I used brasso on the game cartridges and the cartridge slot then used 98% rubbing alcohol to make sure all of the brasso was off. the q-tips i used on the cartridges were black, when i was done nothing else was coming off of them. I cut an old credit card to fit the cartridge slot and wrapped a paper towel around it to use the brasso and rubbing alcohol between the pins. same thing with it, the paper towel was black when i started, when i was done nothing else was coming off of it. looked pretty clean.
The working controller works in both controller port, the non-working controller does nothing at all, the number pad doesnt register anything, the wires appear to be still properly connected to the board.
I never took the power swithch apart or opened the system for that matter, the console looks great for being 30 years old, but i guess maybe that will be the next step.
Like i said, after removing the cartridge and putting it back in it eventually works properly. I am used to my atari where it works just about every time, if it doesnt you can tell right away because it is completely unplayable. I didn't know if the colecovision was more like my nintendo, where you can play with graphic glitches (not that anyone would want to).
Thanks for the speedy responses.