Hello.
Today I called a buddy of mine to play SFV with me, he brought his PS3/PC third-party bootleg controller (I configured it along wth my stick on x360ce as controller 2 so SFV recognizes it as Player two) and his keyboard (he prefers using the keyboard for some other fighters, such as JoJo). But in the middle of the fighting, my down (crouch) input on the balltop joystick suddenly stopped working, I think it stopped when he tried to plug in his keyboard to my computer. My computer kept recognizing/unrecognizing his keyboard, which I found weird and told him to unplug it. I began to notice the problem and gave my computer a reboot, keep in mind that this has happened before, but with different inputs and a simple reboot solved it (It was a day after he came over and plugged his same controller I spoke of). Although, after rebooting, my computer didn’t recognize my mouse or my keyboard, I did another reboot and moved the mouse/keyboard to other USB ports, then they worked fine. Then we tried to use my arcade stick again and the problem was still there. It troubled me and him very much because sticks are really hard to come by where we live, and expensive, too. Hell, it was largely expensive when I bought it, but it sure was a good investment. We spent the day trying to fix it to no avail. Importing parts or another arcade stick is out of the question, since our government is taxing any and all imports, and I don’t have any money to spare. For example, if I were to import the newest Hori stick (that one which is compatible for both PS4 and PC) I would have to spend rivers of money on both the stick and import fees. The same goes for parts, too. I have owned this arcade stick for six years, it broke three times ever since. The stick gate (is that how you call it?) went loose and deepened, but I solved it with some super glue. Another weird problem after this incident is that when I plug in my stick, some programs crash, like Steam, for example. The Windows 10 game controller setup window also crashes when I try to go on it with the stick plugged in. x360ce freezes for some moments if I have it plugged in. I even tried to plug it in to my PS3, and the down input still didn’t work on it. Despair ensues. I tried to tighten the cables leading from the stick to the main board, where the buttons are upon, still nothing. I also tried to adjust my computer’s drivers, still nothing. Keep in mind that the stick is plug-and-play DirectInput on PCs.
All the other buttons and stick inputs work fine as if it was brand new.
All I’m asking of you is to please help and enlighten me.
I know I haven’t written a single post in the time I’ve had this account, but this is the place where I hope I can find help. I beg of you.
Thanks a lot.
Where do you live that you have to pay such horrible fees? Not somewhere crappy like Croatia or something?
The problem sounds like:
- Broken or shorted wire or flaky or broken USB cable.
- messed up ground wire or grounding
- shorted, broken or faulty PCB, broken off capacitors or something similar on the PCB, or wiring connector to PCB, usually one for the ground or voltage to the part or USB.
Although most PCB’s don’t use capacitors that can “leak”, like what you see in motherboards or PC monitors or stereo amps/powered subs, etc.
You won’t be able to fix this without soldering and electrical engineering experience, unless it’s a broken wire, and even then that’s going to be hard.
And a wire leading to a button isn’t going to cause a USB failure (you can disconnect joystick or button microswitch wires with it plugged in and nothing ever happens).
You’re better off just buying a new controller, man.
I wouldn’t be able to help you with the x360ce or the steam or whatever crashing on your computer part. Too many variables in your setup that I wouldn’t be familiar with.
However, for the “down does not work” part, open up your computer’s Devices and Printers, and check the properties for your stick.
You should see a window similar to this:
Is everything else still working, except the “down” on your stick?
If everything else is still working except the “down”, then it’s likely not the USB; you might just have a broken/loose wire, or a microswitch that died.
If that’s the case, you’ll have to open up the stick and rewire or remove/re-solder the faulty part (whether it be the wire(s) or the microswitch). Or swap in another microswitch PCB assembly.
Thanks for the reply. I live in Brazil, the fees and the dollar value have been skyrocketing in the past few years. Hopefully they will go down. Also, fighters’ popularity have been dwindling since the arcade days, that’s why there are no choices when it comes to arcade sticks.
As for the wires, I’m afraid I would have to wait until the stick breaks again due to the super glue I applied to temporalily fix it. Or maybe I could make it break on purpose.
I have no soldering or electrical engineering experiences whatsoever, so if I tried to fix it I’d probably break it more. Though I almost always fix my stuff that breaks, one way or another.
A new controller is completely out of the question for the next few months. Wish me luck and thanks.
Yes, everything else works flawlessly. I won’t rest until I repair it.
Thanks for the reply and the tips!
In that case, try to take clear pictures of the inside of your stick, with specific focus on the joystick assembly, making sure that you can see the wiring from the joystick to the PCB.
That might help troubleshoot a bit more.
Is this what you mean? Will these do?
Thank you.
Edit: while trying to unscrew the joystick and the gate, I somehow managed to rip one of the cables (one which is pictured above, one of the grey ones). I don’t know how it happened.
Now, the left (back) input doesn’t work as well and in the game controller testing screen, the remaining working inputs are unrealiable and not very responsive. Feeling pissed and sad.
Right when I got Super Bronze on SFV, my stick had to break. I somehow knew that my stick was on its last days. Well, I guess my keyboard will have to suffice until I can fix it or get a hold of another stick.