Weird TactX behaviour

Hey all,

Brand new 17R4 here and my left most TactX keys are behaving oddly....

I can't seem to change the colour from the stock blue that came with the laptop on JUST those keys. Also when I try to interact with those 6 in the Command Centre the app crashes. Same thing happens when I try to change the colour on those 6 and those 6 only....the right TactX keys work just fine.

Does anyone know if these keys are separate from the keyboard possibly indicating a problem with a cable? I re-seated the keyboard cable to no effect but have not dived any deeper yet.

Included some screen shots.

Should note I also removed CC and reinstalled and it did updated the AlienFX board from version 2.0.0 to version 3.0.

Screenshots for more info.

Anyone experience something similar?

EDIT: I can add the bottom LED strip on the right side to this list....Blue is white and none of the different blue's give me any sort of blue at all , almost like the blue portion is not working. All the other colours seem to be ok. Nm fixed this one...the right hand screw holding the bottom cover on was to tight and obviously putting pressure on the Tron light cable.

 

maybe checking macro key cable would be helpful.

 

I was about to ask you to test the LED lights colors. Glad to hear it is working fine.

 

I had chance to really get into the system today. I was hoping that the MC ribbon cable had a connector on both ends and it was just the end on the keyboard side that was lose but upon getting right into it I found that the only connector was on the motherboard side and then the ribbon cable is directly connected to the keyboard macro keys so I can't re-seat that at all. I did re-seat the end on the motherboard obviously as I had to disassemble the laptop to get at the keyboard and it didn't help so at this point I am looking at a bad MK ribbon cable or maybe the macro keys section of the board is no good.

Hello @Alienware-K_Castro and thank you for responding!

Yes the LED's are working great now. it appears that the top corner screw that is holding on the bottom panel was just pinching the tron light cable and cutting off the blue part of the spectrum, but as soon as I backed that screw off slightly it came back , and now that I have diagnosed the TactX problem to more then likely something hardware with the keyboard I have had a chance to put it back together and hopefully seat the cable a little better so that it isn't in the way anymore.

 

Even with new macro keys the problem persists.....board I guess? On the bright side I did get a replacement MB to try so I guess that is the next step but being that I have used Conductonaught on the one I have I am less then excited about doing it again and would rather find another solution if one exists.

 

I think it is one of the ends of ribbon which is faulty.

 

I have already tried a replacement macro key section that was brand new with a new cable and am getting the same thing so I am presuming at this point it is the main board but I can't confirm because the main board they shipped me is NFG.....which figures with my luck. At this point I think I am done caring TBH, I would rather have a mostly working laptop then keep trying to fix it and end up with a brick when something finally gives in all together.

 

So a new replacement machine arrived and it unfortunately had the Toshiba SSD in it. I swapped the Hynix SSD into the new machine and it broke the tactX on the new laptop where it was working fine . When i put the Toshiba SSD into the original machine the macro keys worked again . I moved the Hynix SSD back to the original machine and format/re-installed again and the TactX macro keys work now....which I can't exlpain as I did a clean install prior and it didn't fix the problem. My best guess is that there was a physical issue with the original macro keys and after swapping them out a fresh install was needed to get it all working properly again. I figured for sure something I was installing would break it again , but so far it is working fine with all the same stuff that was installed before...when it wasn't working lol.

Either way, I have opted to keep the original system and sent the new one back. But a big thank you to Alienware for sticking with me and putting up with me