Creaky classical ALPS keyboards?

[juliaaa]

I just got a new 7-row ALPS keyboard (FRU 42T3218, "Assembled in China" = Made in Taiwan?). Everything is okay, it's comparable to my old Chicony, maybe a tad "tighter", the surfaces/labels seem of higher quality and the keys seem to be seated slightly higher, because now I can see the white scissor mechanisms under the function and cursor keys. The baseplate, on the other hand, seems to be slightly thinner (maybe 1-2 tenth of a millimeter), so the Chicony appears to be slightly sturdier.

What I then noticed: Some keys appear to have more play (e.g. space and enter, but that I already noticed on the Chicony) and I can hear & feel some of the keys creaking when I touch them at the lower end (especially Q, W, E, Fn, Ctrl, Menu, Alt, so mostly on the left half). I'm a little surprised, because even though the Chicony is supposed to be of a bit inferior quality, I never noticed anything like that! Even after 15 years, the keys being completely worn and slightly loose, the overall feel is still excellent - no creaking, very durable indeed. Which is why I actually thought that I had an ALPS up until I finally removed it and checked the FRU...

After swapping in the new ALPS keyboard, I tried to ignore the creaking, but I quickly noticed that I'm unconsciously fiddling around with the creaky keys while working...and I can't help but feel that this detracts the overall impression. Does anyone else have similar issues with this keyboard? And does the old "NMB > ALPS > Chicony" really hold?

By the way, it seems that the trackpoint and the cursor keys below have stopped working, too. I checked and they were definitely working immediately after the swap... Is this some software issue? Is there a way to check the status via the terminal?

I'm using LMDE 4...

[RealBlackStuff]

Unfortunately there are many fakes/knockoffs on the market, yours may be one of those.
See also viewtopic.php?f=68&t=131902

[juliaaa]

Is it possible to discern fakes from authentic ones visually (the classical, non-chiclet ones)? Does anyone have a front and back close-up of a genuine 42T3218-ALPS?