Do you clean or fix anything? I take a lot of pride in cleaning and repairing old parts but I'm a little baffled at what i see sometimes. This is a ps3 controller that wasn't working at all, and when i disasssemble it i see what looks like lotion in the ribbon cable for the contact pad.
Fucking savages. What are you working on fixing up right now? Get anything in and you're not sure what the issue is?
I once tried to fix a janky stick on my PS3 pad and ended up making it worse. Shit's fragile. Don't remember having any issues cleaning my PS2 controller.
I occasionally take apart and clean my controllers and consoles, to remove dust and grime.
Probably the repair I'm most proud of is fixing my Wonderswan color with a pocketknife and duct-tape. Star Hearts translation when
What a great system. Would love to get one with a flash cart. No luck herr, seems like it's trash so im just gonna salvage the battery and sticks.
Pulled apart my PS2s and cleaned them out. Funny enough they don't get to much dust in there.
I want to pull apart a controller that isn't working well and see what I can do with it. I bought a backup already so I figure its a good time to tinker with it. A part of me wants to look up a guide on servicing CRT televisions but I kinda don't want to die so that up in the air.
Reminds me how I ghetto-soldered a charging cable once with a piece of solder and a candle because my soldering iron broke. Really messy, but got the job done.
You probably shouldn't be disassembling electronics if you don't even know what dielectric grease is.
I've always wanted to do shit like this. Latley I've been really intrested in taking apart things and looking on how they might work. I don't know how to solder though. Also have some very basic electrical engineering under my belt.
can't you just test the voltage and unplug it when you are working on it? Its not that risky.
Ive heard of dielectric grease being used in high voltage systems to prevent arcing but never in a gamepad.
Here's some DIY shit I can remember doing:
I bought a used 360 controller that I had to take apart and clean because the buttons were sticking. It obviously had soda spilled onto it. The Torx screws holding the 360 controller together had a small bump in them because they were "security" Torx screws, clearly an annoying plot by the jews to get people to buy more screw drivers since a normal Torx screwdriver wouldn't work. I've taken apart DualShock 4 controllers to replace the abysmal battery, but I have to get the new batteries down to 60% before they'll charge and if I accidentally unplug them while charging they'll be over 60% and won't charge fully.
I repaired my MDR-V6 headphones with soldering repeatedly. Eventually, I just put the wire on the outside of the headband since the bending of the headband would always fray the wiring inside it over time and I'd just have to replace the wire. I also modded in a 3.5mm jack to make the headphone cord detachable. They look terrible now from being nigger-rigged so often, but I don't use those headphones anymore. I have two pairs of Superlux headphones and they have the wire going through a rigid tube over your head so the wire inside doesn't get flexed and frayed. A much better design.
When I built a new mini-ITX computer not long ago the motherboard had a 4-pin RGB LED connection on it. I have RGB LEDs in my ATX build and there were some left over so I soldered some shit together with a compatible connector to see what the motherboard could do with the RGB LEDs. It was disappointing because it couldn't pulse or strobe or anything interesting. The only transitional effect it could do is shift between all the colors. There's a line of RGB LEDs on the back of the motherboard that can do more things, but it can't do much with the strip I plugged into it other than change the color of it. The cheap RGB controller I have in my ATX build does more with those RGB LED strips than that mini-ITX motherboard does.
Aside from that, I've built multiple computers. I really like putting them together. Software installation is tedious as fuck though.
I work as an exterminator and pick up free "broken" consoles from customers all the time. I got an N64 once that was caked in so much dirt the reset button was held down preventing the system from staying on. All it needed was a good cleaning, works good as new now. I also got a couple NESs that just needed new 72 pin connectors which I gave 1 to an older coworker who had one as a kid and wanted to replay most of that stuff.
I also picked up some batteries to replace in carts. I usually just do the battery thing for free for friends as I'm too lazy to start a "side job" for it, or to sell the stuff I repair.
CRT tvs hold a pretty sizable charge even when unplugged, and can do so for a long time, and it packs a good punch if you get shocked. There are some way to discharge it but I don't know how comfortable I feel messing with it.
