Help me fix my Master System Compitition Controller

[SatoshiMatrix]

While not quite NES related, I hope someone here can help me out nevertheless fix my very NES-looking Master System controller.

Wanting a more NES-like dpad to enjoy my Master System games, I picked up a rare Honeybee Competition Pro controller from ebay. When it arrived, I noticed that only the down, left, right and auto fire 1 buttons work. Up, 1, 2, 1 Turbo, 2 Turbo and 2 Auto all do not work.

Frustrated, I carefully removed the rusting screws and cleaned the casing and brushed the board with 99% isopropanol but still nothing.


To accomplish turbo, the board uses a GD4069UB hex inverter, and it is the only ic present. I've tried to label the connections and each of the traces. Please tell me if I've done this correctly.



I want to troubleshoot what's wrong. Do you guys have any suggestions? I'd love to get this controller working and I hope I can given how straightforward Master System controllers should be.

Here's the master system controller pinout, if it helps.

1 5
o o o o o
o o o o
6 9


1 Up
2 Down
3 Left
4 Right
5 VCC
6 TL
7 TH
8 Gnd
9 TR


Thanks.

[lidnariq]

It's probably a mechanical problem—make sure that the auto-controlling switches actually touch both top and bottom in all positions, and that the rubber and graphite contacts on the buttons look good.

[infiniteneslives]

Bend the little prongs on the slide switches to make sure they're making good contact. Also remove any corrosion on them with some light sand paper.

[SatoshiMatrix]

I tried replacing the DE-9 cord with another one that I know works and that did the trick, mostly. Up works, 1 works and the turbo and auto for 1 works, but the 2 button and the slider for the 2 button still do not do anything!

I can't figure out what's going on. the 2 button is the far right button the controller, equivalent to the NES A button.

Suggestions?

[Drakon]

I tried replacing the DE-9 cord with another one that I know works and that did the trick, mostly. Up works, 1 works and the turbo and auto for 1 works, but the 2 button and the slider for the 2 button still do not do anything!

I can't figure out what's going on. the 2 button is the far right button the controller, equivalent to the NES A button.

Suggestions?

Buy a probe and stop guessing?

[SatoshiMatrix]

the multimeter reads the trace, reads the button input as normal between the solder point of the wire for pin 7 and the actual button for pin 7.

the fault isn't the rubber pad either - I switched the two pads and the one that was for button 2 is currently for button 1 and that works fine.

Button 2 mysteriously does not work despite the multimeter reading that it should be working. This is why I need suggestions for what to do about this.

[infiniteneslives]

About the only thing that could cause the 2 button to be completely broken while everything else works is that button 2 slider being faulty...

Clean it, bypass it (removing turbo), whatever you've got to do. Once you fix that you should be working.

[mikejmoffitt]

bypass it (removing turbo)

This has been a great fallback for me that has saved many otherwise uselessly unusable controllers. Worst case, this should save it.

[SatoshiMatrix]

I've tried that. I can get the dpad fully working and the 1 button and the turbo and auto fire 1, but nothing with 2. Not normal 2, not turbo 2, not auto fire 2. It's a fancy 2600 controller the way it is right now.

[infiniteneslives]

I've tried that. I can get the dpad fully working and the 1 button and the turbo and auto fire 1, but nothing with 2. Not normal 2, not turbo 2, not auto fire 2. It's a fancy 2600 controller the way it is right now.

How did you bypass it? Looks like you should short together the left side of the slide switch contacts. If you do that the ONLY thing the button is doing is shorting wire 7 to GND. That's it, nothing fancy, you can check it with a multimeter pretty easily. Not much room for problems there other than your cord or button contact faulty which you already checked, perhaps your 'new' cord is bad too?

[mikejmoffitt]

Have you tried holding the button down while you wiggle the plug in the jack? I've had it happen to old MD pads where the failure is at the plug, making certain directions or buttons work intermittently or depending on whether pressure is put on the plug.