Non-responsive key on my Steelseries 6gv2

[schiznak]

As the title says, the 4 key on my keyboard refuses to work. If I push it very hard and to the side slightly, it will output the number 4, so the switch isn't entirely dead. I would like some advice on whether or not this is something that can be solved with a little bit of fixing.

Or more specifically, how I would go about repairing a switch on my steelseries 6gv2

I would appreciate any help i can get.

P.S, sorry to have my first post asking for advice, but on every other forum that i posted this on, the response was "I don't know, ask geekhack"

EDIT: i have had the keyboard for 2 months and i press the 4 key alot more than any other key.

[Fwiffo]

If it's only two months old, the first thing I would go to is your warranty. Failing that, it is possible to repair/replace the switch, but other forum members would be able to give you better advice than I.

[keyb_gr]

I hope you're comfortable with a soldering iron. Medium power (like 25..30 W) with not-too-large tip should do, soldering station is better of course. Then you'll need the usual stuff, solder of course, maybe some desoldering braid too.

Repair would involve the following steps:
1. Open up board so you can access the soldering side of the PCB. (Not sure whether anyone has bothered to write down instructions for this yet.)
2. Inspect solder joints on affected switch and nearby areas closely. They may be cracked.
3. Renew soldering joints with some fresh solder. If your solder is the conventional type with lead, I'd remove the old stuff first. (I think we have a soldering tutorial in the wiki, too.)
4. If that doesn't help, look up the part number for a Cherry black switch for plate mounting (it's in the Cherry switch wiki). Not sure whether the 6Gv2 has ones with wire bridge or without, should be easy to tell when looking at the board though. Either order one, or maybe someone around here has a few spare blacks.

EDIT: Good point about warranty.

[MyNameIsDan]

Hope they warned you about us.  And it's easier to just bookmark 4chan instead of typing it out.

Here's my layout.

Show Image

Accurate.

[schiznak]

Hope they warned you about us.  And it's easier to just bookmark 4chan instead of typing it out.
[/IMG]

While I do visit that site( dosen't everyone?), its not the reason for my frequent pressing of 4.

I play alot of sc2 and  is what i bind my hatchery / nexus / CC to. Whenever I am not doing anything, i absent mindedly spam 4s4s4s to keep my hands warm.

I hope you're comfortable with a soldering iron. Medium power (like 25..30 W) with not-too-large tip should do, soldering station is better of course. Then you'll need the usual stuff, solder of course, maybe some desoldering braid too.

Repair would involve the following steps:
1. Open up board so you can access the soldering side of the PCB. (Not sure whether anyone has bothered to write down instructions for this yet.)
2. Inspect solder joints on affected switch and nearby areas closely. They may be cracked.
3. Renew soldering joints with some fresh solder. If your solder is the conventional type with lead, I'd remove the old stuff first. (I think we have a soldering tutorial in the wiki, too.)
4. If that doesn't help, look up the part number for a Cherry black switch for plate mounting (it's in the Cherry switch wiki). Not sure whether the 6Gv2 has ones with wire bridge or without, should be easy to tell when looking at the board though. Either order one, or maybe someone around here has a few spare blacks.

Ive used one a few times like 5 years ago back in high school, ill probably give it a shot, however since the key responds to me pushing it in a specific direction, does soldering sound like it would be an effective solution to the problem? My understanding of soldering was that it was used for fixing circuts and wires.

[schiznak]

Probably a cold  solder joint.  I've never seen a Steelseries popped open so if you get a chance please take a pic.  Everybody likes to say all Costar keyboards are the same around here.

Well ill be doing that tomorrow since in order to use a soldering iron I need to head over to my friends house, and its 4am atm. But if i remember to ill take pictures.

Im assuming that in order to open it i just need to undo the screws on the back?

[MyNameIsDan]

Im assuming that in order to open it i just need to undo the screws on the back?

Assuming there are no hidden screws under the rubber feet then yeah. Might have to do a little prying open.

[Lanx]

http://www.youtube.com/user/CuriousInventor?blend=2&ob=1#p/u/0/I_NU2ruzyc4

skip to 5:45 for explanations and pictures of cold solder joint, or just run through the whole video as a soldering tutorial, i used this video to learn how to solder.

[tonyklo]

I would suggest contacting SteelSeries ... although their CS is kinda terrible.

[keyb_gr]

Ive used one a few times like 5 years ago back in high school, ill probably give it a shot, however since the key responds to me pushing it in a specific direction, does soldering sound like it would be an effective solution to the problem? My understanding of soldering was that it was used for fixing circuts and wires.

A bad solder joint is a lot more likely than a bad switch. Cherry blacks are really tough and don't carry their 50 million operations rating for nothing. By contrast, soldering quality in this lead-free (RoHS) age can be pretty lousy at times.