Ave6 on the fritz

[jperryss]

Hi all,
Having issues with my Avenue6 pad. When I press any direction on the d-pad, it only registers for a split-second, rather than the whole time it's held. If I tap one direction rapidly, for example, my character will slowly move in that direction.
The I and II buttons are having trouble also. Only one out of every 3-4 button presses will actually register.
Both modes A/B are having the same issues. I've taken it apart and everything looks nice and clean. The switches are tight and the contacts look good, and the button-press feels good.

This pad was re-cabled a few years back by a member here (I wanted a longer cable) but I checked the wires today and all look intact. Also, the symptoms didn't seem to indicate a bad wire.

Any ideas? Am I out of luck with this controller? If so, anyone have an Ave6 board they want to sell?

Thanks!
JP

[jperryss]

Bump. 

[blueraven]

I was having the same issue with the buttons and upon taking apart the Ave 6 I realized that the rubber contact plate on the inside of the controller had lost its elasticity. I took a piece of styrofoam and carved it to fit the circular area around the controller contact point (a circular "button" within the rubber insert) which had worn down and thus improved the rebound. I also cleaned all of the bugs, soda, spaghetti sauce, etc. out of the controller and cleaned the contact points. It began to work again.

[jperryss]

Hey BR, thanks for the reply.

I took it apart again today to take another look. It's very clean inside, mainly because this is about the 5th time I've had it apart. The board looks great and the rubber pads have "normal" spring to them. Button press feels perfect.

I removed each switch and slightly bent out the springs on the turbo and A/B switches to make sure they are contacting the board properly. Then I gave everything a quick alcohol wipe, and re-assembled it, then re-tested. Everything worked normal except for Left on the d-pad, which has the same trouble I originally reported.

(Note that when this controller first started acting up, the issue was only with left on the d-pad, then everything was acting up, now it's back to just affecting left on the d-pad.)

To rule out a rubber pad issue, I took the controller apart again and rotated the d-pad rubber 180 degrees, then re-assembled. After that, I still had the same issue with Left only, so I know it's not a rubber issue.

I'm wondering if it could be an issue with the A/B switch, so I might try swapping that switch with one of the turbo/slow switches just temporarily.

The symptoms don't appear to suggest a wiring issue, and to my eyes the wiring looks secure. This controller did work perfectly for many months after the re-cable was done. I don't have any real way of determining if it's the wiring, since I can't easily switch it out.

 

The only thing that would leave as a possible issue would be the board itself.

Running out of ideas. 

[NightWolve]

Well, you may have to face the possibility that one of those IC/chips have simply gone bad. It happens, rare as it is, happened recently to a SNES controller of mine where the Left side button no longer registers. It's all clean, I followed the trace to the chip for that button, tried connecting the two points together directly and it just simply no longer works... New chip or controller is the only option... =\

(BTW though, if you have a regular Duo pad, I'd test it just to be sure something didn't go bad in the input module on the system. More than likely, you're gonna need a new controller.)

[blueraven]

No problem, jperryss. It could be a broken or incomplete trace. I wonder what thesteve thinks?

[NightWolve]

That's easy enough to figure out. Follow the trace of the Left path (backside through the via, as I see) all the way to the chip and with a game loaded, connect it to the other point (ground or whatever) and see if you get movement. If you don't, it means the chip has gone bad. You do technically need to rule out that the 2 points aren't fused together with a continuity test and what not, but you would've seen continuous movement of the character to the left if that was the case with the controller just plugged in.



I circled the vias with red for Left. Flip the board over, follow them to the chip, connect both together and see if you get left movement. That'd be the test for a bad trace or bad chip, etc. The common ground (the first red circle) that all 4 share is definitely good since Right, Up, Down is working.

[jperryss]

You guys rock, thanks. I will try this out tonight.

[jperryss]

So I took a stab at this tonight. I followed the traces to the back side, attached leads to the two circled points (one to the chip, one to ground) and when connecting them, Bonk didn't move an inch.  

