My hori fight commander pad's up button doesn't work any more, any suggestions?

[Johnpv]

I've opened it up and I've cleaned the circuit board spot for up, and the rubber pad end with isopropyl alcohol.  I'm not sure what else to try.  I believe I've heard of people reapplying graphite or something to the part on the rubber pads, but I don't know what I would do that with.  Everything else on it works perfectly, it's just the up button that does nothing.  Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[crazydean]

Have you tried cleaning the controller port?

[Johnpv]

On my system or for the controller?  I have a few other controllers and they all work fine, so I would assume the system is ok, but maybe worth a try.

[Keith Courage]

Have you looked in at the cable plug to see if any of the pins are bent or pushed in?

[Johnpv]

I did check the pins and they're all straight.  The end that plugs into the board everything looks good there too.  I even went ahead and cleaned the connectors on both the controller and console, and hit the controller connector with some deoxit today.  Up still doesn't work.

[esteban]

I did check the pins and they're all straight.  The end that plugs into the board everything looks good there too.  I even went ahead and cleaned the connectors on both the controller and console, and hit the controller connector with some deoxit today.  Up still doesn't work.

That sucks.

ASIDE: Dude! How have you been?




/backONtopic

[ClodBusted]

Try having the bare controller PCB open when using it with the console and then short the "up" PCB contact pads to see if the fault lies within your rubber pad contact.

Also, some games just do not like to be played in 6-button mode, if this is the case, try 2-button-mode for these games.

[Johnpv]

That sucks.

ASIDE: Dude! How have you been?




/backONtopic

I've been doing good, how about yourself?  Are you going to AVGC this year?

Try having the bare controller PCB open when using it with the console and then short the "up" PCB contact pads to see if the fault lies within your rubber pad contact.

Also, some games just do not like to be played in 6-button mode, if this is the case, try 2-button-mode for these games.

What would you suggest to use to short it with? just a piece of wire across it? my finger?

I've tried it in a few games and with the everdrive, both in 2b and 6b mode, nothing seems to get the up to work.

[ClodBusted]

Just some piece of conductive material, e.g. copper, steel, aluminium, etc.

Do you have a DMM at hand to check for shorts or broken traces?

[Johnpv]

Yes I do have a DMM, though the traces and everything looked good and no issues.  I'll have to try that tonight or tomorrow.


*EDIT*

So I just tested it using a piece of solder and I get nothing from the up pad.  I did test the continuity between the up line and the chip that it goes to, and there's continuity there.

[soop]

Can you test continuity on the actual pad?  Like there should be two parts to it that the carbon pad bridges.  And also, you might want to try cleaning it with some flux and then isopropyl alchohol, or even just the alcohol and a cotton swab.  It sounds like it might be oxidised.

The other thing I would say, is sometimes you have continuity but a trace is damaged enough that it can't supply a needed voltage.  In this case though, the voltage needed would be so low, I doubt that would affect anything.

[Johnpv]

I have tried testing continuity on the carbon pads, and got nothing, BUT even with the ones that do work, testing them gets me nothing as well, so I don't know what that means.  I have cleaned the carbon pads with isopropyl alcohol, and even used some deoxit on it as well.

[soop]

Sorry, I'm an idiot.  Of course there's no continuity, that's how it works 

Umm, I'm out of ideas tbh.  If you've shorted it while open, and that still doesn't work, there's a problem somewhere... I'm not sure where it is.  Don't give up though!

[NecroPhile]

I realize you're beyond these being the problem for this pad, but maybe it'll help on future issues:

I believe I've heard of people reapplying graphite or something to the part on the rubber pads, but I don't know what I would do that with.

You can get conductive paint made specifically for button repair, but it's kinda pricey and doesn't last long.  The better bet is a small piece of self-adhesive copper foil.

What would you suggest to use to short it with? just a piece of wire across it? my finger?

Use the rubber bits you have.  While the pad is disassembled you can test drive it with the d-pad rubber rotated; if the dead button moves to a different direction, you've found the culprit.

[Johnpv]

So I'm guessing its looking like a bad trace.  Do any of you know if it would be safe/ok to scrap off some of the mask layer to expose some copper and solder a wire from there to the input pin on the IC chip for UP?  I assume I would do it there and not to the carbon pad.

[ClodBusted]

I think so. Did the same when having to replace another cap in my Duo.
Make sure there's enough space for the wire once the controller shell is closed.

[fredJ]

I have two PCE third party controllers ("blaster") with broken cables.

Check for continuity on every wire on the cable. It seems to break right where the cable leaves the controller.