What the hell is wrong with my Hori stick??

[mrsquare]

Gargh. I just bought a Hori Soul Calibur 2 stick and, for want of a better description, its b0rked.

In Psyvariar 2, the game just continuously pauses. As soon as you press start to unpause it, it pauses again. Sometimes the pause is constant, other times its like someone is hammering the start button. I dismantled the base and took the start button off, which seemed to sort it for a bit, but it started happening again soon after. Oddly though, sections of the menu where the game requires you to press 'start' work just fine.

In Gradius V, the game also pauses itself, but far less frequently. The stick plays up here though (probably does in Psyvariar too, but I can't really test it) - it seems very unresponsive, and sometime keeps you moving even after you've released the stick, which, as you can imagine, isn't really ideal...

In both games, I've also had several moments when the stick just plain refuses to respond to any input whatsoever. It seems to me like its just plain old broken - does anyone have any suggestions on anything I can do to fix it? I'd rather not send it back if possible.

Ta

[Pavey]

Can you test it on another PS2? When you took the start button off did you take a look at the pcb. Maybe a short somewhere.

Im no expert but there's people on here who have done a few stick mods. They should be able to help.

[Balou]

I have a similar problem with a DC stick that I modded for use with the PS2.
In R-Type Final and Psyvariar the stick would pause the game occasionally (once every 10 minutes, or so), but in fighting game like MvC2 it didn?t happen.
I checked the solder spot and wrapped insulating tape around the button connectors, but it still happends from time to time. (the PCB is from an old Hori PS1 arcade stick)

I think it must have something to do with either the connectors from the button or the spot on the pcb where the button attaches. Like Nick Pavey said, trying to search all the circuits for something unusual is probably your best option (unless you can take the stick back and get another one in exchange, since you said you just got it).

[mrsquare]

Hmm - just realised that the pausing thing is probably because its detecting that the controller has been removed, rather than the start button being funny. So the connection must be dodgy somewhere - I tried unlooping the connection cable from inside the controller so that it was perfectly straight, which seemed to sort Gradius out for a while. Gonna experiment some more...

[mrsquare]

Right - seems to be the connection into the PCB from the PS2 controller port is a bit dodgy. Ramming it in with my thumb seems to have sorted everything out, but I'd quite like to take the PCB out to have a proper look. Anyone know how you get them out - there aren't any screws or anything - how is it attached? Do you have to take the face buttons off first?

[Balou]

I think the Hori stick has the main buttons soldered onto the PCB directly. So, you would have to disconnect all buttons to take a closer look at it.
But if everything works O.k. I wouldn?t risk doing that.

What did you ram in so that it works fine now? Do you mean the little white plug (or similar) with all the cables coming in?