my namco stick is dodgy...

[randombs]

sometimes up doesn't work. it'll suddenly just stop working (all the other directions/buttons still work fine) then it'll start working later on. i swapped out the microswitch with a working one and it was fine for about a half-hour, then it stopped again.

i'm wondering if the board is at fault - the wiring looks fine, and poking about with my multimeter shows up nothing out of the ordinary. maybe the controller chip is gonna give up the ghost?

i'm currently using it with my xbox through my magic box, but the same thing happens when i use it with my ps2 so it's not that.

i'm considering desoldering the chip and replacing it with one from a 3rd party psx pad which'll take a while but will probably work...

any ideas?

[msm13579]

if your going to replace the chip, would one from a standard pad work? it may? but there are lots of things that could be different as the stick has a lot less features and the chip might expect inputs from these? i don't really know but its something to think about. similar to what you suggested to me would have a better chance, just using wires to link the buttons to the ones on a standard pad. also could there be a loose connection in the cable somewhere? good luck

[randombs]

i tested for loose connections and found none. also, when i did replace the actual switch, i wired it up independently (the original switch is still wired up as well but taped to the underside of the casing)

[randombs]

just did a proper check and here's what happens:

normally, all buttons/directions are high (about 3.5v each). when you press a button/direction, the voltage through it goes to 0v (low) and it's registered by the console.

when the up direction stops working, the multimeter says there's no voltage going through it when it's not being pressed, instead of the 3.5v it should be reading. during this time, all the other buttons/directions are at 3.5v.

then after a few minutes it'll get 3.5v again, then it won't, etc

[msm13579]

where are you measuring the voltages from? ground and the ps2 connector thing? if so its odd that up isn't registered all the time when its not working! if your measuring across the switch then either the side that should be at 3.5v is at 0v or the side that should be at 0v is at 3.5v. giving 0 voltage drop across the switch. it should be the 0v side that is wrong if what i said above is right (depends on what the chip does, i am just basing this on standard pull-down switches) so you could try finding where the ground (0v) is and connect it to the side of the switch that should be 0v, its worth a try! again, good luck

[randombs]

ok the namco stick is wired like this:

on the circuit board, there's the little controller chip and 3 wire blocks - one block connects the L1, L2, select and start buttons to the circuit board, the other connects the 4 directions, and the last connects to the controller's actual cable that connects to the console itself.

The voltage is measured by placing the black probe on the actual ground point that runs to the switch in question (up direction), and the red probe is on the point that runs to the other contact on the switch. it is this point that reads 3.5v, as do the points connected to the buttons and other directions (they all have 3.5v when idle, then drop to 0v when pressed).

i don't know what multimeter you have, but with mine, it doesn't matter which probe is connected to ground - if i mixed up the red and black probes the voltage is still given but as a negative value (i.e. -3.5v instead of 3.5v).

to test the input, i loaded ssf2 on kawa-x on my xbox and went to the configuration menu which lets you test out all the directions and buttons (shows up 0 if the button/dir isn't pressed, and 1 if it is). i then taped down the switch so it's always pressed and kept an eye on the screen:

up was at 1 for a while, then it'd go to 0, then after a while it'd go back to 1, then back to 0. none of the other directions do this.

as for connecting the multimeter across the switch, the points i've measured from are directly connected by wires to the ground/3.5v points on the switch anyway

[msm13579]

i am out of ideas except for what i said above, i'll have a look at my sc2 stick tonight to check if it might still be worth a try.

[msm13579]

i had a look, and on mine all the grounds are connected together so doing what i said probably wouldn't help. as you have already checked for loose connections, i can't think of anything else to suggest, sorry. again, good luck