So today, the PS4 controller didn& #39;t want to work. I tried recalibrating it, turning it off and on, resetting the console.

Then I had to do something I don& #39;t like doing with controllers, and that was to take it apart and to see what was wrong with it. (1/?)

So I took the screws out, and gently pried it apart. The inside was surprisingly nasty. Gunk in cracks and crevices, under the buttons themselves and just downright needed a good cleaning. I grabbed my needlenose, some bits of cotton balls and a tiny bit of alcohol

and got to work on it. After an hour of making sure that nothing had gunk that wasn& #39;t supposed to have any and checking the controller joysticks (since one of them was also drifting), I struggled and managed to put it back the way it was before.

Good news, it works good as new! However, I have no idea what that weird gunk was. Maybe it was years of holding the controller, maybe it was something else. Whatever it was, it& #39;s off now, and for the time being I don& #39;t have to worry about having to buy another one for a while