What can you do if your Nintendo Switch stops turning on?

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Oh no! Your beloved Nintendo Switch won’t turn on! What a calamity! How will you ever keep your sanity while you’re stuck at home during summer? Hyrule won’t save itself, you know?

While it is understandable to freak out if your Nintendo Switch isn’t turning on, don’t fear, as there are some things you can do to check on the console before frantically going out to buy a new one. And besides, you probably don’t want to do that, considering that many of your games and save files are local to the actual console and not your Nintendo profile.

So, what can you do to try and recover a Nintendo Switch that won’t turn on?

Short answer: Try to do a hard reset

Okay, so the first thing to try is to hard reset your console, by holding down the POWER button for twelve seconds. Then press the POWER button once, to turn the console back on. You can also try this hard reset routine if your Nintendo Switch is frozen, or if it appears to have a charging issue. If it worked, you’re golden. If it’s still not turning on, there are a couple of other things you can do.

Reset your AC adapter (did you know the AC adapter had a mini-brain?) by unplugging both ends for 30 seconds. Plug it directly into a wall socket (so no power strips), and into the console. If the entrance screen is shown, leave it to recharge for a while and then check for system updates. If you see just the battery charging icon on a blank screen, leave it for 15 to 30 minutes to recharge the battery before trying to turn the console on again.

If you still see a blank screen without any icons, try the hard reset procedure again. If that still doesn’t work, try a different wall outlet, or a different adapter if you have one. If nothing works, contact Nintendo support.

What do you think? Ever had any issues with your Nintendo Switch turning on? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

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• How many Nintendo Switch games are two-player?

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.

Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.