control center / gaming center no longer controls keyboard backlight

[SpyderTracks]

that makes some sense to me, since the bios on mine doesnt seem to be controlling the keyboard or lighting at all...keep us posted!

If the keyboard itself isn’t working that’s a hardware fault, likely the ribbon has become detached. BIOS nor any driver controls the keyboard itself.

 

[Crafter2000_x]

that makes some sense to me, since the bios on mine doesnt seem to be controlling the keyboard or lighting at all...keep us posted!

I'm still waiting they said they would send it today but I'll wait until Monday then I'll get back to you

 

[dave javu]

I'm still waiting they said they would send it today but I'll wait until Monday then I'll get back to you

hey,how did you get on?

 

[lpk230]

Hi, I am the one opening this thread and I would just like to leave a quick update here.

My issue has not been resolved (and I have tried all of the above), in fact it got worse over time. Currently my keyboard not only lacks a working backlight it is completely unresponsive! I am forced to use a wireless keyboard. On top of this the battery has stopped working (no juice when unplugged) so I am permanently plugged in. Before my keyboard stopped working completely, the backlight would sometimes work but mostly not. Other times it would all of a sudden start typing random letters, interfering with anything I was doing at the time.

When I made this purchase and spend 1600 euro on a new laptop I thought I made the right choice. However, it turns out to be the worst and I am very certain I will not do business with PCS ever again. I'm also amazed by the denial of the moderator(s) in this threat. There’s definitely something wrong with the keyboards on the machines you sell! Telling a customer that something is his/her problem while obviously the problem started on your end is rude and ridiculous. Sending my laptop back is NOT an option for me because I rely on the laptop heavily for work.

I will strongly discourage anyone from purchasing equipment from PC specialist for two reasons. Firstly, they sell a laptop that has serious issues and is generally wonky. Secondly and maybe more importantly, they are very, very unmotivated to try and help you out. I am collecting data on this issue to file an official complaint with the European Commission (https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/main/index.cfm?event=main.home2.show&lng=EN) and locally in the Netherlands with the consumentenbond (www.consumentenbond.nl). So I would like to invite everyone reading this thread and having similar problems to post here.

 

[lpk230]

If been having this exact problem on my Recoil IV. I got it in today and it has Gaming Center but for some reason when you put the laptop in sleep mode or close the lid the keyboard backlights won't turn back on but the little RGB strip does. Uninstalling the drivers fixes it but I'm not sure how good it's performance will be without the tool because it's what controls the fan and things like that. I don't know if the button to swap to different modes even does anything without the software. I wouldn't think of it as a immediate deal breaker but I use the back lighting a lot but I'm pretty disappointed because of this problem, not something I expected with a expensive laptop like the recoil. I hope that maybe there is a solution here or that they push a driver update to fix it.

HI, it started with me just like that, and it has been getting way worse (see my last post). Initially my response was similar to yours ("not an immediate deal breaker") however, now i think it IS an immediate dealbreaker and I wish I had been more concerned about it at the time. And regardless, as you say, they sell expensive laptops so they should work perfectly (at least for the first 2 years!). It does not seem to be driver related in fact. They have no clue and they refuse to look into it more unless more of us are speaking out.

 

[dave javu]

HI, it started with me just like that, and it has been getting way worse (see my last post). Initially my response was similar to yours ("not an immediate deal breaker") however, now i think it IS an immediate dealbreaker and I wish I had been more concerned about it at the time. And regardless, as you say, they sell expensive laptops so they should work perfectly (at least for the first 2 years!). It does not seem to be driver related in fact. They have no clue and they refuse to look into it more unless more of us are speaking out.

thats how it started with me too! the random letter pressing made me think it was behaving like it had a virus! so i downloaded the microsoft safety scanner, whilst the machine went absolutely bonkers, screens popping up, random letter pressing, cap locks on off all the time, its started to destroy the functionality of windows 10...but, the safety scanner caught a malware! and removed it! and all the corruption stopped immediately! problem is, by that point i could not use the system at all! so i did yet another clean install! and immediately downloaded the microsoft safety scanner and ran it again (just in case) and this time it found nothing...id gotten rid of the malware, but the keyboard and backlights still do not work!

ive had two qualified local PC experts look at the machine, one of them looked inside to see if it was a ribbon or hardware fault and found nothing wrong, he is a very thorough guy! Both of the experts said the same thing! its an RPG keyboard but for some reason you have a 2006 standard windows keyboard driver, installed in the machine...

