Retrozone SNES to USB adapter acting strangely...help!

[defcon.klaxon]

Hi guys,

I recently bought an SNES to USB adapter so that I could use an SNES controller with emulators. Unfortunately, the device is acting strangely and not working properly. I was hoping someone might be able to help me figure out what is going on.

Basic info: I'm running Windows XP Pro x64 edition with an AMD quadcore (Phenom II X4 Black Edition) and 8GB of DDR3 RAM. Video card is ATi Radeon HD 5850.

Basically what happens is I plug the adapter and controller in, and if I go to the Windows Control Panel and check "Game Controllers" the device shows up just fine. The problem is that if I check the controller under "Properties" the D-Pad will automatically be in the lower right hand corner, and buttons 1, 2, 3, and 4 are permanently pressed (Select, Start, Y and B). If I press any other buttons, there is no response. If I move the d-pad, no response. If I push the buttons that are apparently pressed, no response. Sometimes if I plug the device in, it'll actually work for a few seconds...d-pad is centered, d-pad and buttons respond as usual. Then it'll automatically go back to d-pad in lower right corner, buttons 1, 2, 3 and 4 pressed permanently. Sometimes I'll plug it in and the controller won't respond at all to any commands, but d-pad is centered and no buttons pressed. It's completely erratic. I've tried plugging it into many different USB ports (different buses), response is the same.

I'm going to try to get ahold of the Retrozone.com guy and ask what I should do, but until I get ahold of him I was wondering if anyone else has had problems similar to this, and if so, did they figure out what was up? Has anyone heard of these devices malfunctioning right out of the package?

Thanks for any help!

[ulaoulao]

Well as the author of Bliss-Box ( the better snes adapter ) I'll try to help you.

the D-Pad will automatically be in the lower right hand corner, and buttons 1, 2, 3, and 4 are permanently pressed (Select, Start, Y and B).

I know what this means, seen it all to often. The retro do hickey is reading the protocol too late or the snes controller is busted. Basically of the first byte button are pressed. Since you can not press right and left at the same time, it choose the last in the protocol. Same for the up and down.
boring drivel :
Clock Cycle Button Reported
=========== ===============
1 B
2 Y
3 Select
4 Start
5 Up on joypad
6 Down on joypad
7 Left on joypad
8 Right on joypad
9 A
10 X
11 L
12 R
13 none (always high)
14 none (always high)
15 none (always high)
16 none (always high)

The first 8 bits are what you see.

Has anyone heard of these devices malfunctioning right out of the package?

Yeah my stuff LOL.

I'm going to try to get ahold of the Retrozone.com guy and ask what I should do

Ask for your money back.


So have you tested the snes controller its self? When you plug in the USB was the snes controller attached? Did you hold down any buttons when doing so? From what I gather you may have a bad ground wire.

[defcon.klaxon]

thanks for the great info, ulaoulao! glad i'm not adrift with this problem.

So have you tested the snes controller its self?

i bought the controller off of ebay, they said it worked but who knows? unfortunately i do not have an actual SNES to use to try the thing out. i bet i have a friend that has one, i'll have to ask around.

When you plug in the USB was the snes controller attached?

yes, controller is always plugged in when i plug the usb adapter in.

Did you hold down any buttons when doing so?

no, buttons and d-pad are never pressed when plugged in.

From what I gather you may have a bad ground wire.

interesting note. one thing i can say is that i tore the controller apart, visually inspected the circuit card, and cleaned all contacts just to see if that would somehow help (but i figured it wouldn't). no luck there, controller looked to be in pretty good shape and almost nothing came up when cleaning.

[ulaoulao]

Its very possibly a bad controller.

yes, controller is always plugged in when i plug the usb adapter in.

I would not give retro that much credit, try it not plugged in, then plug in the snes controller.
So you took the plunge to open it nice job, most people wont even look. If you want to go a step further do this.

Find a way to get a meter on the data pin. ( google for pinout ) connect it up and see if the data pin goes low when the B button is pressed.
whats low? low means ground. So set the meter to continuity. Normally the meter beeps if it sees a closed circuit. When a button is pressed it will send a string of data B is first so pressing B will read a low and should make the meter beep.
FYI: one lead of the meter to ground, the other to data. Touching the two leads together should make it beep.

Or just test it at a friends

[defcon.klaxon]

Thanks for the additional insight. I'm actually an electrical engineering student, so once I looked up the schematics and info on the controller it actually does make a lot of sense that the controller may have an issue. Luckily I have power supplies, function generators and oscilloscopes at my disposal so I'm going to take the controller into a lab, hook it up, and see what I find. With any luck, I'll find a problem with the controller and fix it. Thanks for the help!

[ulaoulao]

Well then we can talk electronics. If the wave form is working it should be normally high. So watch it on a scope, then hit a button. You should see the depression. The buttons are in order from the info I posted above.

This is widely know info but here is a link to the info
http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_SNES.html