Guitar Hero 3 is broken
Sad but true folks. A design flaw with the new Les Paul controller means that it may be almost impossible to grab all of the achievements from the Xbox 360 version. And the PS3 version? It suffers the same problems apparently.
I’ve been a huge fan of the Guitar Hero series since it arrived on the 360 back in April this year. Incredibly frustrating to begin with, I soon learned that the only way to progress was the learn how to use the controller correctly. The Gibson X-Plorer guitar is possibly one of the most sturdy gaming peripherals I’ve ever owned, having been used daily since it’s arrival (and really put through it’s paces on some occasions!) it’s never given me the slightest bit of bother. Having never attempted a multi-player game, I was eager to get Guitar Hero 3 on release to have two guitars available - it now seems that dream has been shattered too.
The new Les Paul controller certainly took a bit of getting used to, but with a little time it grew on me. I prefered the smaller form factor and the lighter feeling fret buttons to the more plastic feel of the previous guitar. Two player Guitar Hero was good to go - well, for a while anyway.
One evening, I noticed I was faring particularly badly. If you are anything like me, a bad night on Guitar Hero can be just a tad frustrating. I put it down to lack of sleep and thought nothing more of it, I’ll try again soon. Next evening, exactly the same experience and in some cases only hitting the mark 80% of the time. Then I noticed something a bit strange, my green fret button wasn’t working - then it was - then it wasn’t - then it was - then it wasn’t, you get the drift. I did try troubleshooting by doing the usual things, reconnecting the controllers, rebooting the console - but it made no difference. Time for a screwdriver…
Opening up the Les Paul is simple, just take out the screws and the neck covering pops off. What lies beneath is a ribbon cable running the length of the controller which connects the pressure sensitive pads behind the fret buttons. The controller board behind the fret buttons also comes off if you feel the desire to do so.
What caught my eye was a row of 3 sharp plastic ’spikes’ puncture (image below) through the ribbon of cables. I’m convinced the only purpose for these is to retain the ribbon in place, but to have them actually puncture the cable seems a bit bizarre. Are they breaking connections within the cable? It’s certainly a possibility if they have been put together in a hurry. Thinking it can only be a bad thing, I removed the cable to let it free. Before putting the neck back together again I made sure the controller board was fastened properly. Time to try again…
I’m not sure what solved the problem, but it certainly seemed to work - co-op career mode was back on. Then it happened again, and it’s still happening. Just the green button, but enough to make you just not want to play the bloody thing anymore. Guitar Hero 3 is back in the box.
That was the last of it I thought - obviously I was just unlucky to end up with a duff Les Paul in the box. But during a trip to one of my favorite forum haunts, I came across this posting “Faulty GH Controller”
“Basically the green button is not registering button presses, and this is getting worse and worse”
Some responses suggest the connections between the Les Paul and it’s neck can be poor causing these ‘drop outs’ but in trying that out as a solution, I got nowhere.
The Wikipedia entry for Guitar Hero 3 has a whole list of technical issues with the controller
- 1UP reported that none of the versions allow players to play offline Co-Op Quickplay mode, a feature which was included in Guitar Hero II
- GameSpy had some technical issues with the PlayStation 3’s controllers and online matchmaking, noting “…[the included USB dongle] functions on 2.4 GHz wireless, rather than the console’s built-in Bluetooth.
- Some users of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 wireless Les Paul guitar controller have reported issues surrounding fret buttons not registering when pushed, wrong fret buttons registering, and the tilt sensor always registering tilt.
- Separate from the detachable neck problems, many PS3 users are reporting problems with the strum bar’s ability to register quick alternate strumming, even claiming that the low scores recorded by PS3 users compared to Wii and 360 users indicate that there’s a problem with all of the PS3 guitars.
- Though the Wii version of the game was advertised as supporting Dolby Pro Logic II, users have reported that the game outputs in neither Pro Logic II nor stereo, providing only mono sound.