The other expert said she has had similar all across the collage she does IT for! it happened after a bogus windows update, carrying drivers with a 1968 year date had somehow uploaded to lots of their machines...apparently windows are trying to fix the problem! but until they do, the machines are not downloading the correct drivers for the machine. causing a myriad of problems...
even though i can not use my keyboard anymore, at this point i am happy i found that keypressing culprit!
1st thing to try is this, to get rid of that random key pressing!

Microsoft Safety Scanner Download

Get the Microsoft Safety Scanner tool to find and remove malware from Windows computers.

docs.microsoft.com

 

[ubuysa]

Hi, I am the one opening this thread and I would just like to leave a quick update here.

My issue has not been resolved (and I have tried all of the above), in fact it got worse over time. Currently my keyboard not only lacks a working backlight it is completely unresponsive! I am forced to use a wireless keyboard. On top of this the battery has stopped working (no juice when unplugged) so I am permanently plugged in. Before my keyboard stopped working completely, the backlight would sometimes work but mostly not. Other times it would all of a sudden start typing random letters, interfering with anything I was doing at the time.

When I made this purchase and spend 1600 euro on a new laptop I thought I made the right choice. However, it turns out to be the worst and I am very certain I will not do business with PCS ever again. I'm also amazed by the denial of the moderator(s) in this threat. There’s definitely something wrong with the keyboards on the machines you sell! Telling a customer that something is his/her problem while obviously the problem started on your end is rude and ridiculous. Sending my laptop back is NOT an option for me because I rely on the laptop heavily for work.

I will strongly discourage anyone from purchasing equipment from PC specialist for two reasons. Firstly, they sell a laptop that has serious issues and is generally wonky. Secondly and maybe more importantly, they are very, very unmotivated to try and help you out. I am collecting data on this issue to file an official complaint with the European Commission (https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/main/index.cfm?event=main.home2.show&lng=EN) and locally in the Netherlands with the consumentenbond (www.consumentenbond.nl). So I would like to invite everyone reading this thread and having similar problems to post here.

Earlier in this thread (Jan 22nd 2020) you said this...

PCS has let me know I need to ship the laptop to them so they can run tests to try and find out what's wrong. Unfortunately this is not really an option for me as I need it for work.

And here you're also saying...

Sending my laptop back is NOT an option for me because I rely on the laptop heavily for work.

I appreciate that you need the laptop and that having it fail is an inconvenience, but saying that you can't send it back is not helping. If you won't send it back to PCS for them to troubleshoot and fix then I'm afraid your other complaints will fall on deaf ears.

It does seem as though there is some sort of issue with this laptop that has the ring of a hardware problem. Unfortunately the only way to get it fixed is to send it back to PCS.

 

[ubuysa]

thats how it started with me too! the random letter pressing made me think it was behaving like it had a virus! so i downloaded the microsoft safety scanner, whilst the machine went absolutely bonkers, screens popping up, random letter pressing, cap locks on off all the time, its started to destroy the functionality of windows 10...but, the safety scanner caught a malware! and removed it! and all the corruption stopped immediately! problem is, by that point i could not use the system at all! so i did yet another clean install! and immediately downloaded the microsoft safety scanner and ran it again (just in case) and this time it found nothing...id gotten rid of the malware, but the keyboard and backlights still do not work!

Did you reinstall Gaming Center (or whatever it's called now - Hotkey etc.)? That contains most of the keyboard controls, not Windows itself. I've mentioned that before in this thread (March 23rd 2020 replying to @lpk230).

ive had two qualified local PC experts look at the machine, one of them looked inside to see if it was a ribbon or hardware fault and found nothing wrong, he is a very thorough guy! Both of the experts said the same thing! its an RPG keyboard but for some reason you have a 2006 standard windows keyboard driver, installed in the machine...

That's a possibility if you're using only the basic Windows drivers. It's possible (likely in fact) that Gaming Center (or whatever) contains appropriate drivers for that keyboard.

The other expert said she has had similar all across the collage she does IT for! it happened after a bogus windows update, carrying drivers with a 1968 year date had somehow uploaded to lots of their machines...apparently windows are trying to fix the problem! but until they do, the machines are not downloading the correct drivers for the machine. causing a myriad of problems...
even though i can not use my keyboard anymore, at this point i am happy i found that keypressing culprit!
1st thing to try is this, to get rid of that random key pressing!

Microsoft Safety Scanner Download

Get the Microsoft Safety Scanner tool to find and remove malware from Windows computers.

docs.microsoft.com

You've mentioned this 1968 driver version before and @SpyderTracks explained why that's nonsense (Oct 2nd 2020). I've also done a pretty comprehensive search to see whether this issue of Windows downloading 'incorrect drivers for their machines' is reported anywhere (as it would be were it as widespread as your IT expert suggests) and I found nothing, so I have no idea where this information came from. It certainly doesn't seem to be accurate.

