Topic: Ethernet port on Switch 2 docks failing for MANY people

As per topic. This has happened to me. And it is widespread across forums

My story, in short... Ethernet worked fine for few weeks since launch. Now it won't connect. I have tried every troubleshooting method I can (restart, factory restart, updates, removing Wireless connections, tears, prayers...) and nothing is working

This weekend I have access to another switch and dock. Going to try their dock with my switch and vice versa.

Hoping this is firmware. Would be mad for SO MANY docks to fail after a short period. Would make more sense for them to fail out-of-the-box, not on a delay. This is why I think it might be software, with a bug that needs sorting...

Anyone here with this problem? Have you tested your dock ethernet? Has anyone contacted Nintendo?

I didnt test it, but if its Realtek chip inside dock then its pretty famous for making problematic LAN controllers.

The "I'm never again buying a motherboard with realtek ethernet." is pretty common saying among PC builders, but im sure Nintendo will try to fix things with firmwares for sure.

Mine has been connected via Ethernet pretty much the entire time I've had it. Has been rock solid. Honestly, the way people are describing the issue it sounds more like an assembly fault rather than a fundamental hardware issue. If it was a software/firmware issue it'd be far more widespread, if it was a batch of dodgy chips they would've been all not working out of the gate. Possibly some of the batches had some solder issues on the Ethernet port? Just a guess

Would be interesting to see if the people reporting this tend to be from some regions and not others

Mine is just fine for ethernet port. Maybe one should restart their router and update the firmware. That's where the problem lies at your router. My Ethernet port worked fine on Switch OLED to router and the router is 2017 Router Netgear and has no internet issues.

Now my Switch 2 dock is giving issues but 2nd Switch 2 in the same dock connect to ethernet.

When switch 2 kept stopping at 1% download of an update/game, over and over, I did set my dock up near the router to plug in directly, and then it did download the large update with promptly. But that's the only time I've used the wired connection. I'll try an play a game plugged in soon to test it.

Thanks for the headsup @JamesNighthawk

No issues here, and my Switch 2 is even attached to an ethernet switch (yes, a Switch 2 behind a switch) with cat. 7 cables.

As is often the case for hardware that sells in huge numbers it maybe made in multiple factories and different factories may use different chips. The critical component list of certification allows hardware to use alternative components when stock is low of the primary components to keep manufacturing units. So Switch 2s will have different components inside depending on factory and production time. I suspect one chip may have problems. It's fairly common for first editions of hardware to have problems though. I'm sure in 3 months Switch 2s will be higher quality units with less hardware issues.

I had no issue with big downloads aka MKW and previous OLED on my router in Wifi.

@BonzoBanana The NA are made in Vietnam and others in China - so where are you talking they are made at here? So not sure what your using to verify made in many places are about here? Chipsets are from few suppliers so again where are you getting this story from? There's alot of assumptions going here and not giving no links for anyone to verify narrative your creating here. I love how people makeup stories but give no background for anyone to follow-up where they got this from.

The original post literally has links to first-hand accounts of people reporting these ethernet port failures, what more do you want?

I've noticed you seem to come to these forums quite often to question any comments where people report any issues with the Switch 2 or with Nintendo, even when there's no real reason to doubt what they're saying. TBH it's rather tedious and comes across as trolling.

They sold 3.5mn. Going to be some defects.

Make sure you powered it off not just restarted.

Make sure to test it with different cable.

And be good to test it on the ethernet network in someone else's home.

I noticed mine was hot in the dock doing nothing. Reminiscent of issues early on with Switch and maybe Wii U even. I turned off maintain connection in wired mode in settings for now. And it's no longer warm when sleeping in the dock.

PS: Also note there are holes in the bottom of the dock for air intake to help the fan cool the dock internals. I guess it's possible someone could place the dock on carpet or some material which might block those holes. By the same token, putting in a cabinet could result in too much heat and affect ethernet performance.

I don't quite understand your comment there it doesn't make a lot of sense. I've dealt a lot with Chinese imports and certification and just stating the same product can have variations of components inside so some Switch 2's may not have issues but other may based on minor variations of internal components. The critical component list has a list of components that can be used as alternatives due to lack of supply. Keeping factories going is critical, you are paying for employees to manufacture these products so the design of products allows for some variation in internal components typically lesser components. It's perfectly normal and happens across all electronics manufacturing. However this can lead to small quality variations of course with regard functionality.

