help fixing vortex race 3

[minfin]

this vortex race 3 pcb has arrived to me in this condition. allocated keys don’t work and i don’t know how to fix this. i tried to connect it with alive keys and it working but wrong keycodes output
what should i do to fix this?

[suicidal_orange]

When you find the right keys it will output the right keycodes.

As this is not a DIY board we don't have access to the firmware to see what should be connected to what and your picture has the focus on the other half so I can't say any more than that - if you can post a picture with the traces visible I'll have a look tomorrow

[minfin]

thanks for the answer
for example, if i connect enter key with [;] or ['], then enter gives a [;] only, and if connected with [l] or [k], then [k] only. connecting to other keys gives F7 or ctrl/alt keycode

[suicidal_orange]

I often joke that professional PCB designer job adverts require a drug problem but this time I'm in no doubt.  It's much easier when the diode is always connected to the left (or right) pin but no, the diodes on this look to be placed/connected at random!  I still can't see what's going on in the picture, looks like this is a matte PCB like black and white ones so it's nearly impossible to take a good picture.  It might be clearer if you turn the flash off and put it under a light?

From what you say about two keys outputting the same it sounds like it uses U shaped columns, so H K ; [unused ISO key] and Pg Dn should be connected on the other side of their diodes and J L ' and Enter should be.  Have you tried shorting from the non didode pin of down arrow to the diode pin of the dead switches?  This bypasses the switch and registers the key as pressed.  I think that should work for the ones in the last two physical columns.

[minfin]

this is the best pic what i could get


i tried and that's what happened. connecting it with enter and + doesn't work

[suicidal_orange]

So right arrow worked - you can solder a wire from that pin on down to the other pin of right and the switch will work.  That won't fix any of the others though.

Does going from the left arrow work better?

[minfin]

oh ****, sorry, i made a mistake. connection of down arrow and right arrow gives a LEFT arrow D:


if i connecting all of it to left arrow, it gives the same result

[suicidal_orange]

That's probably a good thing - it is strange for one key in the corner to work when nothing else does.

I keep trying to look at the pics but there really is no making it out.  Only Home is triggering in the right row so it's safe to say that the matrix is very weird so we'll have to keep guessing.  Maybe the bottom row is weird because it has fewer keys so try starting at the top with Delete.

[minfin]

connection with delete key gives the same result again. pn key - too. if i connecting it to F12, almost all keys gives signals from F row (= - F4, backspace - F5, ] - F6, enter - F7, PgDn - F10, rCtrl - F11, right arrow - F12), but [\] works correctly

[suicidal_orange]

Connect 4 skip 2 - like my Ducky!  Except not, because that only connects 3 keys on the F row, the 4-2-4-2 pattern is in the alphabet section.  At least you can fix \

Do you think there are a lot of damaged pads or not many?  I've been assuming not many and expecting only a couple of fixes to bring all the keys back but it could just be the person doing the desoldering started that end and got better at it or started the other end and got bored so all the damage is in the same area.

Or to continue the brute force method what happens if you start from Shift as that didn't appear on another key.

[minfin]

i don't know how that guy worked with this pcb, but thats sucks anyway. i bought it for 26 dollars in hope to fix it. ;-;

this is what happens with rShift

[suicidal_orange]

Well that's good - ignoring ctrl/shift the keys are just shifted a U shaped column so the whole thing isn't completely random.  Up arrow or End is probably going to work for most of them, \ you already know so that should just leave the two at the bottom to work out.

Your $26 will give you a working PCB and has provided hours of entertainment (if not fun) so that's not a bad deal if all the LEDs work

[minfin]

all LEDs are fine btw

[minfin]

as a last resort it would be a nice christmas tree toy KEKW