It's definitely not an issue with the system, I've tried two other normal pads and played through Ninja Spirit with one of them and had no trouble (I actually used that same pad to skip through the menus and get to the actual gameplay so I could test).

So I'm guessing that IC is probably bad? Guess I will start looking for another Ave6 pad. The good news is that I've got a shell and buttons that are in excellent shape and could be used for parts if I end up with one in rough shape.

Thanks for the help everyone! I guess I should expect old stuff to break eventually, but I've never had a controller go on me before.

[NightWolve]

Yeah, I was very surprised that my original SNES controller broke like that, that one button can no longer be processed with everything else working. They're still pretty damn rugged to have lasted this long (console controllers of that era), if you kept them clean and didn't have the rubber pads break or something, etc.

But just to be sure, you followed the traces all the way back to the chip, right? And connected two pins off the chip together or one pin to the ground (assuming the common trace led back to a white wire or something), etc.? Gotta be careful here of course because touching the wrong things together could short and kill a chip for good, etc. Anyway, as long as you avoided all trace lines, sounds like you did, then yeah, you got a good test in and I'm afraid it's bad news...

You could salvage this controller though by an idea I'm gonna use for my SNES one. I bought a very cheap Chinese-made one for a $1.00 plus $2+ in S/H and I'm gonna cut the PCB out of it, put it inside my good controller and wire the broken button through it to restore the functionality... Yeah, it was that shitty that I wouldn't use it. Anyhow, if you had another regular Duo Pad, and could wire up the chip part (that deals with the directions) to the incoming wires and then wire the other end for Left to the traces, you could salvage this controller in a very "hack" way if you will... It's possible. You gotta cut the PCB out as small as possible so it can fit inside, even better if you can desolder the chip off. In my case I can't because the chip was coated in a black protective goo so I have to cut the PCB down to the bare minimum around the chip.

[SNKNostalgia]

Yeah, keep the dead pad around for parts when you get a replacement. Those rubber pads can wear out after a while.

At least Ave 6 pads go for under $20 (these days I hope). I got mine back in 2006 from D-Lite for $15. It was broken-in just right to play some SF 2:CE.

I really need to get a Ave 3 to play my Forgoten Worlds more comfortably. Still blows my mind that there's no 3 button mode with the Ave 6. It would save the trouble of getting another controller.

[jperryss]

But just to be sure, you followed the traces all the way back to the chip, right? And connected two pins off the chip together or one pin to the ground (assuming the common trace led back to a white wire or something), etc.? Gotta be careful here of course because touching the wrong things together could short and kill a chip for good, etc. Anyway, as long as you avoided all trace lines, sounds like you did, then yeah, you got a good test in and I'm afraid it's bad news...

Right. I followed them to the backside of the board like you said. One runs to the last pin on the IC and the other to ground. I connected them using jumpers I made from insulated wire (30 gauge or so) and got nothing.

I guess I could've tried the same thing with the right trace (since I know that one works) to make sure I was doing it properly, but I didn't think of it. Maybe I can try that at a later day.

Yeah, keep the dead pad around for parts when you get a replacement. Those rubber pads can wear out after a while.

At least Ave 6 pads go for under $20 (these days I hope). I got mine back in 2006 from D-Lite for $15. It was broken-in just right to play some SF 2:CE.

I really need to get a Ave 3 to play my Forgoten Worlds more comfortably. Still blows my mind that there's no 3 button mode with the Ave 6. It would save the trouble of getting another controller.

Is some functionality lost with a 2-button or Ave6 pad? I actually have this game on the way from a member here and didn't realize it was a 3-button game.

And I think $25-30 is the going rate for a loose Ave6 pad. I got mine two years ago for $7, boxed.

[bust3dstr8]

Why not replace the chip? Those common logic chips are about a quarter each.

[Marll]

I have an Ave6 on the fritz as well, but I'm willing to guess that it's my original recabling work from about 12 years ago that needs to be redone and cleaned up. Hope you can find a good price on a new pad, or replace the chip.