the keyboard in question was given to me for free from a good friend (because the ESC key didn't work). But after I got it the function keys also stopped working completely. I am very sure that this problem isn't software, I've tried all the support tricks already. but seeing as there was no warranty, (because the keyboard was 3yo and probably more when I got it) I decided to open it up to see if I could find a problem myself. Although originally I came up fruitless as i expected. Given my friend (who is A lot more qualified at repairing electronics than I am) couldn't figure what was wrong either. Although I did notice some weird crust on the circuit board near the main micro chip. I have no clue what it is, but the circuit board wires in the area with the 'burn marks' does go straight to the ESC key. although I doubt even with more information or if a solution arose would I be able to fix it. I would really still like to know what could have caused this, it eats at me seeing this perfectly fine keyboard go unused because of such an odd problem.



what the 'burn mark' looks like. matte look and texture, seemingly clear?, bumpy non uniform, doesn't seem to be resulted from actual burns. could be flux applied by my friend trying to clear corrosion/oxidation but there isn't any similar damage to other contacts where flux would be used.



things I've done to the 'burn mark'

1. scrapped away at it. result, no help, also seeming no damage to the board underneath the crust, the crust was is visually different E.G. matte look rather than shiny like the rest of the board.

2. wiped down with isopropyl alcohol and and microfiber cloth. result, no help, also no change to the appearance of the affected area.

3. tried aggressively scraping a part that had no contacts to circuit wires, no result other than removal of paint and crust in the scraped area exposing small amount of copper plate.



sorry for the kind of cringe last part but I've never seen anything like this even on actual burnt circuit boards. I also think a description of the 'burn' and what I've done to it might be helpful too someone who has seen more stuff like this. I can upload pictures later if people are curious.



I did type this entire post with the keyboard with no issues its literally just the ESC and F# keys that wont work

even the RGB on the affected keys still works fine other than it not reacting when the buttons are pressed.