Anyway to fix PokerX PCB?

[jixr]

Hi everyone, I have a pokerX that I bought, and something on the PCB is damaged that is preventing 3 keys from being triggered.

I don't see any physical damage, and have tried jumping the diodes and the switches to see if I could get the computer to register a keystroke, but no go.

the affected keys are
-
[
'

which on the PCB are in the same 'line' of circuitry, so I think something is messed up with the '-' key and is preventing the others from working.

Any ideas on what I might can do to try to fix it?
( I have 2 other pokers, but would still like to try to fix it )

[Muirium]

on the PCB are in the same 'line' of circuitry, so I think something is messed up with the '-' key and is preventing the others from working.

Sounds like a problem with the PCB trace (the line) they share. Take some pictures.

[tlt]

It could be a bad solder point on one controller pin or a loose peace of tin that shorts the line or ...

[Laser]

Just follow the trace from switch solder joint to solder joint, with a multimeter, checking for 0 ohm resistance - if you don't have connectivity, use an isolated wire and bypass the interrupted segment.

[jixr]

okay, I'll take some pictures to show you guys.

I bought it used from a guy online who claims it was working when he mailed it to me, but I can't get those 3 keys to work.

At first i thought it was a bad diode, so I just removed it and soldered in a jumper wire to see if that would work, but it didn't.

I can't see any physical damage, but have not gone at it with a multi meter yet.

[jixr]

hey! I actually fixed it.

I basically just got a wire and started connecting things and eventually I got lucky and was able to trigger the switch, and jumped the problem.

Doing this worked just fine.

[Muirium]

Connecting things randomly also works! Congratulations on fixing it. Basically, the controller chip is just looking for open / closed circuits across the whole PCB, and there's not much risk in a bit of trial and error.

[Laser]

i have something similar on my (mx panda clear) modded QFR - after two rounds of switch unsoldering/resoldering, it happens.

[jixr]

yeah, I figured out that something somewhere was not making the connection, and so I just started messing around and touching things together triggered a different key, so I just kept on playing around until I finally triggered the key, and it seems to be working great.

As you can see the PCB is pretty roughed up from multiple switch jobs, and some of the traces nad connections are pretty worn.

Using the poker at work right now and no problems yet.

Brings my Poker count to 3 ( 1 Poker2, 2 PokerX's )


Also, I'm Jixr, Mainly stick to OCN, but checked there and GH for an idea on how to fix this.