Hi there,

since rich posted his hardware hassles in another thread, i might as well join in with a problem that is giving me serious headaches recently.

I happen to own a 40GB PS3 PAL system (first console ever, i swear) and its having troubles with the controllers lately. I don't know if its a hardware fault or a software bug.

No matter what i do (Gaming/Blu-ray/DVD/Folding@home), my controller will disconnect and turn off in a timeframe of 1-9 hours of usage. When i try to press the PS-Button to reconnect, all 4 red LEDs are flashing constantly - connecting via USB doesn't help in this case. When i reboot the system, everything is working fine again.

I tried everything (full charge, controller reset, system format, send it in for repair two times - they say they can't reproduce the problem).

If you own a PS3, do you also experience controller problems?

-Burrito

I've had intermmittent problems with the controller seeming to flicker off but I've never had to turn the controller back on. Plus, I've probably only experienced this, maybe, 3 times since owning it (I've had it for a year I think...). I would say you have a bad controller.

Does it work fine when you start the system and play for that period while the controller is plugged in?

crappyatticus wrote:

I would say you have a bad controller.

I bought a Dualshock3 to check for this but it shows the same behaviour.

crappyatticus wrote:

Does it work fine when you start the system and play for that period while the controller is plugged in?

I'm checking this right now. Didn't consider it an option until they refused to replace the console.

I've had the problem before, I used the controller on another ps3, try to reregister your controller to your ps3 system, I am at work at the moment so I can't see what menu it is, but there is a spot in system settings that lets you assign the ps3 controller to your system. Maybe yours has a problem of forgetting settings?

What kind of battery do the PS3 controllers have in them?

Nickel metal hydride and nickel cadmium batteries require conditioning in order to charge to the proper capacity. If you just use them without fully charging and discharging them at least once a month, they start to develop a "memory" and as a result you get less and less use out of a supposedly full charge. This is common with cell phone and laptop batteries.

If Sony decided to cut corners in production this could also be the case with your batteries. If they don't yield the same capacity as they should then it's possible that the signal strength is also degraded, hence your connection to the console drops out.

I'm a fan of lithium ion batteries. They tend to retain full capacity as long as you use them on a regular basis. I bought some rechargeable batteries for my Wii remotes and I intentionally skipped over all the non-lithium batteries for this exact reason.

Jack Rammsdell wrote:

I've had the problem before, I used the controller on another ps3, try to reregister your controller to your ps3 system, I am at work at the moment so I can't see what menu it is, but there is a spot in system settings that lets you assign the ps3 controller to your system. Maybe yours has a problem of forgetting settings?

Tried that already, doesn't solve the problem. I have two controllers so the "maybe yours has" doesn't apply.

rich_is_bored wrote:

If Sony decided to cut corners in production this could also be the case with your batteries.

According to a quick google search, the PS3 controller uses Lithium-ion batteries. But thats not the issue as it happened with a brand new, fully charged controller and also happens with the USB cable connected!

crappyatticus wrote:

Does it work fine when you start the system and play for that period while the controller is plugged in?

No it doesn't work, the LED stays lit, but the controller disconnects nonetheless.

I'd hate to loose 400 bucks just to fix this problem...

What you could do is take the ps3 back to the shop & show them the problem yourself. If you can show clear evidence that it's not working correctly then they should replace it.

You wouldn't have any like wireless signals flying around that might be interfering with it for any reason? Maybe a wireless router or something? If you do, try playing with the router off or whatever could be flinging wireless signals turned off.

Hi there,

since rich posted his hardware hassles in another thread, i might as well join in with a problem that is giving me serious headaches recently.

I happen to own a 40GB PS3 PAL system (first console ever, i swear) and its having troubles with the controllers lately. I don't know if its a hardware fault or a software bug.

No matter what i do (Gaming/Blu-ray/DVD/Folding@home), my controller will disconnect and turn off in a timeframe of 1-9 hours of usage. When i try to press the PS-Button to reconnect, all 4 red LEDs are flashing constantly - connecting via USB doesn't help in this case. When i reboot the system, everything is working fine again.

I tried everything (full charge, controller reset, system format, send it in for repair two times - they say they can't reproduce the problem).

If you own a PS3, do you also experience controller problems?

-Burrito

I've had intermmittent problems with the controller seeming to flicker off but I've never had to turn the controller back on. Plus, I've probably only experienced this, maybe, 3 times since owning it (I've had it for a year I think...). I would say you have a bad controller.

Does it work fine when you start the system and play for that period while the controller is plugged in?

crappyatticus wrote:

I would say you have a bad controller.

I bought a Dualshock3 to check for this but it shows the same behaviour.

crappyatticus wrote:

Does it work fine when you start the system and play for that period while the controller is plugged in?

I'm checking this right now. Didn't consider it an option until they refused to replace the console.

I've had the problem before, I used the controller on another ps3, try to reregister your controller to your ps3 system, I am at work at the moment so I can't see what menu it is, but there is a spot in system settings that lets you assign the ps3 controller to your system. Maybe yours has a problem of forgetting settings?

What kind of battery do the PS3 controllers have in them?

Nickel metal hydride and nickel cadmium batteries require conditioning in order to charge to the proper capacity. If you just use them without fully charging and discharging them at least once a month, they start to develop a "memory" and as a result you get less and less use out of a supposedly full charge. This is common with cell phone and laptop batteries.

If Sony decided to cut corners in production this could also be the case with your batteries. If they don't yield the same capacity as they should then it's possible that the signal strength is also degraded, hence your connection to the console drops out.

I'm a fan of lithium ion batteries. They tend to retain full capacity as long as you use them on a regular basis. I bought some rechargeable batteries for my Wii remotes and I intentionally skipped over all the non-lithium batteries for this exact reason.

Jack Rammsdell wrote:

I've had the problem before, I used the controller on another ps3, try to reregister your controller to your ps3 system, I am at work at the moment so I can't see what menu it is, but there is a spot in system settings that lets you assign the ps3 controller to your system. Maybe yours has a problem of forgetting settings?

Tried that already, doesn't solve the problem. I have two controllers so the "maybe yours has" doesn't apply.

rich_is_bored wrote:

If Sony decided to cut corners in production this could also be the case with your batteries.

According to a quick google search, the PS3 controller uses Lithium-ion batteries. But thats not the issue as it happened with a brand new, fully charged controller and also happens with the USB cable connected!

crappyatticus wrote:

Does it work fine when you start the system and play for that period while the controller is plugged in?

No it doesn't work, the LED stays lit, but the controller disconnects nonetheless.

I'd hate to loose 400 bucks just to fix this problem...

What you could do is take the ps3 back to the shop & show them the problem yourself. If you can show clear evidence that it's not working correctly then they should replace it.

You wouldn't have any like wireless signals flying around that might be interfering with it for any reason? Maybe a wireless router or something? If you do, try playing with the router off or whatever could be flinging wireless signals turned off.