Introduction
Use this guide to replace the screen on your Nintendo Switch Lite. The screen consists of the LCD and digitizer. If you're only replacing the LCD, follow this guide. If you're only replacing the digitizer, follow this guide.
Replacement adhesive is required to complete this guide.
Note: Although removing the joysticks and buttons isn’t required, it makes this repair much easier.
What you need
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Tool used on this step:Magnetic Project Mat$19.95
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Use a Y00 screwdriver to remove the four 6.3 mm-long screws securing the back panel.
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Use a JIS 000 driver or an official iFixit PH 000 driver to remove the following screws securing the back panel:
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Two 3.6 mm-long screws on the top of the device
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Two 3.6 mm-long screws on the bottom of the device
I accidentally stripped the back screw and now I can't open it. I removed all the other screws. What should I do?
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Insert an opening tool into the left speaker grille on the bottom of the device.
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Twist the opening tool to release the clips securing the back panel.
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Slide the opening tool around the bottom-left corner to release the clips on the left side of the device.
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Insert an opening tool into the right speaker grille on the bottom of the device.
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Twist the opening tool to release the clips.
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Slide and pry the opening tool around the bottom-right corner to release the clips on the right side of the device.
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Lift the bottom edge of the back panel, opening it like a book.
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Remove the back panel.
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Use a JIS 000 driver or an official iFixit PH 000 driver to remove the following four screws:
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Three 3.1 mm screws
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One 4.5 mm screw
There are four screws instead of three mentioned
With how easy it seems to be to do serious damage with the next few steps, I figured I'd say that realistically you can skip steps 9-13 when doing this repair. While they provide a bit of extra security by disconnecting the battery, the left stick is completely accessible and replaceable without touching the heat shield or anything underneath (And steps 17 and 18 disconnect power from the daughter board regardless).
i stripped a &&^&^$^ screw
Well I actually removed the screw right next to the 4.5 screw. I did not realize it till my son showed me why the plate wouldn't release. Ha ha, it's funny now but yeah not a big deal. I could have bent it badly assuming I took all screws out though. For anyone reading this before going in. 👍
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Use a spudger or your fingers to lift the shield plate up and out of the device.
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Remove the shield plate.
What type of Thermal Paste would you guys recommend? I clicked on the picture but nothing.
Personnaly i use some Mx-6 from Artic, really good quality/price, never have to complain.
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Use an opening tool or your fingernail to flip up the small, hinged locking flap on the motherboard interconnect cable's ZIF connector.
The clip broke off when trying to remove this cable. Audio only works through headphones and the display now won’t turn on after the clip broke. Does anyone know where I could get a clip or how I could fix it without it?
Mi è successa la stessa cosa è non so come ripararla! Chissà se c’è un modo!
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Use a pair of tweezers to slide the interconnect cable out of its connector on the motherboard.
I turned the unit off beforehand, I used tweezers just like the instructions said (ifixit branded) , my device sparked and now it won’t turn back on
The flap came off is it important or is there a way t fix it?
We're you able to get it working without the white flap? My screen is not working after putting it back together and i noticed this white flap was falling off
Did you get it working without the white flap? Everything on the switch works fine except for audio going through headphones and the display not turning on.
do not use metal sharp pointed tweezers! you will rip your ribbon cable. Use the inside of a Bic type pen or something else dull and plastic to pull the cable away by putting the pen part where the first bend is.
Maybe tape the Tweezers or smear some hot glue on them to insulate them to save you time and money.
Maybe put all the Warnings at the start of the guide as well. We fix it geeks tend to get excited when fixing things 😁
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Use the point of a spudger to pry the battery connector straight up and out of its socket on the motherboard.
Caution the connector may not be properly soldered onto the motherboard. For me it snapped off the pins and now have to find a place to get that fixed if even possible. may have bricked it.
Yup, broke the connector right off the motherboard. Thanks, ifixit -_-
I backed out when I reached this point. I couldn't risk damaging it. Do u just need to pull it up? Did you mean that it might have been soldered shut below?
You should just need to pull straight up, but make sure you’re pulling on the wires or the gray plug—do not pull on the black socket or it can snap off of the motherboard.
With how easy it seems to be to do serious damage at this point, I figured I'd say that realistically you can skip steps 9-13 when doing this repair. While they provide a bit of extra security by disconnecting the battery, the left stick is completely accessible and replaceable without touching the heat shield or anything underneath (And steps 17 and 18 disconnect power from the daughter board regardless).
just broke my connector... ifixit PLEASE put a warning on how fragile the solder on this connector is.
Note for this step, you do not need to apply a lot of force. I used two tools here: small screwdriver to hold down the black base, and one side of fine-tipped tweezers to get under all 3 wires. Gently, push down on the tweezers to push the wires upwards, which should force the gray connector up and off the base. It did not take a lot of force. Take your time and it will be fine. Again, like others have said, do NOT pull or pry up the black base.
