>finally got my replacement battery and thermal paste for my Switch 1
>watched a tutorial video on how to do it
>copper heat sink removal? No sweat, just scrape off the old paste
>wait, pause. What's that?
>the metal “cap” over the CPU underneath, thermal paste spot #2. It's where the heat sink rests
>so far, so good
>he said there are three spots... where’s the third?
<it's right on the Switch’s CPU chip itself
>maybe I can just scrape all the old paste off? Wait, no...
>he warns to be delicate around this one. Scrape too hard or fast, and one wrong flick could dislodge a tiny capacitor and brick the whole device
>yeah, no pressure at all... kill me
>hands shaking, scraping carefully, so close to parts smaller than a grain of rice
>“oh god, oh man...” looping in my head
>doubts creeping in... did I just ruin my Switch?
>sweat pouring, heavy breathing, constantly checking my reference pic to avoid disaster
>scrape what I can, pressure building, heart racing
>applied fresh thermal paste on the chip, slipped the metal cap back on, pressed corners till soft clicks
>took a huge risk with all that
>added more paste on top of the metal cap, then reinserted the copper heat sink
>time for the new battery
>put fresh double-sided tape so it stays put but comes off easier next time
>pressure again from plugging battery in.
>remembered battery plugs from the top, not sliding in
>nerves going wild, last thing I need is a bent or punctured lithium battery
>finally got it in
>last thermal paste on heat sink, screwed everything back
>doubt still gnawing from earlier, wondering if this thing will actually work
>reattached main metal plate, inserted tiny screws
>last step: SD card port
>tricky, can’t see where it connects so trust my gut and push till faint click
>success! It’s not coming off
>put everything back together again
>get the charger for it
>the moment of truth: Ready to bolt if I screwed up, or go mad if it stopped working
>plug it in
>…
>…
>…
>the Nintendo Switch logo appeared
>screen’s not corrupted
>my device still works
>my
>fucking
>face
>going through all that trial and error with the massive possibility of bricking it
>and I somehow still made it in the end in one piece, and a device that still works
This was easily the hardest and most nerve-wracking project I’ve ever taken on.
The last time I felt this way was doing surgery on my New 3DS. Those things have delicate ribbon cables.