Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 17 to 30 of 30

Thread: Can a PC be too cold to start?

  1. #17
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Posts
    390
    Thanks
    3
    Thanked
    2 times in 2 posts
    Quote Originally Posted by kalniel
    At 0 degrees the electrons just don't move of their own accord. However, you are 'putting energy into the electrons' by creating a voltage difference - electron movement accross voltage is not diffusion controlled.
    At 0 degrees [celcius, i assume you mean] the electrons still move, the only thing really special about 0 decrees is that water freezes. There is movement of particles until, theoretically -273 degees C or 0K, this is when there is no longer kintic energy, but when you get to the quantum level i think it gets even more complicated and there are still various types of energy doing stuff.

  2. #18
    Registered+
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    49
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    Well if were really getting into physics why don't me just find out how much current is flowing through the circuit and the charge as well. Then we could go on to find the magnetic flux density and the flux linkage between the circuits of the computer.
    Or another thing we could do is find the kinetic energy of all the particles in the circuit at that temperature?
    Alternating current is a little different to direct current but it shouldn't be too hard to find out. Actually does anyone know wether it is a.c. that flows around the computer circuits or wether theres a converter that changes it to d.c.?

    Do you have amount of watts your PSU is? After all watts are just Joules per second, therefore we could figure out how much energy is running around the circuit.

    Sorry, got a big physics exam tomorrow so jst trying to make myself a little more confident by acting clever!!

  3. #19
    YUKIKAZE arthurleung's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Aberdeen
    Posts
    3,280
    Thanks
    8
    Thanked
    88 times in 83 posts
    • arthurleung's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus P5E (Rampage Formula 0902)
      • CPU:
      • Intel Core2Quad Q9550 3.6Ghz 1.2V
      • Memory:
      • A-Data DDR2-800 2x2GB CL4
      • Storage:
      • 4x1TB WD1000FYPS @ RAID5 3Ware 9500S-8 / 3x 1TB Samsung Ecogreen F2
      • Graphics card(s):
      • GeCube HD4870 512MB
      • PSU:
      • Corsair VX450
      • Case:
      • Antec P180
      • Operating System:
      • Windows Server 2008 Standard
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell Ultrasharp 2709W + 2001FP
      • Internet:
      • Be*Unlimited 20Mbps
    What power supply are you using? Some very cheap power supplies use crap capacitors that doesn't function well at low temperature (and high temperarue as well).

    You could go and check the voltage in BIOS and see if its lower/higher when cool? Kind of like my Hiper 580W. It power up at 11.91V during the cold and slowly climb up to 12.4 when it is used for a while. Not that 11.91V will cause me any problem, but if yours go too low your HDD may stop functioning due to power loss.
    Workstation 1: Intel i7 950 @ 3.8Ghz / X58 / 12GB DDR3-1600 / HD4870 512MB / Antec P180
    Workstation 2: Intel C2Q Q9550 @ 3.6Ghz / X38 / 4GB DDR2-800 / 8400GS 512MB / Open Air
    Workstation 3: Intel Xeon X3350 @ 3.2Ghz / P35 / 4GB DDR2-800 / HD4770 512MB / Shuttle SP35P2
    HTPC: AMD Athlon X4 620 @ 2.6Ghz / 780G / 4GB DDR2-1000 / Antec Mini P180 White
    Mobile Workstation: Intel C2D T8300 @ 2.4Ghz / GM965 / 3GB DDR2-667 / DELL Inspiron 1525 / 6+6+9 Cell Battery

    Display (Monitor): DELL Ultrasharp 2709W + DELL Ultrasharp 2001FP
    Display (Projector): Epson TW-3500 1080p
    Speakers: Creative Megaworks THX550 5.1
    Headphones: Etymotic hf2 / Ultimate Ears Triple.fi 10 Pro

    Storage: 8x2TB Hitachi @ DELL PERC 6/i RAID6 / 13TB Non-RAID Across 12 HDDs
    Consoles: PS3 Slim 120GB / Xbox 360 Arcade 20GB / PS2

  4. #20
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Bristol, UK
    Posts
    231
    Thanks
    4
    Thanked
    2 times in 2 posts
    It appears that cold = evil.

  5. #21
    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    31,023
    Thanks
    1,870
    Thanked
    3,381 times in 2,718 posts
    • kalniel's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra
      • CPU:
      • Intel i9 9900k
      • Memory:
      • 32GB DDR4 3200 CL16
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Samsung 970Evo+ NVMe
      • Graphics card(s):
      • nVidia GTX 1060 6GB
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic 600W
      • Case:
      • Cooler Master HAF 912
      • Operating System:
      • Win 10 Pro x64
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2721DGF
      • Internet:
      • rubbish
    Quote Originally Posted by fredered
    At 0 degrees [celcius, i assume you mean] the electrons still move, the only thing really special about 0 decrees is that water freezes. There is movement of particles until, theoretically -273 degees C or 0K, this is when there is no longer kintic energy, but when you get to the quantum level i think it gets even more complicated and there are still various types of energy doing stuff.
    I was talking about 0 kelvin, but yes I suppose you could describe movement of electrons as quantum tunnelling in those conditions (hence the 'not diffusion controlled')

  6. #22
    Formerly known as Viet Cong Zombi and tuone
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Posts
    1,111
    Thanks
    21
    Thanked
    5 times in 5 posts
    The most demanding thing is probably the hard drive, hard drives Are quoted as above 5° operating temperature.

