Leeku 1800 Troubleshooting

[chilldude_22]

Hey!

I've been working on building my TX1800 and have been having some trouble. Everything seems to be working except the following switches -

F1
1
Q
A
0

I've tried replacing the switches and diodes with no luck. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[ghostjuggernaut]

Have you loaded the firmware and programmed it yet?

[suicidal_orange]

Great pics - can clearly see how this should work and all the switches are laid out the same so easy to write about

The 0 (I assume labeled 10) is a bit random as it's right in the middle of the board - does it register a keypress if you touch a wire from the left switch pin to the right side of the diode as pictured?  If not what about if you connect the left pin of the 9 or + switches to the right of that diode?  If you get an output of any of these try to the left side of the diode, it should still work (you could have a bad batch of diodes so best to bypass them first...)

The others are all in one column, I can't see any damage but have to assume there is some as they're all not working.  If it were the rows then the Esc, Tab (etc) column also wouldn't work.

As such I suspect you'll get an 'A' output if you touch a wire from the left pin of A to the right of the diode under the L of 'LSHIFT'?

[chilldude_22]

Ghost juggernaut -- I have not yet had a chance to flash the firmware or anything.

Suicidal orange -- Trying to connect the left pin of "10" to 9, - or + did not have any effect. When I connected the left pin of "A" to the right diode pin of "L shift," caps lock was output. 

[suicidal_orange]

Close, but it's left of 9 or + to right of 0 because as suspected left of 0 is not connected (or it would have output something)

The other ones did you touch the diode attached to LSHIFT or the one below the label? I meant to write label but didn't... Looks like shift runs through the ISOLSHIFT diode on the edge of the board, that should output CAPS when connected to A.

[chilldude_22]

Left pin of 9, - or + to right diode of 0 gives me nothing.

Left pin of A to right diode below LSHIFT gives me nothing

 

[ghostjuggernaut]

I would try loading the firmware and see if you see anything different.

[suicidal_orange]

Seems strange to say (why ship a non-functional layout? Why put a gap in the matrix there??) but I'm with ghost - give it a flash and try again.

[chilldude_22]

So I tried to flash the firmware with the help of a couple friends and all kinds of stuff went crazy. When I updated in Jigon, it said successful and then a bunch of random windows opened up and froze up the computer.

About ready to call it quits on this one.

[ghostjuggernaut]

So I tried to flash the firmware with the help of a couple friends and all kinds of stuff went crazy. When I updated in Jigon, it said successful and then a bunch of random windows opened up and froze up the computer.

About ready to call it quits on this one.

Wow that is strange.  I haven't had any issues like that with jigon.  Were you able to load the firmware successfully, and did you hold down `~ when you connected it to your pc?

[chilldude_22]

I was not able to load it successfully, and was not aware you were supposed to hold `~ when plugging it in.

[joey]

What does holding that key do?

[ghostjuggernaut]

I was having issues getting mine to accept the firmware. I was told by someone that had similar issues, that you had to hold ~ when connecting it to USB to put it into "boot" mode. All I know is that it worked afterwards.

[chilldude_22]

Updating this with some new information thanks to a few people that have been helping me out. By pressing `~ during plugin, I was able to eliminate the issue where new browser windows were popping up. I went into jigon and tried to update firmware (connect, update all, disconnect) But after disconnect the board would not work. If I unplugged and replugged again, the board would begin to work (except F1, 1, Q, A and 0) but it didn't seem like the firmware was actually flashed as the board will still only allow me to press one key at a time, making touch typing impossible.

I downloaded switchhitter and immediately when I plugged the board in, the white box at the bottom said F1, 1, Q, A, 0 and LWIN DOWN. The keys remain blue while the board is plugged in and the application is open. Does this mean that the PCB thinks these keys are constantly being pressed?

[suicidal_orange]

Yup!  Blue keys are pressed, green have been pressed and work properly, red work but chatter.

Strange that those are stuck pressed, the column makes it look like a short but that doesn't explain your 0...  Is it in a metal case or just the PCB on your lap/desk while you're testing?