How devastating are extreme temperatures on computers? If a computer were exposed to temperatures near zero degrees, would there be an effect on its internal parts (i.e. motherboard, hard drive, etc.) :o

I don't know about low temperatures, but here is something from my experience... one computer lab at my University was having problems during the summer (the room is turned to south) as computers were constantly crashing. It turned out that too high temperature was making them do that. After they installed air conditioning - everything works fine.

Computers generate lots of heat and are also very sensitive to humidity. Generally computer rooms are kept air conditioned in the low 60s.

Extremes of any temperature are not friendly to any type of circuitry. Extreme cold could make circuits brittle and prone to cracking.

Computers (and electronics equipment in general) are much more tolerant of cold than heat. They may be able to deal with zero degrees. Though as was pointed out the components would be more fragile and susceptible to cracking. The main problem would be condensation. If the computer were not designed with that environment in mind you would most likely encounter some problems. Some such as computer modules in cars and military computers do quite well in the cold. I wouldn't expose my laptop to zero degrees and turn it on.

Mainly high temp on a computer is bad, it will degrade the cpu performance and then later it just might crash or if the whole system gets too hot it'll shut right down or turn the fans up on high. Now cold temps are not bad, maybe 20 or higher but not much lower then 20. Reason why is we know what happens to metal when it gets cold, it shrinks and will basically cause the drive etc to shrink since alluminum is easy to do so. But a cold system will perform better then a hot system. But most computers do overheat quick in the heat due in fact that they have a bad cooling system or no fan on the cpu and not a fan to circulate the air around the computer's parts. But keep this in mind, if it gets too hot, shut it off, if its too cold then heat it up, because I have had drive's mess up and not act right in the cold.

Hope this helps

Hi,
Since your question is directed to cold, rather than hot, temperatures, I will address only the cold temps.
Here is a link:

http://members.aol.com/spoons1000/break/

This was found using Google. If you wish to view it, scroll down to Activity 5.

There isn't very much information available on operating computers in zero degree Fahrenheit conditions.

Best wishes,
fredg

Really Fred,
After the essentially good information mekran has already gotten, you post a link to a joke site as information?? How was that site helpful at all?

Public Harassment by an "expert" towards another Expert is in violation of AskMeHelpDesk Policies. ScottGem has been reported for this, and other violations.
This site has cartoon type pictures, but is not a "joke" site.; clearly another posting of ScottGem in violation of Policies.
He is not a person who can stick with simply posting answers; he has to make it really bad toward other "experts" trying to help.
Postings here at AskMeHelpDesk such as this only make things worse to those trying to get answers. It adds strings to otherwise good answers, taking up time and space.
fredg

Howdy:

Not sure why fredg would post a link to a joke site as an answer because that is all it is, a joke.. It does make for light-hearted reading but is DEFINITELY NOT a help to anyone!

www.techguys.com lists it as the following..

Joke - The Illustrated Guide To Breaking Your Computer
Knowledge Base

The link: http://www.thetechguys.com/computer_...help_sites.htm

The TechTV Vault gives this review..

http://www.g4tv.com/techtvvault/feat..._Computer.html

Breaking Your Computer
Written by George Crowe on Tuesday, December 01, 1998

The Illustrated Guide to Breaking Your Computer is exactly that-- step by step instructions for getting back at the box that has caused you so many hours of frustration. Defragment your hard drive with a little pounding, and partition it with a hacksaw. It may not improve performance, but it sure can be satisfying.

Murray

Harassment or simply stating the obvious?

Murray

Fred,
My answer was not harassing you, but criticizing your answer. I don't believe it a violation of AskMeHelpDesk policies to point out bad answers.

Did you actually look at that site? Its clearly meant to be a joke as Murray's research shows.

I agree, I cannot "stick with simply posting answers". I feel that it is incumbent on ANYONE providing help at a site like this to point out bad answers. That is just part of the help being provided. I don't believe it makes it bad for other experts, unless they consistently provide bad answers. I know, if I make a bad answer, I WANT someone to correct it. I don't want to the asker to waste their time or possibly damage their equipment by following up on bad advice. This also is part of helping.

Feel free to report me anytime you want. I don't believe I have violated any policies of this site. So far you have claimed to have reported me several times, yet I have not heard anything, nor have the reported posts been removed or edited..