Joy unconfined!

[IrishAyes]

At least for now. I took my computer out onto my largely private front porch and the wireless device is working okay now. Got to where it wouldn't at all indoors no matter what I did. Still not the least bit satisfied with this booster, but it will do for now until the weather gets too cold.

Which makes me wonder - does anyone know a way to protect a computer somewhat against the cold, and how much can it take? I'm half polar bear myself, so going by my level of comfort would be foolish. Yes, I'm off to research that myself this very minute, but like Von Braun, I Aim At the Stars, but sometimes I miss and hit Paris.

[ohheckyeah]

1. The computer is more likely to be

damaged by heat than cold.

Here is good information on how to prevent problems taking a computer from the cold to where it is warm: http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001175.htm

[IrishAyes]

4. Thanks a million - bookmarked!

[ohheckyeah]

5. You're welcome. Good luck! n/t

[PoliticAverse]

2. Cold is usually not a problem, especially since the computer generates heat on its own...

Last edited Sat Aug 24, 2013, 04:12 PM - Edit history (1)

The components that usually have problems with cold are the LCD display and spinning disk drives.

You should be fine with the temperature above freezing.

[IrishAyes]

7. Thanks.

I appreciate everyone's help. If you have input for my followup questions to Chrome, by all means feel free.

Trust me, I'm very careful with electronics. Didn't grow up with them or most things freely obtained, so I can't take them for granted. My parents were very generous with college funds for all of us, because back in the stone age it was unthinkable to graduate in debt. But that was their focus. Anything else you wanted besides bare basics, you had to scratch for.

[ChromeFoundry]

3. There is only one thing you need to worry about...

If you leave a laptop out in the cold, powered off, and then bring it into the warm indoors... wait until it warms up a bit before you power it up due to condensation. This is only a real problem when your indoor air humidity reaches dew point inside the laptop. If your glasses fog up upon entering the house, the entire motherboard is doing the same. This is not really a problem with your hard drive since it is completely sealed, but if the internal aluminum platters are not at a consistent temperature around the entire area circumference, this has the potential for causing the heads to crash. The heads of your hard drive float on a cushion of air, about 3 nanometers over the spinning platter, between 5400-7200 RPM. For perspective, the width of a DNA Helix is 2 nanometers...

[IrishAyes]

6. Thanks - I'm also wondering about

the effect of cold on the crappy external signal booster I bought. It worked for awhile indoors snuggled against an outside wall facing the remote router, then quit picking up signals. When I rigged up outdoors yesterday, worked fine. Now I'm indoors again - wanted to see if the signal 'booster' would work in an open window facing toward the distant router. It does, fine.

But that leads me to another pesky question: since signal boosters don't generate their own heat, how much cold can they stand? If less, as I imagine, are there ways to protect them somewhat from cold temperature while not interfering in their signal reception?

This winter I'd far prefer to be sitting in the nice warm house listening to music while I work on the computer, and I could always set the 'booster' on the outside window sill, then lower the window with something to prevent pressure on the cord and yet stop the air draft in or out of the house. Not too worried about heat on the booster because in summer it's shaded by a huge rose bush.