I don't know if you have ever seen a product recall but sometimes it states a certain range of numbers with regard the serial number, this could indicate the manufacturing facility and also the time of production. They do this because they know exactly when a poor quality component was used and only have to recall those products not all production. It lowers the cost of recalls etc because they only have to recall the products with the poor quality component. Recalls are normally safety related and this probably isn't that but when people contact Nintendo with an ethernet fault Nintendo will likely want to know the serial number to confirm its a model that needs its dock replacing with certainty etc.

When you launch a new product with expected high demand when launched often you could have weeks or even months of production to create stock for that launch so more likely to have some sort of issue that only effects some launch models.

@tr1p1ex Thanks for the tips. Alas....

-I did a full restart. And a factory reset.
-Three cables tried. Also, these cables work fine with the xbox and PS5 in our collection
-This weekend I am heading to a friend's place. They have a switch 2. Going to try my switch in their dock, and vice versa, all while using their internet of course.
-I never turned on the "maintain connection" setting
-I never put electronics on carpet. Plenty of ventilation too

After this weekend I'll post here with findings and my next step.

I am hearing that turnaround for a dock repair/replacement is about 1 week. Handheld it is for that week if so!

@sethfranum
What are you even talking about? There are quite a few reports of this happening, it's not an isolated thing. I see no reason to disbelieve it. Especially given the vast, vast majority of users won't ever connect the Ethernet cable to the dock. It is probably something most people who have this issue will never notice

I think the Switch 2 is a great product, I've been on here hyping it up for ages. But EVERY product has a failure rate, EVERY product has manufacturing issues. Some Switch 2 have presumably gone through QC without picking up issues with either assembly of the Dock or issues with the Ethernet IC. Maybe they need more rigorous testing of that as part of assembly. Maybe they weren't aware this was a common failure. It happens, especially with launch devices. Hopefully it's limited to certain runs, presumably it's something they can address going forward, almost surely they have ways to resolve it through their support channels

It seems @JamesNighthawk is one of the unlucky people to encounter this. I don't doubt their story. They just posted on here asking how widespread it is, if anyone else is having the same issue, how others have gone about fixing it etc. Which is a fair question to ask. Personally I don't have this issue so I responded thusly but hopefully @JamesNighthawk can get it resolved quickly. It would certainly suck to get faulty launch hardware

........ but I don't see how flaming them for daring to point it out contributes at all to the discussion. And it certainly seems pretty rough to be effectively implying someone is either an idiot or troll who's likely already fairly annoyed they have faulty launch hardware

Ok. Something is up here

We have two Switch 2 consoles in our family. In two different houses. Two different internet providers.

Neither consoles work on Ethernet in either house in either dock.

So either - we managed to buy TWO dud docks. Or there is something up with the firmware here across lots of consoles. Consoles were bought in the same town but different shops (Essex, UK)

(FYI - I am tech savvy. I’d love this to be user error. But I doubt it is)

I’m gonna email my findings to Nintendo tomorrow. They can’t have sold me two duds. Surely?!

@JamesNighthawk would it be feasable to return the whole console to the shop and get a new one under warranty?

@SirLink Here's the thing? Did I actually buy TWO duds? What are the chances of getting two consoles from two different shops with the exact same issue? It smells like a firmware issue to me. Gonna see what Nintendo suggest. I don't really want to have to send both off for repair.

But I also don't want to have to return and set up two consoles either.

Basically, I am praying this is fixable with an update in the coming weeks!

Hi all. I've suffer this too. My solution was disconnect the dock from everything (AC, hdmi and ethernet). Wait at least 30 minutes and then it's working again. Hope this helps everyone.

Has your problem return? I will have to try this for both Switch 2 docks. I did order another newer ethernet cat 7 cable and hope doing that works.

From how people are describing this I'm beginning to suspect that this is some kind of network configuration or some kind of setup that the Switch doesn't like. I have had issues before with WiFi settings on the Switch and Switch 2 where if you change some access point settings it refuses to connect, even if you revert the changes, until you delete the configuration and reconnect. Basically once it fails it just won't connect again. Perhaps something similar is happening here?

If so, it would explain this resolution: