Sega Genesis controller working intermittently

[A_Locomotive]

So today my brother bought Vector man and Rocket Knight Adventures of the Sega Genesis he bought not to long ago. I noticed that the C-button was sticking while playing vector man which since it was the jump button was making it impossible to play. It wasn't an issue with Sonic, his only other game, so we didn't notice before. So anyway I opened up the controller to clean up the buttons to prevent them from sticking. Worked like a charm and now the buttons all move perfectly but now the controller is working very intermittently. I've taken it apart and but it back together several time and each time it works differently. Such as the last time it fixed the d-pad and allowed us to shoot up and at angles in Vector man which it wasn't letting us do at all before I cleaned it. Unfortunately now the d-pad doesn't work when you press left so you can't go backwards. The really irritating thing is whats working and not working on the controller keeps changing seemingly at random. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions? I've taken apart and cleaned the controllers for pretty much every console we own at least once and never have I had any trouble before so I'm at a total lose of what to do.

[PsychoKittyNet]

Any damage to the wiring?

[zylon]

Has the little knob on the underside of the D-pad worn down? In some cases, it wears an indentation in the board as well. Sometimes you can spin it around and use it again.

[A_Locomotive]

Any damage to the wiring?

 

None that I can see. they all look pretty good as far as I can tell

 

Has the little knob on the underside of the D-pad worn down? In some cases, it wears an indentation in the board as well. Sometimes you can spin it around and use it again.

 

You mean the little metal ball bearing like thing? There is a small round spot in the board underneath it, assumed it was part of the boards design since it looks so perfect. Here are some photos of the inside of the controller.

 

[DickNixonArisen]

A little dirty, but not too bad.. scrub the black contacts with an eraser.

 

Also, Gen controllers are dirt cheap and everywhere. I have 20+ because I can't say no to one for 2$ at every damn yard sale and flea market.

[SlowCoder]

II don't like the eraser idea so much because I think it could leave some residue. I'd say use alcohol on a qtip on both the black and gold contacts.

 

Since you said it's something different each time, would hesitate to think it's a connection problem. If it was a connection problem I'd think you'd have problems with the same controls each time. Make sure everything is seated properly during reassembly.

[zylon]

That board still looks fine. I use a scotch-brite scrubber on the carbon dots.

[A_Locomotive]

II don't like the eraser idea so much because I think it could leave some residue. I'd say use alcohol on a qtip on both the black and gold contacts.

 

Since you said it's something different each time, would hesitate to think it's a connection problem. If it was a connection problem I'd think you'd have problems with the same controls each time. Make sure everything is seated properly during reassembly.

 

I gave this a try and still no luck. I used 99.9% isopropyl and qtips and gave the gold contacts and carbon dots a good scrubbing. The upper half of the d-pad is still not working. left, down, right and the downward diagonals work as do all the other buttons (though the start button is still working intermittently).

[SlowCoder]

I gave this a try and still no luck. I used 99.9% isopropyl and qtips and gave the gold contacts and carbon dots a good scrubbing. The upper half of the d-pad is still not working. left, down, right and the downward diagonals work as do all the other buttons (though the start button is still working intermittently).

Ok then, what happens if you use a different controller? Could it be the console port?

[A_Locomotive]

I gave this a try and still no luck. I used 99.9% isopropyl and qtips and gave the gold contacts and carbon dots a good scrubbing. The upper half of the d-pad is still not working. left, down, right and the downward diagonals work as do all the other buttons (though the start button is still working intermittently).

Ok then, what happens if you use a different controller? Could it be the console port?

 

Its the only controller we have unfortunately. The thought that its the port crossed my mind as well. I really hope not. I went looking for another controller to test that today but had no luck finding one that didn't look like it had come out of a landfill.

[SlowCoder]

I gave this a try and still no luck. I used 99.9% isopropyl and qtips and gave the gold contacts and carbon dots a good scrubbing. The upper half of the d-pad is still not working. left, down, right and the downward diagonals work as do all the other buttons (though the start button is still working intermittently).

Ok then, what happens if you use a different controller? Could it be the console port?

 

Its the only controller we have unfortunately. The thought that its the port crossed my mind as well. I really hope not. I went looking for another controller to test that today but had no luck finding one that didn't look like it had come out of a landfill.

If you happen to have an Atari 2600 controller, you could plug that in and test the directional. I believe the 2600 controller's button coincides with button B on the Genesis.

[A_Locomotive]

I gave this a try and still no luck. I used 99.9% isopropyl and qtips and gave the gold contacts and carbon dots a good scrubbing. The upper half of the d-pad is still not working. left, down, right and the downward diagonals work as do all the other buttons (though the start button is still working intermittently).

Ok then, what happens if you use a different controller? Could it be the console port?

 

Its the only controller we have unfortunately. The thought that its the port crossed my mind as well. I really hope not. I went looking for another controller to test that today but had no luck finding one that didn't look like it had come out of a landfill.

If you happen to have an Atari 2600 controller, you could plug that in and test the directional. I believe the 2600 controller's button coincides with button B on the Genesis.

Unfortunately I don't.