New iBuffalo SNES style USB controller, Select button not working.

miXza-81

Hi.

I ordered iBuffalo SNES style USB gamepad from eBay, Hong Kong.

I noticed that Select button of gamepad is not working... I have tested it with Raspberry Pi 3 (RetroPie 4.1) and PC (Win 7 Pro, SP1). Anybody else has been same issue and know how to fix it?

Sending gamepad back to Hong Kong for repairs from Finland would be costly...

Pi Model or other hardware: Raspberry Pi 3, X86 PC (Win 7, internal USB Game Controller Utility)
Power Supply used: Official Pi 3 Power Suply
RetroPie Version Used: 4.1
Built From: RetroPie image file from website
USB Devices connected: K400+ keyboard
Controller used: iBuffalo SNES style USB controller

rbaker

@miXza-81 Mine came from Japan, I ordered 2. One was faulty, emailed them and they sent me another. Seems to be hit and miss. 2nd one has been ok.

mrbwa1

@miXza-81 I would contact the seller. A lot of overseas sellers with send replacements or refunds without having to send the defective item back as it would cost too much to return it.

You can take the controller apart and see if there is anything obvious, but the carbon coating on the button is probably bad or the button pad is deformed. Once in a blue moon, I have seen bad traces on a PCB, but it's usually the button/pad. If the pad isn't deformed, sometime you can run some pencil lead on it or even glue a little foil on to get it working (a good way to revive old worn out remote controls).

The cheap clones are always a bit hit and miss on quality unfortunately.

miXza-81

Hi.

I contacted to seller, and only option was to get half of my money... Better than nothing, but still... :-(

I also opened gamepad, and it seems that foil and buttons are Ok, but one "thin like hair" contact from controller circuit to foil is cut. Black protective layer of control circuit does not cover all of those copper "strings"... Poor quality, and even more poorer quality control.

iBuffalo SNES Style USB Controller

mrbwa1

@miXza-81 The QC on this kinds stuff is non existent. Back in the day when stuff was built better, my dad would get stuff from free from friends and sometimes pawn shops and thrift stores that was broken. He taught me how to open it up and look for bad components and traces. Used to be that you could solder in a small wire to bridge these kind of bad traces.

As a side note, that soldering on that thing makes me cringe. It looks like it was hand-soldered by 10yr old me.

This is why I ended up using my old OEM Playstation 1/2 controllers for Retropie. Even then, the cheap dual PSX adapter had bad soldering on the connectors so I had to re-do that!