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Troubleshooting
Last review: 2024-08-19

Troubleshooting erratic keyboard behaviour after changing the RGB settings

Excessive power draw can cause a keyboard to act up. Here's how to limit the power draw and get your keyboard back in business.

The OLED display doesn't work

If your OLED display doesn't work, here are some steps you can try to fix it.

When to use

You should use this document when you're using and/or experiencing the following.

Products

This page applies to the following products:

  • Any keyboard kit using any RGB LEDs and QMK or Vial firmware.

Situations

Use this page when:

  • When connected together, the halves of the keyboard are unresponsive, but when connected individually each half does work as expected.

Expected outcome

After following the instructions on this page:

  • The keyboard acts as expected, even when connected together.

When to avoid

Do not use this page when:

  • You're using a wireless controller.
  • You're using firmware other than QMK or Vial.

You've installed LED lights on your keyboard. Whether for underglow of per-key RGB, these LEDs have one thing in common: they can draw a lot of power! Now, usually this isn't an issue, but with some versions of keyboard firmware, the limits aren't set properly, causing your keyboard to draw too much power. This can make your keyboard unresponsive.

Flash new firmware

If you're using our default firmware, it's highly likely that the issue has already been fixed.

First, please follow the steps outlined in Resetting your controller's EEPROM. Then, flash new firmware to your keyboard, for which you can find the newest version using our Firmware Finder.

When compiling your own firmware

If you're compiling your own firmware, you may need to update it. You can use version control to pull the most recent changes into your branch, then reconcile them, recompile your firmware and flash it to your keyboard.

Modify the firmware

For QMK-based keyboards, which includes Vial, you'll want to adjust the max_brightness setting, which is part of the rgb_matrix object. This can be found in either your keyboard's info.json file, or its keyboard.json file. You'll want to set this value to 128.

If your keyboard is still using the old way of configuring it, find the config.h file of your keymap, and add this line to it:

#define RGBLIGHT_LIMIT_VAL 128

The maximum value is 255, and setting the limit to 128 will decrease the maximum brightness of your LEDs. This, in turn, prevents them from drawing too much power. Which value to set this setting to differs per keyboard, but 128 is a good start and has been known to work for the Kyria.

Flash your keyboard

Compile a new version of your keymap with the added RGB value limit. Then, disconnect both keyboard halves from one another, and flash them separately.

Reset the EEPROM

After flashing the new firmware with the updated RGB maximum brightness, please follow the steps outlined in Resetting your controller's EEPROM.

Finally, you can disconnect the keyboard from USB, connect both halveS again with a TRRS cable and plug it back into your computer. Your keyboard should be responsive again, and the RGB LEDs should be working again.

The OLED display doesn't work

If your OLED display doesn't work, here are some steps you can try to fix it.

Questions? Help us improve!
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