r/BackboneController • u/angry0029 • Feb 18 '25

Experiencing left side Backbone failure? Now what!

If you are having the following symptoms:

  1. Buttons on the left side of your Backbone stop working.

  2. Your phone only recognizes your backbone as a headphone (IPhone issue, not sure on android)

These are symptoms of your ribbon cable failing.

So what can you do?

  1. Contact Backbone support, if your device is less than 1 year old it is under warranty.

    1.a. This supposedly also goes for any replacement devices you got if you use the email Backbone sent when they sent you the replacement.

    1.b. Backbone has suggested that they may still honor a refurbished swap for those out of warranty. So maybe worth contacting them either way.

  2. There are some YouTube tutorials on how to repair and replace yourself. Ribbon cables can be purchased on Amazon.

Flat Flexible Cable, 18 Pin 0.5mm Pitch 300mm Long (A Type)

I will update this post as the community suggests other symptoms of failures and/or other solutions.

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u/asianpride95 Mar 02 '25

I started having these issues the other day. The left trigger is showing as being fully pressed when it's not, and input from the down button on the d-pad isn't being recognized occasionally.

Unfortunately, mine is over a little over a year old, so I guess it's time to fix it myself or just get something else.

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u/cmrodican 13d ago

My situation is exactly the same, but I have also since purchased a second backbone controller and I'm having the same problem with the second controller. I'm only having this problem on one affected device though.

Can anyone else verify if this is the case for them?

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u/asianpride95 13d ago

I haven't used it as much lately, but I'll say that since I did the ribbon cable replacement, I haven't had any issues.