k70 lux High-Pitched Noise From Keyboard

[fencingdude101]

Hey everyone,

 

I'm having the strangest issue with the K70 LUX I just received from Newegg. The first 30 minutes with it were awesome, typing on it and setting up my lighting profile, but I noticed this around half an hour after plugging it in: the keyboard produces a high-pitched noise when the lights are on. At first I didn't know if it was just me going crazy, but after verification from family members, it is indeed producing the noise.

 

Note: The noise is coming from the keys themselves- I saw some posts about Corsair keyboards causing buzzing through speakers or microphones, but this is not the case. At first I thought it was from a controller on the keyboard or something, but after some experimentation, each individual key is making the noise.

 

I decided to have some fun. I whipped out my Yeti microphone and Adobe Audition and got to recording. Placing the mic right against the keyboard, here's the sound signature without the key lights on:

 

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/Mroctopi/Base_zps4i8rpcqf.png

 

Looks pretty normal, right? The sub-4kHz range has some attention due to my computer noise, but the rest is pretty flat. Here's the keyboard with red lights on full-blast compared to base:

 

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/Mroctopi/R_zpsklqspr7b.png

 

And green:

 

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/Mroctopi/G_zpswtnyrwu0.png

 

And blue:

 

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/Mroctopi/B_zpsoklm6u6j.png

 

 

Interesting, huh? About a 20dB increase over ambient in the 10kHz range. There also seems to be some commotion in the 6k, 9k and 21k ranges, which is pretty neat, but the 10k range is obviously the most pronounced. Things get even cooler when we overlay each color's sound signature on the same graph:

 

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/Mroctopi/RGB_zpsuo2jxxrw.png

 

Rad, huh? Each color has about a 500Hz shift from the other. When we look at white, we obviously see a very similar-looking graph, just kinda jumbled together:

 

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/o530/Mroctopi/White_zps9czl28jc.png

 

Anyway, I thought it was cool, but a shame since the keyboard is soo nice otherwise. I'll be calling Newegg tomorrow to schedule an RMA. Just to make sure, no one else is having this issue, yes? I know the K70 LUX just came out, so not sure how wide of a user base there is out there.

 

Hopefully you found this at least partially as intriguing as I did. Not a clue what is causing it, seeing as it's coming from the keys themselves.

 

Cheers!

[Corsair Henry]

Hello fencingdude101,

 

We apologize that you have received a unit that is behaving badly. If you submit a RMA with us, we will take care of you.

[fencingdude101]

Hey Henry,

 

Thanks for the quick response, didn't realize I should be going with Corsair vs. Newegg. I'll submit one now.

 

Keep up the great products!

[Corsair Henry]

Hey Henry,

 

Thanks for the quick response, didn't realize I should be going with Corsair vs. Newegg. I'll submit one now.

 

Keep up the great products!

 

PM me your RMA number, so I can take care of this. Thanks!

[Rustic]

Huh. I just replaced my week old K70 RGB with the LUX RGB and i can hear it too.

 

I can even notice it with a blind test by not looking if the lights are on, turning my head away and spamming away at the brightness key until i don't know if they're on. Then i can find out at which press the lights turn off be hearing the sound go away.

It is really faint though, and i hadn't noticed it until now (Damn you! :P).

 

This is really bizarre.

 

I don't live in the US though, so i probably can't RMA it straight to Corsair.

Can anyone from Corsair tell if this is something rare that is fixed with just a new keyboard? Or are there new ones with a new model number or something?

 

Btw thanks OP for the testing for RMA purposes!

[terabyte]

Apparently it was a bad batch of keyboards that all produce this noise, they are already replacing them for anyone who submits a RMA ticket.

[Corsair Henry]

The humming sound affected only a handful of keyboards, but it has now been addressed. That's why i told OP to submit a RMA with us and we will make sure the replacement is perfectly fine.

[Rustic]

The humming sound affected only a handful of keyboards, but it has now been addressed. That's why i told OP to submit a RMA with us and we will make sure the replacement is perfectly fine.

 

If i send mine back to the retailer, is there any way i can make sure i get a fixed model? Like do retailers have any way of knowing which batch it's from?

 

Thanks!

[Corsair Henry]

To be safe, I would go directly through us. This is to ensure that your experience will be exceptional :D:

 

If you are worried about shipping, we will take care of that for you. If you are worried about downtime, we have an express RMA option that allows us to send the unit to you first. For this option, please call into customer service.

[Frozen112]

I also have this issue with K70 RGB Rapidfire, no noise at all with leds OFF and noise increases as brightness increases.

 

Tried every USB port on my PC, only keyboard plugged in, reinstalled CUE & Drivers, Tried another PC. No success.

