BusierDonkey
Member
For anybody here with sticking A buttons that would rather avoid returning it, there are a couple quick fixes.
I decided to take mine apart to see what could be causing people issues because the mechanicals shouldn't even be able to get stuck. Physically the button setup is identical in design to every other controller made since the NES controller. A rubber membrane with a contact patch that completes a circuit pattern printed on the board below it. This gets depressed when the button is pushed down onto it, and pops back into place afterwards. This membrane is one of the few parts that is actually shard with the other controller, and I think it's been the same membrane part since the launch Xbone controller (not sure though as I no longer have one to compare it to, but it looks the same). The buttons and the tubes they slot into are the same shape and size as other Xbone controllers so it's not a design flaw, but an assembly error (Still not good, but at least fixable).
The sticking button is being caused by the adhesive used to attach the faceplate solidly to the frame. The whole face snaps into place physically, but to keep the face from buzzing against the inner frame when the rumble motors come on they applied a couple of 2-sided adhesive strips as well, one below the analog stick and one below the A button (these are the only major obstacle when pulling the face off as they are pretty sticky). These strips were clearly placed by hand, and likely haphazardly (think one poor fucker on an assembly line slapping tape on a hundred of these every hour) On some of the controllers the strips were placed encroaching on the opening for the A button and is contacting the side of the button. On my controller the adhesive is just about touching the opening for the A-button.
Basically alcohol (try to get 99+%, the board in the controller is clear-coated and water resistant, but water + complex electronics is still just never a great idea) and a soft toothbrush will fix it quickly. Work your way around the bottom 1/2 of the button slowly and let the bristles get down into the controller while moving back and forth. You don't need any real pressure. The alcohol will evaporate fairly quickly so you'll want to rinse and re-wet your brush. Let it dry for a bit and check the button to see if it still sticks.
The other option is to just use the controller until the adhesive strip wears away from use. Many people that reported the button issue also reported that it stops happening after awhile, likely because the adhesive wore away. The more adhesive is contacting the button the worse it will be, so depending on that this method might take more time.
If you're having issues with the bluetooth connecting to multiple consoles easily and still have (or ever had) the dongle for the original Elite, the new one can use the dongle as well. I still have my old Elite's dongle plugged into the back of my PC. I keep the Series 1 as a backup in case I ever do manage to forget to charge the new one, and the Series 2 tends to sync to the dongle by default so I just went with it. Microsoft has a tendency to fuck up bluetooth drivers on laptops and PCs every odd update so I'm probably better off anyways.
I decided to take mine apart to see what could be causing people issues because the mechanicals shouldn't even be able to get stuck. Physically the button setup is identical in design to every other controller made since the NES controller. A rubber membrane with a contact patch that completes a circuit pattern printed on the board below it. This gets depressed when the button is pushed down onto it, and pops back into place afterwards. This membrane is one of the few parts that is actually shard with the other controller, and I think it's been the same membrane part since the launch Xbone controller (not sure though as I no longer have one to compare it to, but it looks the same). The buttons and the tubes they slot into are the same shape and size as other Xbone controllers so it's not a design flaw, but an assembly error (Still not good, but at least fixable).
The sticking button is being caused by the adhesive used to attach the faceplate solidly to the frame. The whole face snaps into place physically, but to keep the face from buzzing against the inner frame when the rumble motors come on they applied a couple of 2-sided adhesive strips as well, one below the analog stick and one below the A button (these are the only major obstacle when pulling the face off as they are pretty sticky). These strips were clearly placed by hand, and likely haphazardly (think one poor fucker on an assembly line slapping tape on a hundred of these every hour) On some of the controllers the strips were placed encroaching on the opening for the A button and is contacting the side of the button. On my controller the adhesive is just about touching the opening for the A-button.
Basically alcohol (try to get 99+%, the board in the controller is clear-coated and water resistant, but water + complex electronics is still just never a great idea) and a soft toothbrush will fix it quickly. Work your way around the bottom 1/2 of the button slowly and let the bristles get down into the controller while moving back and forth. You don't need any real pressure. The alcohol will evaporate fairly quickly so you'll want to rinse and re-wet your brush. Let it dry for a bit and check the button to see if it still sticks.
The other option is to just use the controller until the adhesive strip wears away from use. Many people that reported the button issue also reported that it stops happening after awhile, likely because the adhesive wore away. The more adhesive is contacting the button the worse it will be, so depending on that this method might take more time.
If you're having issues with the bluetooth connecting to multiple consoles easily and still have (or ever had) the dongle for the original Elite, the new one can use the dongle as well. I still have my old Elite's dongle plugged into the back of my PC. I keep the Series 1 as a backup in case I ever do manage to forget to charge the new one, and the Series 2 tends to sync to the dongle by default so I just went with it. Microsoft has a tendency to fuck up bluetooth drivers on laptops and PCs every odd update so I'm probably better off anyways.
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