Tutorial written by : rondcrasher
Last edited: June 14, 2004

Everyone at one point in time or another has probably throttled their controller into the floor either to hard or one to many times, or it just started acting screwy on you and you had to replace it because the inside of it is just a big a mystery as what women really want. Hopefully some of these remedies will help you get some extra mileage outta your old controller, but won't help you with the women part, unless she's buying the replacement controllers.

All of the Controller pictures are taken from S-Controllers, but the principles remain the same for any brand controller.

 

TRIGGERS NOT WORKING OR WORKING POORLY

Broken traces at the leads for the triggers.

Remedy - Repair the traces with solder and wire. Scrape the trace back and solder the wire to it, then wrap once around the Lead and solder.

Remember - If you're one of the, pull the trigger REALLY hard gamers, or just like dropping it after a game, this problem may happen to you. I discovered it playing RBSix3, creeping along indoors, then all of a sudden without me even touching the trigger, I unload a full clip from my P90 into the wall, the floor, my teammates, and since it was so intermittent (all three traces were cracked on my controller), it would think I had released the button, pressed it again (causes you to reload) and I'd waste another clip or two before it settled down.

 

CONTROLLER WON'T STOP VIBRATING

Cracked circuit board or broken component under the thumb stick (See pic for exact trace and points to look at)

Remedy - Repair the broken trace with some solder and a little wire. (If L2 is broken or missing, a wire can be used in it's place, it's just an inductor for passing voltage).

Remember - Every gamers controller, at one time or another, has hit the floor with enough force to destroy a small continent. If it hasn't, then you're not a real gamer, and that, "I don't know how it happened" line doesn't fool anyone.

 

STICKING BUTTONS

Dirt or other foreign material (soda) in the controller around the buttons.

Remedy - Clean it! Take the controller apart and remove all of the buttons. Some Q-Tips and rubbing alcohol will have this problem fixed up in no time. DO NOT USE FINGERNAIL POLISH REMOVER, that has Acetone in it and will melt plastic. Make sure you get the inside of the controller where the buttons go as good as you clean the buttons themselves.

Remember - Don't drink and play.

 

CONTROLLER DRIFTING

This rarely happens and usually can be fixed by simply unplugging and re-plugging the controller back in while NOT touching the sticks at all. This will reset the controller and hopefully cure the problem. If not look to see that the sticks are straight and not angled one way or the other real bad. If it took a nasty spill onto the floor or got stepped on you could have broken traces or a badly damaged analog stick. There's roughly 10 parts that make the thing up and any number of them getting broken or wearing out will result in an almost useless stick that will have to be replaced.

 

CONTROLLER DIES IN GAME OR DOES NOT WORK AT ALL

Controller is not getting power or is damaged internally.

Try your controller on another XBOX if possible. Then try other controllers on your XBOX to make sure that your XBOX is not causing the problem

Remedy Controller - If you suspect your controller after testing, look for broken traces, or missing parts. I've only had one controller act up like this (die in game and then work fine after unplug/replug) and it was an IC on the board. I replaced it with one from another controller and it fixed it. This is a difficult "fix" (32 pin Surface Mount IC) and I do recommend you just get another controller, unless you have a completely demolished one and want to attempt the IC swap.

Remedy XBOX - If you suspect the XBOX and have a v1.0 you may be in luck. The Surface Mount (SM) Inductors on the USB daughter board are pretty fragile and can crack with very little force, or maybe you removed it and plugged it back in there and it hasn't worked since. Those SM Inductors can simply be replaced with a piece of wire. Check the Daughter board for any other broken, missing, or loose parts while you have it out. Yours will have connectors in the place of all the wires coming from the one in the pic. one. It had me chasing shadows in the dark for over an hour, it would work, then stop, then work if it was touched. Three of the four large inductors I have marked that look like they're perfectly normal, turned out to be bad.

 

THE GRAND FINALE

I'd like to share what can really happen (some of you already know) when a controller is used like you just scored the winning touchdown at the Super Bowl. This controller was the victim of a round of PGR2 and a short temper (NOT MINE I SWEAR, I was witness to the entire event though). Every red dot (33 in all) is a trace that's been repaired by me to get all of the connections back together.

Both sticks had to be replaced, as they were the first part to hit the floor and soaked up a lot of the shock. The one on the left looks OK, but was torn up on the inside.

It even pinched one of the motor wires so much it was cut in two.

Hope this helps someone out a little, or at least gets one more controller back into the game.

And remember - If it gets to the point where you really have to slam the controller on the floor that hard, just do it, fix it later, and continue to have fun.

Any questions or comments?
E-mail me at rondcrasher@yahoo.com

Tutorial written by : rondcrasher