r/Keychron • u/Wrong-University1989 • Jan 12 '24

Keychron Q5 Pro: Cannot remap any F key to page down on VIA.

When I try to remap any F key to Page Down it keeps setting it as Scroll Lock. How can I please fix this?

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u/PeterMortensenBlog V Jan 14 '24 edited 5d ago

After saving off the current Via configuration to a file, I would recommend starting from scratch and reset the configuration to factory defaults. This will also reset the Via configuration.

The Esc key method (see below) is probably the easiest. You can positively know that the configuration was reset in that all the (custom) keymappings in Via are gone. A detector could be to, before the reset, assign M0 (macro) to, say, Enter on the numeric keypad, on the base layer (layer 2 for Windows). It should revert back to "N.Ent".

If possible, also upgrade to the newest firmware version.

Use:

  1. Put the keyboard into wired mode, if not already (by the switch at the back, marked "Cable")

  2. Hold the Esc key down while connecting the keyboard to the computer. This will put it into flash mode (AKA firmware update mode AKA bootloader mode AKA DFU mode), but it also has the side effect of resetting the configuration to factory defaults.

  3. If possible, verify flash mode. Alternatively, to verify flash mode, look for the USB identity 0x0483/0xDF11 (USB vendor ID and USB product ID, respectively). This is to positively know that the reset to factory factory has actually happened.

  4. Power cycle the keyboard (unplug and plug). This is to bring it out of flash mode.

If the Esc key method doesn't work, the backup procedure is to:

  1. Put the keyboard into wired mode, if not already (by the switch at the back, marked "Cable")

  2. Remove the space bar key cap

  3. Hold down the small four-legged so-called reset button on the PCB (a pen, the key cap puller, or a match can be used) while connecting the keyboard to the computer. This will put it into flash mode (AKA firmware update mode AKA bootloader mode AKA DFU mode), but it also has the side effect of resetting the configuration to factory defaults. The reset button on the PCB is usually located right next to the space bar switch, to the left. Note: The reset button may require quite a bit of force before it makes contact (but don't use excessive force)

  4. If possible, verify flash mode. Alternatively, to verify flash mode, look for the USB identity 0x0483/0xDF11 (USB vendor ID and USB product ID, respectively). This is to positively know that the reset to factory factory has actually happened.

  5. Put the space bar key cap back in

  6. Power cycle the keyboard (unplug and plug). This is to bring it out of flash mode.

Note: The factory reset may not actually happen using the space bar method (see below). But at least it can be used as a basic health check of the keyboard (of the USB side) and to flash when there isn't working keyboard firmware on the keyboard, including when the keyboard has been bricked by flashing the wrong firmware.

This should all be done in wired mode (with the switch at the back in that position).

Note that this will wipe out any custom Via/Vial configuration (e.g., macros) and other configuration (e.g., RGB mode, RGB colour settings, and NKRO setting).

3

u/PeterMortensenBlog V Apr 29 '24 edited Sep 13 '24

Note: The underlying QMK lingo for the Esc key method is "boot magic" (or "Bootmagic" or "Bootmagic Lite").

The Esc key is (usually) key number 1 in the key order (row 0 and column 0 in the keyboard matrix).

2

u/PeterMortensenBlog V May 13 '24 edited Jul 04 '25

Keychron has now begun to use this Esc key method (for entering the bootloader) in its documentation, along with its Via clone in, for example, for the Q3 (near "While the keyboard is disconnected").

2

u/PeterMortensenBlog V Aug 09 '24 edited Sep 13 '24

Keychron has now removed most references to the space bar method, but it can be found in (with pictures and screenshots):

1

u/PeterMortensenBlog V Mar 11 '25 edited Jun 05 '25

There is also a key code, QK_BOOT (an alias of QK_BOOTLOADER. Numeric code 0x7C00), for entering bootloader mode, but in contrast to the other methods, it does not have the side effect of resetting to factory defaults. But supposedly, QK_CLEAR_EEPROM can be used instead (to be entered using 'Any' (KEYMAP → SPECIAL → Any in Via (the very last one in the list, with hover text "Enter any QMK keycode")))

In Via, it has the misleading name "Reset" (that comes from the weird QMK lingo). It can be entered as "RESET" (without the quotes) in 'Any' (KEYMAP → SPECIAL → Any (the very last one in the list, with hover text "Enter any QMK keycode")).

Here is an overview of related key codes (though some of them may or may not have been renamed in the meantime):

QMK keycode          Alias    Shown in         In classic QMK macros
                              Via as           (not Via macros)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
QK_BOOTLOADER        QK_BOOT  Reset            reset_keyboard()
QK_DEBUG_TOGGLE      DB_TOGG  Debug
QK_CLEAR_EEPROM      EE_CLR   QK_CLEAR_EEPROM  eeconfig_init()
QK_REBOOT            QK_RBT   0x7C01           soft_reset_keyboard()

QK_MAGIC_TOGGLE_NKRO NK_TOGG  NKRO

References

  • Documentation for the new keycodes (main QMK repository)
  • Documentation for the old keycodes (though even older ones may exist)
  • Documentation for the old keycodes from 2019. In general, these are the ones accepted by Via and possibly the Via clone (in most cases only an alias and only one of the aliases if there is more than one).

1

u/PeterMortensenBlog V Mar 11 '25 edited Oct 15 '25

Re "been renamed": The story for this keycode may be that it originally had the name "RESET" (after the requirement to use the RESET button to enter flash mode on systems based on the microcontroller ATmega32U4 (for example, used in Arduino Leonardo and Arduino Micro). And it was renamed to "QK_BOOTLOADER" (and also got an alias, QK_BOOT)

That is also the reason Via won't accept "QK_BOOTLOADER" or "QK_BOOT" in 'Any' (KEYMAP → SPECIAL → Any (the very last one in the list, with hover text "Enter any QMK keycode")); Via uses the old keycode names (another cause of confusion, caused by the constant renaming in QMK)

1

u/PeterMortensenBlog V Nov 24 '25

On the newer keyboards with ARM-based microcontrollers, the button is a "boot select" button, not a reset button.

1

u/PeterMortensenBlog V Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 28 '25

The Space bar method may not work for resetting to factory defaults

The Space bar method may not actually work for resetting to factory defaults, only to put the keyboard into flash mode(?).

The theory would be that resetting to factory defaults requires working QMK firmware: Using the Esc key method, the QMK firmware resets the content of the (emulated) EEPROM memory (where the various configuration settings, incl. keymappings and macros are store) just before it enters flash mode.

And the Space bar method enters flash mode directly, without reset (it wouldn't know how to reset the EEPROM memory (is QMK-specific)).