Fried Mech Keyboard Key/Switch - Replaceable?

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
So I was dumb and didn't unplug my mechanical keyboard when cleaning it. I've cleaned it numerous times with a tiny bit of rubbing alcohol and then some electronics cleaning wipes designed for screens. Usually I unplug it entirely, but this time for whatever reason I just did it while the computer was off but it obviously still had power since the lights were on. :confused:

After cleaning the 0 on my numpad quit working and it indeed smells a bit burnt and a second cleaning had no effect. I'm guessing the switch is fried at this point. Each key has its own LED and that's still working but the switch is kaput. Is it possible to replace a single switch, maybe swap it for another one I don't use? I don't use the numpad a whole lot but when I do I'm usually using it for calculations and would like the 0. Every other key seems fine so far.

It's a pretty cheap mech keyboard, got it for $80 USD I think. Don't really want to spend much money to repair it but I don't want to replace it if I can avoid it. I'm guessing I'll probably just have to live without the 0.

https://www.gskill.com/en/product/ripjaws-km780r-mx--cherry-mx-brown
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Darren's too cheap to buy nice mech keyboards. Fact.
Nah. I'm too cheap to replace a keyboard that functions for 99.9% of everything I do.

Lol I don't think you realize how much I've dumped in my computer over the past year and a half compared to the previous 6. :p I'm not shy to spend money on it like I used to be.

This thing has really nice switches and I like the metal volume knob and media controls. I don't care about RGB so really no reason to upgrade if it still works. It feels higher quality than other Razer products nearly twice as much.

I will say the software on this is laughably bad though. Sometimes on boot I just get little a window that says "some error" with no button or any indication what it's for. Also get .NET Framework unhandled exception errors stemming from the software. Sometimes I'll accidentally record myself typing as a macro and it'll just loop it constantly. A quick reflash of the onboard memory fixes it but it definitely needs some work as far as software is concerned.
 
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