  7. #23
    Gentoo Ricer
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Galway
    Posts
    11,048
    Thanks
    1,016
    Thanked
    944 times in 704 posts
    • aidanjt's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus Strix Z370-G
      • CPU:
      • Intel i7-8700K
      • Memory:
      • 2x8GB Corsiar LPX 3000C15
      • Storage:
      • 500GB Samsung 960 EVO
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EVGA GTX 970 SC ACX 2.0
      • PSU:
      • EVGA G3 750W
      • Case:
      • Fractal Design Define C Mini
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Asus MG279Q
      • Internet:
      • 240mbps Virgin Cable
    at 0 kelvin most metals become super-conducting, but this is a big problem for certain electrical components such as semi-conductors because electricity can flow so freely it can jump transisters and the semi-conducting state is lost.. this loss of state can happen at higher temperatures, since semi-conductors can change into a plain conductor.
    Quote Originally Posted by Agent View Post
    ...every time Creative bring out a new card range their advertising makes it sound like they have discovered a way to insert a thousand Chuck Norris super dwarfs in your ears...

  8. #24
    pounder!
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    exeter
    Posts
    257
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    left my computer on its own for a week over christmas, was fine when i left when i came back hard drives have died. think it snowed here so must have been pretty cold.

  9. #25
    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    31,023
    Thanks
    1,870
    Thanked
    3,381 times in 2,718 posts
    • kalniel's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra
      • CPU:
      • Intel i9 9900k
      • Memory:
      • 32GB DDR4 3200 CL16
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Samsung 970Evo+ NVMe
      • Graphics card(s):
      • nVidia GTX 1060 6GB
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic 600W
      • Case:
      • Cooler Master HAF 912
      • Operating System:
      • Win 10 Pro x64
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2721DGF
      • Internet:
      • rubbish
    Don't forget condensation will hit hard drives as well - imagine all that water condensing in the cold on your platters...

  10. #26
    Oufti behappier's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Midlands
    Posts
    868
    Thanks
    5
    Thanked
    3 times in 3 posts
    Sorry to dig up an old thread but did the OP get it sorted. I now have the same problem, on first boot from cold the computer freezes at the windows progress bar. On reboot, it is always fine. I suspect my tagan 480w psu.
    System is p5be-plus, e4300, Raid0 2x250gb and 4gb Ram running vista x64.

    Ta.


  11. #27
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Posts
    1
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    1 time in 1 post
    the problem is not related with cold temps. is a Intel P965 errata. the asus p5b c1 has a cold boot problem. other P965 mobos have this problem 2


    use cpuz and check your mobo version, c2 is free of this problem, c1 is fked.


    luckily i knew this before buying my p5b-e c2

    pd, sorry 4 the English, not my native language

  12. Received thanks from:

    behappier (18-07-2007)

  13. #28
    The late but legendary peterb - Onward and Upward peterb's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Looking down & checking on swearing
    Posts
    19,378
    Thanks
    2,892
    Thanked
    3,403 times in 2,693 posts
    The only reasons I can think of for the PC not starting when it is cold are either that the hard drive is sluggish - possibly because any grease in thje bearings is thicker, and therefore read times are reduced and something times out - but it is a bit tenuous, or that there is a dicky connection somewhere and in the cold the contacts contract very slightly and give an error. Likely contenders are memory or PCI connectors. It might be worth removing and reseating the memory sticks and PCI cards and see if that makes a difference.

    Electrical resistance does vary with temperature, but not significantly at the temperatures we are talking about. However at very low temperatures (it varies for different metals - and semiconductore) of around 10 degrees Kelvin (where absolute zero is 0K) resistance drops to zero, so a current flowing in a wire will flow indefinitely. This is superconductivity. For more information, google is your friend.
    Last edited by peterb; 18-07-2007 at 07:59 PM.
    (\__/)
    (='.'=)
    (")_(")

    Been helped or just 'Like' a post? Use the Thanks button!
    My broadband speed - 750 Meganibbles/minute

  14. #29
    Oufti behappier's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Midlands
    Posts
    868
    Thanks
    5
    Thanked
    3 times in 3 posts
    Well, thanks for the info. I have established it was not my PSU as I have replaced it by a brand new corsair 620W to find out it did the same thing!! A Tagan 480 U1 for sale soon in the classifieds.

    I have attempted to reflash to BIOS to the new one issued early July and after erasing the Bios it refused to flash the new one. I thought I'd reboot and that there must be some sort of back up. How wrong I was, no post, nothing... Mobo is being RMA'd... In the meantime, I ordered a new Abit IP-35 that I should get tomorrow. We shall see!


  15. #30
    HEXUS.social member Agent's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Internet
    Posts
    19,185
    Thanks
    739
    Thanked
    1,614 times in 1,050 posts
    You guys that are talking about the –273 thing are referring to Absolute Zero
    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    And by trying to force me to like small pants, they've alienated me.

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Start Menu
    By XTR in forum General Discussion
    Replies: 29
    Last Post: 27-12-2003, 05:58 PM
  2. windows doesn't start up!
    By shiato storm in forum Software
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 01-12-2003, 04:59 PM
  3. A good language to start with?
    By Dorza in forum Software
    Replies: 24
    Last Post: 29-09-2003, 09:21 AM
  4. Stupid Stinking Cold
    By tonicblue in forum General Discussion
    Replies: 17
    Last Post: 31-08-2003, 10:22 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •