Gskill KM780MX spacebar problem

[rishabh2011]

So its been 7 months since I've had the Gskill KM780MX keyboard and recently the spacebar key has kind of become unresponsive. The keypress registers only on hard press. RMA is not an option as it is turning out to be quite expensive. The first time this happened a few weeks back I took apart the keyboard and cleaned the circuit near the spacebar with Isopropyl alcohol. At the time of assembling back I had noticed that one of the soldering joint had a crack on it. I am not sure though because I have never seen a soldering joint in my life before. But comparing that one with the others, it sure does seem like its a little cracked. After cleaning the circuit board the keyboard worked fine until today. The spacebar again stopped responding to soft keypresses. So I took the keyboard apart again and did the same thing. This time though it didn't solve the problem. I noticed that when all the screws are out cleaning the circuit board helps solve the issue. Light keypresses seem to register. But as soon as I tighten in a few screws or even put the keycap over the key the issue arises. I've tested all other keys on the keyboard and they all work fine. Only the spacebar requires hard presses. Here is a picture of the spacebar part of the circuit board https://imgur.com/zPJqPqb. I am hoping that the cracked soldering joint is the issue here and not the key and that a simple resolder will fix the problem. Any help would be appreciated.

[SamirD]

I would definitely try to do some 'quick fixes', like a hair dryer on the solder or something of that nature to see if that makes a difference.  You can also use something as simple as aluminum foil to quickly test to see if bridging the solder crack fixes the problem.

It's unfortunate that on a lot of cheaper boards, it's in the soldering quality where the corners are cut.  So something that works fine for a bit, flakes out after a little more time.  I've seen this in other electronics too like external hd enclosures, etc.

[rishabh2011]

Thank you so much for the reply. As I said cleaning the circuit with cleaning alcohol helps solve the issue but only while the screws are out. The first time I tried this fix a few weeks ago, the problem didn't happen again even after I tightened all the screws back, but now I don't know why tightening screws or even putting the keycap on top messes up the circuitry. I'll try doing the aluminium fix. Could you please elaborate on how to use aluminium to bridge the solder crack. It's really small and I don't know how to put aluminum foil on top of that.

Edit: I don't really know the best way to bridge the crack with aluminium. The crack is really very small so I ended up using tape to stick an aluminium foil piece, then tried carving it around the solder itself so as to form a cone. Did a pretty bad job to be honest, but something different happened this time. The keypress was registering fine until I started putting screws at the opposite end i.e. near the numpad. I was testing the key after putting in every screw, turns out putting in screws near the numpad makes the problem come back. But if I remove the screws, it goes away. So now I am kind of hoping that it is the bad solder that is causing the problem and not the switch. Should I get it resoldered? Will that get rid of the problem and fix the keyboard? I've opened this keyboard(all the 21 screws + 3 at the bottom a 100 times now) trying to solve this issue. I am getting pretty bored and annoyed having to open it and put it back together now xD.

[SamirD]

That's pretty much what I would have done with the alum foil besides carve anything on the circuit board.  It's obvious you have a manufacturing defect and if it's covered under warranty, I'd just have them fix/replace it at this point (if it's still covered).  Otherwise, I think you'll have continuing problems with it even if you do fix some solder joints.  Obviously, any slight flexing of the board is causing some solder to not make contact through a break or something else. :/

[rishabh2011]

I'll try resoldering the cracked solder joint as only the spacebar is being affected in the entire keyboard and not any other key. Hopefully it'll solve my issue. The keyboard is still covered under warranty but the cost of shipping it for RMA is 75% that of the keyboard. Thanks for your help.

[SamirD]

I'll try resoldering the cracked solder joint as only the spacebar is being affected in the entire keyboard and not any other key. Hopefully it'll solve my issue. The keyboard is still covered under warranty but the cost of shipping it for RMA is 75% that of the keyboard. Thanks for your help.

How are you shipping this?  Or I guess a better question is how much did you pay for it?

[rishabh2011]

I am from India and I bought this keyboard from amazon for cheap. I think in a sale. I got it for 7000 rupees which is around $108. I think seller was amazon export or something.  Now if I RMA the keyboard to Taiwan where I guess the Gskill factory is, the shipping price comes to be around 5000 rupees which is 77$. I checked this pricing on Blue Dart.

[SamirD]

I am from India and I bought this keyboard from amazon for cheap. I think in a sale. I got it for 7000 rupees which is around $108. I think seller was amazon export or something.  Now if I RMA the keyboard to Taiwan where I guess the Gskill factory is, the shipping price comes to be around 5000 rupees which is 77$. I checked this pricing on Blue Dart.

Bummer.  So I'd see who is a gskill retailer/distributor locally there in India and see if you can convince them to warranty the board.  What city are you in?  My wife is from Bangalore where I know there's a lot of computer retailers.

[rishabh2011]

Wow, I never even considered that. I feel so stupid now. I am from Hyderabad and there is a place called parklane which is basically computer district. One of the famous computer shops there is a gskill distributor. I'll go there. Thanks again for your help.

[SamirD]

Wow, I never even considered that. I feel so stupid now. I am from Hyderabad and there is a place called parklane which is basically computer district. One of the famous computer shops there is a gskill distributor. I'll go there. Thanks again for your help.

My wife used to live in Hyderabad as well.   Park lane sounds awesome.  There's a street in Bangalore that's like that for car modifications that I always loving seeing.

I wouldn't tell them you've done anything to the board at all and hopefully they'll take care of you!  Glad I could help.