Madcatz PCB stoppped working in dual modded stick...what to do?

About 8 months ago i made two custom sticks and dual modded them for 360/dreamcast. I used madcatz fightpads for the 360. Soldered everything, secured with hot glue. They’ve been working like a charm until now. One of them suddenly died, no light from the home button, not recognized by the 360, no luck on the PC either. The stick still works on the Dreamcast.

I figure either the pcb is not getting power or it’s just…well…broken. Ive covered pretty much all of the contact points for the power with glue so it’s a bit tricky measuring if power is reaching the pcb. Any tricks to that?

So…anything i can do? Is this type of behaviour common, and if so what could be the problem? How do i isolate what is causing this, is it even possible, or should i just give up and buy a new one?

worries,worries,worries…
Thanks.

check your usb wires?

It’s better to provide strain relief by securing the wires somewhere “upstream” from the joint. Keeps the wire from moving and stressing the joint, but leaves the contact point exposed for fixing.

Yeah, that’s probably a good idea for next time, i did secure the wires upstream but since the contact point was already glued (the pad was new so this must have been madcatz securing the connection) i just went ahead and added some more.

Hm…what do you mean? Here’s how it’s wired up:

Xbox 360
Usb cable (the original fighpad one) with Rj45 connector
Rj45 feed through adapter
Rj45 cable, one end stripped
Barrier strip
Wires from the original usb cable, soldered (by madcatz) to the pcb

i meant check the USB if its malfunctioning

the stick’s guide lights light up for a flash first right?
i meant to say try replacing the usb

The usb cable? I checked that, it works, problem is “further down”, closer to the pcb. The guide does not flash, completely dead.

you shouldn’t kill the pad if you want to get rid of the wires if its hot glued in

if you want to melt the glue a bit, put the iron on any green part of the board that doesn’t have any traces.
since the entire board is covered in copper, the glue will melt and you can take out as much glue as you can

Ah, i’ll try that, that way i can check if any power is reaching the pcb.

Pointing a hair-dryer towards the glue can also heat it up enough to soften and peel off.

Fuck it…just pull the glue off and use a new usb… Chances are if it’s a usb problem theres more than one spot that could be worn and broken…

Thanks for all the help.

So… i checked and the pcb is receiving 5V from the usb cable but still not “lighting up”…something else is wrong.

Can anyone confirm that the pcb is “broken” or could it still be something that can be fixed?