- The PC version has been criticized for having very high system requirements, but still suffering from lag and slowdowns, even on high-end systems with the graphics tuned down to a minimum, supposedly due to the PC version being a near-direct port of the Xbox 360 version.
With that list of technical ‘issues’ you have to wonder if getting all the achievements is even a possibility. Do you have Guitar Hero 3? Are you afflicted with any of these ‘issues’? Let us know in the comments section…
Posted by Bleem - December 23rd, 2007 -
December 24th, 2007 at 1:36 am
All I have to say is that you should get Rock Band.
The multiplayer experience is awesome.
Why get a game where you can only play guitar……I will never buy a GH game again.
December 24th, 2007 at 1:46 am
Wow i have been having the exact same problem (green button not working) with my x360 controller. And the worst part of it is that I’m more afraid of it not working than the fret actually messing up. Im not even trying to gold star songs because I’m worried the button won’t work at the wrong time
December 24th, 2007 at 3:12 am
I have the same problem but with the red and yellow fret buttons. The red worked on and off and would get very frustrating when playing on Expert trying to get high scores or FCs. Now, the yellow button has the same problem and the red seems to be better. I applied for an RMA on Red Octane’s website to return the thing and get a new one, so I’ll be sending it back soon. Hopefully the second one doesn’t have the same problem because they don’t extend their warranty on replacements…this is my only shot at the damn thing working.
December 24th, 2007 at 4:08 am
[…] Well lets start with some really good news. Guitar Hero 3 is broken!! I won’t go into mass detail so to cut a long story short the green button doesn’t work on some controllers because the cable underneath looks like this. […]
December 24th, 2007 at 5:06 am
My orange button stopped working. It is the connection between the neck and the body. The pins can get stuck or bent. I did the IDE cable mod. I clipped the wires on both sides and used an IDE cable to splice it back together. Works perfect now. Make sure you leave enough extra cable so that you can partially remove the neck if you want to be able to change face plates.
December 24th, 2007 at 9:21 am
This problem happened with me when I first got GH3. I tried out the guitar controller and the Green Fret was working then wasn’t. However, I fixed that problem by disconnecting the neck, and SLAMMING it back into the body.This might be a risky solution, but it absolutely worked for me. Then later, I just had the give the neck a mere nudge into the body and it continued working. Up to this day, I’ve had no such problems again. Maybe it’s worth a shot for everyone else?
December 24th, 2007 at 11:23 am
Thanks for the suggestion Kenneth - that did nothing to solve the problem though.
And to those of you who say ‘just buy Rock Band’, well I would If I could - sadly though it’s not available in the UK for another 3 months or so.
December 24th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Man, I just opened this gift for my birthday and 2 fucking buttons dont work, what a load of bullshit. Im never buying their shit again.
December 24th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
I got a Guitar Hero 3 for the PS3 for christmas today and the guitar doesnt seem to be registering with the console so hasnt been able to be used.
Will be returning it tomorrow and after reading about all the problems am considering getting something else!
December 25th, 2007 at 1:46 am
redoctane/activision is not a hardware manufacturer, they should let other 3rd party hardware manufacturer handle the hardware part and focus on the software, too greedy and consumer like us suffers….
Rock Band rocks….I can just see a lot of better and well-designed hardware for Rock Band as they actively support 3rd party hardware developer….I can’t wait to see that happens, PC industry has proven that again and again…. platform with wide selections also win……
December 25th, 2007 at 6:04 am
We all have the same problem, guitar hero 3 PC Version is broken..and the worst part of it is that LAG thing.I played it in playstation2 i never miss in the strum when i played it..I’m very disappointed..
December 25th, 2007 at 7:14 am
My strum doesn’t work on the down press on my wireless controller on X360. Any ideas?
