Forecasted sustained winds generally above 25 mph and wind gusts in excess of approximately 45 mph, depending on location and site-specific conditions such as temperature, terrain and local climate.Low humidity levels, generally 20 percent and below.A Red Flag Warning declared by the National Weather Service.PG&E has indicated these factors generally include, but are not limited to: PG&E reviews a combination of many criteria when determining if power should be turned off for safety. Visit for more information on length of outages.Īccording to PG&E, no single factor drives PG&E’s decision to initiate a Public Safety Power Shutoff. PG&E recommends preparing for power outages that could last more than 48 hours. These events are known as PG&E Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS).Īs many distribution and transmission lines powering Sonoma and Mendocino counties are located in wildfire prone areas, PG&E PSPS events could impact a large part of our community. The more you are familiar with your keyboard, the more likely you are to catch one of these warning signs that it’s going bad.In 2019, PG&E established a new safety protocol to proactively shutoff power to their distribution and transmission lines in an effort to prevent their equipment from starting wildfires. Depending on how early you catch the problem, you’ll likely be able to keep using the keyboard as you wait for your new one to arrive.Īs a keyboard owner, you need to make sure you’re paying attention to your device and how it’s working on a regular basis. Make sure you check that the unresponsiveness has nothing to do with physical issues or dust and debris before you throw out the keyboard entirely. If you’ve had your keyboard for a number of years and you are starting to see that your having to work harder for your keystrokes to register, it’s likely your expert typing skills has cause a bit of wear and tear to your keyboard. While unresponsiveness can be a sign of the two problems mentioned above, it’s also just a problem that can happen after long-term use. Sometimes, keyboards start going bad over time, and you can tell because you notice not all your keystrokes are being registered. If it still doesn’t work after you try using it again, it’s time to purchase a new device. An easy to know if the keyboard’s not working because of grime is to pop off a few keycaps to see what might be hiding underneath.īefore you resort to buying a new one, make sure you thoroughly clean your current keyboard using safe methods. If you don’t care for your device properly, this dust and debris can negatively affect your keyboard use, and can even cause it to stop working. You know, like those spilled sodas or coffees. Once you’ve owned your keyboard for a while, it’s likely to start building up a lot of nasty stuff under the cover and keys.
You can always buy a new one if you want, or buy new keycaps, but keycaps that have lost their printing over time are just an aesthetic issue and won’t affect the usability of your keyboard. Note: don’t mistake rubbed-off symbols and letters from the keycaps to mean that you need a new keyboard. Unplug the cable from its port and try all other ports to ensure the problem is with the cable, and not where it’s plugged in.Īnd while less important, things like cracking covers and broken or missing feet can be signs that your keyboard’s on its last legs.
Even if the cable seems intact and the internal wires aren’t showing, the cable may be broken when you notice that it’s not feeding your strokes into the computer. You also want to look for problems with the cable (if you have one). For example, if keycaps start to fall off because of long-time wear, your fingers will definitely know that they’re pushing on switches instead of a cap. That being said, physical problems with your keyboard are fortunately one of the easiest warning sings you’ll notice. While keyboards can take some beating, especially mechanical ones because of how sturdy they are, they can only take so much. Photo from splorp via photopin ccĬatching any of these problems in advance means you’ll have plenty of time to find a new keyboard and replace the failing one. So if you don’t want to be left stranded when your keyboard dies on you, it’s best you learn the top 3 warning signs that you’re going to need a new keyboard. Without it, you wouldn’t be able to play your favorite games, write that novel you’ve been meaning to get done, or even send a “thank you” email to a family member or friend. By now, you’re probably well aware of how important your keyboard is.