Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

11

Time Required

Suggest a time??

Sections

4

  • Rear Cover
  • 3 steps
  • Battery
  • 2 steps
  • Motherboard Assembly
  • 4 steps
  • Input Board
  • 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

              Input Board
  • Carefully push the two vibration motors out of the input board frame.

Carefully push the two vibration motors out of the input board frame.

Step 11

  • Lift the input board assembly off the motherboard.

Lift the input board assembly off the motherboard.

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

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                    Andrew Bookholt

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dragonzion007 - Jan 11, 2017

Reply

Will a repair guide be available for the newer Dualshock 3 controllers? Because they are vastly different and look to be cheaply made. The CECHZC2U A2 is the one I’m thinking of. I ask becase it’s near impossible to find the older better made controllers like the one featured here.

Jorge Rivera - Apr 3, 2021

Reply

I took my controller apart, which is the same model as the one in the pictures, to clean it because my shoulder buttons would go haywire.

When I separated the input board from the mobo, a little piece of gray foam fell from the input board, specifically from where all the contacts meet the mobo. I thought nothing of it so I cleaned the contacts and put it back together. When I went to use it, none of the buttons did anything, not even the PS button.

This is because the function that black piece of foam, which had disintegrated thus making all the insides of the controller really nasty, is to push the contacts of the input board against the ones on the mobo. So the controller wont work without it.

What I did was I cut a piece of tape and wedged it on the part of the input board that is behind the contacts of the input board. This pushed up against the input board’s contacts and made sure it was always making contact with the mobo. Then it worked just fine!

Sharing this in case someone else runs into this problem.