Many people will equip their computers with mechanical keyboards, because the operation is relatively convenient, which will also bring them a very good sense of experience. However, various problems will occur when the mechanical keyboard is used up. For example, the failure of a key is also caused by a variety of reasons. It is likely that the wire is in poor contact, or each solder joint of the keyboard is desoldered. It may be that the connection cable of the keyboard is not closely connected with the computer host. If you want to solve this problem, you should first check what causes keys on keyboard not working. Here are some repair methods for mechanical keyboards that we have sorted out!
What Causes Some Keys On Mechanical Keyboard Not Working & How To Fix
1. Keyboard Aging
When using a mechanical keyboard, you may find that after the key is pressed, it cannot bounce back in time, or even cause the keyboard to type a string of characters without being able to input other characters.
Will mechanical keyboards age? The answer is yes, aging is inevitable. For mechanical keyboards, there are two main reasons for aging. One is that the springs inside the mechanical keyboards are rusted, which leads to reduced elasticity. This is a common problem in the south, especially in areas with high air humidity. Mechanical keyboards are easy to get stuck due to spring corrosion after being used for three or five years.
Secondly, it is the problem of friction and aging between the keyboard upper cover and the shaft core. During the use of the mechanical keyboard, there will be wear and aging between the upper cover of the key and the shaft core. When the wear ages to a certain extent, the friction will increase. In this way, the spring cannot eject the shaft core smoothly, resulting in a key jam.
Solution:
If the aging key sticking problem only exists in a few keys, it can be solved by replacing the spring and adding lubricating oil to the shaft core, or even replacing the keys.
2. Input Confusion: Mostly Caused by Short Circuit
Although some keys are jammed, the keys are often reset, but the keyboard still continuously inputs a specific key. In this case, it is likely that the key itself has a problem, causing a short circuit.
At this time, it is better to use a multimeter to test the resistance of the button. During the test, the key is generally downward. At this time, it is easy to press the key due to gravity, resulting in a false test. Therefore, lift one end of the keyboard slightly to avoid pressing down the keys. If the multimeter shows a resistance of 0 Ω when the key is not pressed, it basically indicates that the key is damaged.
There are many reasons for the damage of the short circuit key: the key itself is damaged, conductive objects fall into the key, and liquid enters the keyboard, which can cause internal short circuit.
However, in many cases, the short circuit is caused by the distortion of the internal reed caused by improper disassembly techniques when the player disassembles and maintains the keyboard. Therefore, we should remind everyone that when disassembling the mechanical keyboard, be careful not to deform the internal reed. By testing the resistance, you can quickly determine whether the keyboard has a short circuit.
3. No Response: Liquid Corrosion
Continuously hitting the keyboard, the keyboard only occasionally reacts, and this phenomenon tends to become more and more serious. In the initial stage, the keys occasionally fail, while in the later stage, the keys are only occasionally effective or even completely ineffective.
This problem with mechanical keyboards is mostly caused by water ingress: in terms of waterproof, mechanical keyboards are inherently weak, and the keys are not sealed. It is difficult for medium and low-end products to have waterproof structures. In this case, a glass of water may kill the keyboard, while cola, coffee and juice containing sugar and phosphate ingredients are more powerful.
These liquids will not only corrode the contacts, but also form a layer of sticky objects on the contacts after the water evaporates, making it difficult for the contacts to form effective contact. The corrosion of the contacts is a relatively slow process. The keyboard may still work normally when the water enters, but after a period of time, the liquid corrosion starts to cause poor contact, and the keys do not respond. This will even make users confused – how could the mechanical keyboard go wrong?
Solution:
For buttons that are not seriously rusted, it is only necessary to spray rust removal lubricant such as Philips water on the removed buttons to solve the problem. If the corrosion is serious, the key body needs to be replaced.
4. Welding & Desoldering: Common Problem of Low-Cost Mechanical Keyboard
The technology of some low-cost mechanical keyboards is not excellent. They not only use unknown domestic shafts, but also have no bottom iron lining. The circuit board is also thin, and even the welding process is not up to standard.
Correspondingly, many users hit the mechanical keyboard with great force. Especially in the game, when they hit the key point, the keyboard was almost smashed. In this case, the hidden danger of button desoldering or even circuit board cracking of low-cost products emerges, leading to poor contact.
Solutions:
It is not difficult to solve this problem. Just carefully observe the solder joint under the unresponsive key to see if there is desoldering and repair welding. If the PCB copper foil is cracked, it is troublesome to observe. However, in this case, most of the keys are unresponsive at the same time. As long as you find the common copper foil of these keys and use a multimeter, you can quickly find the copper foil fracture point, The problem can be solved by connecting the solder joints with a jumper.
5. All Keys Not Working: Wire Problem
All keys are unavailable, even the keyboard light is not on, and the keyboard has no response. Is this mechanical keyboard hopeless? Maybe the problem is not that serious.
This is mostly due to the internal fracture of the keyboard cable of the mechanical keyboard. Because the keyboard is mostly used in a fixed position, unlike the mouse cable, it is easy to cause internal fracture of the wire due to pulling, so there are relatively few keyboard cable failures. But this does not mean that the keyboard cable will not have problems. Machines prone to such problems are generally used for laptops or HTPCs. In this application scenario, there are many drags and wires are easy to break due to frequent bending when they are bundled and stored.
Solution:
It is not difficult to repair such faults. If the wire is broken, it is OK to reconnect it according to the color of the wire. Even if there is no external damage, we do not know where the broken wire is. A new wire can solve the problem.
6. Damaged Master Control: Replace
When the mechanical keyboard is working at low voltage and low current, the main control chip of the keyboard is still damaged, which is a small probability event. What makes this probability increase is still the trouble of the players. The most common thing is that the soldering iron is not grounded or unplugged for welding when the button is disassembled for DIY. In this case, the static electricity and the mains induced current of the soldering iron may exceed the withstand voltage of the main control chip, causing the chip to be broken down.
Solution:
Remind the players who like to play with shaft changing, and pay attention to the connection and disconnection of soldering iron and grounding when welding! For maintenance, replace the chip directly.