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Use the flat end of a spudger or your fingers to carefully peel up the foam that's lightly adhered to the fan.
When reassembling, the foam may fold down between the fan and heatsink, blocking airflow. Gently lift the foam back up on top of the fan. The adhesive film should hold the foam together.
Is removing the heat sink absolutely necessary?
It’s not necessary, but it makes it much easier to remove and replace the game card reader, since the heat sink partially covers the connector.
Not really…….. I never remove it. It slides out quite easily once disconnected.
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Use a JIS 000 driver or an official iFixit PH 000 driver to remove the three 3 mm screws securing the heat sink to the motherboard.
Non le tre ventole ma le tre viti
Grazie per avercelo segnalato! Ho apportato la modifica. iFixit è una wiki, quindi ogni utente può modificare le pagine: se trovi altri errori in futuro, sentiti libero di fare la modifica tu stesso!
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Use a spudger or your fingers to lift the heatsink up and off of the motherboard to remove it.
16.5 remove cartridge / headphones jack……….
My kit did not come with thermal paste..
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Use an opening tool or your fingernail to flip up the small, hinged locking flap on the game card reader cable's ZIF connector.
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Use a JIS 000 driver or an official iFixit PH 000 driver to remove the two 4.5 mm screws securing the right trigger button assembly to the motherboard.
I think a whole step to remove the game card reader and speaker jack was skipped here…
yes, just found that sadly these comments do not show unless we click on the , which is unhelpful
also, you need to remove the left trigger button
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Use the point of a spudger to pry the black antenna cable straight up out of its socket on the motherboard.
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Repeat the same process for the white antenna cable.
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Use an opening tool or your fingernail to flip up the small, hinged locking flap on the fan cable's ZIF connector.
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Use a pair of tweezers to slide out the fan cable from its connector on the motherboard.
There’s a step missing after this to remove the screws that hold the orange game cartridge slot. Those 7 screws have to be undone and the ribbon unclipped first before moving on to the next step.
Good Looking out!
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Use an opening tool or your fingernail to flip up the small, hinged locking flap on the screen cable's ZIF connector.
skipped a step or two about removing the golden piece in the photo above, and the other little board
If I broke the clasp on the ZIF connector can I elec tape it down?
What did you do to fix it if the ZIF connector broke?? Mine did too and I worry that is why the screen won’t turn on now
Missing the card reader + audio jack board removal. Just remove the 4 screws around the audio jack + 3 screws around the card reader and disconnect the ZIF connector from the motherboard.
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Use an opening tool or your fingernail to flip up the small, hinged locking flap on the digitizer cable's ZIF connector.
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Use an opening tool or your fingernail to flip up the small, hinged locking flap on the right joystick cable's ZIF connector.
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Use a JIS 000 driver or an official iFixit PH 000 driver to remove the following six screws securing the motherboard:
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Three 3.1 mm screws
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Three 4.5 mm screws
how to get the c port off
When re-assembling, be sure the fan cable (step 25) is completely pulled through prior to tightening the screw that’s right next to it.
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Use a JIS 000 driver or an official iFixit PH 000 driver to remove the two 3.5 mm screws securing the joystick.
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Tool used on this step:Tweezers$4.99
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Use a pair of tweezers or your fingers to pull the left speaker cable straight up and out of its socket on the daughterboard.
pulled from the connector, not the wires, and ended up ripping them off the connector anyways since it encountered tension from the other end (the gray chamber on the left)
consider doing step 15 before pulling the wire, just in case.
Why even disconnect this cable. Not worth the risk leave it connected to daughter board.
while doing this I ripped the pad on the circuit board off. Should i risk trying to repair it or should i just try to go without the speaker???
I also accidentally ripped off the connector, disabling the left speaker. However, that will not break any functionality of the switch. The right speaker works just fine on its own (just remember to turn the audio to mono in system settings) and I was successfully able to replace the joystick. Although the audio quality is a little bit depleted, you barely notice it if you turn up the volume a little, and I think being able to actually MOVE FORWARD in my games is a better plus than having louder, stereo, audio.
Went to pull the speaker connector and it pulled right off the motherboard. Would not come loose.
I'm gonna echo what others said here and suggest that you skip this step. After you complete Step 15, you can just move the speakers enough with your fingers to complete Step 26, which involves a screw half underneath it.
Regarding the ribbon cable in Step 17 & Step 18, you can honestly use your fingers if they're small enough. The ribbon cable is wide enough for you to press down on it a little and slide it out bit by bit.
Overall, this makes the disassembly and eventual reassembly process easier and lets you avoid running the risk of damaging or completely tearing out the wires, like I almost did.Removing the screw from 37 is enough to give you space to remove the board, I honestly think you shouldn't try to remove this connector.
Unfortunately, I had to reinstall multiple daughterboards on the same Switch Lite. I strongly recommend orienting your straight tweezers with ridges (like the ones in the picture) perpendicular to the device. Grab the plastic connector with the tip of the tweezers from the top. It makes inserting and removing this connection significantly easier.
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Use an opening tool or your fingernail to flip up the small, hinged locking flap on the motherboard interconnect cable's ZIF connector.
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Use a pair of tweezers to slide the motherboard interconnect cable out of its connector on the daughterboard.
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Use an opening tool or your fingernail to flip up the small, hinged locking flaps on the two ribbon cable ZIF connectors.
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Use a pair of tweezers or your fingers to remove the volume buttons.
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Use an opening tool or your fingernail to flip up the small, hinged locking flap on the left joystick cable's ZIF connector.
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Use a pair of tweezers to slide the left joystick cable out of its connector on the daughterboard.
The connector for my left joystick broke. Is there a way to fix it?
How badly did it broke?
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Use a JIS 000 driver or an official iFixit PH 000 driver to remove the two 4.5 mm screws securing the left trigger button assembly.
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Use a JIS 000 driver or an official iFixit PH 000 driver to remove the following four screws:
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Two 4.5 mm screws
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Two 6 mm screws
The two 4.5 mm screws were very difficult to remove here and ended up getting stripped. I CANNOT remove them, help!
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Use your fingers to lift the daughterboard up and out of its recess to remove it.
Stop here if repairing Switch Lite for joycon drift. After removing daughter card you can see the bottom of the joystick. This thin metal actually bends during use causing bad connection of joystick. If you cut out a business card the same size as the joycon and put it on the bottom of the joystick it gives the metal enough backing to fix the issue. I used two layers with just a small bit of glue stick to adhere it. Put it all back together and you will find your issue is fixed.
That's great, but it's only Temporary.
You may as well put a New Stick in (preferably Hall Effect) after going through Hell to open the darn thing.
If you do choose the cardboard route, you may as well clean the innards of the Joystick, BUUUT, it's not easy getting the Joystick back together.
Daughterboard. That's a new one for me.
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Use a JIS 000 driver or an official iFixit PH 000 driver to remove the two 3.5 mm screws securing the left joystick.
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Use the flat end of a spudger to lift the joystick up and out of its recess.
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Use your fingers to remove the joystick.
During reassembly when putting the screws back in, slowly turn them CCW until you feel it drop into its thread. You will never crossthread them by doing this.
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Use a JIS 000 driver or an official iFixit PH000 driver to remove the four screws securing the midframe assembly:
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Three 2.5 mm screws
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One 6 mm screw
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Use a spudger to pry the midframe assembly up until you can grip it with your fingers.
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Grip the midframe assembly and pull up to remove it.
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Flip the frame over so the screen is facing up.
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Heat an iOpener and apply it to the left edge of the screen for two minutes.
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Lightly bend the left side of the frame away from the screen to create a gap in the bottom left corner.
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Insert an opening pick in the gap.
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Slide the opening pick along the left edge.
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Leave the pick inserted in the top left corner to prevent the adhesive from resealing.
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Apply a heated iOpener to the top edge of the screen for two minutes.
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Apply a heated iOpener to the right edge of the screen for two minutes.
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Apply a heated iOpener to the bottom edge of the screen for two minutes.
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Grip the frame and push up on the underside of the screen's left edge to separate the adhesive securing it.
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Compare your new replacement part to the original part—you may need to transfer remaining components or remove adhesive backings from the new part before you install it.
To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
Take your e-waste to an R2 or e-Stewards certified recycler.
Repair didn’t go as planned? Try some basic troubleshooting, or ask our Nintendo Switch Lite Answers community for help.
Compare your new replacement part to the original part—you may need to transfer remaining components or remove adhesive backings from the new part before you install it.
To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
Take your e-waste to an R2 or e-Stewards certified recycler.
Repair didn’t go as planned? Try some basic troubleshooting, or ask our Nintendo Switch Lite Answers community for help.
Cancel: I did not complete this guide.
17 other people completed this guide.
2 Comments
Thanks for your guide - it was very helpful, first time I took screen off without breaking it off :). I also bought the iFixit kit with the heat pad. I can now see that the trick was not so much a lot of heat, but heat evenly along the whole side
omg you are a lifesaver thank you so much
All my screws got stripped any ideas on how to remove?
Almost A Mammal - Reply
A Y0 screwdriver seemed to work better for me.
Tommy Morrill - Reply
What type of screw driver do I use to un screw the screws and which way
Luca Capito - Reply
Y 0.6 was all I had but it seemed to fit perfectly
Trevor - Reply
Like really snug? I've gotten away with using Drivers either bigger or smaller but I hate doing it. But if 0.6 is the exact size I need, then I'll get that. I don't wanna strip my client's Switch Lite's screws.
Vincent Valodze -