Dreamcast loose controller port.

Hello fellow gamers,

I have a Dreamcast that was my fathers he purchased back in the late 90s. It's always had a very loose controller connection on port B, but you could always get it to work intermittently by wiggling it slightly in the port and then not bumping it. The other day, Thursday I believe I replaced the internal battery which worked like a charm.. however I had to unscrew the controller board. I did not realize it until today (Saturday), but port B no longer functions. No amount of screw tightening or wiggling can bring it back this time. All of the other ports still work however so I am certain I did not blow the resistor. I was wondering, besides dropping $15 on an entire replacement board and battery *face palm* (eBay) if there is any possible way of repairing this? I know its probably a long shot as the ports do not look to come apart easily.. Or if anyone here could possibly source a spare port for me? I've been really looking forward to playing my DC, especially when I'd just put all the work into replacing the battery. I was "this" close to actually playing my Dad in Powerstone, but the port was dead. He rarely plays games these days. Guess I won't be able to show him up for awhile

Anyways, Thanks in advance!

Noah

 

maybe try reflowing the pins on the board. possibly has a cracked solder joint.

 

I'll definitely check it out tomorrow on the bench.. but the port itself allows the controller connection to move quite a bit more than I'd like, used to be tightening down the screws helped.. but no longer. Sigh. I'll report back tomorrow.

 

I've got one word for you brother! If you can get the actual port working then HOTGLUE! Let us know how you come out brother.

 

Update: I picked up a donor DC today and swapped out the controller ports, because they were more snug. The donor just had a blown F1 resistor which I replaced and some issues with the lid closed switch. I did however fix the original ports, as it turns out almost every one of the controller ports had cracked solder joints, but the B port had lost connection completely. Fixed!

Thanks guys!

 

You should buy Mortoff Games' Dreamcast repair kit for $6 on eBay. Worth the money, especially for the fusible resistor which is custom made. For the port itself, you should get a sewing needle and try to nudge those pins out a bit for better contact.