K70 Keyboard, Eleven (11) dead LEDs

[Hancoque]

Update: 24 LEDs are dead now.

[Thierrys]

Same problem here guys. Every LEDs are dying on my K70. I won't RMA mine because I'm sure I'll get the same problem with a new K70. This is such a shame as I really like this keyboard. Had 4 dead LEDs at first, so decided to power off all LEDs on my K70. After 2 days I turn them on. Guess what! 13 dead LEDs! How can this happen? Those faulty LEDs were OFF but they died! Well, perhaps the problem is not the LED.

[xnaron]

Same problem here guys. Every LEDs are dying on my K70. I won't RMA mine because I'm sure I'll get the same problem with a new K70. This is such a shame as I really like this keyboard. Had 4 dead LEDs at first, so decided to power off all LEDs on my K70. After 2 days I turn them on. Guess what! 13 dead LEDs! How can this happen? Those faulty LEDs were OFF but they died! Well, perhaps the problem is not the LED.

 

The led's might not be dying. It might be the circuits that drive them. So far mine has not failed. I leave my lights off and use the reactive keypress lighting. My keyboard was purchased around Nov 14th. I check my LED's everyday by turning them all on. So fare so good.

[Angrychair]

I just bought a red and black one yesterday for $140 after taxes. I'm honestly thinking about returning it if it's going to have failures and just eBay a wasd keybaord. The led failure rate is through the roof here. And RMA overseas? No thanks.

 

Really Corsair? Epic fail on this product.

[Ultravincent]

Just saying, I also have a silver/blue k70 with leds that started failing at the second month of use. Since then I turned off all of them completely to preserve for when I'll actually need them.

I don't really feel like RMA it because other than that it works perfectly and I don't want to receive a keyboard that might have other issues... I even bought a squaretrade insurance, hopefully I can have some refund

[xnaron]

I bought mine around Nov 15th... So far they all still work. However I don't have them on. I have mine set to that reactive mode where they briefly light after you press a key. I don't think I am out of the woods yet though as people have had failures a few months after from what I have read here. Also having mine only on that reactive mode might be prolonging any failures. I'll keep this thread updated as time progresses. I check mine daily by turning on all the LED's and looking for dead ones.

[Angrychair]

Who hasn't had led failure?

 

And how do u set reactive mode? Is that only on the k95?

[xnaron]

Who hasn't had led failure?

 

And how do u set reactive mode? Is that only on the k95?

 

It works on my K70. Turn all the LED's off. Then hold the control button and press the button that toggles between all led's on and subset of led's on.

 

I haven't had a failure yet.

[Angrychair]

It works on my K70. Turn all the LED's off. Then hold the control button and press the button that toggles between all led's on and subset of led's on.

 

I haven't had a failure yet.

 

wow it's so awesome.

 

I really hope this keyboard doesn't have led failure!!!!!!!! from what I'm seeing it's just blue leds having the problem?

[MihaiEU]

In my case first LED died in a week, 7 days, 168 hours, 10080 seconds. Yet no Corsair employee is able to give us some clarifications or acknowledge the problem.

[larceniii]

My Ketyboard's LED are dead on the "D,F,1,<,?,F1,F6,ESC,SCROLL LOCK" keys. That's 8 keys dead so far after two months.

 

:( :( :( :(

 

So much money, keyboard is really nice texture and feel, perfect layout and design, but I paid premium for the leds so I can see them in the dark.

 

Switching the keyboard to responsive lighting I noticed that when I press the "D" key is DOES light up, but OH SO FAINTLY. But the "E" above it also lights up. The "E" key works fine.

 

All my dead keys also faintly light up keys from a row or two above them and it's more noticeable in responsive mode (Ctrl+the LED toggle)

 

To me this indicates that the power matrix is malfunctioning. That's likely going to be the fault of the design.

 

Replacement would most likely do the same, and yes shipping is expensive.

 

 

RAMGUY: If I RMA this EXPENSIVE keyboard, what's the warranty on the replacement?

 

 

Has anyone here done an RMA with any success? Is the new board still working?

[Steveleeb]

Just made an account because I'm getting a cherry mx blue k70 for xmas. I'll let you guys know how it works.

