Repairing an Xbox One Controller (Faulty LB/RB Button)

Faulty/ unresponsive game controller is one of the biggest irritation at all time I would say. We can easily return it back to shop or contact the manufacturer to sort this out if your device is still under warranty. However, mine warranty was over and I also do not have the patient to wait for the replacement. I prefer to sort thing in house and here is ONE of the solution of unresponsive button.

In my case, the RB button is not responsive, I had to hold it for a full 1-2 sec in order to have it work and it killed a lot of lifes. :O

Before you continue reading, please make sure that your LB/RB button still has the same clear clicking feeling. Because this may not be your solution, it could be the lever is broken or some other problem.

Tool you need for this repair:

1. T8H screwdriver - to open up the screws? and MS is being very difficult in letting people to probe around their products?

2. Pry stick - or whatever helps - pry stick is better cause it doesnt damage the outlook of the controller.

3. Soldering iron - I got a Not too shabby station and it helps a lot, especially those cheap iron doesnt have a temperature control and I could easily damage the board by lifting the pad or ...... errr....

4. Replacement button - you just need it.

5. Multi-meter - cheap can also do the work.

Step 1: Disassembly

First, you will need a T8H screw Driver. you may be able to tick away the middle pin and have the normal Torx driver to open it.

There are plenty of video and instructions of how to disassemble a xbox controller and Im skipping the disassembly here. (Because I only realized it when I have disassembled my controller and Im too lazy to put it back on and disassemble it again. )

Step 2: Locate the Button

After you disassembled the shell, you will see there is the button at the spot the screwdriver pointed at.

You can also see your LB/RB button's lever, if its broken, it could be the reason why it doesnt work. You can easly replace it with the online parts.

Anyways, if you flip it, you need to find out there are pins which connected to the my faulty RB button. There are 4 pins there and 2 on the left are connected to the button itself and the other 2 pin on the right are connected to the supporting plate of the button.

The way to test the button is using a multi-meter. Switch it to continuity mode and connect it to those 2 pins on the left. and use your third hand to click the button and see if the button response immediately or not. A good click button should response right away and you should be hearing a beep when the button is pressed.

The result is my button doesnt response well, it has that lag or sometimes just not work at all. You can also compare with the replacement button and see if there is any different. Then I concluded that the problem is this button. IF NOT, THIS REPAIR INSTRUCTIONS DOESNT HELP YOU.

We will need to de-solder the button out along with the supporting plate, because they are molded together.

Step 3: Desoldering

I switched my iron to 316 degrees, it shouldnt burn anything if you dun let the iron sit on a point for too long.

After removing the button I cleaned the pin hole up and here are views of both top and bottom.

You can also see there are 2 buttons, the white one is the original and has the backing plate, it has 2 plastic bits hold the button in place. you can simply scrape it off and the button should come loose easily. Then compare with the replacement button (the black one). The replacement should have the same height as the original one, some buttons is longer and they are not suitable replacement.

After confirming the button size and height are the same, we can start puting everything back.

Note: the replacement button I have has shorter legs, as long as they can probe into the hole, they are fine.

Step 4: Putting the Button Back

To stick the back plate back on to the button, you can simply just hot glue it. It should be a very tight fit, just wiggle it a bit and you will get there.

You can also see the button is not sticking out as much as the original one. It doesn't matter as long you solder it well. Please make sure the solder is 100% connected to the button and the board. Otherwise you wont get any response at all.

Step 5: Clean Time!! Reassemble and Finish

So now we are pretty much done and the button should work 100% like new. Before that, just clean you controller a bit, since now you can access the area where the dirt hid. Look how dirty is the cotton bud.

Before you reassemble it, just have a quick test with your console or computer. If they are all good, go ahead and reassemble it.

Step 6: The End

I realized that mechanical button are quite easy to fail due to frequency use, it might or might not be the manufacturer's fault. Think about how hard you hold the controller when you are nervous and how tender you treat put them back when you are done playing.

Anyways, thank you for your time and hope this tutorial could help you to fix your controller.

Not too shabby for the first instructables eh? :P