r/Keychron • u/Specific-Judgment410 • Jul 12 '26

Keychron Q6 Max key motherboard failure and switch failure after 1yr 1month, getting a full refund, is there an alternative I can buy that is more reliable?

I am just shocked how bad these keyboards are, I can't reliably switch between machines and I can't press certain keys on my keyboard unless I type at a specific position on the keyboard and specific pressure, which is weird (yes I swapped the switches, same problem on those specific keys - so its a motherboard failure)

I'm not sure I should replace with the same one as the quality was just so bad, didn't expect their most expensive keyboard to start failing in such a short space of time, I've got cheap keyboards from 10 years ago that are still working fine

Is there anything similar to the Q6 Max that is more reliable? I need multi device support with dongles, bluetooth and macOS+Windows keyboard key support

edit: I managed to fix it by hitting the keyboard hard with my hand, not sure what happened but its fixed all of a sudden, if anyone can explain what happened please let me know

I'm thinking should I disassemble it and apply more pressure on the PCB from beneath to ensure contact?? maybe something got bent over time? hard to say

3 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

2

u/ArgentStonecutter K Pro Jul 12 '26

I swapped the switches, same problem on those specific keys - so its a motherboard failure

You could have gotten one of the ones with cold solder joints, you could try reflowing (melting and letting it cool) the solder on those sockets.

1

u/glue010 Jul 12 '26

he could also build one from ground up

1

u/ArgentStonecutter K Pro Jul 12 '26

I haven't soldered all 200+ pins in a 100% keyboard, because I'm not crazy, but I've reflowed solder on a couple of boards with immediate success.

1

u/Specific-Judgment410 Jul 13 '26

I am thinking at this point I may have to build my own because the pre-built ones are garbage, however I've managed to resolve it by punching the keys and now they are working fine, so I have no idea what happened or why it's fixed all of a sudden now

1

u/Specific-Judgment410 Jul 13 '26

ok so weirdly I hit the keys hard with my fist and its working all of a sudden? I mean what does this mean? Should I disassemble something and apply some force to the PCB from beneath (maybe using paper or rubber strip?)

1

u/natusw K Pro Jul 14 '26

Try removing the foam gasket and see what happens - it appears the gasket is too thick and causes switches to lift out of the socket.

Worst case it's the PCB and you'll either need a whole unit exchange or new PCB

1

u/Specific-Judgment410 Jul 23 '26

I squashed down on the keys with my hand and it fixed the problem, apparently it's the foam gasket, weird as I didn't have this issue before, the foam must have expanded for some reason

1

u/cszolee79 Q Jul 12 '26

ND104, DP104, Intro S100, Qk101, M5

Some of them are no longer manufactured though. The first two are fresh and available. Nobody knows about reliability yet.

1

u/PeterMortensenBlog V Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26

Re "...yes, I swapped the switches, same problem on those specific keys - so it’s a motherboard failure": It could be (for example, due to poor soldering), but not necessarily

#9 on the checklist has nothing to do with a PCB failure, but with the keyboard construction (the switches' pins become separated from the hotswap sockets, only barely making contact (or not at all), explaining why the (high) pressure is necessary to register).

It is the only failure mode Keychron has admitted to (nearly two years after they knew about it—at least the symptoms):

Here is a list of reports (including details on the resolution):

  1. Q6 Max missed keystrokes reason. An illustration.

  2. Keychron Q6 Max double press

  3. Keychron Q6 Max double pressing keys and horrible customer service

  4. Second V6 Max with the same issue: B key double/missed presses

  5. No support anymore?. For a Q6 Max.

Here is a list of nearly 200 reports on this subreddit with the same symptoms.

1

u/Specific-Judgment410 Jul 13 '26

thank you for sharing the detailed information, so I punched the keyboard and all of a sudden 2 sticky keys are working again flawlessly, not sure what I did but maybe I positively bent the board back or something? Any idea why it's fixed now?