December 25th, 2007 at 8:16 am
Before all of you who hate GH3 decide to buy Rock Band instead, do some research on its guitar. Almost every single person who has purchased it has had the strum-bar malfunction. They are currently working on a fix for it, but right now, it’s not a matter of if your guitar will break, but when. If you have a GH2 controller, though, Rock Band is amazing! So is GH3, actually, if you’re lucky enough to have a good guitar.
December 25th, 2007 at 10:37 am
So i don’t have a problem with any of the buttons but my problem is that when i’m playing, the tilt sensor always registers that i’m tilting the guitar when i’m not. this makes me very mad when i’m trying to build up my star power and it won’t let me
December 25th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
Omg, never knew this was such a widespread problem.
My brother gave me GH3 for x-mas. Tried the game same night and the red fretbutton didn’t register from time to time. and after 2 hrs of gameplay it stopped working entirely.
God damn it, take responsability for the worthless piece of crap you’ve produced.
Don’t get me wrong.. game is great. But this pisses me off.
If you’re gonna charge me alot of my hard earned money, then you better make sure the stuff I’m buying works properly.
December 25th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
I got GH 3 today and i’m having one annyoing problem.
For about 2 hours all was fine then all of a sudden whenever I held down the Green and Red Frets and pressed my strum bar downwards it would show me pressing the yellow fret on the screen which stop me from getting G/R notes.
I’ve strummed upwards and it works perfectly but I seem to be crapper that way. I’ve disconnected the neck and body several times and put them back but nothing works.
December 26th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Yep, same problem here, green button not working on the wireless controller after about 3 weeks.
I’m extremely disappointed to find that so many other people are having the same issue
December 26th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
Am i the only one who has the problem that when i presses a buttom, it takes like a second for the game to react? Ive tried the guitar on frets on fire and it worked perfectly…
December 26th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Thanks for the heads up guys - I know of one game I’m glad I didn’t get!
December 26th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
yep ive had the same problem i got the wii version gh3 and it worked fine after about 4 hours but then the green button just stopped working i would move to different parts of the room and it would work for about 10 minutes then not work…. i read on the internet that some problem may be that the detachable neck for the wii may have been slammed in to hard and that the pins inside got jammed so you have to go inside and wiggle them out.. i havent tried it yet but i may if i cant get it fixed by some pro or my mom buys me a new one
December 26th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
year ive def been having the same prblems with the fret buttons.I believe this is greatly due to the detachable guitar. When I unplug or ubclip the guitar and plug it back it it seems to work fine again. Its getting very annoying so today I’m going to go to best buy, uying a new game swap guitars then take the defected one back. Its what I reconmendI
December 26th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
my axe won’t register with the 360 console at all, any suggestions to get it to connect
December 27th, 2007 at 5:53 am
um i think i might have a conclusion for the wii GH3 just slam the detachable neck into the guitar.. i know it sounds crazy but it works for me and saves you from buying a whole new guitar.. mine works fine now just every now and then i have to nudge the neck in some
December 27th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
i just got the wii version of GH 3 and the strum(at least that’s what i think it is called) bar doesn’t work. it’s not registering it at all
December 28th, 2007 at 10:47 am
my mate and i bought both GH2 & 3 so we could play co-op and now the GH3 guitars strum has gone completely it works up but not down gonna take it a apart later and see if we can sort it but it doesnt look good.
December 28th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
Yep, my GH3 360 wireless guitar broke too. At first the strum bar wouldn’t work while strumming down, but now it wont work at all.
I just want the guitar to work so i can use it as a bass for ROCK BAND!
December 28th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
I bought GH3 for the 360, and my Les Paul controller started flaking out on me too. I noticed it a little less than a month after I bought it, but think it was happening before then. Kind hard to tell when you suck at the game. LOL But now I’m positive that it’s flaking out on me, especially since the neck of the guitar feels so loose now. Here’s to cheap design!
December 28th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
I will drop Activision a quick email just now and ask them for a response to this post - It certainly seems to be more widespread then I first thought
December 29th, 2007 at 1:56 am
How do you get achievements for Wii? or are there any?
