it had been moving since Friday.

Raised a complaint to Nintendo now. This same thing happened to me when the Switch was coming, had no idea where it was and what had happened to it. Now it has taken a week to get my JoyCons to Nintendo with a "48H" label. I understand it may be RM/Pracelfroce, but someone needs to sort me out here because this is taking the piss.


Also, those who are saying the signal is "weak" and they had to move their dock to get it sorted if you're happy then great, but they are definitely not operating properly if you are within 6FT and getting the issues.

Check through my post history about the tests my friends and I did. One friend can use one set of Joy Cons about 7ft away with the dock in a closed wooden cabinet.

Again, if you're happy adjusting your setup, or the use case doesn't apply to you, then ignore me, but if you're wondering "should I have to move my stuff around to make this work?" : No, no you should not.
 
Didn't have any connectivity issue with my L Joy-Con, but my R one had a unresponsive Y button.

Just got it delivered. They replaced it, not the same serial #. First time experiencing their repair service and surely, I'm totally satisfied.
 

Peltz

Member
Oddly... when I go into the calibration menu, I'm not getting a smooth rotation, but the issue has not manifested in a lack of control within any actual game yet.

Those who got the fix, when testing in the calibration menu, do you now get a smooth circle when rotating the stick? Or does it still seem jittery?
 

japtor

Member
Was anyone able to send in both joycons without sending in the system? The customer rep told me that if only the left joycon is having issues I can just send that in, but if both joycons are having problems I have to send the system in with them.
Damn, I'd be fine with sending both joycons in cause I have another pair (...that I think also exhibited issues) but I'm not sure when I'd want to send in the whole shebang. Guess I might as well send in the extra joycons while I'm at it if I did that. What's the deal with system/save transfers now? I saw the thing about cloud saves or something but I don't know if keeping data on exchanges is 100% yet.
 

sirap

Member
Okay, just did the conductive foam fix for my worst performing Joycon and it now works amazingly well. Before the fix I would get probably around 3-4 feet of range and any obstruction (fingers, feet, toes etc) would cause it to desync immediately.

Now I can hide it behind my back, thick wooden doors and even concrete wall and it'll still perform flawlessly.
 

Deja

Member
Damn, I'd be fine with sending both joycons in cause I have another pair (...that I think also exhibited issues) but I'm not sure when I'd want to send in the whole shebang. Guess I might as well send in the extra joycons while I'm at it if I did that. What's the deal with system/save transfers now? I saw the thing about cloud saves or something but I don't know if keeping data on exchanges is 100% yet.

Not sure why you've been told this. I'm in the UK and they let me send both in without my system.

The language you use on the phone though is very particular. I mentioned first sending in the Joy-Cons and they did say I could only send in the system. I asked why, and said I had been told I could just send in the Joy-Cons for repair and he said something along the lines of "ohhhhh you wanted a repair, not a refund warranty claim". So make sure you specifically state repair, not a replacement, as they replace if unable to repair anyway.

Edit - quoted the wrong post, but this is in reference to the person who was quoted in the post above, originally : AbadabadaFadi
 

Rootbeer

Banned
Dropped mine off Mon night for shipping and it's not arriving to them until today. No way I'm getting my replacement until next week. Oh well...
 

Haunted

Member
Sent in my left joy-con after chatting with support, even though Nintendo Germany's official stance still seems to be "lalala everything's fine, nothing to see here", treating it like a regular repair send-in instead of a special circumstance/fix. Here's hoping they apply a similar fix as the repairs I've seen from US service.
 

delaneya

Member
My right Joy con wont charge, left is fine. I will give them a phone after work. Prob send it in for repair. Hope they is no cost. Little upset its not working.
 
Okay, just did the conductive foam fix for my worst performing Joycon and it now works amazingly well. Before the fix I would get probably around 3-4 feet of range and any obstruction (fingers, feet, toes etc) would cause it to desync immediately.

Now I can hide it behind my back, thick wooden doors and even concrete wall and it'll still perform flawlessly.
Any particular type of conductive foam?
 
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