Laptop in the Frig?

Well, I have to say, that's a new one on me. I love to collect strange hardware fixes, but I never heard of that. I have heard that SOMETIMES you can restore phone or laptop batteries that have gone bad (memory problems) by putting them in a plasticbag and sticking them in the freezer for a couple of days. But that may not be the problem.

I don't know what he's trying to do, but I wouldn't put any electronic appliance in the frige and here's why. Over time, some hours, the laptop will cool to frige temp, about 45 degrees. When it's removed, it will warm to room temp, right? Well, what happens when you take a soda or beer bottle out of the frige? It sits on the table and gets condensation. Water collects on the outside. The same thing will happen to the laptop. As the components and metal warm to room temp, water will condense INSIDE the laptop. Probably not a lot, but it can't be a good thing for the laptop. Would your boss spray it off with a hose? Yeah. I don't think it's a goodidea.
Hope that helps.

Sometimes putting a hard disk drive in the freezer/fridge will make it useable for enough time to recover data from it. But that's just the hdd.... not the whole cpu/system.

But if there's no crash, i would not recommend that anyone try that.There's too much moisture in the fridge and when you remove it from the fridge, it will condense as it warms to room temperature. Moisture and electrical systems do not mix well.

A way to bring back a dead hard drive (sometimes) for a short time is to put it in the freezer. Never worked for me, but it's a well documented method. I read an article here at tech rep. called "200 ways to revive a dead hard drive" and it was verified in that article. Never heard of putting the whole thing in the frig though. Yes, I think it's probably a bad idea to put the whole thing in the frig. Condensation, the lcd screen, can't see that doing any good for it. Is he trying to fix a specific problem?

The biggest threat is the humidity. If it is in there too long condensation formed when its removed will kill it.

What kind of problems? A non functioning LCD display could be caused by a fridge that was too cold and froze the LCD's causing the display not to operate. If they get too cold they could be permanently damaged, otherwise they may come back as the unit gets back to room temperature. Did he try to use it right out of the fridge without letting it warm too room temp first? If so, then the condensation issues previously talked about are a very real and highly likely possibility. If water had gottenin to the circuitry and/or power supply, he probably got a very nice snap, crackle and pop.

Hi jereg,

Good grief! Yes it happens. I used to contract at a major foodservice distributor... salespeople in foodservice are known to leave their laptops in fridges & freezers, and on top of stoves. :)

To add to the advice you've already been given... never, I repeat never use an electronic device that has been subjected to extreme hot or cold, until it has been ample time to return to "normal" room tempature.

And yes... consendation is an issue. If it was cold... leave the system for a few days before using it. If it can't wait, crack that puppy open and warm it with a fan at room tempature for a while.

Your mileage may very.

Luis

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