My Favorite Keyboard is Broken, I Need Help : (

[Lethal Squirrel]

So. I have a RK9000 that really needs help. I while ago one of the keys stopped working. I replaced the switch and it was fine. Later 2 other keys stopped working. I tried to fix those, but 3 more keys ended up not working. The problem is not the switches, It's the PCB. I have really bad soldering skills, so I was wondering if anyone would be willing to help me out. I'll send you the keyboard and a little cash and you see what you can do? This thing is my baby. I miss typing on it very much
only other mechanical board I have right now is my blackwidow. but that thing is falling apart.

I would send some pics, but I don't have a camera right now.

300th post btw. woot! :whoo:

[SmallFry]

If you can get me a few pics I may be able to diagnose the problem. I know you don't have a camera, but someone must have one. I will also fix it if I can. Shoot me a PM

[jedcred]

If you don't find anybody to help you out, I'd say find some old broken device (say, an alarm clock) and practice desoldering and soldering on the components inside it a few times.  Also, check out youtube for some great soldering demo videos.

[thebilgerat]

Also, it is really important to have a decent quality soldering iron.

Tools to absolutely have:
Desoldering wick
FLUX - yes I know the solder says it has some in it, ignore that crap.  buy a good flux and use it.
good quality solder.

youtube can get you functional, but a lot of it is having the right tools.

[ownerer]

I have this same problem and was hoping this discussion would continue. I mean exactly the same problem. Were you able to resolve issue OP? I had a bad switch in my Das II with MX blue, so I replaced it (amateurishly) and I think I damaged the PCB because now N & M don't work (replaced J).

[Lanx]

i don't think you "damaged" the pcb, rather it was just bad or incomplete soldering since you even said the near switches dont' work, usually those are connected to the same connections, wire i guess, and if you solder bad, you're basically creating a bad wire, imo desolder and learn to solder better, like many said a few 10 good practice youtube video's will get you going, make sure you're solder iron is hot, it doesn't necessarily have to be a great solder iron, i soldered an entire cherry board with a cheapo radio shack iron before i got a 100$ one (you really see the difference and quality) but for one or 2 or even 10 switches el cheapo solder iron, or even the solder iron you get in those "hardware kits" is good enough.

[SmallFry]

Ownerer: post a picture of your solder joints. It may just be a bad solder joint that can be fixed.

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

Not to discourage you from trying, but for what it will cost to ship the RK9000 to/from another member and whatever you pay them – not to mention the time/effort involved – you could very nearly buy another one. I'm not saying it's not worth fixing, but you might be better served getting a new board and using the current one as a practice dummy for your soldering skills.

[dingtonucretia]

If you don't find anybody to help you out

[Clickey]

Hmm, quality issues with rosewill seem likely to me, I can't believe they would be rebranded Filco's as some have said.

More to the point, have you tried inspecting the contact leaves? It is possible they may not be making full contact. They are pretty easy to bend back in place if you know what they are supposed to look like/how they are supposed to work. If you changed the switch and still had problems it is probably not this issue, but its worth a check, since it is an easy fix.

[ownerer]

Ownerer: post a picture of your solder joints. It may just be a bad solder joint that can be fixed.

SmallFry: I will do that this weekend for sure! Thanks for all the supportive comments.

[ownerer]

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I guess it looks kind of obvious why they aren't working, but it looked like those two holes were strictly some wire holding in the 'j' switch. Since I took this picture I tried just filling the holes with solder but still the 'n' and 'm' keys don't work. Did the wire in the original switch that I removed (poorly) serve any purpose other than support?

[DaemonRaccoon]

The jumper wire is required, which is why the keys below don't work.

[N8N]

yeah, I think that's it.  If you already threw out the old switch find some telephone wire or something and make a new jumper.  (unless Rosewill uses diodes, in which case you'll need a diode.  I do have some diodes from a Cherry board if you need them, although I'll have to find it and desolder them.  But it's probably just as easy to buy them from Radio Shack, or better yet, a real electronics supply, if you are lucky enough to have one.)

[DaemonRaccoon]

It could just be the picture but it looks like one of the pads has been lifted. If that is the case, some 'green' wire fixes would be required.