My Logitech g400 has started to rarely double click. What's the recommended course of action?
Isn't that a spring problem?
Pray its just some dirt, because normally the button for mouse clicks is directly attached to the pcb inside the mouse.
PS3 controllers are utter dogshit. They're made of paper and glass, and break when you fucking breath on them. Not worth your time repairing.
Electronics is sadly a skill I never learned. I can take apart devices to clean them or see if something got stuck or dislodged, but when it comes to the circuitry I have no idea what anything does.
Would that even be profitable? I cannot imagine there being that much demand for fixing old video game consoles.
Honestly I don't think it's really profitable as much as I get games with some consoles with broken batteries that I switch. I'm usually too lazy to sell those and just give the ones I don't have to friends.
Man, Holla Forums's been fucking killing it with the quality threads this past week. I had a Sony audio receiver that I was adamant on repairing a couple of years back, but my father threw it out before I got the chance to do so because he has the patience of a cave man. I like to think that all I needed to do to fix it was replace a bad capacitor.
Thanks for reminding me I need to do that for my OG Xbox.
If you have that OG Xbox DIY image thing, know that that motherboard is for a specific version, and that it will look different on different boards. I think mine was a 1.2 and it didn't look like the one in the image.
I have 1 that's the latest model that should be good. I also have modded one that I acquired from a friend that I'm pretty sure and was never replaced and is the last model to need replacing.
From what I recall, the 1.6 variant NEEDs the capacitor to boot / they used better quality caps in models past 1.5. Otherwise the cap has to go. These two links help identify your unit.
It's the Hellman's logo that makes it.
Don't do it OP
Also protip for sticker removal. Be careful because you can warp plastic if you heat it for too long. 20 dollar heat gun, heat until blackened or showing a little white after being blackened. Spray with a bit of goo gone, wipe away and the goo gone grease will go away after 10 minutes of air exposure.
someone hot glue'd that controlller user….
Not the fact it's PGA?
I just cleaned up an old white, non-dualshock PS1 controller to play with the PS2 Metal Slug Anthology. It looked like it had coke spilled in through the D-Pad 15 years ago. Also had the typical crusty shit filling the seam between the two halfs. Cleaned up great.
I've fixed a few PS2 controllers but that's about it. I need to take apart and clean my PS4, it's getting to be loud as hell. Pretty sure it's full of dust and dog fur, my dog had long hair and sheds a lot. I'm worried about fucking it up though.
Does anyone have a tutorial or something for replacing DualShock 3 batteries? Mine went kaput and the controller only works when it's plugged in now.
i'm thinking of replacing the analog sticks on my ps4 controller because of course the damn rubber has worn down so much that the plastic is exposed. i am of the opinion that it would be a good idea to construct something that is going to be operated with human hands, using materials that do not dissolve in contact with human sweat, but whatever.
I've got a pioneer SA-9800 that is totalled unfortunately. It's the only thing I have that needs fixing but it just isn't worth it. If I remember right it needs a new motherboard.
Try jogging, fatty.
Replace the switch inside for the left mouse button. You will need a soldering iron, solder, possibly a desoldering pump. Look up guides online for how to solder.
Disassemble mouse. Find out which switch is the left mouse button by how the casing connects to the switches. Desolder old switch and replace with a new one or okay used one. Mice tend to use the same kind of switch for all buttons (at least they used to).
I repaired my Logitech MX518 this way. The switches used in mice are only rated for so many uses before they start going bad. Most mice problems regarding clicking can be fixed this way.
yeah i'm not into The Sims and Candy Crush, nigger.
The Sims is a good game, I don't care what anybody says.
sage for off topic
soldering is very easy, get a cheap 25 dollar iron, some flux paste and some rosin core solder wire. get started by replacing batteries in snes games, gb, gba games, its very easy and good practice. I recommend subscribing to voultar on youtube as he covers mods and repairs super thoroughly and you'll get great examples of how to desolder surface mounts, throughholes, etc.
