Xbox One Controller - Phantom stick activity (sticks completely uninstalled)

[Aimbit]

Hi All,

I bought some used Xbox one controllers "as is/untested" and they both have the same issue. The joysticks go wild for no reason while plugged in.

https://youtube.com/shorts/YTYtjUPkBX0?feature=share

I removed both joysticks assuming it was an issue with the sticks, but the video posted here is the activity of the sticks with no sticks installed! My only guess is one of the tiny IC's that reads the inputs is broken. There are two small ones near either joystick, and then one larger one. I found a replacement on Aliexpress for the larger one (I'm hoping), but I can't find either of the two smaller ones.

Any idea whats going on here?

thanks

edit: I removed one of the two small ICs that the joysticks connect to, seems to have made no difference, I’m still getting phantom stick activity from both sides. I may try removing the larger IC and see if that does anything but it’ll prob just break the controller at that point.

[stj]

first you cant just remove the sticks - that would leave the inputs floating and picking up static,
you would need to tie the center pin to an outer pin with a resistor atleast.
did you clean the board with alcahol?

[Aimbit]

Thanks. I had considered that was a possibility but I will do that.

yes I went over the board with a microscope and gave it a general cleaning.

i have two controllers with identical issues so im assuming there’s the same bad component somewhere.

[Aimbit]

In case anyone looks for this post -- there was a broken path from the left stick to the controller IC. I had to bridge a connection to make it work.