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DualShock 3 Buttons Replacement

What you need

  1. DualShock 3 Buttons Replacement, Rear Cover: step 1, image 1 of 1
    • Remove the five 7.2 mm Phillips screws securing the rear cover to the controller.

    I have 2 controllers I'd like to fix, and both have at least one stripped screw in them. Any tips for removing them?

    Joe - Reply

  2. DualShock 3 Buttons Replacement: step 2, image 1 of 1
    • Press on the rear cover between the analog sticks and slightly lift the lower edge of it away from the rest of the controller.

    Es ist nicht ganz eindeutig das zwischen den beiden Analog-Sticks gedrückt werden muss. Der gelbe Punkt fällt kaum auf. Ein Bild mit Daumen an dieser Stelle wäre gut oder soooo…

    Tom - Reply

    it’s not very clear but for this step you need to push where the yellow dot is shown on the picture. it’s rather tough. you kind of have to move the whole back plate a bit for it to work.

    Brandon der Blatter - Reply

    I’m stuck at this step because I can’t for the life of me undo the clip

    IttyBittyGamerVR - Reply

    Yeah I’m lost here too. I’m pushing where the dot is but nothing is happening. What am I trying to accomplish by pushing there? Is there a clasp on the inside I’m trying to undo or something? I really don’t want to break the controller by using too much force or opening it the wrong way.

    Could it be that the sixaxis I have is constructed differently? Or is this just a difficult step?

    Joe - Reply

    Adding: I ended up getting the shell off but ended up breaking off a small piece which I'm guessing was securing the front and back shells together. The trigger buttons and pieces remained intact on one of my two controllers which is what I was worried about, though I did have to fit the small trigger pieces back in.

    The one controller seemed to fit back together just fine without the small piece that broke off, and buttons seemed to feel and work fine too.

    Joe -

    I had to use a small flathead to lever it apart.

    mbelanger - Reply

  3. DualShock 3 Buttons Replacement: step 3, image 1 of 2 DualShock 3 Buttons Replacement: step 3, image 2 of 2
    • Push the rear cover slightly toward the top edge of the controller to clear the front edge of the #2 triggers.

    • Pull the rear cover away from the rest of the controller, being careful not to pop off the #2 triggers.

    • If you happen to accidentally pop off the trigger buttons, we have a trigger button guide to reattach them.

    the "trigger button guide" link links back to this page :o

    Alexander McMahon - Reply

    I accidentally popped a trigger off, and both L1 and R1, because I skimmed and didn't read this step. Fortunately it's not hard. The tricky part with the triggers is that there's a little spring on them. You have to press the side of the spring that's pointing away from the trigger against the sloped surface of the controller (look at the other trigger for reference, if you only popped one off). Then you just slide the trigger on until the "handlebar" bits near the center click into place.

    briancaraher - Reply

    The reset button – a small mostly-rectangular rubberized piece – fell out as I removed the rear cover. It covers the hole near the middle screw and has a post that presses SW1 on the motherboard.

    Fletcher Stern - Reply

  4. DualShock 3 Buttons Replacement, Battery: step 4, image 1 of 1
    • Lift the battery off the motherboard for enough clearance to access the battery connector.

  5. DualShock 3 Buttons Replacement: step 5, image 1 of 1
    • Carefully pull the battery connector away from its socket on the motherboard.

    • It may be helpful to use a pair of tweezers or pliers to grab the battery connector when you disconnect it for the first time. Only pull on the connector. Do not try to remove by pulling on the red and black wires.

    be careful with the connector, it was hard at the first time to take it away, i was close to break the wire

    Mugen - Reply

    Where can I purchase an Input Board?

    Cody - Reply

    To safely remove the connector, you can slide a thin screwdriver inside two slots that can be found on top of the connctor housing (the beige colored one), which allow you to push on the connector. Do this slowly, prying first through one slot, then through the other, until the connector is out. This will allow you to remove the connector without pulling by accident on the wires.

    Adriana Fulgenzi - Reply

    Thanks Adriana. Good advice. My local battery replacement guy will not touch PS3 controllers.

    DutchAussieProductions -

    Hi Adriana,

    I have to say, that tip really saved me. I was pulling on the wires (this is my first time doing this) and wasgoing nowhere.

    Thank you!

    Michael Vichiola -

    I highly, HIGHLY recommend that if anyone bought the protect toolkit, that they use the SIM bit as that is extremely helpful for this step!

    Michael Vichiola -

    Take note: The PS3 remote controller in this guide has some white plastic spacers shaped like ( and ) on the board which keep the battery from touching the chip. The PS3 remote controller I disassembled has no spacers on the board but rather the board has 6 holes - 4 small square corner alignment holes and two rectangular retaining holes. The battery was an LIP1472 but the battery pack casing had 4 alignment pins and 2 retaining tabs to fit into the board and hold the battery away from the chip. Why does it matter? It may or may not matter, however the fact that all designs include separation indicates that it might matter. Possible reasons are that the battery might touch the chip and cause electrostatic damage, the battery might touch the chip and not allow the chip to dissipate heat properly, or the battery might simply rattle a bit. I can not find any replacement batteries with pins and tabs. It may be necessary to create some standoffs from plastic similar to those shown above and attach to board.

