PS3 Sixaxis Controller doesn't work unplugged.

I bought a PS3 controller a couple of months ago. It works fine and controller 1 light is on but when unplugged from the USB cable the console doesn't respond. All four lights start blinking.

 

Is it an official controller? Sounds like it's not connecting when in wireless (Bluetooth) mode.

 

It's an official Sony controller. I bought it to replace a controller I had for three years after the shoulder buttons were starting to wear out. I think it's still looking for the old controller when I connect the new one to the console via wireless. But don't know, this is weird.

 

Try using a pin on the back of the controller to reset it.

 

I've tried that countless times. Same result as before.

 

Got another PS3 to test it on? If you have a Bluetooth dongle for your PC try connecting it to that and see if it will work. Is the PS3 working with other controllers and only struggling with this one?

 

I don't have another PS3 to test on it nor do I have a Bluetooth dongle. I have two other controllers that work to an extent. One is extremely buggy and the other has shoulder buttons that are extremely sensitive from me taking it apart to fix it. Like I said before this controller works fine I just can't use it wirelessly.

 

Could just be a dud. As for the sensitive shoulder buttons, I had this problem the first time I opened up a PS3 controller years ago... turned out I installed the springs incorrectly which caused it to be super-sensitive.

 

After resetting ... are you re-pairing the controller?

Playstation support site: pair and assign controllers

 

Could be the battery, since it is a 2006 controller.

 

that or it's a fake.

 

Always possible the radio is shot. Seen it on Wavebirds.

 

Manually pair the controller via usb on a windows PC. you'll need to know the Bluetooth MAC address of the console, if you have a working controller plug it in first and copy the MAC address to notepad..

Download the software here:
http://www.dancingpixelstudios.com/sixaxiscontroller/tool.html

you van also try just deleting the paired address too, this will cause the controller to force refresh the pair keys.

also another cause can be the reset button is stuck down! I had this happen once because I didn't put the controller back together properly, this can also happen if you try to summon satan by throwing the controller at the ground....

 

Starting at 3.40 firmware SONY put strong measures to block counterfeit Dualshock3 controllers. The effect is that, counterfeit controllers will only work if connected to the console through a USB cable.

 

But the chances of op having such an old counterfeit DS3 are pretty rare. All new counterfeit controllers work, they just copied the device ID, I think all sony did to stop counterfeit controllers was to have a white list (MS did the same thing), not too hard to get around as I doubt the controllers are encrypted

 

You know nothing. XBOX360 and XBONE controllers have to respond a cryptographic challenge from the console to be accepted as valid.