Row(s) or Column(s) Not Working

This is one of the most common issues that you'll run into when building your keyboard. The first thing to know is that this is almost always a hardware issue. The second thing to know is that it's almost always a soldering issue.

Each row and column is controlled by a single pin on the controller. The most likely case is that the pin is not soldered properly or that there's a short between the pin and another pin.

Identifying the pins for the row or column

To identify which pin goes with which row/column, you'll want to check the schematic of your keyboard and match it with the controller pins. We've conveniently done this for each of our kits. Check your kit's build guide troubleshooting page (last page of the kit's guide) to find which pin goes with which row/column.

Checking the solder joints

Once you've identified the pins, check to make sure the pin is soldered well. See the Adafruit Soldering Guide to learn how to make a good joint. Make sure the joint is good on both of the controller sides as well as the PCB side.

Checking for shorts

If the solder joints look good, the next thing to check for is shorts. A short is when two pins are connected together when they shouldn't be. This can happen if you have a solder bridge between two pins or if you have a solder bridge between a pin and a nearby trace. If you have a multimeter, you can check to see if you have a short by putting the multimeter in continuity mode and checking if any pins are connected. Make sure the keyboard is powered off when doing this.

Still not working?

If you've tried all of the above and the row or column is still not working, reach out to us on Discord for help!