Nintendo has a long history of producing some of the best gaming consoles ever. They were one of the top-selling consoles in the ‘80s and ‘90s. While it tried to compete with PlayStation and Xbox in the 2000s with the Wii, we could say it wasn’t a huge success. But in 2017, Nintendo launched the Switch, primarily a handheld console but essentially a “hybrid”. It is one of the most popular gaming consoles in the market right now with its unique design, performance, and games. Nintendo released a couple of upgrades in the later years. Despite its popularity, Nintendo is susceptible to some problems and one common one is the Nintendo Switch won’t connect to Wi-Fi.
In this guide, we will take a look at a couple of reasons why the Switch won’t connect to Wi-Fi. We will also see some simple troubleshooting methods if you are facing the same issue.
A Brief Note On Nintendo Switch
Since the launch of the original PlayStation by Sony and Xbox by Microsoft, these two video game consoles have dominated the “console” gaming industry for a long time.
Even today, there is no competition to these two in the living room game console segment. But things started to change in 2017 when Nintendo announced the Switch.
If you are familiar with Nintendo’s handled gaming consoles, then you might have heard of the Game Boy and its derivatives. While these were quite popular in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Nintendo once again started the handheld console trend with the Switch.
Nintendo Switch is a “hybrid” gaming console. What does this mean? In its basic form, the Switch has a screen and controller on either side of the screen, making it a handheld gaming console.
But you can connect the switch to a Dock and use it as a gaming console for your TV. Of course, the display resolution is only 1080p when we compare to the 4K 120FPS of PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X.
Even then, the concept of a single console acting as both a handheld device and a living room gaming console is quite genius.
Why Nintendo Switch Won’t Connect To Wi-Fi?
Nintendo Switch is undoubtedly one of the best gaming consoles out there. But several Switch users are facing one problem with their devices.
When they try to connect the Nintendo Switch to their Wireless Network, it throws an error saying “Unable to connect to the network”.
There are several reasons why this error occurs. Here are some common ones why your Nintendo Switch won’t connect to Wi-Fi.
- The Network is Down: The first and most common reason for Switch not connecting to Wi-Fi is, well, your network is down.
- Out of Range: As the Nintendo Switch is a handheld gaming device, you can play it anywhere in your house. But if you take the Switch far from the Wi-Fi router, it cannot catch the Wi-Fi signals.
- Router Problem: We use our Wi-Fi continuously without giving it any break or rest. Over time, the Wi-Fi router can hoard several temporary files. This can sometimes lead to an error in connecting new devices or reconnection existing devices.
- DNS Server Error: DNS is an essential part of internet connectivity as it resolves the URLs to respective IP Addresses. Most of us leave the DNS values to default, which means you connect to your ISP-specified DNS Server. You can try a few 3rd party servers.
- Incompatible Network Security Key (NSK): If you changed your Wi-Fi password or security mode in your Wi-Fi router, then your Switch won’t connect to Wi-Fi until you configure it properly.
- Firmware Issue: While this is a rare reason, sometimes, the firmware in the Nintendo Switch (a bad update) can cause connectivity problems.
- Airplane Mode: We have seen several Switch users who couldn’t connect their consoles to Wi-Fi because their device was put in Airplane mode. It happens.
- Nintendo Switch Online Services are Down: In this case, your Nintendo Switch might connect to Wi-Fi but you cannot connect to Nintendo’s online services.
How To Fix It?
Now that we have seen briefly about Nintendo Switch and some common reasons why it won’t connect to Wi-Fi, let us now focus on fixing this issue.
We listed some basic and popular troubleshooting solutions to fix Nintendo not connecting to Wi-Fi. Let us see them now.
1. Check Network Connectivity
As we mentioned earlier, one of the simplest reasons why your Switch won’t connect to Wi-Fi is if you are having any network connectivity issues.
Try and connect to the Wi-Fi network on another device and see if you are able to go online or not.
