How does one get banned / bricked Switch?

[Irina]

No, I'm not asking what should I do to get banned / bricked Switch, I just want to know how do people get banned / bricked, so I can avoid it.

I've had a Switch since launch and have used CFW ever since it became available and I have never been banned / bricked.

[theSLAYER]

7 minutes ago, Irina said:

I just want to know how do people get banned / bricked, so I can avoid it.

The server detects that your console has CFW.

[Irina]

11 minutes ago, theSLAYER said:

The server detects that your console has CFW.

But from doing or not doing what is that dependent on? Just curious how people manage to get banned / bricked while others don't. Like what do they do to get detected vs. not getting detected?

[theSLAYER]

There are stuff that makes it more obvious, and *I think* CFW like Atmosphere does implement stuff to prevent reports from being sent back to server..

 

But ultimately it's about your device having CFW.
Using Hacks in Online games (I think Splatoon hacks was one of them), using Piracy, having impossible themes, these are all things that signify you have CFW, and hence ban.

[DarkFlameMaster]

If you use cheats in online games, in many games with exclusive nintendo servers that happens, but in nintendo games with dedicated servers, it happens differently
 

[AliceTheAlice]

My CFW Switch received the ban hammer on the 8th a few days after the OS update on June 4th.

First, I would like to say: it was 100% user error. The instant I saw the OS error pop-up, I knew what I had done wrong. I checked and sure enough, I done Goof'd!
Second, I would like to say: Nintendo does not send out commands to a Switch which bricks it. (Nintendo cannot individually mod a single consumer's Switch as it's illegal in many countries.)

The ban that Nintendo issues is server side.

The hardware ID for your specific Switch is added to a list on the Nintendo servers. The Nintendo servers for eShop (including game updates), system updates, and Nintendo Online Service immediately reject the system and you get an OS error. The Switch becomes semi-bricked for future games which require your system to have newer firmware. For example: the new version v1.2.0 for Pokémon Sword & Shield to support the first DLC Pack now requires the newest Switch firmware. (Ironically, the parnoia of the CFW Community has resulted in tools already existing to update your Switch firmware offline without Nintendo.)

Now, in terms of what causes you to get banned, there's no way for Nintendo do detect when cheats are used online. This is especially true for non-first party developers (ie GameFreak who makes Pokémon.) Furthermore, its legally difficult to prove it or enforce it on a console. We are not talking about games like Fornite where the ONLY game running on their servers is Fornite and any anti-cheat methods they are using are reported during game sessions on their servers directlty to them. GameFreak doesn't receive reports from Nintendo from their servers to say "yes" or "no" that player is cheating.

I am unable to offer a technical guarantee BUT I believe what the Nintendo servers are doing whenever you access online features which go through Nintendo that the internal game database is scanned. Inside you system is an a database of all titles (with IDs) including updates (with IDs) which have been installed on your system even if never played. Many people have noticed that when you delete a game off your Switch which had an update that when you plug the Game Card back into your system it immediately says you must update to play. (Well, this is to ensure your game matches the version of the last save file so the game knows how to read said save file.)
 

Anways, this feature of remembering updates comes from said database. What you might not realize is that all installed games (aka eShop games) have an ID specific to the Nintendo Account which bought said title. The Nintendo Switch does not support Game Card back-ups so when you "install" a game onto your system from a back-up, it doesn't have an eShop ID. So, when the server scans this database on your console and finds either a cartridge back-up or eShop title which does doesn't match the accounts on the Switch, the system is flagged to be banned.

The only way to scrub this database clear is a factory reset.

So, after a year, of using my CFW fully with my Nintendo Switch Online account. I made the mistake on June 3rd of playing a backed up copy of Boarderlands with a friend that was visiting. I had Wifi disabled during that entire play session. I did nothing to provoke the ban... except that backed up game remaining in my system's internal database. So, the next day when I told my Switch to do the firmware update naturally, my system was scanned.

I would bet anything if on June 3rd, I had factory reset my system... that my CFW Switch would had never been banned.