My Keyboard Was Broken —Here's How I Found Out

The Losing Streak

Three weeks. That's how long my losing streak in Valorant lasted. I'm not amazing at the game, but I'm not that bad either. Something felt off. My character would stop strafing randomly during gunfights. I'd try to peek a corner and just... stand still. Dead.

I blamed lag. Checked my ping —23ms, perfectly fine. I blamed the servers. Tried different regions —same problem. I blamed my mouse. Bought a new one —didn't help.

Then my friend watched me play over Discord screen share and said something that changed everything: "Dude, your 'E' key isn't registering half the time."

The Denial Phase

No way. My keyboard was a $120 mechanical board with Cherry MX Red switches. I'd had it for two years and it still felt great. The 'E' key clicked fine. It felt fine. It sounded fine.

But my friend insisted: "Open a text editor and hold down E."

I did. The letter 'e' appeared on screen... then stopped... then started again... then stopped. This was an intermittent missed-input symptom, not proof of classic matrix ghosting. The browser could show the missing events, but it could not identify the electrical cause.

Confirming It with a Keyboard Tester

My friend sent me a link to ToolKnit's Keyboard Tester. It shows a visual keyboard layout on screen, and each key lights up when you press it.

I pressed 'E'. It lit up. Released it. Pressed again. Lit up. Pressed it a third time... nothing. Fourth time... lit up. Fifth time... nothing.

The key was failing about 40% of the time. No wonder I was losing gunfights —my character literally wasn't moving when I told it to.

I tested every other key on the keyboard. All of them registered 100% of the time. It was just the 'E' key. My most-used key in the game (it's the default ability key in Valorant, and I'd rebound strafe-right to it).

The Fix

Intermittent missed input can have several causes, including a switch, connector, cable, firmware or system issue. In this story, two hardware possibilities were considered:

1. Dust or debris under the switch —can be fixed by removing the keycap and blasting it with compressed air
2. A worn-out switch —needs a switch replacement (if the board supports hot-swap) or soldering

After disconnecting the keyboard, I removed the 'E' keycap and cleaned it according to its manufacturer's guidance. On reconnecting, the missed-input symptom remained. That made the switch worth checking, but cleaning alone did not prove it was the cause.

Luckily, my board supports hot-swap. I ordered a pack of Cherry MX Red switches ($8 for 10), pulled out the bad one with a switch puller, and clicked in a new one. Total repair time: 5 minutes.

Tested again on ToolKnit's keyboard tester. 50 presses, 50 registrations. Perfect.

Back to Winning

The very next game session, I could feel the difference immediately. My strafing was responsive again. My abilities fired every time. I went 22-8 in my first match back. My teammates were confused.

Three weeks of frustration. All because of one faulty switch that I could have diagnosed in 10 seconds if I'd tested my keyboard earlier.

When to Test Your Keyboard

• Before buying a used keyboard —test every key before handing over money
• After a liquid spill — disconnect power first and follow the manufacturer's drying or service guidance. Do not reconnect a wet keyboard just to run a test.
• When something "feels off" in games —don't blame lag until you've ruled out hardware
• After receiving a new keyboard —QC isn't perfect, test every key on day one
• Periodically for mechanical keyboards —switches wear out over time, especially heavily used ones

The Tool

ToolKnit's Keyboard Tester is free, works in your browser, and gives you a visual map that lights up in real-time as you press keys. It takes literally 30 seconds to test your entire keyboard. I wish I'd found it three weeks earlier.

Don't be like me. Test your keyboard before blaming everything else.

Keyboard isn't the only hardware to check — run our free mic and camera test before any important video call.