PSP - Analog stick and D-pad

[Merz]

Whenever I hit down on my D-pad it moves to analog stick and keeps on moving it until i turn the damn thing off. The analog stick is also not that sensitive when moving right and down, I can tell this because in Monster Hunter i can only walk right and down.

I've tried doing the calibration thing on the system settings menu and it doesnt help much. I can't get my faceplate completely off because the head of one of the screws is stripped. I suppose I could get it off if I really wanted to though. I just bought this thing and it's nearly unplayable. What do I do?

[dedalusdedalus]

Sounds like there might be dust or dirt clogging up the stick. If it's just dust, you could try opening the faceplate as much as you can, then using compressed air to hopefully dislodge whatever is messing up your analog stick/d-pad.

[lwcook]

That screw is gonna have to come out. There is a little clear plastic piece with metal contacts in it that sits between the motherboard and the analog stick. This is the only physical and electrical connection the two have.

In my experience, either the stick is no good it self, or the little plastic piece is dirty and/or not sitting right.

A replacement stick is cheap as is a replacement face plate.

[Merz]

I broke the face plate trying to take it off. It seems like a piece of the plastic ripped through the PSP unit with the screw inside. I assume the analog stick was damaged as it appeared to be clean. Anyone know a website I can buy a faceplate and an analog stick from that ships to europe or is located in europe?

[executioner]

Dealextreme sells $3 analogs which work fine, but you should order at least two if playing monster hunter a lot you will break it because they are a bit less durable than the originals but you can't beat their price. They probably also sell replacement faceplates.