2. Keep It Close To Wi-Fi Router
The range of Wi-Fi signals in your house depends on several factors (layout of the house, obstacles, walls, etc.). If you go out of this range, you will have trouble connecting the Switch to your Wi-Fi network.
Try to bring the switch closer to the Wi-Fi router and see if it is connecting or not.
3. Restart Nintendo Switch
The age-old trick with any electronic device when you are having problems is to simply restart them. Nintendo Switch is no exception to this.
If your Switch is on, press and hold the power button of the Switch for a couple of seconds. You will get a “Power” menu on the screen. Select “Power Options” and then select the “Restart” option/
Your Nintendo Switch will power cycle. After rebooting, check and see if you are able to connect to the Wi-Fi on your Switch.
4. Restart Router
Sometimes, the problem lies in the networking equipment as well. Depending on your internet equipment, shut down all the devices (Modem, Wi-Fi Router, or any other).
You can simply power them down by unplugging them from the wall outlet. Wait for 30 seconds and then switch them on again.
Once all the network equipment is up and running, try to reconnect the Switch to your Wi-Fi router.
Is Your Switch In Airplane Mode?
Another silly and common reason why your Nintendo Switch won’t connect to the Wi-Fi network is if you put your Switch in Airplane Mode (accidentally or intentionally put and forgot).
If you docked your Switch, remove it and then go to Settings. In Settings, you can see “Airplane Mode”. Make sure it is off.
1. Switch Wi-Fi Frequency
Nintendo Switch supports both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi bands. If you are trying to connect your Switch to one frequency and it gives an error, try to connect to another frequency.
Note that the range of the 5 GHz band is significantly less than the 2.4 GHz band.
2. Change DNS Settings
DNS Stands for Domain Name System. It is responsible for resolving the URLs we enter in a browser (such as www.google.com) to an appropriate IP Address.
If we leave the settings to default, then the router or modem automatically connects to the ISP-provided DNS Server. But you can change this to a reputable 3rd Part DNS Server such as Google.
Open Settings in your Switch. Then go to “Internet” settings. On the right, select “Internet Settings”.
Select your Network and click on “Change Settings”. By default, it will be in “Automatic”. Change it to “Manual”.
Set the DNS Server values. For example, here are the settings for Google DNS Server:
- Primary DNS: 8.8.8.8
- Secondary DNS: 8.8.4.4
You can use any reputable 3rd party DNS Server and try to reconnect to the network.
3. Check Wi-Fi Password And Security Mode
If you recently changed the Wi-Fi password or Security mode of your Wi-Fi router, you have to reflect those settings in all your devices including Nintendo Switch.
All the internet-related settings are categorized in the “Internet” category of the Nintendo System Settings.
4. Try Wired Ethernet (Using a USB To Ethernet Adapter)
If you have the Nintendo Dock with LAN Port, try to connect an ethernet cable to this. Alternatively, you can purchase a USB to Ethernet adapter and connect it to one of the USB Ports of the Dock.
5. Contact Nintendo
You can try to contact Nintendo if your Switch is still in warranty. Even if it isn’t under warranty, try to contact any Nintendo-authorized service center. They might suggest other solutions.
Conclusion
While Nintendo Switch is a popular handheld cum dockable gaming console, it is still prone to some problems and errors.
One such common problem several Nintendo Switch users face is they couldn’t get their Switch to connect to Wi-Fi Network. Whenever they try to connect, the Switch pops up an error saying “Unable to connect to the Network”.
If you are wondering why your Nintendo Switch won’t connect to a Wi-Fi network, you are not alone. We tried to help you in this guide with this issue.
First, we saw some common reasons that cause the Nintendo Switch network connectivity issue.
After that, we saw some popular troubleshooting solutions that could be helpful in connecting the Switch to a Wi-Fi network.
If you feel we missed something, then do let us know in the comments section below. It will be helpful to us as well as other readers.
