countless issues with my teensy modded zenith black label.

[jshel2000]

I've had this keyboard for a little while now but finally got it converted to USB via a soarer's teensy from ebay.

Well, I almost wish I didn't.

This keyboard, which I am attempting to type on now, has been giving my nothing but problems.

The first thing I noticed, was that keys will suddenly act as if they're being held down when they are not. I saw some people fix similar issues with different keyboards in the windows control panel by disabling the machine's ability to put the device to sleep. The issue occurs less frequently now, but it still happens occasionally.

The other issue is random keys flat out not being registered at all, on the first stroke, but the second stroke will be fine. Every other word seems to take two spaces after for this reason.

Also the lock lihts will randomly invert themselves so that the light is on when caps lock is off and vise versa. Also sometimes the numlock key doesn't actually do anything and the numlock is on regardless of what the keyboard light suggests.

Does anyone know if there is a way to fix these issues? I freaking love the way these green alps switches feel, but it sounds like this board may be gone at the hardware level.

[Maledicted]

Did you build the converter, or was it some random pre-built one? These keyboards apparently require 2 very important things to be in place to function with any firmware. You need a reset wire running from the correct pin on the Teensy to the din connector, and you need a 1k pull up resistor soldered between clock and ground, and another 1k pull up resistor soldered between data and ground. Once those requirements have been met, your board may work with Soarer's last released version of his firmware. It appears that Hasu's TMK firmware has been the most successful though.

If your Soarer's converter wasn't specifically built for the Zenith Z-150, it is unlikely to meet any of these requirements, much less all of them. Even my DC-2014 did not need the pull up resistors, and worked fine with Soarer's firmware. The Z-150 is troublesome.

Here's Hasu's related thread:

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=94649.msg2577469#msg2577469

[jshel2000]

It was a prebuilt teensy that I found on ebay that specifically said it was compatible with zenith keyboards. How do I change the firmware on the teensy in my keyboard?

[Maledicted]

I don't use teensys, I'm too cheap. Are you sure that it is a teensy inside and not a pro micro or something?

This is Soarer's original thread, it has everything you need for flashing a teensy:

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=17458.0

You can substitute the firmware used with TMK to see if that works better. There's more than one version of the Z-150, and I think that their protocols are different, so it was probably not meant for the black label one. I can't find anything about the white label working at all with a teensy or clone though. I would also seriously wonder whether or not it is even wired properly for the Z-150. I would not be surprised if the resistors are not present, or the XT reset wire. Is this one of those molded plastic deals, or can you take the thing apart?

[jshel2000]

I don't use teensys, I'm too cheap. Are you sure that it is a teensy inside and not a pro micro or something?

To be honest, I'm not sure, but it is a blue rectangular thing that kind of looked like a small version of some of the arduinos I work with, so I assumed it was a teensy. the wires are all soldered directly to the teensy so there is no resistors.

Like I said, I can still type on this keyboard, I am right now, but there are intermittent issues mentioned above. Before using the adapter I got, it wouldn't work at all. Most of the resources on shorting the different cables with the resistors seem to be just about making the keyboard work at all.

Honestly, I'm thinking about changing over to a board with mx-compatible linears, or barely-tactile switches. Maybe box reds or browns, something close to this because I can type wicked fast on this KB.

[Maledicted]

If it is blue, it sounds like you may have a Pro Micro. To flash those, you have to short the RST contact to any of the ground contacts, then flash the firmware before it leaves the bootloader mode. This guide is fantastic, although it is for general use and not oddballs like the DC-2014 or Z-150:

https://deskthority.net/viewtopic.php?t=19035

Everything I read about the black label is people getting it to work with the diodes in place, and mostly using Hasu's TMK firmware. Can you get a picture of this thing? I imagine it at least has a wire soldered to contact #10, if it is a Pro Micro? That's the one used on the Pro Micro for the XT reset line back to the din socket.