Hello.
Just as the title says, I need some help repairing my PS Vita.
Its a Fat unit and (apparently) only the left side of the console is the one that needs repair:
The joystick is permanently going up
The D-pad won’t register down and left presses
The L button doesn’t seem to work
The PS (home) button works fine but doesn’t light up anymore.
Im thinking that I should replace the left board and maybe the joystick but im not too sure where I could get them. Does anybody know where I could get it from?
As you seem to already be aware, there are three boards in a PS Vita - the main motherboard and then left and right “daughter” boards for the controls. So, yes, with all those faults it does sound like there is either a fault with the left board or possibly with the ribbon cable that connects it to the main board. Although the L (left shoulder) button is connected directly to the main board with its own ribbon cable.
Have you opened the console and inspected it? I would say check the cables first - make sure they’re inserted correctly and that there is no damage to either the cables themselves or the clips holding them in place.
If there’s no apparent damage the best way to proceed would be process of elimination by swapping parts. You can find replacement parts (both daughter boards and ribbon cables) on eBay and AliExpress.
thanks for your reply. After opening the console it I saw that the clip holding the ribbon isn’t there and, it being so tiny, I don’t think i’m gonna be able to find it.
Is really that the reason why the buttons doesn’t work? Do I have to replace the whole board because of that?
Is it the clip on the main board or daughter board end? They are required to hold the cables in place and push down on them to ensure connection, so yeah if there’s no clip it could stop everything on the left side from working.
I actually have the same problem with my Vita, except it’s the clip on the main board that’s broken and that would obviously be more expensive to replace. I found that if I pushed down firmly on the cable socket everything would work, so I took a small piece of really firm foam and stuck it onto the back of the case with double sided tape, so when the console is assembled that foam pushes down on the cable in the socket and makes the connection.
So I don’t know if that will work in your case, but you could try pressing down firmly on the clipless socket to see if the controls start working, and if so then you could do that or something like it. With larger cables/sockets it’s possible to hold them in place using things like a thin piece of plastic or even paper or cardboard, but the Vita is a bit small for that. Repairing the clip or replacing the board would be the ideal fix though.