Difficulty

Easy

Steps

11

Time Required

                          15 - 30 minutes

Sections

4

  • Rear Cover
  • 3 steps
  • Battery
  • 2 steps
  • Motherboard Assembly
  • 4 steps
  • Buttons
  • 2 steps

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Introduction

What you need

Step 1

              Rear Cover
  • Remove the five 7.2 mm Phillips screws securing the rear cover to the controller.

Remove the five 7.2 mm Phillips screws securing the rear cover to the controller.

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Step 2

  • Press on the rear cover between the analog sticks and slightly lift the lower edge of it away from the rest of the controller.

Press on the rear cover between the analog sticks and slightly lift the lower edge of it away from the rest of the controller.

Step 3

  • 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.

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.

Step 4

              Battery
  • Lift the battery off the motherboard for enough clearance to access the battery connector.

Lift the battery off the motherboard for enough clearance to access the battery connector.

Step 5

  • 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.

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.

Step 6

              Motherboard Assembly
  • Remove the single 7.2 mm Phillips screw securing the motherboard to the front cover.

Remove the single 7.2 mm Phillips screw securing the motherboard to the front cover.

Step 7

  • Slide the trigger button retainers slightly away from the front cover.
  • Remove the #1 button on both sides.

Slide the trigger button retainers slightly away from the front cover.

Remove the #1 button on both sides.

Step 8

  • Pull the vibration motor retainers away from the front cover to dislodge the motherboard assembly.

Pull the vibration motor retainers away from the front cover to dislodge the motherboard assembly.

Step 9

  • 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.

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.

Step 10

              Buttons
  • 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.

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.

Step 11

  • 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.

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.

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

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                    Andrew Bookholt

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Kevin - Feb 29, 2012

Reply

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.

yeshuabendavid - Jan 22, 2016

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

Janne K - Mar 16, 2017

Reply

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

Larry Howard - Oct 23, 2017

Reply

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

Kristian Brandström - Nov 17, 2018

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.