Once had to take apart my mouse to re-bend a piece of metal about the size of two fleas fucking, so I wouldn't get repeat-clicks on my left mouse button. Don't have any pictures, but it was some precision fucking work, let me tell you. Like microsurgery.
It looks like some kind of glue. They glue all sorts of shit together in those mass-produced electronics, usually over contact points when they come too close to other shit. If they get sloppy, it might drip elsewhere.
I solder switches onto my keyboard pcb
I did this awhile back and got another keyboard to do coming soon
I purchased a Hakko FX-888D last week since I was just using a cheap $20 soldering iron
I had to desolder another keyboard to get its switches yesterday
I fixed the Logitech meme controller a while back, was rather easy to do. The controller disconnected very often and I found that the source was a faulty cable. Cut it off and resoldered that shit. Did the same with one of them Razer headphones, cable was destroyed and I fixed it with some soldering and shrink sleeves.
Problems I have now: I need to fix the A and B button of my Steam controller, it is malfunctioning. I also need to clean my PSP, the shoulder buttons are a little sticky and the screen is dirty. On/off switch is also hard to switch, really annoying. Any tips on these?
I never want to see the inside of a ps3 controller again. I took one apart thinking I could fix a squeaky joystick and inside was a million little loose pieces I couldn't put back together. It was horrifying.
Not entirely Holla Forums related but got into fixing basic electrical stuff in my car, replacing radio, speakers, wires ect, got into more technical stuff like fixing power window switch that would get stuck because of stupid cheap thin connector metal flaps got bent and oxidized, also because new one would cost like 120 bucks since they knew it was a common problem. Few months later mouse starts to act up with double clicking or not registering clicks, reminds me of car window issue, open it up and rebend tiny metal switch like and clean contacts, now works perfectly again. Been wanting to find more things to fix, and practice with soldering probably go scope out local thrift stores for electronics to playbwith
I had to blow out and then wash my keyboard recently with isopropyl alcohol due to a completely avoidable liquid spill for a while the switches on some of the keys felt "clunky" to press but it came good! I wish I had any other experience with except for hs classes I did years ago.
I do and some of my asshole friends found out that I do so the conversation went a little like this.
Buy a new mouse. Seriously. I replaced switches in a mouse one time, and it was cheap, but it took two hours because I had to desolder a board mounted parallel to the main board to even access the switch contacts. Really tedious. Then again, I'm still using it today, so if you really, really like your mouse it might be worth the hassle. The value proposition of repairing goes out the window if you don't have soldering tools already, though.
I might have to not only clean my PS2, but repair it as well, since none of the lights on the ps2 isn't showing up. I might get too deep in and even then I don't even have half the stuff to properly test my ps2, like I don't have a cd rom or dvd to test the lasers, a hard drive, the ethernet port expansion bay thing, the cable for display, controllers and a memory card. Dman.
Basically where I started. Got a DRE PS2 from a friend to attempt to fix and it sat in my closet. Only had the console itself and power cord, av cable, and controller from my PS1s. I think I spent maybe $40 getting a network adapter, hdd, PS2 controller, and memory card. Your digits demand it, user.
I honestly thought that was a half built lego castle set from the catalogue thumbnail.
Nothing much vidya related recently, cannibalized a 360 controller to fix some button problems on another one and working on someone's laptop where the screen blanks out randomly. It's probably something overheating, I'd guess. Probably needs new cpu goo.
I've fixed some monitors and mice before. Mostly just replacing capacitors and bending microswitch leaves around a little to get rid of double clicking and/or sticking. Or just replacing the microswitches entirely.
Those leaf springs are finicky little bastards. Getting them off and back on is annoying enough, but getting just the right amount of flex so they both stop having whatever problem they had plus still feel right can take some trial and error. By that I mean you can get it working just fine, but say the pressure needed to actuate it is different.
