Atari 2600 Controlling Problem

[Sofa King Gud]

I recently bought a Darth Vader 2600, and I already possessed 3 joysticks (which I use with my Colecovision) and one set of paddles. There is no problem with the picture or anything else, except for that the joysticks, which all work fine, can only be used to move the character on screen to the RIGHT. The action button works as well, but I cannot move left or up and down. As for the paddles, when I am playing Video Olympics, the red button on both paddles do not work. Yesterday, when I tested the system, i was able to move left and right with the joystick, but still not up and down. Yesterday, the red buttons on the paddles worked perfectly. But now, I can only move right and use the action button on all the joysticks, and move back and forth with the paddles. This is the case with all the games I tried. The problem here is clearly with the system, but what exactly is wrong and what can I do to fix it?

P.S Sorry if my terminology is not up to snuff, I'm more of a 16-bit gamer.

[Cornelius]

Are the pins for the connection corroded? Being the easiest thing I can think of, that's where I'd start. On the CV there is a chip that often goes bad and causes similar behavior, but I don't know about the 2600. Is it the same for both controller ports?

[Sofa King Gud]

The pins don't seem to be corroded. But I don't exactly know what I'm looking for. There is dust inside both controller connections. I don't know if that would be a factor.

I haven't been able to get anything working on the right controller port. Are you supposed to be able to play single player from that port as well?

[FABombjoy]

Possibly the 6532. Any problems with your difficulty / select / reset / B&W switches? Space Invaders is the perfect game to test them all at once.

[Sofa King Gud]

All of the switches you mentioned work.

[Cornelius]

I haven't been able to get anything working on the right controller port. Are you supposed to be able to play single player from that port as well?

I just assumed you'd have a game like combat that you could set to 2-player and test it out...

[Sofa King Gud]

At the moment, I only have Pacman, Ms. Pacman, Video Olympics, Asteroids, and ET.

[InsaneDavid]

Possibly something as minor as the socket having broken solder connections? I've come across a LOT of Genesis systems that needed to have the controller port pins rejoined to the PCB. Since you only seem to have problems with the controller ports and absolutely nothing else, my guess is going to be cracked solder joints where the controller pins meet the rest of the board. If you have a moment (and a camera) open up the case, remove the board (both are easy with a screwdriver, just take your time) and take a couple pictures of the underside of the circuit board where the controller ports are.

[Sofa King Gud]

Thank you all for the diagnosis. Within the next two weeks I should have time to open it up and take some pictures.