SE Stick unresponsive

I’ve searched and searched the threads for this, and I know there is a defect thread but I didn’t see anything like this so I wanted to see if the experts here could offer some advice.

I have a modified SE, but nothing serious. New buttons, stick, art and paint. all the “guts” are stock and haven’t been touched. All of the sudden, nothing works other than the buttons and even those have issues.

My joystick, start/select buttons, xbox button etc don’t work period and buttons seem to go in and out.

I am leaning towards something wrong with the PCB but I don’t know what it would be or why it would have gone out. Can anyone give me any ideas? I checked all the plugs and wires and didn’t see anything obvious. I am just hoping it isn’t trash.

most common solution is to test another breakaway cord from another controller and see if that works

Argh the only wired controller I own is the stick. I am in the process of tracking down another quick disconnect usb cable… would there be any other things I could try to determine what is the problem?

Thanks for the help on this.

Alot of people are reporting PCB issues, and it seems that the problem might be with the connection between the board and the USB cable. If that’s the case, a new breakaway cable won’t fix it. Open up your stick and take a look at where the USB cable connects to the PCB and make sure that all the connections are solid. It might require some new soldering.

If you don’t know how to do this (I certainly don’t) then you’re SOL, because your warranty has been voided.

LOL yeah mine got voided a long time ago so you’re right. If it’s the pcb I am up a creek. I have some general understanding of soldering… but not really wanting to dive in to it just yet =)

I will check the connection on the board and I am waiting on my new break away cable to come in the mail. If it doesn’t fix it I was only out $3.

Thanks for the help. Hopefully I can get it fixed.

In the worst case scenario you can always replace the PCB. It may not be easy and it may cost you a little bit more, but it’s better than tossing the thing in the trash. Case, buttons and stick are the hardest things to find right now so don’t be too down if it does turn out to be the PCB.

Of course if it’s just solder points then that is even better for you.

Well I looked at the pcb and the wiring for the usb cord again but I honestly don’t know what I’m looking at. The wiring “looks” okay. It is all soldered still and doesn’t look like it has any of the wires broken.

The strange thing is it is getting power, the xbox button comes on and lights up the correct player, and the actual 8 buttons work… but nothing else does.

Seems odd that everything on the pcb would all of the sudden fail at once doesn’t it?

When did you get your sticks and how long did you have them for?

I bought the stick back in February, got it at Gamestop. Immediately opened it up to fix the washer issue and ordered new parts. End of March parts came in, got new paint, art and parts. Worked like a champ ever since until a week or so ago when I went to play and nothing worked.

if it is just the stick that isnt working then most likely you just scrapped the shit out of the pcb under the stick due to a super shitty design flaw by madcatz. the thing is that there is this washer under the stick that rests ontop of the pcb. after using the stick a bit, the washer will literally scratch away the traces the pcb uses to send signals like like up, down, left and right.

good shit madcatz lol. quality shit from a quality company indeed.

as for fixing, i suggest a couple of options.

  1. ive read that some folks have had success using pencil lead to redraw the pcb traces. get rid of the evil washer as well. put some tape or something on top of the newly drawn traces to protect em.

  2. replace the stick perhaps? i dont own a se (and dont ever plan on owning one) so i dont know exactly how the pcb is laid out, but you may be able to just replace the stock stick with a sanwa or seimitsu. this option is is more money however.

It’s not the stick, or the pcb for the joystick. The stick is now a Sanwa, with a sanwa pcb… but nothing works except the 8 buttons. Everything else is dead. The stick, start/select, and xbox button. Likely the headset too.

That’s why it seems likely that it’s something with the pcb but I don’t even know where to begin or what would have caused everything to go out at once.

Man that totally sucks. If anything happens to my sticks, never again Mad Catz!!!

i wonder if the SEs have been getting faulty pcbs…i modded mine with all sanwa, and some pros played on mine this past weekend and said that my parts felt weird, i.e. buttons were hitting when they werent and the joystick didnt feel right. Since this is my first stick with sanwa parts, i didnt know how sanwa parts are supposed to feel like, but i played on other ppls and the buttons felt the same (i thought), but i could def feel a difference in stick. i wonder if its the pcb of the jlf or if my spring is worn out already or if madcatz just have faulty pcb boards?

I thought the same thing once and I noticed I accidently moved the slider next to the xbox button that changes what the stick actually controls it says LS DP and RS, make sure its set to DP, cause mine wasn’t working at all unless the slider was in the middle at DP… such a small thing people overlook lol lemme know if that was it

I will check that Qweets… as soon as I can rescue the TV from my son :rofl:

I would think though that the start/select and xbox guide buttons would work no matter what position the toggle is in. Same thing for the Turbo even though I don’t use it, it doesn’t work.

I will let you know. Otherwise, I am waiting on the breakaway cable in the mail and if that doesn’t fix it I am just stuck with the fact that somehow the pcb fried for no reason. If that is the case I wish I HAD done it. I would love to blame myself other than the manufacturer for a faulty piece… especially when there’s nothing I did that I see could have caused this, but it’s not covered at all now.

you can also check the lock switch cause that makes it so none of what you described works while play

Wow… ok so I am FULLY ready for the humiliation of the internet. I have never once touched the switches on the stick, and now that they are painted I wouldn’t even be able to tell you what lock/unlock is or the joystick one… but apparently my 2 year old son decided to play with them.

Since I had never touched them, I had no idea what all they did and honestly didn’t care… but they cause your stick not to work :sweat:

Yeah, I’m an idiot. I appreciate all of the help on this and a big thanks to Don for the total smack in the face :wink:

lol just doing my part in the SRK community

Woot, glad I could help!

err, edit cause op is a retard-that teaches me to never try to help someone!!!