December 29th, 2007 at 3:12 am
aww crap. I got my GH3 and the guitar exactly a month ago and today, the red and yellow buttons started to do that. Working, not working.. first it just seemed to cut the long chords off, but it’s getting worse all the time.
And since the guitar is so unreliable (which is really a bummer, since I LOVED that guitar above all the other guitars in the series) I think I’m trying to either get a refund or .. at least a new guitar, WITH extended varranty.
Why is EVERYTHING so crappy nowadays? My xbox 360 has broke once(the red ring of death), sent it to get repaired and they changed the motherboard, it came back and now some of my games don’t work and they freeze alot, so I’ve got to get it fixed again.
And now this… My faith for xbox 360 is really going down.. And.. Do they even TEST OUT THE PRODUCTS? Or is everyone just that damn hungry for money that they just halfass everything and get it on the market ASAP?
So, bloody, annoying. But yeah, I assume all the guitars on different consoles are like that, but.. yeah. I’m really starting to hate xbox 360 because of it’s quality.
December 29th, 2007 at 3:15 am
And don’t get me wrong, I loved xbox 360 most of the all consoles. Everything in it is just great.. the online options, profiles, marketplace, games, controller.. but this is just starting to get to me that nothing, I buy, works.
Someone really should start suing people so they’d learn not to fuck with their customers with NON-COMPLETE products.
December 29th, 2007 at 6:51 am
I have the PS2 version and it seems as though when I push the green button sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. When this happens and the green button doesn’t work, the rest of the buttons stop working as well, until a few seconds later they all start to work again.
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:26 am
Well actually my Blue Button doesn’t work just like ur greent button should i try what u did take it apart and undo the cable or what . What do u think i should do.
January 6th, 2008 at 11:06 am
I got GH3 for xbox 360 on boxing day and it worked fine until about 4 days ago..
similar problem as you lot… though for me the red yellow and blue buttons cut in and out..
it tried Cody’s suggestion (Dec 27th) with taking the neck out and putting it back in ..and while there was some definite improvement but after about a day the same old song and dance started rearing its ugly head again..
January 13th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
my bastard green button wont work. i have the xplorer controller 4 gh2, so 2day im getting gh3. what controllers dont break??? tell me by AIM; i’m “shapsinator”
January 16th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
yeah my yellow button is cutting out too and the thing that sucks about it is that I got it from ebay (not used, factory sealed) it is just faulty. Do you guys think that they’ll consider giving me a new one?
January 19th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Freakin… same thing is happening to my green and yellow buttons… sometimes they register and sometimes they don’t… this is a loada crap
January 24th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
I have GH3 wireless & when I use use the green and the red at the same time, yellow also comes on and wont allow me to hit any long notes!! This sucks. I also have rock band & I just returned my guitar because the strum broke. It was a VERY easy return process though.
January 25th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
With my guitar, the star power doesn’t activate unless you hold the guitar vertical for a second, when i first got it you only had to lift it a bit above 45 degrees.
January 26th, 2008 at 6:21 am
my guitar hero 3 guitar for xbox 360 screwed up too. the green fret button wouldnt work and when i would tilt it for star power it would completely shut down the fret board and i wouldnt be able to play anything. I went and returned it and got a new one and now theres a problem with the red fret button and when i use star power it kinda skips and misses the notes. Im gonna return it AGAIN but i dunno. Im thinking of just buying the game alone and picking up an explorer cus this is bs.
January 26th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Bleem, did you get a response from Activision yet? We need a new gibson controller!
January 26th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
GH3 PS2, strum bar doesn’t go down, real pain switching back and forth!! Who’s got a fix???
January 26th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
GH3 PS2, strum bar doesn’t go down, real pain switching back and forth!! Who’s got a fix???
January 27th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Our Xbox 360 wireless Les Paul controller was also having intermittent problems with the green fret button, and it was getting steadily worse. The problem seemed likely to be the very loose connection between the neck and the guitar.