 

[lpk230]

Earlier in this thread (Jan 22nd 2020) you said this...



And here you're also saying...



I appreciate that you need the laptop and that having it fail is an inconvenience, but saying that you can't send it back is not helping. If you won't send it back to PCS for them to troubleshoot and fix then I'm afraid your other complaints will fall on deaf ears.

It does seem as though there is some sort of issue with this laptop that has the ring of a hardware problem. Unfortunately the only way to get it fixed is to send it back to PCS.

Yes i understand this.. it;s just not an option to send it back. I could bore you with the details but I really can't. So its my mistake to purchase the laptop from PCS in the first place. And obviously its not only my laptop as quite a few experience the same or similar issues with their machine. I will have to bring it to a local shop and hope to get it fixed. Meanwhile, PCS has not reached out or shown any sign to see if there is an alternative to solve the current issues.

 

[Martinr36]

Yes i understand this.. it;s just not an option to send it back. I could bore you with the details but I really can't. So its my mistake to purchase the laptop from PCS in the first place. And obviously its not only my laptop as quite a few experience the same or similar issues with their machine. I will have to bring it to a local shop and hope to get it fixed. Meanwhile, PCS has not reached out or shown any sign to see if there is an alternative to solve the current issues.

Surely sending it back and getting it fixed is better than trying to use a laptop that doesn't work properly

 

[Bhuna50]

LOL - my wife has the same problem in her job - someone says "I have a faulty hearing aid, can you fix it please".
She says "send it in" and the response she then gets is "I cant send it in, I cant be without it".

How can you expect anyone to fix a problem you have if you wont send the item into them to look at? You cant go complaining to consumer groups / watchdogs etc when you have been given the opportunity to return the laptop.

You say you need it for work, but if its not working, then what difference does it make if you return it for a couple of weeks to get it fixed?

 

[lpk230]

Surely sending it back and getting it fixed is better than trying to use a laptop that doesn't work properly

As you don't know the details of my situation this is a nonsensical claim.. In any case, i made it workable, it's not ideal but it'll have to do for the next few months..

 

[ubuysa]

Yes i understand this.. it;s just not an option to send it back. I could bore you with the details but I really can't. So its my mistake to purchase the laptop from PCS in the first place. And obviously its not only my laptop as quite a few experience the same or similar issues with their machine. I will have to bring it to a local shop and hope to get it fixed. Meanwhile, PCS has not reached out or shown any sign to see if there is an alternative to solve the current issues.

Well it's a kind of Catch22 problem then; PCS can't fix it unless you send it back and you can't send it back because you need it. I'm afraid that only you can break that impasse, there's nothing else that PCS can do.

If you take it to a local PC shop please be aware that this will almost certainly invalidate all warranties that you may have with PCS. I would also suggest that you do some extensive research about the competence of the PC shop you take it to, there are far more cowboys out there than there are real experts. In any case, I doubt a PC shop will be able to fix it whilst you wait, so you'll be without it whilst they fix it.

 

[lpk230]

LOL - my wife has the same problem in her job - someone says "I have a faulty hearing aid, can you fix it please".
She says "send it in" and the response she then gets is "I cant send it in, I cant be without it".

How can you expect anyone to fix a problem you have if you wont send the item into them to look at? You cant go complaining to consumer groups / watchdogs etc when you have been given the opportunity to return the laptop.

You say you need it for work, but if its not working, then what difference does it make if you return it for a couple of weeks to get it fixed?

I fixed it to a workable level. Thanks for sharing your wife's problems btw.

 

[Bhuna50]

I fixed it to a workable level. Thanks for sharing your wife's problems btw.

You might have fixed it to a workable level but you are still not happy with it.

If you leave it too much longer, then your warranty will expire.

Is there anyone you can borrow a laptop from for work or even ask work to supply you with equipment (apologies if you are self employed) whilst yours is in for someone to look at it?

 

[dave javu]

Did you reinstall Gaming Center (or whatever it's called now - Hotkey etc.)? That contains most of the keyboard controls, not Windows itself. I've mentioned that before in this thread (March 23rd 2020 replying to @lpk230).

That's a possibility if you're using only the basic Windows drivers. It's possible (likely in fact) that Gaming Center (or whatever) contains appropriate drivers for that keyboard.

