My Raspberry Pi kills my controllers?

Elgur85

Is it possible that my Raspberry Pi kills my controllers?

I've had 4 NES-controllers, 1 SNES-controller and a Logitech Dual Action which all has "died".
They are really dead, since nothing happens when plugged in to another computer.

Have anyone else had this problem?

mediamogul

Have these totally ceased to function? Can you plug them into another computer to confirm. USB NES/SNES controllers go bad if you look at them wrong, so it's always best to get original controllers and an adapter from either RetroUSB or Raphnet. It's strange that the Logitech went out too, as they're mostly a reliable manufacturer. However, all brands have a certain failure in their production numbers and it could be that you happened to get a bad one. Another question is; are you rough on your controllers in the heat of gaming?

Elgur85

Thanks for your reply!

Yes, all of these has ceased to function. I plugged them into two other computers, but they don't even recognized them. Tried "lsusb" on the Pi aswell, but they don't appear.

The Logitech has lived longer then the other controllers and is not new.

No, I think I'm playing quite gently. The thing is I played one time and it worked fine.
The next time it was totally dead. :S

I just got a XBox360 controller instead since I thought it would be of a better quality.
But now I'm afraid to plug it in...

mediamogul

@Elgur85 said in My Raspberry Pi kills my controllers?:

But now I'm afraid to plug it in...

What are the specifics of your power supply? The only thing I could imagine is that power is somehow spiking through the USB ports, but that is highly unlikely due to strict power regulation on the board. It's more likely that you've just had a string of bad luck with the controllers. However, knowing more about your power supply may shed a light on something else.

Elgur85

I'm using a Samsung tablet-charger. It has worked flawlessy before.
It provides 5V, 2A.

The Logitech has never failed me before, but it's really dead now.
That controller has a light, so I can see that it doesn't work at all.

mediamogul

Do you ever get the little rainbow colored square appearing in the upper right side of your screen?

Finhead

@Elgur85 said in My Raspberry Pi kills my controllers?:

I'm using a Samsung tablet-charger. It has worked flawlessy before.
It provides 5V, 2A.

The Logitech has never failed me before, but it's really dead now.
That controller has a light, so I can see that it doesn't work at all.

Which version of Pi do you have? If it's a Pi3 that's def not a large enough power supply.

mediamogul

He's right. Even a Pi2 with several USB devices attached could use 2.5A to avoid technical issues. It doesn't seem like much of an uptick, but I've seen it make all the difference in the world. I'm not sure the lack of power would have a permanent effect on your controllers that would persist through multiple computers though.

Elgur85

No, no rainbow colored square in the upper right screen.
I'm running a Pi 2. And I don't have anything else connectet except my controllers.
But I also tried plugging a USB-powered hub, to see if I could give the Pi more power.
Didn't make any difference though.

mediamogul

Well, outside of testing your board with a multi-meter for power anomalies, which are pretty unlikely to begin with, It sounds to me like you've just had a coincidental string of bad luck with controllers. Obviously nothing is going to make you feel super secure in using your new controller after going through all this, but a trial by fire is probably the only thing left to attempt.

Elgur85

True. Still, I think that 6 controllers in total is a lot. 2 of them died at the exact same time. :S
But I guess I will have to try and see what happens. Thanks for the help!

mediamogul

No problem. I hope everything goes well. Let us know.