A complete controller check
- Press every face button, bumper, D-pad direction, and stick click; each should light exactly while held.
- Pull each trigger slowly from 0.00 to 1.00 and confirm a smooth analog sweep.
- Release both sticks and check the resting values for drift.
- Rotate each stick around its rim — the dot should trace a full smooth circle.
- Run the vibration test (best supported in Chrome/Edge over USB).
Common faults and fixes
Stick drift
Resting values beyond ~0.05–0.10 cause in-game movement. Calibrate where the platform allows, clean around the stick base with isopropyl alcohol, or replace the stick module; many games offer a dead-zone setting as a stopgap.
Trigger jumps to full
A trigger reading only 0 or 1 has lost analog sensing — dirt on the potentiometer or a failed Hall sensor. Cleaning helps potentiometer types; otherwise the trigger assembly needs replacement.
Double input on one press
Watch the button flicker while held. Contact bounce from wear — common on heavily used face buttons. Replacing the membrane or tactile switch fixes it.
Works wired, not wireless
Re-pair Bluetooth, update the controller firmware with the vendor tool, and remove interference (USB 3.0 hubs, crowded 2.4 GHz). Some features (rumble, audio) are wired-only in browsers.
Keyboard-and-mouse player too? Give the keyboard test and mouse test the same treatment, or measure your click speed with the CPS test.
Controller test questions
Connect the controller by USB or Bluetooth and press any button on it — browsers only expose a gamepad after its first input. The tester then shows every button with its analog value, live stick positions, and a vibration button. Press each control and watch it respond on screen.
Let go of both sticks and watch the dot and the numeric readout: at rest they should sit near 0.00 (small values under about 0.05 are normal sensor noise). A stick resting clearly off-center, or a value that wanders while untouched, is drift. Rotate each stick slowly around its full circle — the dot should trace a smooth circle reaching the edge.
Press a button first — detection requires input. If nothing appears: try another USB cable or port (some cables are charge-only), re-pair Bluetooth, close other games or remapping tools (Steam Input can capture the pad exclusively), and test in Chrome or Edge, which have the broadest Gamepad API support.
Xbox and PlayStation controllers work in all major browsers over USB and Bluetooth and normally use the standard mapping shown here. Switch Pro and third-party pads often work too, though some report a non-standard mapping — buttons still register, but the labels may not match the physical layout.
Browser vibration support varies: Chrome and Edge support rumble for most Xbox and PlayStation pads, Firefox and Safari are more limited, and Bluetooth connections sometimes drop rumble that works over USB. If the button says vibration is unsupported, test over USB in Chrome before concluding the motors are dead.
Standard-mapping triggers (buttons 6 and 7) are analog: they read 0.00 at rest and 1.00 fully pulled, and should sweep smoothly between — a trigger that jumps straight to 1.00 has lost its analog range. Ordinary buttons read 0 or 1. Values that flicker while a button is held indicate a failing contact.