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RGB keyboards - Possible fix for "dead LED" BUG


rinslime

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I thought I'd post what happened to me when I thought some of my red LEDs died, in case this helps anyone.

 

Today I got home and found several keys on my keyboard showing an effect I could only describe as a dead red LED. My K95 RGB, with an orange theme, had G2, ESC, Q, A, and Windows keys all showing yellow. I tried going through all my profiles, changing color schemes, etc. Nothing seemed to work so I figured the red LED had died on those. One last thing I tried was exporting my main profile, then going to %appdata%\Corsair\HID and deleting all my profiles (after closing HID software of course). I reopened the software, which defaulted it to the rainbow pattern thing, then imported and defaulted my favorite profile.

 

Sadly that didn't immediately fix it, so I read my warranty papers, and I was going to drop a ticket to Corsair when I noticed the color was back to normal. I don't know what exactly fixed it. It might have had to do with deleting all profiles, or having the rainbow effect happen, or just typing for a while. Moral of the story is

 

-If your RGB keyboard looks like it has dead LEDs, don't panic. Use it for another day and export/delete/reimport your profiles first.

-Some kind of FIRMWARE OR HARDWARE-SIDED BUG exists that for some unknown reason, can cause a few keys to temporarily have an LED that refuses to function

 

Hopefully this helps someone who is googling the issue.

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Import issues are usually related to profiles exported from an old version or wrongly converted ones (from example from K70 to K95).

 

I import all the time profiles on my K70 to test things and I never had an issue exporting and re-importing on the same CUE version.

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didn't solve the problem for me of exporting from 1.5.108, quitting the program deleting %appdata%\Corsair\HID and then importing with THE SAME cue (not even uninstalled). This is now less so and random than it was before so it is getting better
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To clarify, I tried reimporting profiles, yes, but that did not fix the issue, at least not immediately. The issue seemed to be unrelated to profiles, because during the rainbow wave 'demo' mode I got, the afflicted keys were still visibly off-color.

 

Exactly what I did after that is the following

1. Switched my layout to a light blue so that at least I didn't have to look at discolored keys due to bad red LED.

2. Spent some time typing on keyboard

3. Switched to M2 (which was still red keys) by chance and noticed it was now fixed

 

So I did not fix it by messing about with profiles, but it fixed itself after I typed on the keyboard for a while. I think it might have been firmware related, especially considering that when I first got the issue, I had not touched profiles in over a month.

 

Hopefully whatever it is can be discovered and fixed in the next firmware update.

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As for the rgb versions of these keyboards the leds are not "dead" as such but have bad connections to the pcb, im putting the blame on lead free solder, this stuff cracks and breaks off pcb traces very easily, all it takes is a break in the connection on the pcb half the thickness of a hair to make the leds intermittent.

 

this has got to be whats going on here as tapping the key brings the proper light of the key back on my k70rgb

 

A reflow with good quality flux and rosin core solder should permanently cure the problem but taking the keyboard apart obviously voids your 2 year warranty so its sort of a catch 22 situation

 

At the end of the day as long as you dont tamper with the keyboard you are entitled to a replacement no matter how many times the problem happens, using decent solder and human hands instead of robots would have prevented this issue in the first place. This is why electronics of yesteryear are built so well and last so long

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using decent solder and human hands instead of robots would have prevented this issue in the first place.

 

I'm certain that decent solder, decent robots and decent PCB design would largely solve this increasingly common issue with these keyboards. Most mass produced electronic products have little or no human soldered parts these days, and most electronic products don't suffer from poor soldering.

 

Mine went back with two faulty LEDs. The non-RGB Kxx keyboards were known to have LED issues (completely failing, apparently), and the new RGB keyboards were supposed to be much more reliable as far as lighting is concerned. It's OK having the look and feel of quality, but it's just as important to have solid and reliable electronics. Maybe this issue is not common, but there do appear to be a few cases being reported.

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Yep today switching on the keyboard the F key is ok now the ctrl key on the left hand side is playing up, tapping it put its right again, somethings slightly loose in it somehwere thats affecting these 2 keys on mine, its random though because some other people are experiencing different keys doing this so its got to be a solder trace problem on the pcb itself somewhere.

 

Tapping the bottom of the keyboard activates the spacebar what the hell!

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As for the rgb versions of these keyboards the leds are not "dead" as such but have bad connections to the pcb, im putting the blame on lead free solder, this stuff cracks and breaks off pcb traces very easily, all it takes is a break in the connection on the pcb half the thickness of a hair to make the leds intermittent.

 

this has got to be whats going on here as tapping the key brings the proper light of the key back on my k70rgb

 

A reflow with good quality flux and rosin core solder should permanently cure the problem but taking the keyboard apart obviously voids your 2 year warranty so its sort of a catch 22 situation

 

At the end of the day as long as you dont tamper with the keyboard you are entitled to a replacement no matter how many times the problem happens, using decent solder and human hands instead of robots would have prevented this issue in the first place. This is why electronics of yesteryear are built so well and last so long

I can confirm I got the issue again. This time my 3 key lost the functionality of its green LED. Did Corsair really ship these out with a serious hardware-sided issue like this?