You've mentioned this 1968 driver version before and @SpyderTracks explained why that's nonsense (Oct 2nd 2020). I've also done a pretty comprehensive search to see whether this issue of Windows downloading 'incorrect drivers for their machines' is reported anywhere (as it would be were it as widespread as your IT expert suggests) and I found nothing, so I have no idea where this information came from. It certainly doesn't seem to be accurate.

i am in the process of getting the gaming center again from pcs support! however, last time i installed it , the page to change the lighting was blank! im hoping this time it works...but not holding my breath! i have a bluetooth keyboard that aids me to use it for now, but i too want it fixed!

you say you did a comprehensive search on the 1968 driver problem, i found a couple of articles about it and posted them a month or so back; problem is the extent of that problem is little known yet! but i trust the woman that told me as she runs the whole IT at the local college and she has never steered me wrong in 20 odd years of knowing her! so its not nonsense, it was dismissed without really knowing! that is why i persist on telling people the info, someone it may help if they dig deeper as i have had too by sending it to people that do this for a living full time! all im after now is the gaming center and the name and make of the keyboard so we can try and find the drivers ourselves...as it has been stated by spider tracks i think, that the gaming center no longer controls the keyboard...

and having just searched windows 1968 driver problem in google i get dozens of hits about it...so how comprehensive was your search ?

windows 1968 driver problem - Google Search

www.google.com

 

[SpyderTracks]

i am in the process of getting the gaming center again from pcs support! however, last time i installed it , the page to change the lighting was blank! im hoping this time it works...but not holding my breath! i have a bluetooth keyboard that aids me to use it for now, but i too want it fixed!

you say you did a comprehensive search on the 1968 driver problem, i found a couple of articles about it and posted them a month or so back; problem is the extent of that problem is little known yet! but i trust the woman that told me as she runs the whole IT at the local college and she has never steered me wrong in 20 odd years of knowing her! so its not nonsense, it was dismissed without really knowing! that is why i persist on telling people the info, someone it may help if they dig deeper as i have had too by sending it to people that do this for a living full time! all im after now is the gaming center and the name and make of the keyboard so we can try and find the drivers ourselves...as it has been stated by spider tracks i think, that the gaming center no longer controls the keyboard...

and having just searched windows 1968 driver problem in google i get dozens of hits about it...so how comprehensive was your search ?

windows 1968 driver problem - Google Search

www.google.com

The 1968 thing wasn’t an issue at all, it was just incorrect driver signing, but there was nothing wrong with the drivers themselves.

 

[ubuysa]

i am in the process of getting the gaming center again from pcs support! however, last time i installed it , the page to change the lighting was blank! im hoping this time it works...but not holding my breath! i have a bluetooth keyboard that aids me to use it for now, but i too want it fixed!

you say you did a comprehensive search on the 1968 driver problem, i found a couple of articles about it and posted them a month or so back; problem is the extent of that problem is little known yet! but i trust the woman that told me as she runs the whole IT at the local college and she has never steered me wrong in 20 odd years of knowing her! so its not nonsense, it was dismissed without really knowing! that is why i persist on telling people the info, someone it may help if they dig deeper as i have had too by sending it to people that do this for a living full time! all im after now is the gaming center and the name and make of the keyboard so we can try and find the drivers ourselves...as it has been stated by spider tracks i think, that the gaming center no longer controls the keyboard...

and having just searched windows 1968 driver problem in google i get dozens of hits about it...so how comprehensive was your search ?

windows 1968 driver problem - Google Search

www.google.com

No I did come across the 1968 issue but ignored those because, as @SpyderTracks has already pointed out, it just the date that's confusing but the drivers themselves are good. What I meant was that I found no instance of Windows downloading incorrect keyboard drivers.

 

[lpk230]

You might have fixed it to a workable level but you are still not happy with it.

If you leave it too much longer, then your warranty will expire.

Is there anyone you can borrow a laptop from for work or even ask work to supply you with equipment (apologies if you are self employed) whilst yours is in for someone to look at it?

Yes I considered this option. However, I'm in research and my setup takes a week or longer to replicate (already had to do it twice because of the clean installs I did in an attempt to fix the issues), and due the demands of the current project I don't have time for this. So I guess I’m stuck with this machine that I’m indeed not happy with at all. Ironically, this is the most expenive machine i have purchased to date yet I have never wasted so much time on a laptop without getting proper assistance imo (this is not directed to you btw).

 

[lpk230]

No I did come across the 1968 issue but ignored those because, as @SpyderTracks has already pointed out, it just the date that's confusing but the drivers themselves are good. What I meant was that I found no instance of Windows downloading incorrect keyboard drivers.

so what is the issue than in your opinion? Why do we have these keyboard issues?