If the mouse is fucked, even if you're not entirely sure you know what you're doing, you might as well give it a try. Not much to lose. Most microswitches are only held together with one or two little plastic tabs, and inside you'll find a tiny flat piece of metal with some holes and tabs to keep it in place. Keep track of where it's held together and figure out which way you'd need to give it a little bend to keep it going strong. Usually it's some flap that protrudes from the edge toward the middle. As long as you manage to avoid making any sharp bends, you should be good to keep trying until you get it right.
You could try the above, see if that works out for you. Maybe have a plan to get a new mouse in short order in case you do horribly fuck up. The only part that you can screw up is creasing or breaking the leaf.
Almost certainly.
Fuck. Say what you will about Nintendo but at least their shit just werks 99% of the time.
I was so pissed I forgot to mention that Ive taken both models apart, cleaned them and the lenses thoroughly, and still no progress. I don't even want to think about the cost of buy replacement parts.
Soldering keyboard switches is so easy
desoldering would be easier for me but I have a super cheap solder sucker that is bad amd was only $4 so yea, i never expected to use it other than a few corrections but I did a whole keyboard with it, not the hardest thing to do but a netter sucker woulda made. It so much cleaner
Use to repair the flimsy, garbage iphone screens for all my co-workers at my various jobs. Considered starting my own business because of how easy they are to replace and how often everyone breaks those trash phones but decided against it because my desire to be lazy trumps my desire to make money. I also fix the occasional burned out PS3, controllers and have built a few pcs for friends. For awhile I was buying broken consoles on ebay, fixing and reselling them. Thankfully you don't need surgeons hands to solder components. The fixing part was fun, the selling part and dealing with retarded customers (who thought I was to their personal tech support) wasn't so I stopped.
I bought a keyboard with a removable metal "face plate", best thing I ever did when it's time to clean this thing. I'm a bit scared to take apart controllers and stuff only for cleaning purposes since I'm scared of making it worse, so I only take some of that stuff apart if it has actual problems.
I've fixed my share of PS2 consoles and controllers. Pretty much put me off of bothering with real hardware for a good while.
Probably never. Even if someone dumped the script, the ROM uses a nonstandard compression routine which means you'll need to decompress it to inject the characters and the script assuming there is enough space left for that.
this thread reminded me to clean my pc, hopefully it will stop the fan from making a grinding noise in a cold start
I repaired my mouse, when LMB started double clicking. You just disassemble the mouse and find the button itself. Then you open the button (with a lot of force. Had to damage the plastic to get the fucker open) and fix the coopper thing there (bend it better for more tension). If you break the copper part, then you're fucked unless you have some old mouse you could cannibalise for it, or unless you have one of those faggy gaming mice where you could just crack open one of the buttons you don't use for spare parts. Then just reassemble it and you now have a mouse that clicks like when it was new, crisp sound and all.
Isn't that why people make rom expander tools?
You could softmod it, all you need is a hard drive.
Do you have any recommendations for a USB drive enclosure I could use to clear off and load up the harddrives?
I have a bunch of old 3.5" ones that fit in a phat PS2, a phat PS2 and like 2 or 3 lan addapters, but the drives have a bunch of shit on them I want to save (Tv shows from my last media server before its mobo died and I switched to SATA). I've tried a handful of them but for whatever reason they never fucking work. Chink drivers or something.
I've had this happen to two of my G602 mice. It's supposedly a problem that crops up after a year or so with all higher end mice, but who knows what the manufacturers get up to in order for you to keep buying more. Luckily I've had mine on warranty so I've gotten free replacements.
There is a software solution to stave off the problem. It worked for me until the switch was beyond repair. Download MouseFix from here:
danieljackson.co.uk
Lighter fluid it up a few times and not only will the sticker come off it will take any goop with it no orange juice or heat needed.
I lubed my 10 year old controller.
Did she thank you for it?
She made squeaky noises as I handled her stick.
I think it might have been a 'he'.
