Any brilliant idea to fix 2 keyboards with the same problem? (desperate newbie)

[skarn]

Hi all! First please excuse any mistakes, because it needs all my brain power to write in English.

So here's an interesting problem for you, hoping someone can help me.

I bought a QPad MK-50 two months ago. My first mechanical keyboard. I chose it because I needed a) an ISO layout for my job (typing in French all day long) and b) Cherry MX brown switches, based on all the reviews I read. Oh, and c) at the best price I could find, because my job provides a keyboard for free, but it's a cheap bad generic Dell keyboard.

I loved it so much right out of the box that I did what many of you seem to do: I bought another one, a FUNC this time, with MX blue, for my personal use.

About a week later, my QPad died. The delete key just plain stopped working.
I must add that I could never make it to work with the PS/2 on my job computer, so it was plugged in with the provided USB adapter.

QPad asked me to send it back for replacement, but Canada Posts asked around 100$CAD to ship it from Canada to Sweden. That's around 30$ less than what I paid for the keyboard... And UPS wanted twice that amount.

QPad then agreed (I was pleasantly surprised, by the way) to just send me another keyboard.

When it arrived, it was working perfectly... for a week, then boom! Same problem. This time though, the delete key started to chatter for some minutes before it stopped working. It would delete two characters on a keypress, then do nothing on the next press, etc.

Well now I have two identical keyboards with the same problem and I'd like to know if anyone here has a brilliant idea to fix it. I don't think QPad would send me another keyboard and frankly, I wouldn't want that either..

What I tried so far:
- different USB ports
- on 3 computers
- with and without the USB adapter (the first one worked on PS/2 on another computer and the second one worked on PS/2 on my job computer
- confirm with AquaKeyTest that the delete keys don't work

Meanwhile, the FUNC is working like a charm. But it's damn noisy for 8 hours of typing in a row (good thing I work from home. And yes, I did buy o-rings, lol.)

Bonus fun story: I think Customs suspected me of drug trafficking or something like that, because the spacebar and numpad 0 were both popped up but still attached to the metal bar underneath. Some guy from UPS told me that keyboards are always checked by customs, at least when they come by UPS. And since QPad didn't write on the form that it was a replacement, I paid the damn fees twice.

[rowdy]

Welcome to Geekhack!

I wonder if it is a manufacturing defect, and you were unlucky enough to get two faulty keyboards from the same batch.

[skarn]

Welcome to Geekhack!

I wonder if it is a manufacturing defect, and you were unlucky enough to get two faulty keyboards from the same batch.

Thanks for the welcome

Yeah I thought the same, but what kind of bad luck is that?

[suicidal_orange]

Do you have a soldering iron?  The chances of two boards having a faulty switch put in the same place while the rest all work fine is very slim, but it could be a dodgy soldering nozzle or systematic damage to that part of the PCB. 

First try adding more solder and reflowing both switch pins, and if that doesn't work post a pic and hopefully it will be possible to work out which other switches it's supposed to be connected to.

Surely worth a go no matter how bad your soldering is as you have two

[skarn]

Do you have a soldering iron?  The chances of two boards having a faulty switch put in the same place while the rest all work fine is very slim, but it could be a dodgy soldering nozzle or systematic damage to that part of the PCB. 

First try adding more solder and reflowing both switch pins, and if that doesn't work post a pic and hopefully it will be possible to work out which other switches it's supposed to be connected to.

Surely worth a go no matter how bad your soldering is as you have two

Hey, thanks for the tip!

It could be a solution. I don't have a soldering iron, but I have a pyrography pen (and no heat regulator -_-). Could it do the trick? Obviously, I have zero skills in soldering. If there's no easier solution, I'll try and get a refund. If I can't get one, then I'll take a chance with a soldering iron. Or maybe I could buy a barebone keyboard and add the scavenged switches? Is that even an option?

[Oobly]

Do you have a soldering iron?  The chances of two boards having a faulty switch put in the same place while the rest all work fine is very slim, but it could be a dodgy soldering nozzle or systematic damage to that part of the PCB. 

First try adding more solder and reflowing both switch pins, and if that doesn't work post a pic and hopefully it will be possible to work out which other switches it's supposed to be connected to.

Surely worth a go no matter how bad your soldering is as you have two

+1 to this.

