Used keyboard I bought has keys that don't respond when pressed. Any hope in saving?
Its a Razer Blackwidow elite I got for cheap, the listing just said “sold as is” and had some pictures. Didn’t mention anything about bad keys. Kicking myself now for trying to cheap out. My question is if there is anything I can do to repair it. If so is it worth doing? The switches are not hot swappable if that’s important.
Does it have on-board remapping? If so, maybe reset them with the Razer software, see if that makes a difference. Maybe somebody did something silly.
If not, then I’d disassemble it, connect to a pc and see what happens when you connect the pins of the switches of the keys that don’t work. Do you get a response? Then it sounds like a bad switch. If not, then I suppose it’s the pcb.
If it was listed as Used on eBay then you’ll likely be able to get your money back because it’s not fully working. If it was listed as Parts or you bought it from a less regulated platform, on your head be it.
As for repair, it depends what’s wrong with it. It sounds like some of the switches might be dead, but if they are then you’ll want to source replacements, but from where? Do you have any soldering equipment/skills?
It might be a fun repair project if you’re into electronics, but if you weren’t… then better luck next time.
If I wanted a mechanical keyboard, I’d buy a mechanical keyboard.
If I wanted an electronics project, then I’d repair it.
Not to diss electronics projects. I’ve done those myself, and they can be rewarding. But there’s a reason that repair shops aren’t much of a thing any more. Just usually doesn’t make sense economically.
If you very specifically want an exact keyboard that’s out-of-production and where the only way to get one is to repair, or you very specifically want some particular feel that isn’t available commercially, then maybe it’s worth putting time into it, aside from the project value.
Probably savable, I guess it just depends how much time / effort you want to sink into it.
I recommend starting by finding where the problem is. Try shorting the pins that are soldered to the board, that will tell you if it’s the switch itself that’s broken.
There seems to be a fair few videos on YouTube around this type of keyboard repair aswell.
It’s likely fixable. It might need some switches replaced, or there might be some damaged circuit board connections or traces that could be re-soldered or bypassed. I think any fix is going to require soldering, and maybe a multimeter. Whether fixing it is cheaper than buying a new board depends on whether you can borrow tools, and the cost of replacement switches if you need those.
I know the switches are not hot-swappable, but you can de-solder switches on just about any mechanical keyboard. Add a solder sucker to your tools list if you need to do that. There are guides online for replacing keys on the specific board you have.
More details would be helpful for diagnosing the problem:
Are there rows or columns of keys that don’t work? (This could indicate a problem with the circuit board, or maybe a diode that needs to be re-soldered or replaced. I don’t know if the Blackwidow has diodes or not. In any case it’s multimeter time.)
Or is it a key here and there that doesn’t work? (This is more likely to be a problem with switches. The might need their solder joints touched up, or they might need to be replaced.)
Thanks for looking that up! I could be wrong, but I think that boards with N-key rollover generally do use a matrix but with the addition of diodes to prevent ghosting. (Details on Deskthority.) The only designs I’ve seen that don’t use a matrix are small split boards with fewer two dozen keys per side/controller where it’s practical to get a controller with enough IO pins to use a separate pin for each key.
Add comment