Defective Rosewill RK-9000. A warning.

[SSmith]

Hello everyone,

I was prompted by the review at Anandtech.com today to share my experience with the otherwise excellent Rosewill RK-9000.  I purchased this keyboard just over a year ago as a budget Mechanical.  Overall I felt that the keyboard was an excellent value.  Aside from the occasional complaint from my partner about the loudness of the Cherry MX Blues, and fading on the keycap lettering, it performed admirably.

That is, it performed admirably until about 3 weeks ago, just a few days past its 1 year warranty.  Out of the blue the keyboard started typing double letters.  At first I noticed it on only the 'o' key, so I disassembled and cleaned the device.  It subsequently developed the trouble on multiple (5-6 keys).  1 in 10 times I would type a letter, two would get printed.   My senteences staarted to looook like thiis.

Obviously this was unacceptable.  Since I was unwilling to buy one of the new Rosewill's I purchased a DAS keyboard with MX Browns, primarily to alleviate complains from the aforementioned significant other

Maybe this problem was fixed for the new run of keyboards, I do not know.  I contacted newegg to inform them of the defect and their customer service department said they would pass it along (fat chance I think).  I did want to share my experience with the geekhack community however, as an FYI for potential buyers.  Perhaps you should purchase the extended warranty, it could be the difference between having working device or a dead keyboard in a year.

[reaper]

Welcome to Geekhack and thanks for the heads up.  I only buy tenkeyless keyboards and RK-9000 isn't one of them but it's good to know (for other members and all.. ).

[drsauced]

I suspect trolololo on this one.  The new Rosewill keyboards are not the same as last years model, they are completely different internally.  Why post a warning about last years product if you know the new Rosewill's are different?  Not much sense there.

I do wish newegg.com had put a new model number with the new keyboard, though, just to avoid this kind of confusion.

The new RK-9000 are also new, so not much data, but I haven't heard of any switch bounce problems with the new batch.  The only thing you really have to decide is if you can tolerate the Rosewill logo or not

[patrickgeekhack]

I suspect trolololo on this one.  The new Rosewill keyboards are not the same as last years model, they are completely different internally.  Why post a warning about last years product if you know the new Rosewill's are different?  Not much sense there.

Have you thought about those who buy used keyboards? It is a valuable piece of information to them.

[Armando Penblade]

Strictly speaking that kind of "chatter" is actually common to all keyboards utilizing Cherry MX keyswitches and can develop in any switch. If that particular RK-9000 was using a set of keyswitches all from a batch that had a small, perhaps undetectable manufacturing defect that worsened over time, it's unsurprising that several of them would "go" like that.

http://elitekeyboards.com/support.php#5

http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Cherry+Corporation+Switch+Wiki#Cherry+MX+Switch+That+Repeats+Characters

Of course, it's also possible some electrical issue developed with the circuit board built into your keyboard and caused repeating signals to the controller, but that's pretty rare.

AKA, don't take this post as a knock against Rosewills. . . just a warning of a possible, but rare, issue with all Cherry keyboards

[astr0s]

I purchased my Filco second hand, the seller said it has a similar problem, and so it does. The keyboard was at Keyboardco for a fair while, apparently, and had been in test use of one of their employees for a week without a hitch. But now the problem persists still with E R T U I keys. This is almost a non-issue for me, since its quite rare. Good to know that why this is, since I have been googling for this, but clearly with the wrong search words. I'll have to see if I can fix it with some of the methods.

[flyball]

Hello everyone,

I was prompted by the review at Anandtech.com today to share my experience with the otherwise excellent Rosewill RK-9000.  I purchased this keyboard just over a year ago as a budget Mechanical.  Overall I felt that the keyboard was an excellent value.  Aside from the occasional complaint from my partner about the loudness of the Cherry MX Blues, and fading on the keycap lettering, it performed admirably.

That is, it performed admirably until about 3 weeks ago, just a few days past its 1 year warranty.  Out of the blue the keyboard started typing double letters.  At first I noticed it on only the 'o' key, so I disassembled and cleaned the device.  It subsequently developed the trouble on multiple (5-6 keys).  1 in 10 times I would type a letter, two would get printed.   My senteences staarted to looook like thiis.

Obviously this was unacceptable.  Since I was unwilling to buy one of the new Rosewill's I purchased a DAS keyboard with MX Browns, primarily to alleviate complains from the aforementioned significant other

Maybe this problem was fixed for the new run of keyboards, I do not know.  I contacted newegg to inform them of the defect and their customer service department said they would pass it along (fat chance I think).  I did want to share my experience with the geekhack community however, as an FYI for potential buyers.  Perhaps you should purchase the extended warranty, it could be the difference between having working device or a dead keyboard in a year.

so you voided your warranty instead of rmaing it. ok.

[patrickgeekhack]

so you voided your warranty instead of rmaing it. ok.

Did not the OP say that the problem started after the warranty period was over?

That is, it performed admirably until about 3 weeks ago, just a few days past its 1 year warranty.

[flyball]

Did not the OP say that the problem started after the warranty period was over?

http://www.rosewill.com/products/1611/ProductDetail_Specifications.htm

3 year parts warranty. whatever deal they work out is probably cheaper than a new keyboard.

[patrickgeekhack]

http://www.rosewill.com/products/1611/ProductDetail_Specifications.htm

3 year parts warranty. whatever deal they work out is probably cheaper than a new keyboard.

I did not know that there was a 3-year warranty on parts. In my case, if I were to ship the keyboard to Canada, it can end up costing quite a bit, but the OP may be in the US.