I am currently trying to fix a Dreamcast, headphones, a laptop (this one was dropped, and it's not mine) a stick (not mine either, and I actually just gave up on it) and I am about to check what's wrong with a CRT monitor (bought the motherfucker new and sealed, but the caps are probably all leaking). I have been working on the Dreamcast for more than a year and can't get it to work. Replaced the lid switch and it doesn't work, then I realized that the laser is probably fucked because calibrating it wasn't changing its behavior at all, and it still doesn't work. Basically, I do that a lot, but nothing ever works so it's a waste of time and money. I regret buying most of these electronics and I regret buying tools. Having things is a pain in the ass.
I will probably throw all the broken shit away and maybe sell the tools. Probably should never buy anything again, because my luck and been horrendous and everything that I buy just instantly bursts into flames and I never even get to use anything. Fuck technology. Especially fuck hardware. At least software doesn't cost money. Fortunately, all of my other consoles are fine for now, but if they break, I don't think I will fix or replace any of them. Just sick of having to deal with problems all the goddamn time. Being dead must be great.
I despise ribbon cables. I've gotten so many broken consoles and when I crack them open, what do I see? Someone else was in there, fucking about. Missing screws, poorly replaced frames and wrong screws in the sockets. Best of all? Ribbon cables. Fucked up ribbon cables, squished, not in their tracks, poorly handled, so many things. The PS4 is a gorgeous work of engineering, disassembly is a dream with that thing. It's built superbly but it's very fine tuned to be put together in a very specific way, which is why there's so many guides for wires to be snug between or against. What do you do? Ignore them all and let them get squished, snagged, damaged, everything. I suppose more than anything I despise retards who handle these things inappropriately.
fixed that for you
I'm procrastinating on fixing the color bleed on my crt. I've seen the exact issue on youtube and it lines up with where the problem should be according to how crts work. However I can make it go away temporarily by cranking the brightness and it kind of "pops" back to normal. Suggests a dry joint being reconnected due to thermal expansion, so it should get fixed if I'm replacing some feedback resistors in the video amp anyway. Of course, now I need to have the tv off for long enough to not fry myself when I open it, but I keep using the damn thing.
Just discharge it. Look up how to discharge tubes and you'll be good. If altering brightness correct it temporarily, it likely is a bad joint or bad cap somewhere.
I appreciate your effort.
I really hope threads like these become a regular thing.
Of course. It would have been gay otherwise.
I also have the caps as well, when I finally open the fucking thing I'm doing all of it.
I doubt I have a wire that would handle it. I'm mostly worried about the other caps anyway.
For super secret reference, I'm posting the full I do mean full, complete with circuit diagrams service manual for the Iranian version (it's in English) of the sony kvhr32/kvhr36, this was fucking hard to find and it may be of use to someone. The internals are identical but Americans with the HDMI version are out of luck.
Here we go. It's not very hard at all. Get some basic alligator clips, if you wanna be ultra safe, electrical tape it to the driver, and flinch at the deadly voltage being released.
About 20 bucks. That's a guess but look up PS2 laser on ebay. I've done my xbox before. Also before you buy there should be some alignment screws in the drive, make sure they're set properly.
How do you fix a PS2 that can't power on?
Sure, all the time. It's just, my fixes aren't always "ideal". I'm a brute when it comes to repairs. I like to take the most obvious, direct solution, and usually don't worry about things like "crudeness".
Put in a new power button
I repaired several Fat DS, due to the hinges breaking up or the lower screen not responding to touches.
I still need to take care of the 3DS that has been given to me, though (A Pikachu 3DS XL with the right hinge breaking up, the analog stick broken and the top screen with a nasty horizontal slash).
Plug it in.
I used a generic one that I've had for over a decade and it's slow as fuck. If you can't find a good IDE to USB bridge you can get an IDE to SATA adapter and a SATA to USB bridge, though I haven't tried it yet. I think last time I needed it I just used an old computer instead. what the fuck i thought i posted this yesterday but it was sitting here in the reply box
Good on you, user.
Good tip.
Sage for not game related.
Any tips for VHS player care? Are there ways to be able to get a tape from pics related to something watchable?