MY SOLUTION: I did not want to replace any wires in the guitar, just in case it didn’t work, and we still wanted to try to return it. Also, I wasn’t convinced getting a new guitar would solve the problem, since it seems to be a design flaw. So, here is what I did that seems to have solved the problem:
I took an approximately 1″ x 2″ piece of corrugated cardboard and placed it inside the connection area for the neck, flush with the back. Then I carefully slid the neck back in. It now fits very snuggly and does not wiggle around. And the green fret button problem has disappeared completely. My 9-year-old is ecstatic!
I hope this helps.
January 27th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
My 360 wireless Les Paul has other issues. It shuts down constantly during play. Sometimes a lot, sometimes a little. I’ve played for 45 minutes or so without problems and sometimes I can’t even get through a song without it shutting down 3 or 4 times. Grrr.
January 28th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Green button stopped working yesterday. If you tilt the guitar the button works. I’m taking it back. I hope someone who can make a difference sees this and other Web sites with complaints and decides to do something about it. With this type of game the controller should be extremely robust given the obvious amount of abuse it will have to take just being used normally. It’s quite sad this is not the case.
January 29th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
We have GH3 for the PS3. Worked fine for a couple of weeks. Now our green button isn’t working. We also have Rock Band and the strummer quit working on the guitar (it’s being replaced). Sounds like they should have taken more time to make the instruments more usable before releasing them. I love both games but am extremely frustrated right now.
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:18 am
Yeah I had problems with my 360 Les Paul blue button. Read some of the post and decided to try and disconnect the neck then snap it back in place. It works fine now, but for how long? Next time I will try the cardboard trick. If all else fails Guitar swap here I come. Both game are so dope so Hopefully Red Octane can get it together. Rock Band has a pretty good Hardware warranty thing going on, GH need something like that. Overall a 3rd Party needs a wireless guitar for the 360 Money in the bank.
February 2nd, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Exactly the same problem here, with the green fret. Working, not working. I’m going to take it back to PC World when I get the chance; it’s still under their warranty, and thankfully I’ve got two copies of the game (for the two guitars). But still, I’m very disappointed that it broke less than a month after I bought it.
February 4th, 2008 at 12:28 am
same problem here. worked for a few weeks, now it doesn’t. yellow and now green intermittently working.
February 8th, 2008 at 11:12 am
I managed to fix mine last week and havent had any problems since…
What you need to do is remove the back of the neck and take the connectors from the bottom of the retaining clips out - it’s a tight fit so give it a wiggle. Once you get it removed, place it IN FRONT of the retaining clips and fit the neck back together. When you reconnect the neck to the guitar, it’ll be much tighter and you’ll need to apply a bit of pressure to get the lock in place - but it does work!
February 10th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
i have the same problem but for wii…my yellow button never works. we had problems with the game when we first got it but then it seemed to get better. then last week it kept playing the wrong song and the buttons werent working. now its just the yellow button and it is really getting on my nerves. i cant play any of the songs without failing!!!!!!!! the button works and then it stops, then it works and then it stops!!! if you know how to fix this pleaseeeee tell me!!!!!!!!!
February 11th, 2008 at 10:08 am
I had the same problem as the original poster. Pierced wire, buttons malfunctioning etc.
I cut away the pierced area which may have been unnecessary since the problem was still there.
The solution was the scrape the fretbutton contact surfaces on the circuitboard in the neck . Scrape it down to bare metall. You´ll get a black powder coming off. A colleague of mine told me erasers are great for removing oxide on circuitboards. You might want to try that. I went hardcore with a screwdriver
Now everything works fine again. Hope this helps you.
February 12th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
i hadn’t owned GH3 for that long when the green fret began to encounter problems, it seemed that however hard i pressed it it wouldn’t work, but sometimes it was fine, obviously the same problem you are describing here, normally when it stops working i just give it a WHACK! that solves the problem for a while, actually it hasn’t not responded for a while now, hopefully it will stay that way.