[terabyte]

Submit a RMA ticket too ;):

[Skrunch]

Should I submit an RMA if my keyboard is buzzing slightly at 100% brightness? I can only hear it if my PC fans are off and only at level 3 brightness. Should there be absolutely no buzzing noise at all?

[Inheritance]

Try a different USB port if its still buzzing then RMa it

[chris_n26]

Is this an ongoing issue?

 

In the past month I have purchased 2 k70 lux blues and each time I had to return them due to inconsistent switches and coil whine (how can a keyboard whine?). I did purchase from a different store the second time to avoid buying from the same batch, so it might just be bad luck.

 

Can a Corsair rep please provide a comment? Surely Corsair would've recalled all the bad batches by now? I'm from Australia if that helps narrow things down.

[Der Wartende]

The humming sound affected only a handful of keyboards, but it has now been addressed. That's why i told OP to submit a RMA with us and we will make sure the replacement is perfectly fine.

How can we make sure to get a fixed unit?

 

I RMAed my K65 RGB Rapidfire and got back a Keyboard with the same issue (the wrong one .. a LUX, but anyways ...).

[Corsair Henry]

If you received a replacement from us, it should not have the issue. Please provide me with your RMA number and I will look into this for you. You should not have received a LUX, when you have sent in a Rapidfire.

[Der Wartende]

The original RMA-ticket number is:

6825775

But since the process went further, they told me a new one:

1361746

 

I think however, the RMA guys already decided to rather refund the keyboard now.

I'd still like to get the right keyboard without that coil noise, but it seems there is no option to have a unit tested before sending it back to the customer. :/

And obviously sending units back and forth numerous times, without knowing if they have that issue, generates unnecessary cost.

 

I made a thread in the german sub forum already:

http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?p=875959#post875959

[Inheritance]

The original RMA-ticket number is:

6825775

But since the process went further, they told me a new one:

1361746

 

I think however, the RMA guys already decided to rather refund the keyboard now.

I'd still like to get the right keyboard without that coil noise, but it seems there is no option to have a unit tested before sending it back to the customer. :/

And obviously sending units back and forth numerous times, without knowing if they have that issue, generates unnecessary cost.

 

I made a thread in the german sub forum already:

http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?p=875959#post875959

 

The coil whine was due to a batch of keyboards with faulty components. You replacement keyboards should not have this issue and if it does they should provide you with shipping to and back.

[Nimbalo]

The humming sound affected only a handful of keyboards, but it has now been addressed. That's why i told OP to submit a RMA with us and we will make sure the replacement is perfectly fine.

Henry, I have a K65 LUX RGB and have noticed a faint, high-pitched ringing from the board only when the lights are on. I am not sure if this same issue is present in this model or if it is normal to have a quiet, high frequency sound.

 

Please advise. Thank you.

[Toasted]

It will be best to put in a support ticket with Corsair.

 

https://corsair.secure.force.com/

[CaptainGOW]

I have the same issue with my K70 Lux and i contacted Corsair and they agreed to RMA it, but my question is will this issue affect my unit in the long term if i ignored the noise and kept using it? (returning and then recieving another unit can be a hassle for me).

[Inheritance]

I have the same issue with my K70 Lux and i contacted Corsair and they agreed to RMA it, but my question is will this issue affect my unit in the long term if i ignored the noise and kept using it? (returning and then recieving another unit can be a hassle for me).

 

it wont affect the product in the long run. Your sanity uhhhh thats not covered. I do want to mention that the noise can get worse over time.

 

If you cant be with out a keyboard ask for a express RMA. You will need to give them a credit card to put on file. But then they can ship you the keyboard first.

[Diego.d]

Hi all,

I was experiencing the issue of the high-frequency noise but coming only from one key.

As other people pointed out it increases with led light intensity and it stops when I switch off led backlight.

 

So I asked for an Express RMA directly from Corsair, today I got the new keyboard and it has the exact same issue...

 

This time instead of coming from around the K key the noise is coming from around the 5 key in the numeric keypad.

This is quite frustrating...

 

I don't know if it makes sense to ask for another RMA: how can I be sure to receive a keyboard without this issue?

Are all the keyboards affected by this problem?

[Corsair Henry]

It was only a small batch that was affected. Did you get the first replacement from us or was it through the shop you purchased it from?

 

If you are interested in replacing it, you will need to submit a ticket and select the express RMA option.

[Diego.d]

It was only a small batch that was affected. Did you get the first replacement from us or was it through the shop you purchased it from?

 

If you are interested in replacing it, you will need to submit a ticket and select the express RMA option.

 

Hi Henry,

 

unfortunately I got the faulty replacement from Corsair Support through Express RMA (the number is RMA#6849464).

 

I will ask Corsair again for a replacement since I really don't like the idea of having a faulty new product, but how can I be sure that this time the keyboard will not be faulty again?