Don't attempt sages while drinking kids
Either those heads need some serious cleaning or you need to work the tracking on your model:
itstillworks.com
I cleaned my keyboard for the first time in many years today. Let's not get too specific about the amount of various body hairs I scraped out from under the keys with a toothpick.
I think it was a year or two ago that I threw my ps3 controller on the floor and the right stick ended up borked. After months of just using another controller I decided to at least try and fix the thing. all I had to do was open it up and then close it up again properly. it still works nicely.
I'm still almost in disbelief that PS3 emulation is further than Xbox emulation. I can't decide whether or not it's worth to buy and mod an old xbox when I have so little time to play anyway.
f
Excellent work.
Top fucking comfy m8, nice.
That can be quickly verified with software. Could also be a loose ribbon cable for the screen or a bad panel. Hopefully it has video out, or failing that, that somebody has a usb>dvi adapter or some such which would also be useful in testing the theory.
True. How many people have ever needed to fix a gamecube? I haven't read of a single instance.
Gambatte, user-kun.
This is a great thread.
PS3 emulation is further along because it has games. What does the OG Xbox have that is impossible to find elsewhere? Conker's Live and Reloaded? Some exclusive characters in Godzilla: DAM and Soul Calibur II? It's not worth the effort is the problem. Xbox 360 though, I don't know why there aren't more people on that.
Panzer Dragoon Orta and Jet Set Radio Future
PS3 emulation is further along because it has two full time developers on it.
It has more exclusives than the Wii U.
The only reason Xbox emulation was down the shitter because there was a lack of proper documentation and developers. There has been more progress in Xbox emulation in the last two years than the entire past decade.
Ah, figures. I have an old POS computer stashed in the closet somewhere that could probably be used for it, but yeah, slow as fuck so I'd been avoiding it.
I've been through like 3 or 4 different adapters so far and they all read everything but IDE drives for whatever reason. I'll look into Frankenstein tier bridging though I suppose.
I have a dualshock4 that had a spill on it, I've cleaned it and buttons work fin again but the right stick now rests slightly off-center, which is enough to move the camera in some games. I don't know how to fix it other than changing the whole part.
Replacing sticks is extremely easy though. the DS4 is really easily maintainable.
Tough shit. I bought a DC some years ago that thankfully only needed the common reset fix (aka cleaning some pins)
If you ever start remember that solder goes towards heat. (so heat the thing solder should go on, not the solder itself)
Recently I used a logitech wingman precision PCB as a base for an arcade stick (housed in a cardboard box, the whole thing is poverty as hell) , and soldering it was actually easier than I thought.
I need to do this to my headphones someday. How hard was it?
macgyver-tier
The fuck is that?
dielectric grease is a good idea for anything that might by chance come into contact humidity or potentially develop water droplets, IE the controller might get humid due to human hands grasping it. It would make sense in this scenario to have it on there.
isopropyl 99% is your friend if you want to clean things
A seimitsu stick, full sanwa buttons mounted on a hack job not even worth the price of a single of those buttons.
it's a controller for the new nintendo labo
Likely you cranked up the power, fried the already failing laser diode. So many PlayStations were killed by people doing this. You can still replace the laser mechanism, but if the power is still cranked up, best of luck not frying any replacements, if the power control is not on the assembly itself.
In addition to checking the tracking controls, I would open it up and check to see if any of the belts are worn. Replacement belts are cheap on ebay. Also look for any bulging capacitors, too. This is a good idea for any computers, game systems, or audio equipment you come across. If you intend to adjust any potentiometers, be sure to mark their original position before turning anything.
I've been dragging my ass on adding an s-video and RCA jacks to my Atari 7800, as I lost interest in it halfway through. Still haven't even opened up my Goldstar 3DO to replace the laser assembly I bought about five years ago. My Gamecubes have fucked lasers, too, but the replacements were stupidly expensive the last time I went looking, and I have a working Wii anyway. I'm slowly in the process or reorganizing my office/lab, so when I eventually get that sorted, I'll have more room to work in, better lighting, and better power access. Working with ONE OUTLET is absurd.