Controller woes

Discuss hardware-related topics, such as development cartridges, CopyNES, PowerPak, EPROMs, or whatever.

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pubby
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Controller woes

Post by pubby »

I bought my first NES a few days ago, but I'm having trouble getting the controller to work. None of the buttons respond except the "A" button, which acts as a combination of START+LEFT, and perhaps other buttons (I can't tell).

I've tried switching the connectors around and cleaning them, but that doesn't help. It's probably a bad component. If I had another controller, I'd test that one too, but I don't. I only have the one controller.

Any tips on what could be wrong and how I could fix this?
tepples
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Re: Controller woes

Post by tepples »

If the clock signal isn't making it through, then holding A should trigger all eight buttons (A, B, Select, Start, Up, Down, Left, and Right). The software you use may be rejecting simultaneous presses of Up+Down or Left+Right. What software are you using? Do you have a PowerPak or EverDrive? If so, could you try allpads r9 and look at 1. what it detects and 2. low-level probing results (Reset twice)?
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pubby
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Re: Controller woes

Post by pubby »

Only cartridge I have is a53vol3. Pressing A boots into Brix Breaker (which would require RIGHT+START). If only I could get into button logger or 240p!

I'll see if I can test the continuity of the wires.

Edit: all of the wires, including the clock wire, connect to the console from what I can tell.
3.14159td
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Re: Controller woes

Post by 3.14159td »

I've experienced that exact same problem due to a failed 4021 shift register on several occasions. There is a chance your multicartridge is also messing with something, but my money is on the shift register.
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pubby
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Re: Controller woes

Post by pubby »

Yeah, so I bought another controller and the new controller works great, so that must mean the old controller was bad.

I guess I'll buy a new shift register and see if I can replace the busted one.
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