Topic: Nintendo Switch Fan Noise

Recently, my Nintendo Switch fan seems to have gotten extremely loud. I have a Day 1 launch model and hadn't even noticed the fan coming on before now. If it did, it certainly did not sound like it does now or last as long.

The other day, I booted the Switch up from being totally powered off - hadn't played it that day at all - and the fan came on instantly and was whirring away for a good while.

I mostly play docked if it is of any significance.

Anyway, I recall @retrogamerandrew and a couple other folks on these forums had to send their Switch in for repair for one reason or another but a common factor was prior to the eventual fault, the Switch fan had started to get loud and more common.

I guess, I'm just wondering if anyone else has noticed this correlation between fan noise and a later Switch problem occurring and whether I should be taking any steps to avoid an eventual fault.

My Switch did freeze up on me recently too. Was on the home menu, clicked a game icon to launch and it all just hanged there. Had to hold power button down for an eternity to get the thing off again.

Prior to this the Switch has been virtually flawless without any crashes at all aside from like one in the first month of play.

Any advice appreciated.

• apologies to admin if this is not in the correct place. I have posted about the Switch system from a hardware perspective before in the Nintendo Switch thread but it was just ignored. That thread seems to be about news not actually about the Nintendo Switch system.

Does your system get hot as well while playing? I'm not talking about the general heat you would expect, but HOT HOT?

Asking because this is what happened to mine with the fan kicking off and console overheating.

It could easily be some dust-related problem... if your Switch is out of warranty I'd think about opening the chassis and give it a go with compressed air in the fan area.
It could also be the heat sink needing a new thermal paste application, but if that's the case I don't know if I'd dare disassemble that thing if I were you...
I'll try with compressed air first, should be easier to start with

Hi there, I began to have this problem since June 2021, and my Switch have 4 years (I bought in April 2017). Rarely it makes a loud noise, but in handheld mode, have not so loud, but the noise isn't normal. But my console don't get hot, it's normal and don't freezes. Only the noise. And I think funny because this problem began days after Nintendo Switch Oled Model. So this is a problem caused by Nintendo, and forces me to buy the new version? I think no, only coincidence. But, yes I've this problem.

If past warranty look on YT and open the back and clean the fan out not with compressed air but vacuum to remove dust bunnies but make sure to prevent the fan from spinning as that can damage the fan bearing. And you might have to replace the fan as well but first verify the fan is dusty or dirty before buying replacement fan. Also could be you need to redo the thermal paste that can also dry out eventually overtime from use and heat.