February 13th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
i have the same problem with the green button, but also the red and blue and even the orange fret buttons are getting stuck when they are pushed. does anyone know why?
February 13th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
We have had GH3 for about a month or so.. and lately me and my lil bro have noticed the same problem with the red fret button. Yes it is the detachable neck. the button stops working since the neck wobbles around. I looked inside and none of the pins are bent or missing, but on the circuit on the neck, there seems to be a small hole on 1 of the 8 rounded circuits.. i believe it might’ve been caused by the pins being too sharp…
I also tried all the fret buttons on practice while wobbling the neck around, and they all worked fine, the red one was the only one going on and off..
as for solutions i’m looking for one myself.
February 15th, 2008 at 4:21 am
Anyone have the problem where your x360 guitar hero3 guitar just KEEPS strumming? When i’m playing a song, I can’t down strum, but when im in the song list set or in the main menu, it acts as if im holding the strum bar down…anyone know how to fix?
February 16th, 2008 at 8:17 am
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
SOLUTION
Thanks Bleem for the tip, this worked for him, I tried it, and it worked for me in fixing my broken green fret button:
——————————
What you need to do is remove the back of the neck and take the connectors at the bottom of the neck out from the retaining clips - it’s a tight fit so give it a wiggle. Once you get it removed, place it IN FRONT of the retaining clips and fit the neck back together. When you reconnect the neck to the guitar, it’ll be much tighter and you’ll need to apply a bit of pressure to get the lock in place - but it does work!
February 16th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
OK Guys,
I work on computers/electronics for a living.
Fret issue: Symptom: Fret not registering. (not in any particular order)
Cause1: Punctured cable due to sloppy craftsman’s ship. Solution: dislodge cable, reassemble (may work, may not, depending of if innards of cable are damaged.)
Cause2: Poor connection between neck and base of guitar. Solution1: clean connectors on the neck side with a standard pencil eraser. Solution2: Check pins on base side to ensure they are not bent. IF bent: attempt to straighten with needle nose pliers if possible. If not possible, you are out of luck. IF not bent: push pins in to ensure they have some spring to them. Sometimes pins are rigid and keep the rest of the pins from connecting properly. (NOTE: slamming the neck back into place is about the same as this step, but more risky in the case that a pin is rigid that would cause it to bend.)
Symptom: Down fret is not registering
Cause: Faulty switch on strum board. Solution: none unless you can unsolder the switch and find a replacement. I have spoken with a GH representative. They offered no consolation for this issue. There will be no fix for this issue unless you fall under the 30 day warranty and catch it in time or buy the extended 90 day warranty. Sorry folks.
February 17th, 2008 at 9:40 am
I Got GH3 for PC yesterday it works fine with no lagg, (keyboard) but my Gibson Guitar does’t work, also it is an x360 controller for PC? is that where the problem is? please help!!!
February 19th, 2008 at 6:44 am
I’m not having an issue with my green fret, but rather my blue. sometimes it won’t register but for the most part it does. My real issue is when I attempt to press the green red and yellow frets down all at the same time is considers it to be a strumming and will ruin whatever multiplier I have making it difficult to play songs that require all three frets to be pushed at the same time (slipknot in GH3 for example). And it’s not in just guitar hero 3, it’s also in RockBand and GH2. Any ideas on how to fix this?
February 21st, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Thanks to BLEEM and TIM(Computer Tech), I dislodged the cable from the retaining pins and relocated contact board to in front of retaining slots, cleaned contacts with pencil eraser, reassembled and it works like a charm, better than when out of box now that the neck is tighter fit to body of guitar.
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:59 am
Hey guys I have an EXPLORER controller the white/wired kind and I am also having problems.. My green button doesn’t work at all nor does the (down) strum.. I have only had the game about three weeks and haven’t played it that much… Also it seems like everybody else on here got one of the wireless Les Paul controllers with their GH3 but mine came with the explorer????
