debugging my Planck keyboard

Table of Contents

debugging my Planck keyboard

Toddler + Planck = GUOFF

I’m using an unmodified Planck dropshipped keyboard. It is mostly as represented here https://raw.githubusercontent.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/refs/heads/master/keyboards/planck/keymaps/default/keymap.c with the exception that the lowest-left key is ‘shift’ and not ‘brite’, although it would be nice if it were related to my keyboard backlight. See also https://config.qmk.fm/#/planck/rev7/LAYOUT_ortho_4x12, which seems to match except that both my spacebar buttons are, for now, really just space.

My toddler mashed some buttons for ten minutes before we realized where he was, and ever since then my GUI key is disabled. I have verified that it is, evidently, the GUOFF command that was run, as it is strictly the GUI key that is disabled and even when I swap GUI and ALT (Meta) it remains the GUI key (even after it changes position) that simply does nothing. I have never installed my own firmware and mostly have just utilized the Dvorak layer. I really need my GUI key back. I’ve verified that it is the keyboard and not the system by using the keyboard on another, my Windows gaming box, and still there is no GUI key (there used to be, as it brought up the Windows start menu, which I used sometimes).

Any idea what could have disabled my GUI (Windows, Super) key on my Planck, and how I can get it back short of flashing the keyboard (I can’t get to Flashing, but that’s another post)?

#OLKB #OMK #Planck #keyboard

Answer: bootmagic hold at keyboard powerup spc+GUI

Thanks to a user at r/olkb1 he gave the answer:

You can tray holding Space+GUI while plugging the keyboard in to retoggle GUI through Bootmagic: https://github.com/samhocevar-forks/qmk-firmware/blob/master/docs/feature_bootmagic.md#hotkeys

Because I use a magnetic connector (to save the infamously flimsy Planck USBC port) it was simple to try multiple times to repower the keyboard. I noted that each time it reset the GUI/ALT swap, which I finally came to my senses and left it switched until success was verified. Yes, after hours and hours of debugging, holding space + gui while rebooting my keyboard did the trick!

Footnotes

1 Reddit user bakingly at https://www.reddit.com/r/olkb gave the answer that worked, at https://www.reddit.com/r/olkb/comments/1hkzv2b/comment/m3ljwj3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1

Tory Anderson avatar
Tory Anderson
Web App Engineer, Digital Humanist, Researcher, Computer Psychologist