[jcoffin1981]

Oh this looks like quite an interesting thread.  I can't wait to see how this develops...

[rowdy]

Do you have a soldering iron?  The chances of two boards having a faulty switch put in the same place while the rest all work fine is very slim, but it could be a dodgy soldering nozzle or systematic damage to that part of the PCB. 

First try adding more solder and reflowing both switch pins, and if that doesn't work post a pic and hopefully it will be possible to work out which other switches it's supposed to be connected to.

Surely worth a go no matter how bad your soldering is as you have two

Hey, thanks for the tip!

It could be a solution. I don't have a soldering iron, but I have a pyrography pen (and no heat regulator -_-). Could it do the trick? Obviously, I have zero skills in soldering. If there's no easier solution, I'll try and get a refund. If I can't get one, then I'll take a chance with a soldering iron. Or maybe I could buy a barebone keyboard and add the scavenged switches? Is that even an option?

Although you could buy a keyboard kit without switches, the switches are generally not the most expensive part.

If you are unable to repair them, and do get a refund, and are able to keep the keyboards, you might consider selling them here (once you meet classifieds requirements) as damaged.  Someone would probably buy them.

[suicidal_orange]

Do you have a soldering iron?  The chances of two boards having a faulty switch put in the same place while the rest all work fine is very slim, but it could be a dodgy soldering nozzle or systematic damage to that part of the PCB. 

First try adding more solder and reflowing both switch pins, and if that doesn't work post a pic and hopefully it will be possible to work out which other switches it's supposed to be connected to.

Surely worth a go no matter how bad your soldering is as you have two

Hey, thanks for the tip!

It could be a solution. I don't have a soldering iron, but I have a pyrography pen (and no heat regulator -_-). Could it do the trick? Obviously, I have zero skills in soldering. If there's no easier solution, I'll try and get a refund. If I can't get one, then I'll take a chance with a soldering iron. Or maybe I could buy a barebone keyboard and add the scavenged switches? Is that even an option?

I guess a pyrography pen could work, but it would need to be in a reasonable temperature range (hot enough but not too hot) and you'd have to be ok with covering it in molten metal, which may corrode it.  I'd ask friends, family and colleagues if anyone has a soldering iron first, it's not something most people use often so they should be ok with lending it to you.

Or if you want to go the replacement empty board route you're going to need one for that, so you could buy one (thread discussing such things) and if you fix them (99% sure you will) you can sell the second board to offset some of the cost.

[skarn]

Hey, all!

I'm working with them to see what are my options, before I use your suggestions. I don't know anyone with a soldering iron and I don't feel confident enough to spend money buying one.

So far they're offering me a third keyboard... Kinda generous, but I asked them if there's any other option, because frankly I fear a third bad apple. So that's my situation at the moment. Email exchanges are slow because of the different timezones, but I'm confident they're trying their best to fix my problem.

[rowdy]

Did you ask if the first two keyboards were from the same batch?

Might be a bad batch - it has happened before.

[3K]

Hey, all!

I'm working with them to see what are my options, before I use your suggestions. I don't know anyone with a soldering iron and I don't feel confident enough to spend money buying one.

So far they're offering me a third keyboard... Kinda generous, but I asked them if there's any other option, because frankly I fear a third bad apple. So that's my situation at the moment. Email exchanges are slow because of the different timezones, but I'm confident they're trying their best to fix my problem.

There are people on GH who offer soldering services, so you could maybe find someone who replaces the switchs, or finds an other fix to your problem.

[skarn]

Thanks all for your help.

I finally got a refund and I can keep the two keyboards. Some might say I'm lucky, though I don't know what I'll do next. For now I'm just relieved.

QPad has been very nice during the whole process. It was just a bit slow. And while their keyboards worked I really loved them.

[mich]

A 30W pencil type soldering iron (perfectly suited for such jobs) costs about $10. Add few bucks for solder, flux and cleaning sponge.

Just sayin'.

[rowdy]

Thanks all for your help.

I finally got a refund and I can keep the two keyboards. Some might say I'm lucky, though I don't know what I'll do next. For now I'm just relieved.

QPad has been very nice during the whole process. It was just a bit slow. And while their keyboards worked I really loved them.

You're actually quite lucky there - a lot of manufacturers would insist that you return at least one of the keyboards.