Button stopped working

The place for all discussion on gaming hardware
Post Reply
shmupsrocks
Posts: 597
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 3:53 pm

Button stopped working

Post by shmupsrocks »

The A button stopped working on my controller today. It's a Hori Fighting Stick modded (not by me) with Sanwa parts. What's the best way to troubleshoot this?
User avatar
Kez
Posts: 818
Joined: Thu Jul 20, 2017 7:09 am

Re: Button stopped working

Post by Kez »

shmupsrocks wrote:The A button stopped working on my controller today. It's a Hori Fighting Stick modded (not by me) with Sanwa parts. What's the best way to troubleshoot this?
Check the quick release connectors on the base of the button haven't come loose, if no luck try swapping with another button to see if the button has broken.

If another button doesn't work check the connections from the button to the PCB.
User avatar
NoAffinity
Posts: 1019
Joined: Mon May 07, 2018 5:27 pm
Location: Escondido, CA, USA

Re: Button stopped working

Post by NoAffinity »

Have you noticed the button not working intermittently, getting worse over time? If so, its probably the microswitch. But they dont typically fail completely all of a sudden. Likely the connection came loose like Kaz said. Could also be the daisy chained ground wire came loose upstream. A severed ground connection will take out more than one button unless that button is the last one on the ground daisy chain.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
shmupsrocks
Posts: 597
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 3:53 pm

Re: Button stopped working

Post by shmupsrocks »

I haven't noticed the button not working intermittently but lately it did seem like games were sometimes thinking I was holding the button down when I was tapping.

The bottom of the buttons are soldered to the PCB underneath it. Does that mean I have to desolder to swap them? If so is there anyone here I could hire to replace the button?
gray117
Posts: 1233
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:19 pm
Location: Leeds

Re: Button stopped working

Post by gray117 »

Almost certainly just a worn out button... but you may even find it's just a loose wire to a solder pad on pcb.

Should be very easy as long as he hasn't glued the button you (probably) need to get out to an expensive custom faceplate or something. Find someone near you (location?) to have a peak if you don't want to touch.

Which stick is it exacly? ...I'd bet even if it uses a pcb it's probably not something wierd like a (bypassed) analog detection and just a means to convey the signal and ground (i.e. just replacing using two wires - all a button is is a switch open/closed :) ) ...
User avatar
emphatic
Posts: 7918
Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 3:47 pm
Location: Alingsås, Sweden
Contact:

Re: Button stopped working

Post by emphatic »

shmupsrocks wrote:The A button stopped working on my controller today. It's a Hori Fighting Stick modded (not by me) with Sanwa parts. What's the best way to troubleshoot this?
How many buttons does your stick have? Maybe remove the least used button and switch that with your A button.
Image | My games - http://www.emphatic.se | (Click) I have YEN stickers for sale
RegalSin wrote:Street Fighters. We need to aviod them when we activate time accellerator.
User avatar
NoAffinity
Posts: 1019
Joined: Mon May 07, 2018 5:27 pm
Location: Escondido, CA, USA

Re: Button stopped working

Post by NoAffinity »

shmupsrocks wrote:The bottom of the buttons are soldered to the PCB underneath it. Does that mean I have to desolder to swap them? If so is there anyone here I could hire to replace the button?
Yes, probably have to desolder the button. Where are you located?
shmupsrocks
Posts: 597
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 3:53 pm

Re: Button stopped working

Post by shmupsrocks »

Surprising news. I got another controller and the A button doesn't work there either! So I figure the controller is actually fine. I tried connecting the supergun straight to the game board without a harness and still no A button so I guess that leaves the supergun since I've tried other game boards. I'm using the HAS 2.1 and luckily just received the 3.2 so I'll be able to find out if it's a supergun issue.
Post Reply