PlayStation Classic controller not working on Pi4, RetroPie v. 4.5.20?

EmergencyPoncho

I just posted in another topic going back a year where someone was having trouble getting a PS1 Classic controller working on Retropie, but I thought I'd make a new topic for this (sorry for the clutter).

I finally opened my PS1 classic, which I pretty much bought just for the controllers, but after plugging in one of the controllers I was disappointed to see that EmulationStation does not recognize it as a gamepad ("No Gamepad Detected" message after boot) - does anyone know if this controller works on a Pi 4 with the latest version of RetroPie? I've done quite a bit of searching online, but most people say the controller works fine with RetroPie. I've also tested my controller on Windows, which recognizes it as a "controller" and all the inputs work correctly, so I don't think I have a defective controller.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

mitu

Is the controller detected by the OS ? Run the following commands and post the output:

lsusb
cat /proc/bus/input/devices

EmergencyPoncho

@mitu Thanks for your reply, mitu! It looks like it is not detected. With only the PS Classic controller and a keyboard plugged in, the command you provided lists 5 devices, all of which are named "Microsoft MicrosoftR Nano Transceiver_____." When I plug in my USB Genesis controller, a "USB Gamepad" is listed last, but nothing showed up that looks like the PS Classic controller. :/

mitu

@EmergencyPoncho OK, try this :

unplug all USB devices (except maybe for the keyboard, if you need it to run commands)
run sudo dmesg -c
plug in the controller
run dmesg and post the output

EmergencyPoncho

@mitu Ok, I ran sudo dmesg -c but after I plug in the controller and type dmesg and press Enter, nothing happens except for a clear command line. Sorry, I don't know a lot about running commands on a raspberry pi; do I need to type sudo before dmesg?

Thanks for your help.

mitu

This means the controller is not detected at all. (sudo is needed only for the 1st dmesg command, to clear the system log buffer).

EmergencyPoncho

@mitu Dang. Not sure why I'm having this issue. But thanks for the detective work! I'll hope something might change with a newer versions of Retropie. In any case, I'll make do with a different controller!

mitu

Try changing the USB ports around and make sure it's properly inserted, maybe unplugging the keyboard. Are you using an official power source ? Do you have an USB hub around to use it with the controller instead of plugging it in directly ?

EmergencyPoncho

@mitu Hah! I just tested an old USB 2.0 hub as a go-between and now EmulationStation recognizes it as a Sony controller (works in all ports)! So weird! Not sure what's going on here, but at least I now have a workaround. So odd that it doesn't work plugged directly into the Pi or even when I plug in a USB extension cable as the go-between. Thanks for the suggestion!

Darksavior

Bit late here but yea, the ps classic pad works fine on a pi4.

pythonli

I'm also having this issue. Was there ever a resolution? PSX Classic controllers not found with a PI4 USB 2.0 or 3.0. Discovered perfectly in a PI3. Is there a driver I need?

Dagna

Same issue, PS Classic USB Controller is not being seen by RPi4 (Buster). The RPi4 has no issue with an xbox 360 controller or a keyboard. I tried using an known good extender to make sure it is getting a good connection to the RPi4 and still nothing. PSC controller works when plugged directly into a PC. PSC controller also work on the previous RPi3b.

Darksavior

I re-tested now with my pi4 on 4.6. No problems detecting my psc pad. . You can try and reinstall the xpad driver and see if that does anything.

Dagna

@Darksavior did you use the new beta image just released or did you upgrade form the nightly builds?

Darksavior

@Dagna The beta image at: https://retropie.org.uk/download/
Might be unrelated, but I've had random issues with this build and previous ones, but devs can't reproduce it. For example, ES wouldn't save my inputs until I re-installed ES from retropie-setup. Maybe it's my bad card (a few months old) or the card reader's bad.