First time building a keyboard. Help, I'm no good. 6 keys don't work. [Pics]

[iamthatis]

Trying to build my first keyboard and I'm not having much luck haha.

Pics of the problem area: https://imgur.com/a/ga6emUs

It's my first time soldering so sorry for the eye torture.

It's a Quefrency board (https://keeb.io/collections/frontpage/products/quefrency-60-65-split-staggered-keyboard?variant=16032980861022) and I had to solder the diodes and micro controller on myself. I elected to use the Elite-C micro controller but it seems to be mostly the same as the Pro Micro.

After soldering it on and flashing the firmware the 2, W, S, and Z keys don't work (I'm only concerned with this left half of the keyboard currently).

- I tried desoldering these to see if it was the switches, but even if I use tweezers I can't get the keypress to go through.
- I've also tried reflashing the firmware multiple times.
- I used a multimeter to check the continuity with these tweezers and it indeed appears to work.
- I used the same multimeter in diode mode to check all the diodes on the board and they all read the same, around "750".

This is making me think it's the micro controller or the PCB. Maybe I got it too hot or something during soldering?

I took some pictures, is there anything that looks weird? https://imgur.com/a/ga6emUs Should I buy a new PCB or micro controller (is there a way to test if these are at fault)? Is it the soldering points? They all look shiny and appear to make contact with the pads.

[Signature]

Diodes seems to have been soldered poorly so either resolder or fill in better on the keys which are not working!

[iamthatis]

What do you mean? I checked the diodes on the multimeter and they seem to be outputting. They're soldered on the other side not the side facing the camera

[ErgoMacros]

Hi,
2, w, s, x are all on the same column. Sounds like a bad connection between that column and the
pin for that column on the microcontroller.

No guaranties, but this would be my approach:
1. Recheck the pin-outs on ELite-C vs. Pro Micro. Make sure all the signals on the pins match
2. Look at the code and see which pin that 2WSX column is supposed to go to
3. Check the continuity from the switches to that pin
4. Re-flow the solder for that pin.

'Luck!
(Edit, finished the port)

[iamthatis]

The X key oddly works well, not the Z though.

Could you explain the signals and pins matching thing? What exactly would I do there?

Also how would I check the code, what exactly would that mean?

I have a multimeter, in continuity mode how do I check the continuity from the switches to the pin? In other words, where would I place the prongs from the multimeter.

Sorry for the really dumb questions, new to this hobby

[ErgoMacros]

>>>The X key oddly works well, not the Z though.
If you look at the traces ("wires" inside the PCB) you will see that 2, W, S, and X are all connected. That connection is the column.
There's lots of videos and web pages on "how keyboard matrixes work." Here's one:
   keyboard matrix scanning shift register: http://www.openmusiclabs.com/learning/digital/input-matrix-scanning/index.html

>>>Could you explain the signals and pins matching thing? What exactly would I do there?
Find diagrams for the 2 boards. (Google search, images, for "Pro Micro pins" and "Elite-C pins" and make sure the names match.
There are pins in the microcontroller chip (IC). Some of these are brought out to the pins on the board.
If (making up an example here) pin 8 on the Pro Micro is D0, but on the Elite-C was B2 then the software
trying to drive the keyboard would not work.

>>>Also how would I check the code, what exactly would that mean?
The code Keeb.io is using for the keyboard would seem to be here:
    https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/tree/master/keyboards/keebio/quefrency
Here is the "keymap" file for your board:
   https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/blob/master/keyboards/keebio/quefrency/keymaps/default/keymap.c
  Column 3 of lines 18 to 21 shows that from the keyboards "point of view"  2WSX are all in the same column.

Looking here: https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/blob/master/keyboards/keebio/quefrency/rev1/config.h
(not positive that's the right file. Is your board Rev 1??)
Line 38 says the 1st 3 columns of the left side are attached to pins F5, F6, and F7. So F7 is the pin that should be connected to 2WSX.

>>>I have a multimeter, in continuity mode how do I check the continuity from the switches to the pin? In other words, where would I place the prongs from the multimeter.

Go from the F7 pin on the Elite-C board (I don't know which that is... look it up) to the side of the switches that are tied together (follow green lines):


>>>Sorry for the really dumb questions, new to this hobby
Not so dumb. We all start out that way.