XBox 360 controls lock or stops working

[emphatic]

I've had my 360 in my cabinet since I bought it. I first had a padhack wired to JAMMA, but as the controls sometimes "lock themselves" in one direction (in this case it was to the left direction) I decided to use something else, so I got a PS2->360 converter to use with my nice PS2 padhacks. I also changed the joystick in case that was somehow broken. I now thought the case closed, but today while playing Mushi Mushi Pork for the first time in a long while then switching over to Pink Sweets, the UP direction stopped working.

This whole thing started when I got DDP-DFK, up until then everything worked 100%. I wonder if it's because of some dashboard update. Anyone else had this happen to their 360, perhaps only using wired controllers?

[gray117]

A looong time ago [pre anything cave on 360 I think] there was a dashboard update that stopped unlicensed controllers and memory units. I believe unexpectedly a small batch of the early madcatz controllers suffered as a result. However I believe it stopped them from working completely, not like an intermittent problem.

Initially you'd suspect some aspect of analogue control is going wrong... Odd for it to occur with 2 different control devices... but beyond checking clean firm connections; not sure what can be done about that, unless you're trying to make use of analogue inputs somehow [which I doubt...]?

Which pad was used for pad hack and which ps2/360 adapter is it exactly?
If analogue sticks existed on the pad hack were they retained or removed? If removed/hacked I believe some may require a resistor to replace/augment the new input.

I don't suppose you play the 360 enough with a normal controller to see whether or not this behavior occurs when playing without cab control hook up?

As dumb as it sounds I presume wiring is 100% sound - there's no patch or connector that a wire could be poking out of so that an input always on/off?...

[emphatic]

Hi, thanks for brainstorming with me.

The padhack is a Mad Catz arcade stick (that weird one that has no resemblence to an arcade stick I've ever seen), the analogue controls were snipped off by the person who did the hack, my buddy still uses his hack bought at the same time - no issues.

The PS2->360 adapter is similar to the etokki.com one, no wired controller needed.

I'm gonna try hooking the controls directly to the panel instead of using JAMMA so I can rule that out.

[cools]

I have a fix!

[antron]

OK, I'll take a stab. Do your pad-hacks connect to ALL the grounds on the JAMMA fingerboard, or just one side? If not, which side did you use (the ones by the power, or by the controls)?

[emphatic]

OK, I'll take a stab. Do your pad-hacks connect to ALL the grounds on the JAMMA fingerboard, or just one side? If not, which side did you use (the ones by the power, or by the controls)?

Does that matter as the controls work perfectly fine for a while, then all of a sudden one direction stops working or they just lock into one direction for a short while? Could the USB port of the 360 be compromised somehow? I'm gonna do some more testing, but I have very little time right now, so brainstorming up more things to try is awesome. Thanks!

cools: I have an Ibara PCB, but it doesn't fit in my 360 disc drive.

[antron]

Does that matter as the controls work perfectly fine for a while, then all of a sudden one direction stops working or they just lock into one direction for a short while?

yes, I know for a fact that a poor ground can cause this with pad hacks. I believe charge starts building up on some inputs.

[speedlolita]

Never had to do this myself, but maybe ground it on a case screw or something.

[emphatic]

Does that matter as the controls work perfectly fine for a while, then all of a sudden one direction stops working or they just lock into one direction for a short while?

yes, I know for a fact that a poor ground can cause this with pad hacks. I believe charge starts building up on some inputs.

Awesome, antron, this helps a lot. Would connecting all of the grounds on the fingerboard to each other take care of business? Or do I have to take all available ground wires of the padhack itself and connect them to the ground wire I used in addition to just chaining the grounds on the fingerboard? IIRC, the PCB used is common ground. I have it in an EGRET II, and the grounds in these cabinets aren't 100% JAMMA, so this might be the root of the issue. My friend is running his identical padhack in an AWSD cabinet.

[antron]

I would say that the pad hack has a poor solder, but it has happened with multiple hacked pads. That's why I suspect the JAMMA fingerboard. Try bridging the grounds if they are not already.

My experience with this problem was a bit different, with a pair of saturn pads. I only connected ground to one, and expected both to drain through it (the ground is common inside the console, right?) Eventually the side without a direct ground became flaky. Connecting a dedicated wire to both fixed this.

[emphatic]

I would say that the pad hack has a poor solder, but it has happened with multiple hacked pads. That's why I suspect the JAMMA fingerboard. Try bridging the grounds if they are not already.

My experience with this problem was a bit different, with a pair of saturn pads. I only connected ground to one, and expected both to drain through it (the ground is common inside the console, right?) Eventually the side without a direct ground became flaky. Connecting a dedicated wire to both fixed this.

Awesome, I'll hopefully be able to get some solder time this week.