[fvbounty]

Just made an account because I'm getting a cherry mx blue k70 for xmas. I'll let you guys know how it works.

 

Thanks I'm interested in that model, keep us informed!

[cellwood]

My Ketyboard's LED are dead on the "D,F,1,<,?,F1,F6,ESC,SCROLL LOCK" keys. That's 8 keys dead so far after two months.

 

:( :( :( :(

 

So much money, keyboard is really nice texture and feel, perfect layout and design, but I paid premium for the leds so I can see them in the dark.

 

Switching the keyboard to responsive lighting I noticed that when I press the "D" key is DOES light up, but OH SO FAINTLY. But the "E" above it also lights up. The "E" key works fine.

 

All my dead keys also faintly light up keys from a row or two above them and it's more noticeable in responsive mode (Ctrl+the LED toggle)

 

To me this indicates that the power matrix is malfunctioning. That's likely going to be the fault of the design.

 

Replacement would most likely do the same, and yes shipping is expensive.

 

 

RAMGUY: If I RMA this EXPENSIVE keyboard, what's the warranty on the replacement?

 

 

Has anyone here done an RMA with any success? Is the new board still working?

 

RAMGUY hasn't been on the forum for 30+ days so good luck with that...

 

Some people have RMAd a bad keyboard and gotten another bad one leading to...yep you guess it, another RMA process. They will switch for the red ledk70 though what some people are saying. That is what I plan to do once they are open again. Get a red one and sell it to buy something of quality.

[Steveleeb]

Just got my cherry MX blue K70 today and everything is working great. I'm in love. Only reason I'm paranoid is because of all of the bad reviews. But, out of the box, everything is solid. I'll be sure to come back as soon as a problem arises (hopefully only with the LED's).

 

I can deal with an LED problem even though it is still unacceptable. But, I cannot deal with an actual key problem.

[wytnyt]

Just got my cherry MX blue K70 today and everything is working great. I'm in love. Only reason I'm paranoid is because of all of the bad reviews. But, out of the box, everything is solid. I'll be sure to come back as soon as a problem arises (hopefully only with the LED's).

 

I can deal with an LED problem even though it is still unacceptable. But, I cannot deal with an actual key problem.

 

as with any support forums, problems is all you will see here as those with problem free units have no reason to post as a rule.,,,i assure you of the thousands of kb's sold,the few problems found here are only the exception...

[RAM GUY]

RAMGUY: If I RMA this EXPENSIVE keyboard, what's the warranty on the replacement?

It retains the original keyboard's two year warranty from the date of purchase:

http://www.corsair.com/support/warranty/

 

 

RAMGUY has been on the forum for 30+ days so good luck with that...

I fail to understand what having an account for longer than 30 days has to do with anything.

[cellwood]

It retains the original keyboard's two year warranty from the date of purchase:

http://www.corsair.com/support/warranty/

 

 

I fail to understand what having an account for longer than 30 days has to do with anything.

 

typo..hasn't

 

 

welcome back...

[QuorthonRhar]

Very nice and informative read. Especially, do not fail to read the part related specifically to LED LIGHTS (subtopic name half way through the article):

 

http://www.davidsatz.com/aboutflicker_en.html

 

I especially like that little simple tabel:

 

lamp type flicker-factor

---------- -------------

LED dimmed at 50%: 99 %

LED on transformers: 40 - 70 %

LED, low cost supply: 0 - 15 %

LED, quality supply: 0 - 3 %

 

Now, I understand why neither my CM Storm QuickFire TK and QuickFire Ultimate have any flicker at all. Because they use Quality Power Supply, that's why. Every single video recorded, regardless of the framerate or shutter speed, I get super stable LED lights recorded. Not a single flicker or light wave recorded, super steady shot of lights completely still.

 

Well, that's not the case with my K70. Flickering is all over the recording, un-watchable at times. Every other YouTube video reviewing K70, has same problem exactly.

 

So... why my TK and Ultimate which both I found under 80 Canadian dollars use Quality Power Supply, and almost twice more expensive K70 uses Low Cost Power Supply is beyond me. Talking about cutting corners... but still charging customers premium price. Especially when you see how many people are complaining, that alone tells you it's not an isolated little problem, it's wide spread. And Corsair still charging shipping cost when product is RMA's. There is a name for situations like that - a recall. Corsair, admit it. This product is faulty. Help your customers rather trying to tell them they're wrong. Maybe sometimes they are... but not in this case.