    Warp9pnt9 - Reply

    My controllers new battery (ordered from ifixit) doesn’t have connectors on it like my dead battery. Help?

    Michael Vichiola - Reply

    Its literally completely flat (the battery)

    Michael Vichiola - Reply

    What's the battery's voltage?

    Keith Wucherer - Reply

    The battery is 3.7 voltage 610 mAH from Sony's LIP1359 battery. Max charging is 4.2 V and 0.4A, but I found a better one from Digikey. It is still required to modify the battery's connector.

    My new battery for the PS3 controller.

    https://www.digikey.com/en/products/deta...

    Michael Marr -

    Yes, yes, yes brilliant suggestion! I broke the wires to the battery trying to wiggle the connector off using needle-nose pliers, but pushing through those slots on the top saved the day even after that little fiasco. Yay.

    Steven Folberg - Reply

  6. DualShock 3 Buttons Replacement, Motherboard Assembly: step 6, image 1 of 1
    • Remove the single 7.2 mm Phillips screw securing the motherboard to the front cover.

    Most of the times, the only thing you need to repair to fix random key-presses is the soft plastic under the input-board connector to the motherboard.

    At step 6 just move the motherboard upwards and you'll be able to see the connector.

    Take the black soft-plastic-thing under it, and make it thicker with some tape. ( roll some tape around it 3-4 times - cut the tape properly so it can fit afterwards )

    Now put everything back.

    Random Presses are gone. Both of my controllers had this problem after a few hot summers and many hours of gameplay... both are fixed now.

    Nick Preveza - Reply

  7. DualShock 3 Buttons Replacement: step 7, image 1 of 3 DualShock 3 Buttons Replacement: step 7, image 2 of 3 DualShock 3 Buttons Replacement: step 7, image 3 of 3
    • Slide the trigger button retainers slightly away from the front cover.

    • Remove the #1 button on both sides.

  8. DualShock 3 Buttons Replacement: step 8, image 1 of 2 DualShock 3 Buttons Replacement: step 8, image 2 of 2
    • Pull the vibration motor retainers away from the front cover to dislodge the motherboard assembly.

    It should be noted that my controller (Australian) has the motors mounted directly the the housing. Once the two retaining screws were removed each motor was connected to the motherboard assembly by the wires alone.

    Arthur N - Reply

    Yes, my NA controllers were like this as well.

    geoff -

    My ~2012 EU controller (CECHZC2E) differs from this point as well. The entire white assembly comes out of the black shell by pressing in the latches on both sides of the vibration motors (you can see a small bit of white plastic stick out from under the black shell, that is where you press down).

    Martijn Storck - Reply

  9. DualShock 3 Buttons Replacement: step 9, image 1 of 1
    • Remove the motherboard assembly from the front cover.

    • When removing the motherboard assembly, try not to tilt the front cover upside down as the buttons and their covers may fall out.

    On my controller the button contact filament stayed inside the controller housing. Concerningly this exposed the contact ribbon for the buttons and sticks against the back of the logic board. However, the rest of the service with without issue, and the controller worked fine. This controller had a gray battery inside of it, and was likely a 60GB launch controller.

    geoff - Reply

  10. DualShock 3 Buttons Replacement, Buttons: step 10, image 1 of 2 DualShock 3 Buttons Replacement, Buttons: step 10, image 2 of 2
    • Lift the rubber button contacts off the front controller cover to access the plastic button covers.

    • Lift any damaged plastic button covers out of the controller cover.

    Does this include the start, select, and home button covers as well?

    Dalton Vander Weide - Reply

  11. DualShock 3 Buttons Replacement: step 11, image 1 of 1
    • The D-pad has a three-armed plastic piece that must be installed as shown before installing the rubber button pad for it to work properly.

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

95 other people completed this guide.

6 Comments

My Dualshock 3 didn't have the three armed plastic piece on the D-pad. Mine's a red one, relatively recent. My controller also had the problem where it would randomly send button press events when using the L-stick. I traced the problem to the ribbon connector between the board and the contacts, which was very dirty. I cleaned the contacts and put the controller back together with an additional rubber shim between the back cover and the battery, which got rid of the creakiness of the somewhat loose-fitting case. Works great now.

Kevin - Reply

How do you clean the contacts? Is there a special way?

yeshuabendavid -

Thanks. ^^ Tightened screws after opening it and this kind of problem got solved.

Janne K - Reply

Are these instructions the same for the dual-shock 2?

Larry Howard - Reply

TNX-could not really figure out where the 3-armed plastic should fit in but tnx to step 11 i know-now im going to dismantle my controller again.

Kristian Brandström - Reply

Can someone help me? I opened my Dualshock 3 and tried to exchange batteries with another one, but when I reassembled it, none of the buttons work.

g.v3ronez - Reply

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