March 6th, 2008 at 12:47 am
I have the Les Paul Guitar Wireless Controller for the XBOX360…everything worked fine at first but then the Orange Fret got a little harder to press, and now the Blue Fret works from time to time, sometimes I’m playing a long blue note…and then the Blue Fret goes off as if I wasn’t pressing it anymore…it’s pretty annoying.
March 8th, 2008 at 2:22 am
To fix, take off the neck and use a pencil eraser to clean the metal connection on the neck. It worked for me:)
March 10th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
I have the same problem with my xbox360 controller. actually i have 2 guitars, and in the beginning they worked fine and multiplayer was just awesome.. But then everything got ruined and i dont even bother to play my gh 3 too much. On my first guitar that came with the game the blue and the red fret buttons dont work all the time and on my newer one that i bought for multiplayer gaming the red and yellow fret buttons dont work. I spent lots of money on it, and now its quite unplayable :F
Gets me pissed. Do u know whether its posible to return the broken/unfunctioning guitars and get new ones to replace them?
March 10th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
[edit]
should have checked whether there are solutions in there.. thought that the latest posts are on the top. well.. my fault. just cleaned the connectors of the guitars neck-part with a normal eraser and BAM it works =D
March 23rd, 2008 at 7:54 pm
I had GH3 for the XBOX 360 since christmas it worked fine but recently the orange fret button just dosent want to work i press it down but it dosent read it on the game and sometimes it happens with my blue fret buttonas well but not as much as my orange one and im out of warranty as well what can i do
March 27th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
i found out what caused my guitar to break its not the buttons sticking in it isnt the pins needing cleaned( i tried rubbing the tracks with an eraser) after the warranty expired on it I though i get the neck of the guitar a pull the cover off and look inside i find that the wire connecting the PCB with the fret buttons on to the conntacts on the bottom of the neck of the guitar had 6 holes in them(Im not joking) no wonder the guitar is broke the wires are damaged.
That really boiled my piss and just shows how bad these guitars are really made its like the Xbox 360 all over again XO
April 1st, 2008 at 6:51 am
I have GH 3 for PC. My computer runs it maxed out with no lag, and i’ve had it since october with no problems. but like the rest of you all the controller had a malfunction. If i even slightly press on the down strummer it continuously strums down until I tap it a couple of times. I Took it apart and could not see anything wrong with it. Thats okay though because a bought a replacement from my friend for $20 pretty good deal if you ask me.
April 4th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
My lad bought GH3 before Christmas. It failed outside the 90 days (March). I was expecting trouble based on this and other blogs and forums. We just politely asked the retailer (Amazon). They have replaced it without quibbling. See my blog on the subject http://www.dynamisys.co.uk/ForumsBlogs/Blogs/tabid/300/Default.aspx. Seems A1 customer service to me. We are in the UK dunno if that makes a difference.
April 11th, 2008 at 8:25 am
ive bought my les paul during christmas ive encountered 1 problem about the buttons after few days no problem now my strum bar wont strum down WTF>
April 15th, 2008 at 1:24 am
yeah, i had gh3 for wii, and after hearing about some of the downloadable content, and having my controller dirtied up by some guy who decided he would play my copy after supergluing a hovercraft together, i switched to the 360 version. ive consistently had a problem with an overactive tilt sensor which could be fixed by sitting when playing, but recently my blue and orange buttons became a bit spotty performancewise. we fixed it by taking a couple of tight rubber bands and strapping them to the “lefty” strap hook thing on the back of the neck, pulling them across the back of the guitar, and hooking them to the strap hook on the butt end of the guitar. i know this has solved the issues with the buttons, and may have solved the tilt sensor thing, thus indicating that it wasnt a tilt sensor issue, but instead a neck issue. gosh darn detachable necks!
