I bought a hori vx sa stick and had it for 3 months and it worked flawlessly. Recently I put my 2 arcade sticks in a lifetime bag which was an SE on top of the hori(particularly on top of the bottons of the hori). Also I had the usb cable wrapped around the hori stick and not inside the compartment it comes with. I pulled it out and plugged it in and it just wouldn’t turn on when I connected it to either my pc or 2 xboxs. I haven’t modified the stick at all and was wondering what the problem might be? also warranty expired 
Wrapping wire around stick would likely be your mistake. The cable storage is there for a reason!
The USB wire probably disconnected or tore from the connectors inside.
That is your mistake right there. Always avoid wrapping the cable around the controller.
Try loosely looping your cable outside of your stick and tie the cable up using Velcro ties/ Strips.
They sell Velcro strips just for tie-up electrical cables.
Thanks for the replies, I just opened it up and everything seemed to be intact. I guess the usb cable got damaged internally. where would they sell replacement cables?
You can use any USB cable as long as the USB type A plug is there, the other end does that matter as you be cutting off that end and attaching this to the board or splicing it to whats left of your old cable. Just make sure your USB cable is at least 8 to 15 feet in length.
[media=youtube]ZUi7BOmkaUM[/media]
Video courtesy of Nerrage
i have the same problem but i can’t tell where the break is, i’m afraid i’ll end up replacing the entire cable and it still won’t work.
any tips on how to find where the break is?
NOPE, not really.
Some people can notice a permanent bend or deformation in the cable, or a spot on the cord where you got to flex the cord a certain way for the cord to work.
Even if you find and patch that 1 trouble spot of USB cord, that repaired area is now weaker and more inflexible than the rest of the cable, which will quickly break again.
The only 100% sure way of finding the damaged spot with out seeing visual damage is to slice down the whole length of cable in half, which it turn destroys the whole cable any ways.
You are much better replacing the whole USB cable and doing the rewiring from inside the stick case, where the cord repair does not get damaged later on by use.
If you are good at soldering I would suggest disconnect the USB cable from the PCB inside and solder a new cable right in its place.
if you don’t want to solder, you can use butt crimp connectors and crimp each line together or use a terminal strip
http://rsk.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pRS1C-2266050w345.jpg
crimp on butt connector
American style terminal strip
European style terminal strip
The European style can be trimmed to length with a saw or a good knife
Last tip, when replacing the USB cable, make sure to put some stress releaf on the cable to the cable repair does not pull out of place, easy way to do that is to tie a knot in the cable right before the cable leaves the case, so the knot is keeping the rest of the cable from pulling free.
Just remember as in Nerrage’s video match up red to red, white to white, green to green and black to black.
If you did this right and your stick still does not work, then the issue isn’t the cable, it could be your PCB or the USB port you are using.
ah damn wish i’d seen this earlier
a
at any rate i decided to go the soldering root, bought all my soldering equipment, and used that same nerrage video guide you posted
decided to try cutting my usb mouse in half and soldering that back together first as practice and it worked wonderfully.
however when i decided to try the same on my arcade stick it didn’t work, my pc wouldn’t pick up the USB device at all.
i cut the wire very short so i assume the break is past there almost inside the stick(like the TC i tend to wrap the USB cord around the body of my stick )
also i took a picture to give you an i idea of the length at which i soldered it
(red circle is the part that i soldered)
btw if anyone is wondering i’m soldering the USB cable from my Xbox360 Hori EX2 on the PS3 BBCS LE TE stick, i assume the console the usb cord is from won’t make a difference
i’m going to try soldering again using the parts of the wire inside the stick as i doubt there was any break past that point, it even had a knot inside when i opened it up. if that doesn’t work i’m going to try soldering directly to the PCB, although i’m a bit scared to try that, as the madcatz TE infront of me looks very different from the Hori EX2 PCB in the nerrage video guide. also the madcatz PCB has some weird white glue holding the wires to the PCB, i’m not sure how to get that off
and any advice on soldering directy to the madcatz TE PCB would be greatly appreciated
well nvm i just managed to fix it, seems the break was a bit further up than i thought
so i just needed to resolder the usb cord a little shorter
thanx so much for the help @DarkSakul
now i think i’ll go jam some guilty gear to celebrate 