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  • 3 months later...
Looks like Im part of the club. I just realized that my caps-lock and my "w" keys are discolored. If I make every key all white.. the "caps-lock" is bright blue and the "w" is light brown colored. Very odd. I tried reflashing 1.30 and it didnt help. I tried changing key colors as suggested and nothing. Any other ideas? Or should I just get an RMA going? If I do an RMA, do I get a refurb keyboard? :(
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As for the rgb versions of these keyboards the leds are not "dead" as such but have bad connections to the pcb, im putting the blame on lead free solder, this stuff cracks and breaks off pcb traces very easily, all it takes is a break in the connection on the pcb half the thickness of a hair to make the leds intermittent.

 

this has got to be whats going on here as tapping the key brings the proper light of the key back on my k70rgb

 

A reflow with good quality flux and rosin core solder should permanently cure the problem but taking the keyboard apart obviously voids your 2 year warranty so its sort of a catch 22 situation

 

At the end of the day as long as you dont tamper with the keyboard you are entitled to a replacement no matter how many times the problem happens, using decent solder and human hands instead of robots would have prevented this issue in the first place. This is why electronics of yesteryear are built so well and last so long

I also had this problem with a K95 RGB. It starts with one LED having an off color and more follow later. If I knock gently on the case of the keyboard (not hitting the keys) the colors of those LEDs either remain off, go back to normal or change to another off color.

 

To check: Create a new profile. It doesn't matter if you use the 16.8m color setting. Set all keys to white. Do not use any other color setting. That is how you'll notice the problem best. Knock gently on the case (not the keys) and see if the LEDs change. Some will if you have the problem. Some stay off color, though.

 

The knocking is proof that it is not a user or profile problem. It certainly has to so with the soldering.

 

Technical support of the web shop confirmed the problem after they tested it there. I got a replacement.

 

After a few days, it happened again with the replacement keyboard. Sigh.

 

I'm sending the replacement back today. I've asked them to use a new one for a couple of days at their company, so that they can test it before they send it to me.

 

Edit: I've bookmarked this thread and will let you guys know if the third one has the same problem. ;)

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I also had this problem with a K95 RGB. It starts with one LED having an off color and more follow later. If I knock gently on the case of the keyboard (not hitting the keys) the colors of those LEDs either remain off, go back to normal or change to another off color.

 

To check: Create a new profile. It doesn't matter if you use the 16.8m color setting. Set all keys to white. Do not use any other color setting. That is how you'll notice the problem best. Knock gently on the case (not the keys) and see if the LEDs change. Some will if you have the problem. Some stay off color, though.

 

The knocking is proof that it is not a user or profile problem. It certainly has to so with the soldering.

 

Technical support of the web shop confirmed the problem after they tested it there. I got a replacement.

 

After a few days, it happened again with the replacement keyboard. Sigh.

 

I'm sending the replacement back today. I've asked them to use a new one for a couple of days at their company, so that they can test it before they send it to me.

 

Edit: I've bookmarked this thread and will let you guys know if the third one has the same problem. ;)

 

On an all white setting my 'W' key is light brown and caps are bright blue. Unfortunately, the tapping on the keyboard doesnt help. Do you think it could be anything else besides bad solder? All keys are white, I dont think it could be a profile issue.. What about a flash issue? Im thinking its RMA time.. This bad solder reminds of the Xbox 360 red ring.. :( I have the brown keys, BTW. Oh and the K70 RGB.

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On an all white setting my 'W' key is light brown and caps are bright blue. Unfortunately, the tapping on the keyboard doesnt help. Do you think it could be anything else besides bad solder? All keys are white, I dont think it could be a profile issue.. What about a flash issue? Im thinking its RMA time.. This bad solder reminds of the Xbox 360 red ring.. :( I have the brown keys, BTW. Oh and the K70 RGB.

The knocking is not supposed to help. It's a test to confirm that is not a software problem. If I tap on some of the keys the color change as well. But not all the time. Something is wrong and it sometimes responds to force. That's for sure. ;)

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The knocking is not supposed to help. It's a test to confirm that is not a software problem. If I tap on some of the keys the color change as well. But not all the time. Something is wrong and it sometimes responds to force. That's for sure. ;)

 

Yes, I wasn't clear enough, I meant to say that my colors remain the same. I wasnt expecting a fix. :P

 

No matter where or how I tap near or on those keys they are blue and brown and the rest of the keys are white.. Ill give it a day or so. Is it even possible that this could be a software or bios issue? Have you heard of anyone fixing the discolored keys through software? Thanks for your help!

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Yes, I wasn't clear enough, I meant to say that my colors remain the same. I wasnt expecting a fix. :P

 

No matter where or how I tap near or on those keys they are blue and brown and the rest of the keys are white.. Ill give it a day or so. Is it even possible that this could be a software or bios issue? Have you heard of anyone fixing the discolored keys through software? Thanks for your help!

No. It is not a software issue. Sorry about that.

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