May 6th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
i bought 2 guitars. what a shit load of fuck!
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:49 pm
So I’m pleased to hear it’s not just me however mine seems to be a more sudden death than most peoples. Just picked up my guitar to play and the green fret just isn’t working at all - as in at all. So cannot even play badly with it because I can’t press select on the menu screen! Only had it three months - the store I bought it from has a year’s replacement policy for faulty good so may try and get it replaced.
May 24th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
my problem seems to be more substantial than most, in that my green and orange frets work fine, but the red, blue and yellow rarely work, at first i thought it was a problem with the wireless connection between the guitar and the xbox, but after playing for a couple of hours, it became clear that it was the detachable neck, will try using the rubber to clean the connectors, and the rubber band idea, hopefully ill get it sorted, because it seems even a replacement isnt guaranteed to work!!
June 7th, 2008 at 5:19 am
yeah on my les paul guitar it had been working normally for a while, and then suddenly it was the orange, not green fret, i was having this problem with. either way, i think i have the same problem. i tried disconnecting the neck of the guitar, plugging it back in, etc., nothing works. also, it takes me a good 5 seconds of shoving the gutiar around before the star power activates
June 25th, 2008 at 3:01 am
for me my green fret button started to fail after a month and a half or so. then got my dad to open it and he cleaned the circuit board with some solvent and it lasted about a day or so, then he cleaned it with some rubbing alcohol and it lasted for about 3/4ths of Barracuda, so i suggest that you either get some solvent and clean your cicuit board when you need to or you can do what i’m going to do, if you live in Colorado, go to
9news.com and tell them about what’s going down and tell them that you want a recall,
who knows, maybe Redoctane will resond to the outburst and give us our money back
or fix the god dang problem that’s making us waste our money on this bullcrap.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:09 am
Well, Gaming Mom was right.
if you cut a piece of cardboard to fit in the back of the neck attachment, it will work perfectly. it has worked amazingly for me. i just got 450,000 points on Number of the Beast on Hard. it works. TRY IT.
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:09 pm
hey dude, got the same problem here, ive put some elastics on the attachments for the band u use 2 put around your torso.. i worked for about a month and then it started failing on the green button again.. Jack, can u please explain your (mom’s) cartboard tactics?
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:14 pm
edit: it worked (A)
July 5th, 2008 at 3:19 am
I need help because the green, red, and yellow do not regisrer when I press them -i need some help can you ppl be so kind and help me?
July 5th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
After the second day mine wouldnt connect to the 360 so we got a new one its been almost 2 weeks and its working fine
July 9th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
i had the game for 7 months and the controller was starting to fail two months ago. now its completely useless with two frets unresponsive. There should be a recall.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:20 pm
ive had the button problem, the red and green button just stops working, its annoying! makes me want to throw my guitar out of the window
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:31 pm
i have the same problem with the green button but when i opened up the neck i noticed a tear in the ribbon of cables right before the green thingy. i am sure this is the problem and the reason it tore is because it was so tightly pushed down beside the spot where the screw goes in. if nothing has worked for you then you should look and see if this happened to you also
July 25th, 2008 at 12:00 am
i didnt realise it was such an extensive problem. only recently bought the game and was going fine until the blue button stopped working on the fret board! think ill just bring it back to where i got it and get a refund if its really this bad
August 25th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
OK so I got GH3 for Wii the day it came out. My Les Paul Controller has been great for the whole time until maybe 2 weeks ago. The problem I’m having is exactly the same as your’s; sometimes the green fret button works, sometimes not. My dad and I took apart the neck and found no problems with anything really… so we resolved that the circuit board was faulty. I was just thinking about buying a new one, but if it is common among all Les Paul Controllers (including new ones) perhaps I should just wait for Guitar Hero World Tour to come out and buy a standalone GHWT guitar (which is AWESOME) but I have a GH tourney coming up and need to stay fresh… any suggestions of what to do?