Can Computers Get Too Cold?

[Guest Philosophy]

I was just watching Alaska state troopers and one of them left there PC in minus 5 degree temps and it wouldn't boot. Is this a thing or is it for some other reason it would not boot?

[79wjd]

Yes, it's possible to get too cold. Like anything, it has an operating range outside of which it won't work. 

[RevoltTrain]

Yeah for sure.

[Guest Philosophy]

Too cold? not really, but if there's condensation, that will be an issue more than the low temp.

Yes I bet that's it, I never really thought of condisation (since it wasn't snowy nor raining)

[georgespamme]

I was just watching Alaska state troopers and one of them left there PC in minus 5 degree temps and it wouldn't boot. Is this a thing or is it for some other reason it would not boot?

Yeah, I think that's why northern gamers use AMD GPUs

[blackadder]

Thd cmos battery won't make enough current to do its job.

[Theguywhobea]

If anything it was probably the HDD that wasn't working in the cold, mechanical parts seem to care about temperatures a lot more than solid state components do.

[MuffinTopMike]

Yes, when people do extreme overclocking with liquid nitrogen they have to make sure their temperatures don't drop too low, otherwise the CPU will just lock up.

[Poster]

Theoretically I think if you removed all moisture from the air and were in a vacuum it would work fine if the plastics didn't shatter.  Platter drives might not move, but again that might only be if there's moisture freezing.  Electric current wont be stopped by cold, as cold is just absence of heat.

[Gigamegabyte]

I am lucky enough that I live in a tropical country when it's not that cold or hot. (Phillipines)

 

Yes too much heat or cold could affect your PC or any device

[Flight1sim]

I am lucky enough that I live in a tropical country when it's not that cold or hot. (Phillipines)

 

Yes too much heat or cold could affect your PC or any device

But the humidity..

[TechSam]

yeah some parts in a computer are cold sensitive but -5 is not that much to break a computer you need somewhere aroun -15 - -20c for a computer to break from cold and even that is going quite low only thing that would kill the computer in cold would be the water that comes from the ice melting inside the pc and destroying the components so practically pc cant be destroyed from any kind of cold. Maybe in siberia it would be possible there the basic temp in winter is -45c most of the time there the computer would probably lock up but not break

[Unlikelyjoker]

Yes, when people do extreme overclocking with liquid nitrogen they have to make sure their temperatures don't drop too low, otherwise the CPU will just lock up.

Yeah... around -80c

I think its called the cold boot bug :L

[Gigamegabyte]

But the humidity..

Not a problem at all because its pretty windy over here theres a lot of coco trees to keep you cool hahaha. But if you live in a very big city you can just use a fan 

[T.Vengeance]

Yeah, I think that's why northern gamers use AMD GPUs

Hmmm...yes, my space heater does wonders during our winters.

[fracking4oil]

The reason why the state troopers PC died is likely that the battery got too cold. Stick it in a warm place for a few minutes and it would work just fine. So obviously, mobile devices dependent on batteries will go out before hardwired devices. As well, extreme cold can crack and freeze LCD screens destroying them.

[FruitBasketSilex]

Theoretically I think if you removed all moisture from the air and were in a vacuum it would work fine if the plastics didn't shatter. Platter drives might not move, but again that might only be if there's moisture freezing. Electric current wont be stopped by cold, as cold is just absence of heat.

Wrong. Cold is the absence of energy. The colder things get, the slower their atoms move, and the slower the flow of electrons though them (or inverse for some materials)

Heat doesn't exist. Energy does. Its thermodynamics. The idea of heat exists. The idea of cold exists. But neither are actually a thing.

[Aniallation]

People overclock on liquid nitrogen which is -200c...

[blackadder]

People overclock on liquid nitrogen which is -200c...

yes, but not all the components are subjected to the low temps.

[Aniallation]

yes, but not all the components are subjected to the low temps.

Well, I've also left my laptop in the car overnight, and the next morning when it was -20 outside I turned it on and it worked fine (still had a full charge as well). That being said though my laptop doesn't have a HDD, so that may be the reason.

[Sauron]

Indeed, electronics have minimum operating temperatures too, He should have ran prime 95 on that bad boy during the night.

[blackadder]

Well, I've also left my laptop in the car overnight, and the next morning when it was -20 outside I turned it on and it worked fine (still had a full charge as well). That being said though my laptop doesn't have a HDD, so that may be the reason.

i know batteries dont work nearly aswell at cold temperatures. Unless made to. We had problems with 9v being to cold. You will see this most often in lead acid car batteries.

[Aniallation]

i know batteries dont work nearly aswell at cold temperatures. Unless made to. We had problems with 9v being to cold. You will see this most often in lead acid car batteries.

I had no problem starting my car that day either. I have an Exide Edge AGM though.

[blackadder]

I had no problem starting my car that day either. I have an Exide Edge AGM though.

great, it might never happen, chances increase the lower the charge the battery has. Most of the time the first crank wont work but the second will. The 9v we had we left in a truck overnight in-30ish f, none of the pack worked, left them in the car to warm up and bamo.

[Poster]

Wrong. Cold is the absence of energy. The colder things get, the slower their atoms move, and the slower the flow of electrons though them (or inverse for some materials)

Heat doesn't exist. Energy does. Its thermodynamics. The idea of heat exists. The idea of cold exists. But neither are actually a thing.

Interesting interpretation of thermodynamics.  The only caveat I'd make to this is to say heat does exist as a descriptive term for thermal energy and can be used interchangeably.  Absolute zero is the only time thermal energy (heat) does not exist, as all particle movement is slowed to a "freeze".  Otherwise any temperature above 0K is actually a level of heat (thermal energy).  Here is a link to similar questions regarding this topic from a physics professor at the University of Illinois.

https://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=1838

 

So really the absence of heat (thermal energy) results in cold (lowering thermal energy exchange between two objects) and is quantifiable by measuring the change at an atomic level.  "Hot" and "Cold" are merely terms we use to describe this exchange, but that does not make them theoretical ideas.