 

I know I am nobody, and my decision about not buying anything Corsair ever again, does not mean anything to you... you have millions of others people (for how long, that is the question). But you failed me, and you failed all of us for that matter. I SO wanted to love this product. One of the prettiest and smartest keyboard designs out there. Looks miles ahead of any other mechanical keyboard available... but I don't want to pay for looks only. I need functional keyboard. LEDs dying, is bad enough alone... but people reporting keyboards getting completely disabled after some time, and them not being able to type on them at all - well, that sounds like a serious issue to me. I returned my K70, but still visiting these forums to see if anything will change. Yes, I still have hope... but this whole thing and where it's going, does not look too good at the moment. I was hoping I will see some new posts people telling there is a new batch, even Corsair announcing it giving us some hope... but nope. Nothing! Sad!

[Wired]

Now, I understand why neither my CM Storm QuickFire TK and QuickFire Ultimate have any flicker at all. Because they use Quality Power Supply, that's why. Every single video recorded, regardless of the framerate or shutter speed, I get super stable LED lights recorded. Not a single flicker or light wave recorded, super steady shot of lights completely still.

 

Well, that's not the case with my K70. Flickering is all over the recording, un-watchable at times. Every other YouTube video reviewing K70, has same problem exactly.

 

So... why my TK and Ultimate which both I found under 80 Canadian dollars use Quality Power Supply, and almost twice more expensive K70 uses Low Cost Power Supply is beyond me.

So are you claiming that those 3 have a good power supply and the K70 doesn't, based solely on that article, or have you taken them apart and know what they use? Do you have anything more than guesses, or do you know what internal parts each keyboard uses?

[GWXerxes]

The first K70 I ordered in July 2013 had almost half of the LEDs go out one-by-one by the time I requested an RMA in November. Here it is early January 2014 and it's started happening again. I've lost 3 LEDs in less than 48 hours on this new K70. I have a hard time believing that this problem is random. Could it be the power coming off of our mainboards? And environmental issue maybe?

[xnaron]

I have only been running my K70 with the reactive LED's since I first got it somewhere around the middle of November 2013. Today I noticed that the LED on the media keys (stop, rewind, play, forward, mute) is barely visible. I am not sure how bright they are supposed to be but they are nowhere near as bright as the reactive LED's. When I turn on the lights on all they keys those buttons look like they are off. Can anyone confirm what the level of brightness for these buttons should be? I can't remember now how bright they were when I first got the keyboard. In the reactive mode these lights stay on. That may explain why they failed and the other LED's have not.

[DunGoufd]

Sigh... I was really hoping I would never have to post here. Unfortunately my LEDs are starting to die too, one after another.

 

I own the gun metal grey K70 with cherry browns, which I purchased in September when they were just released. I was hoping the problems with the leds would be sorted out with these new K70's, and so I bought one of the first few batches of keyboards released expecting them to have gone through decent QA. Unfortunately this was not the case for me.

 

Now, I don't even use backlighting 99% of the time. The only time it's ever used is when I let other people use my keyboard at my house. So while I don't really have a need for backlighting, I still feel very disappointment that I have 3(and more to come I suspect) dead leds on this pretty much new keyboard. Imagine my surprise having my LEDs dying on me without them even being on! I'd reckon they've only been active for a couple of hours at most.

[rob81]

Same here. Bought it in Germany, it's the new Gun Metal MXBlue Version.

Release was end 2012 and now the following keys are completly dead or half dead: ^ v m , l 9 del numpadEnter

 

LEDs of inferior quality...keyboard itself is great.

My 40€ Sidewinder X4 keyboard lasted for 3 years and still all LEDs work !

 

My LEDs were off too. When I turned them back on today...surprise, 8 keys broken.

Dunno if it's a feature but even if my PC is turned off, few key presses will illuminate this keyboard light my pc is running.

[xnaron]

 

If you ask me, it's a design flaw. LEDs are sticking out a bit and a hard button press could reach them !

 

That is an interesting observation and possible cause. I will have to check mine out.