Hi, All!

If a computer has been left out in freezing weather, will that make it unusable, even after it's been warmed up?

Thanks!

Should be fine as long as it hasn't got wet.
Bring it in and leave it to acclimatise for a few days.

I brought the old one from my home over to here to where I'm house and dog-sitting. Got tired and forgot to bring it in from the truck last night.

Thanks!

Depends. Cold weather by itself is no issue. The problem is that when you bring the cold PC back inside, and it is suddenly exposed to warm, moist air, you will get condensation forming on the cold surfaces inside the PC. This water could cause damage to sensitive electronics. My advice is that before bringing it inside, put it in a sealed plastic bag (so that moist air can't get to the PC while it's still cold) and don't open the bag for several hours. You might also "stage" it's reentry to normal temps - perhaps put it in the garage first for several hours before bringing it inside.

I'm going to bring it in and let it sit for awhile. I'll do that with it being in a plastic garbage bag.

Thanks!

I should have made this clear - you want the air inside that bag to be cold, dry, outside air. So leave the bag outside for at least several minutes before puttting the PC in. Good luck!

I would want the condensation to evaporate i.e.. No bag.

Bag, no bag. Now I'm confused...

I would want the condensation to evaporate ie. no bag.
NK: the purpose of the bag is to prevent condensation in the first place. You are correct that IF there is condensation you should let device air out (not in a bag). But hopefully that won't happen.

BTW - if you ever take a camera outside on a really cold day, this trick works great. Keeps the lens from fogging up when you bring the camera inside.

Craig,

I would be concerned that the, "Intense Cold" may have killed the batteries. Cold can be a serious villain.

When you start up the laptop, do so with the laptop connected to the power brick.

Once the PC is up and running, remove the power brick and see how she does.

Well, the computer has now been sitting on the kitchen table for many hours.

After I hook it up, I'll let you all know how it works! (If it works!) It was really freezing weather out there! Single digits!

Thanks for the information about the batteries, Don! It is a desktop computer, though.

I wish that I had a laptop...

Clough,

Some desktops will have a battery in it to protect static flash over a prolonged power outtage.

Don

Clough,

Some desktops will have a battery in it to protect static flash over a prolonged power outtage.

Don

What is static flash, please?

Thanks!

He means the CMOS battery that remembers the BIOS settings and the computer date and time amongst other things. You don't have to worry about it... until you notice that the computer time is not keeping up.

He means the CMOS battery that remembers the BIOS settings and the computer date and time amongst other things. You don't have to worry about it...until you notice that the computer time is not keeping up.

You guys are getting over my head here!

So, the battery is only for things like the BIOS and clock?

If something happens to the battery and someone installs another one, will things be okay?

Thanks!

Yup.

Just so you know here...

I'm now using the really old computer that was frozen! It appears to be working fine!

Thanks!

I didn't post but was watching this. Glad you got it all worked out. I actually found where someone put a computer out where the garbage is, sitting up on a big stone. There was no other garbage. I'm half suspecting they expected someone to take it. So I took it. But it had been sitting out in the cold. Haven't tried it yet, but who knows what all is wrong with it anyway, but I might get some parts out of it.

I once had a battery die. I've only seen that once. That was an old DOS computer and it did some weirdo things, among which was that it wouldn't boot straight into DOS like it was supposed to cause it wasn't seeing the setting to look. So I had to go through some setup thing manually until I could get a new battery.