[flyball]

What I am saying is parts warranties tend to be worthless.

any warranty is worthless when you dont use it

[stingrae]

umm does the chatter occur when connected via usb and ps/2? (not that, that should matter)

[flyball]

As someone who just replaced a furnace for $7K I know what I am talking about.

you bought a seven thousand dollar furnace from rosewill? wtf

[SSmith]

3 year parts warranty. whatever deal they work out is probably cheaper than a new keyboard.

To be honest I did not know there was a three year parts warranty.  I'm much more of a do it yourself kind of guy, so I figured it was past a year, might as well try to "fix" it myself.  I'm not going to cry myself to sleep over a hundred dollars regardless, since I am neither a keyboard enthusiast or a destitute college kid.  I am simply trying to share my one (likely isolated) experience with a community that I thought might like to hear about it.

Thank you Armando for the information on a possible fix.  Next time I have some spare time I will try it out!

[drsauced]

Have you thought about those who buy used keyboards? It is a valuable piece of information to them.

No I am truly inconsiderate of people who purchase used keyboards.  I work IT, I replace keyboards all the time, I know what people do with them.  But I do realize that there is always some risk in purchasing anything, and it may be a little more risk with a used item.  

Ripster, I try to ignore you too, but you're just so darn inflammatory and entertaining.

[karazi]

I have this same exact issue.  I even bought 40A O-rings to see if it would alleviate the issue.  With the O-rings it happens maybe half the time.  However it happens numerous times in a paragraph, mainly on the W-E-R-T-Y-H keys.  Disappointing and I can't say I will buy another Rosewill KB because of this.  I bought mine from ChiefValue back in Oct '10 and the issue started a few months ago.  CV agreed to crediting me back the purchase price, at which time I bought the O-rings and have not since followed up on the RMA.  I am going to attempt another RMA and see if they will cover shipping as well.

[patrickgeekhack]

I have this same exact issue.  I even bought 40A O-rings to see if it would alleviate the issue.  With the O-rings it happens maybe half the time.  However it happens numerous times in a paragraph, mainly on the W-E-R-T-Y-H keys.  Disappointing and I can't say I will buy another Rosewill KB because of this.  I bought mine from ChiefValue back in Oct '10 and the issue started a few months ago.  CV agreed to crediting me back the purchase price, at which time I bought the O-rings and have not since followed up on the RMA.  I am going to attempt another RMA and see if they will cover shipping as well.

Why didn't you take the credit and buy another keyboard instead? I am not being sarcastic, but just trying to understand the driving force behind the decision.

[karazi]

Since you asked I will give my long and drawn out reasoning behind it.  I bought the cherry blue keyboard for $75 on a pretty damn good deal, and if I were to buy another RK or something else (besides Ducky I suppose) I'd have to plock down $100+.  And aside from the chattering issue, I like the keyboard very much and thought the O-rings had a good chance of fixing it , foregoing me the inconvenience and expense to ship it back out.  If it wasn't going to fix it then I at least would have the O-rings to put on another KB in the future (as I do like them for blues).  Don't think I'll have much of an issue RMA'ing it again but who knows.  Could have been a mistake or not.  But like the OP I am a DIY'er and tend to fiddle with things until I get them to work, and throw in the towel when I know there is no possible way.

[patrickgeekhack]

@karazi

It makes sense now. Hope you can RMA it one more time.

I was in a similar situation with my Customizer 104. Whenever I was moving it, a message would pop up saying that one of my USB devices was drawing too much power. It turned out that whenever some pressure was applied in the LED area, the control board would come into contact with the metal plate behind it.

It would have cost me too much to ship it back to Unicomp.

[REVENGE]

To be honest I did not know there was a three year parts warranty.  I'm much more of a do it yourself kind of guy, so I figured it was past a year, might as well try to "fix" it myself.  I'm not going to cry myself to sleep over a hundred dollars regardless, since I am neither a keyboard enthusiast or a destitute college kid.  I am simply trying to share my one (likely isolated) experience with a community that I thought might like to hear about it.

Thank you Armando for the information on a possible fix.  Next time I have some spare time I will try it out!

Ask Rosewill to send you a couple of MX Blues, you can learn to replace the switches yourself.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Curious. I've had two FILCOs from the same batch develop bad keys that behave exactly per the OP. One was clearly due to the switch being soldered out of place (it snapped down into place and died), but I was wondering about why this keyboard (at home) also developed a doubling-up key, at exactly the same time, from a switch that appears correctly mounted (unlike many of the switches that are bendy, this one is rock solid).

Still trying to figure out why I get double 'r's a lot – never happens if I alternate 'r' and enter, but does occur during typing. As time passes it seems more and more certain that it's the switch that's on the fritz, but why can't I ever repeat the fault in testing? (Two FILCOs from the same batch that both got bad 'r' switches at the same time as well ...)

Cherry switches seem a bit iffy. The clickers in the MX blues are all wearing out (after just under two years), as many now rattle more than click. A lot of the brown switches in the other keyboard were quite scrapy from new, audibly so, though the edge did wear off the sound. Manufacturing standards at Cherry don't seem all that good – I guess costs have to be kept down. I don't even know whether they're still German made, as the quality seems awfully low for anything coming out of Germany. And now I've got one faulty switch, one mismounted switch and two seemingly on the blink ...

I don't know if I can be bothered with Cherry MX brown any more – I may stick with my Realforce and see how that fares after a couple of years of heavy office use. There isn't a lot to fail, although domes can split ... I just wish that I could still buy keyboards that last, like my old Tulip blue ALPS that's as good now as it must have been the day it was made, smooth, clean feel and 102 fully-functioning keys (and that's after years in a damp, dusty corner). After all, that was part of the point of spending all that money on these contraptions ;-)