Cause of a saturn controller randomly locking up?

EOJ · Post by **EOJ** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 7:30 pm

Ok, so I got a white Saturn system from Japan the other day. It's in great condition and complete with the box and all that jazz. Well, I plug it in and start playing Battle Garegga. Everything's fine. I then turn off the system, turn it on again and go to the memory manager and system settings to change some stuff. On the system settings page the controller sorta locks up, where I have to press right like 10 times to make the cursor move, and likewise with the buttons. Eventually i get out of there and go back to playing. Everything is OK. Until I reach stage 5 of garegga and the controller locks up for about 5 seconds (as in nothing happens when I press any buttons), then goes back to normal. I played with a different saturn controller for a bit and had no problems. I played again this morning with the 'problem' controller and everything was fine.

My question is, is this just a problem with the controller, or something more serious with the input hardware on the motherboard? I really don't want to have to play in fear of a controller locking up and screwing up a great run. I've owned a bunch of Saturns and saturn controllers in the past and I've NEVER experienced this problem before. Any of you hardware gurus know what it might be (I'm hoping it's just that one controller. Strange though it looks and feels almost like new!).

Any help would be appreciated!

superhitachi4 · Post by **superhitachi4** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 8:03 pm

I had a similar problem with my Nights controller. Turned out to be dirty contacts. Ended up scrubbing them with an old toothbrush, and some alcohol for a bit, and everything was fine.

EOJ · Post by **EOJ** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 9:17 pm

superhitachi4 wrote:I had a similar problem with my Nights controller. Turned out to be dirty contacts. Ended up scrubbing them with an old toothbrush, and some alcohol for a bit, and everything was fine.

Thanks for the reply. You mean the contacts on the end of the controller port? Or something inside the controller itself?

I just tested it out on my DC via a Saturn>DC controller adaptor, and the same controller freezes up (while the other saturn controller works fine), so I at least know it's a problem with the controller itself and nothing with the actual Saturn motherboard.

superhitachi4 · Post by **superhitachi4** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 3:18 am

Heya. I mean the contacts on the end of your controller cable. (the part you plug into your Saturn's controller port) Should've specified.

EOJ · Post by **EOJ** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 4:13 am

Thanks. I cleaned it with a toothbrush and I've had no problems since, so it looks like that did the trick.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 3:09 pm

Yes, this used to happen with my Nights controller too...

Now its not even working at all

. Maybe if I just clean it up, it will get back to work ?

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 4:02 pm

You may want to try switching the cable with that of another Nights controller. If one of the cords inside is frayed, that's probably why it's not working, Shatter. If that doesn't do it, then probably your controller is Kaput.