Deathstalker Ultimate not being detected

[Antronoid]

My deathstalker ultimate isn't being detected at all, its appearing as an unknown usb device in device manager and when I try manually installing the drivers it recognises it as a razer bootloader device, but it can't update.

I tried reinstalling synapse 2.0 several times and tried applying the firmware update from the razer site, the first time i tried the firmware update i left it on over night and it was still on 0% by the morning (8 hours or so), so i closed it assuming it had crashed. Now nothing works on the keyboard, the keys are unresponsive and the lights don't light up. This problem started when the dynamic keys were black and were not working correctly as I tried to fix that issue, but now I fear that the firmware update has effectively bricked my keyboard.

I did email Razer already and this is how they replied:

Thank you for contacting Razer Support. I'm sorry to hear that you are experiencing an issue with your Razer DeathStalker Ultimate. Before I proceed further into the case, here is a troubleshooting step that you can try and see if it helps resolve the issue for you:

1. Manually launch Synapse.

2. Before clicking “Next” , unplug the keyboard and hold down Dynamic Key 5. (That would be the key on the second row furthest to the right on the Switchblade UI. It normally has a Clock Icon.)

3. Reconnect the keyboard and then after 5 seconds release the Dynamic Key 5. Windows should detect a new USB device & Synapse should detect the keyboard is in Boot loader mode. Please click the Flashing "!" Symbol in the bottom right of the Synapse screen to start the update.

*Should the firmware update fail, please exit the firmware updater and run the firmware updater again. If possible, you may want to try the firmware update on another system.*

I hope I have provided a solution to your issue. If you have any further inquiries, please let me know and I will be happy to assist you. Thank you for supporting Razer!

Best Regards,
Razer Support Team

I'm running on Windows 8 64bit, I've tried multiple USB 2 and 3 ports and on several computers and none of them are able to detect the issue.

UPDATE

I plugged it into another PC, and ran the firmware updater, whilst holding down the dynamic 5 key, and the PC recognised it as a "razer bootloader", I ran the firmware updater but when it came to "verifying firmware" at exactly 2% it said "verifying firmware....update failed!" and then i can only exit, I tried this a few times with no luck getting past 2%

Please help,

Thank you.

[Battle-Master]

Hi, I've had exactly the same problem and some more but I know some programming myself so here is the solution to your problem........ you have to do exactly what I'm going to say because if you don't it won't work. Oke? Now then.........here we go.

1. Open windows device manager and locate all devices that are from your keyboard and devices that are related to the keyboard, the are a few under usb devices and human interface devices maybe some more and delete all devices incl. the driversoftware (windows will ask you for it if you delete from whitin windows device manager), if not doesn't mind than you have to delete only the one device you are talking about. If windows asks for restarting DO NOT !!! Only restart after you deleted all devices and software.

2. Delete all your software related to your keyboard such as Synapse 2.0 and if you have some more hardware from razer you won't have to delete the devices via windows device manager but only delete the software that came with it.

3. Now if you're sure all shit from razer is gone... you can restart your pc. Untill now you haven't restarted yet. This is very important that you don't restart untill now.

4. Now when fully restarted, windows will ask you for installing a driver for a new found device. If not it's oke too, just open windows device manager again and look for an unknown device. select "browse my computer for driver software" => "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer" => uncheck the checkbox "Show compatible hardware" => select in the left pane under manufacturer (Standard keyboards) => select in the right pane under model "HID Keyboard Device".

5. Now restart again.

6. After restarting windows maybe asks to install some more devices, just ignore and install your Synapse 2.0 software if it's allright the software installs your keyboard and wait and be patient when updating process starts because it can take a while the first time.

7. Restart again and check if it all works oke.

If you have any difficulties or problems you can ask me again and I will help you.

Best regards, Ricardo (Battle-Master)

[Antronoid]

Thanks for the fast reply. On step 4, I selected HID Keyboard Device and the error message "Windows encountered a problem installing the driver software for your device","Windows found driver software for your device but encountered an error while attempting to install it","This device cannot start. (Code 10)"

I had a similar issue earlier when trying to locate drivers for it.

[Battle-Master]

that's normal at this stage, if you install Synapse it should detect the keyboard as a razer keyboard.

[Antronoid]

Alright, I tried all the steps, but still not getting any response from the keyboard and the drivers don't seem to be recognising it as a deathstalker ultimate at all. It feels like the keyboard has been completely bricked somehow.

[Battle-Master]

It's not completely bricked if windows still finds some device, if the bootloader still works you can try to install the STWOR keyboard manualy instead of the standard HID-device and another thing you can try to do is to let windows install its standard driver so that it still recognizes some device. If you try the last one you have to run the firmware-updater tool, it will run if windows just has a standard driver for it. important for the firmware update is that windows runs the bootloader for the keyboard.

Regards

[Waskij]

Hi guys! Was just wondering whether anyone has found a solution to this yet? It seems i have the exact problem Antronoid has. If you have anythng,please let me know, thanks!

[Michael]

Hey there, I know this solution may sound retarded, but, when the keyboard stopped working I just changed the usb slots they were in and now it works fine.

[Antronoid]

Just an update, I tried changing the USB slots, in the end I contacted Razer, sent it in and they replaced it for me with a brand new one free of charge. It was within 12 months of purchasing it too.

[RaT1oNaL-0n3]

@Battle-Master, Thank You so Much for Posting the Fix for the Razer DeathStalker Ultimate Keyboard Fix! I followed your directions Exactly, and was able to get my Keyboard working. Just to elaborate, I bought the keyboard a few days ago and initially connected it to a system running Windows 7 Professional. The Win7 Pro system recognized the keyboard perfectly, and I was able to use it and fully customize the SwitchBlade UI Buttons and Trackpad. However, when I rebuilt that system (Last Night) with Windows 8.1 Professional and then installed Synapse 2.0 I noticed that the DeathStalker keyboard, specifically the SwitchBlade UI Buttons and Trackpad were not working. In addition, when I would go to the Synapse 2.0 'Control Panel' it was not detecting the keyboard as a Razer device, even though it was Successfully detecting my Razer DeathAdder mouse, and my other keyboard (Razer BlackWidow Ultimate). After following your Instructions (to the 'T') and removing the Razer Synapse 2.0 software (I used REVO Uninstaller Pro, because Synapse leaves a TON of Junk and Registry settings behind), and then manually assigning the "Unknown Device" in Windows Device Manager to the 'HID Keyboard', Installing Synapse 2.0, etc. etc. it Finally came back to Life!

Again, Your Instructions were Perfect! Thank You Very Much!

BTW - I called Razer Support and was told that they were not sure of the problem and would have to escalate it. Someone is supposed to call me back tomorrow from the Razer Tech Support Escalations Team. I will be sure to tell them about your Fix and give 'Credit Where Credit is Due!'

[The OG]

Battle-Master, i followed ALL of your steps for the BlackWidow Chroma and Synapse still didn't find the keyboard, can you help me out on this please!?