Can cold temperatures cause boot problems in old machines?
My 10+ year old DELL/Win7 system suffers HDD problems; My Acer/Win11 SSD system does not.
(1) I leave the machine running overnight and in the morning find that it has decided to reboot and failed on the reboot
(2) I leave the machine running overnight and in the morning find that it has decided to power down
(3) I can’t stand the sluggishness and I decide to reboot
And so on. When I try to boot I get messages such as
(4) Boot sector not found …
(5) Unable to boot (?) Press Ctrl+Alt+Del
(6) Unable to boot (?) Press Any key
(7) Unable to boot (?) Start Windows normally?
And so on.
I have spent up to fifteen minutes trying to get to the point where the machine displays, from Windows, the two icons, one for me, the user ChrisGreaves and one for the Administrator account. From that point onward everything runs like clockwork.
Yesterday morning I wondered whether my turned-down thermostats were causing a problem. I run the office at 19c, but at night time the thermostat is turned down to 9c.
It is early days yet, but last thing last night I chose Reboot from the Start menu and let the system reboot until those the icons “ChrisGreaves” and “Administrator” appeared, then I walked away.
This morning the machine was sitting there, grinning at me, and enthusiastic to go.
Bit late for that now, because I am typing this on the new Acer laptop, still in Word2003, but with less stress.
I offer the temperature theory in the hopes that
(a) It continues to work for me and
(b) It might work for someone else with an old machine and a cold climate.
Cheers, Chris
Bypassing failed COLD boot on a DELL win7 10+years old
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Bypassing failed COLD boot on a DELL win7 10+years old
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Re: Bypassing failed COLD boot on a DELL win7 10+years old
Don't know. Meanwhile, the nearest to your recent problems that I've encountered is as follows.
My Win XP MCE machine, despite XP being well past its sell by date, was fine until about 2016.when it began to have difficulty in booting. I didn't ever get 'failed to find boot sector' though, it would just get part way through the boot sequence and then blue screen. That would then give the usual 'Windows didn't start properly, what do you want to do' screen. Choosing 'boot normally' was always the best bet. It might blue screen again but eventually it would boot properly and it was fine thereafter. These boot problems never caused data loss, probably because all data was on a separate physical disk.
I can't say I ever thought that temperature might be the problem. The problem occurred regardless of the season / overnight temperature. Also, that machine now lives out in my garage and the last time I powered it up, several months ago, it booted first time!
Checking that the HDD is properly seated into its connection is probably the only thing you can do to try and fix your problem. Otherwise, a clean reinstall of Windows might workaround any failing sectors on the HDD but if sectors are dying the only real cure will be to replace the HDD.
Ken
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Re: Bypassing failed COLD boot on a DELL win7 10+years old
Almost all PCs contain a battery (often a coin-shaped 3-volt lithium CR2032) that sustains the CMOS memory while the system isn't plugged in. That memory stores information about the hardware, including the location of the boot code. If the battery hasn't been replaced in 10 years, it's likely to be nearly dead. Being cold overnight isn't helping any.
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Re: Bypassing failed COLD boot on a DELL win7 10+years old
Thanks for this Jay.Jay Freedman wrote: ↑17 Jan 2025, 22:34Almost all PCs contain a battery (often a coin-shaped 3-volt lithium CR2032) that sustains the CMOS memory while the system isn't plugged in.
I remember buying replacement batteries for the XT-chasses(?) that migrated across my desk.
I am torn between (1) trying to find a replacement battery and (2) recognizing that I should continue my migration to the Win11 Acer.
Hard-to-reboot yesterday morning; last thing yesterday I rebooted to the two user-icons and left the thermostat at 19c. This morning all is good.Being cold overnight isn't helping any.
I intend to follow this procedure for a week and see what happens.
My understanding of batteries (in general) is that they have a finite life in terms of the number of cycles of discharge/charge; that various methods can extend this lifetime, both in terms of number of cycles and depth of discharge, but like all man-made things, they come to an end at some time.
Thanks, Chris
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Re: Bypassing failed COLD boot on a DELL win7 10+years old
If you said, I missed it: Is your old Dell a laptop or desktop system?
If you are in the mood to experiment, why not place your system unit in a box overnight with a small incandescent lamp or heating pad in, laptop or desktop would determine size of box needed. If the problem is that the cold is affecting lubricants in a spinning HDD, this might work. Of course, you might also have need of a new mobo battery. Your multimeter should tell you if the battery is weak (or dead).
Or, you COULD move to Texas and cold would no longer be an issue.

If you are in the mood to experiment, why not place your system unit in a box overnight with a small incandescent lamp or heating pad in, laptop or desktop would determine size of box needed. If the problem is that the cold is affecting lubricants in a spinning HDD, this might work. Of course, you might also have need of a new mobo battery. Your multimeter should tell you if the battery is weak (or dead).
Or, you COULD move to Texas and cold would no longer be an issue.



Bob's yer Uncle
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Re: Bypassing failed COLD boot on a DELL win7 10+years old
Don't temp(sic) me! Given a choice between leasing a car and driving to St John's and back for a 7w bulb to replace the bulb that burned out in the tacky glowing-house Christmas Present and driving to your place by car (57 hours), that 7w lampbulb wins, hands down!Or, you COULD move to Texas and cold would no longer be an issue.

My fault. LAPTOP
I am NOT in the mood to experiment, being about to embark on my third trip to the library, down and then back up the slippery hill, to get the two "Carlo Rovelli" books that arrived there ten minutes after I left the library last MondayIf you are in the mood to experiment, why not place your system unit in a box overnight with a small incandescent lamp or heating pad in, laptop or desktop would determine size of box needed. If the problem is that the cold is affecting lubricants in a spinning HDD, this might work. Of course, you might also have need of a new mobo battery. Your multimeter should tell you if the battery is weak (or dead).

I am limiting myself to leaving the thermostat at 19c in this 8'x8'x8' cube that I have named "My Study" and "My Office" on alternate months. If warmth is a problem, this room shall have warmth, no matter whether it is good for the battery or the lubricants.
I have had my moneys-worth

"mobo"?
Cheers, Chris
P.S.turns out the PR in my email address is short for ProcRastination. C
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Re: Bypassing failed COLD boot on a DELL win7 10+years old
In principle I agree, but the baseboard heater being electrical (and 2,500w on 240 v AC) is also a fire hazard, yes?
I can contemplate variations on the "box".
(1) My Office is an 8'x8'x8' box
(2) I might use a spare large carton 2'x2'x2' with lots of space.
(3) I might use an old flat-top box, like a pizza box, "brake rotor" (I think) box I scavenged from David a fortnight ago.
The third seems unsafe to me, the first ultra-safe.
There again, how is the lamp introduced? Suspended above, or to one side, or is the laptop suspended above the lamp?
I think the general principle here is "does increasing temperature seem to fix the problem?"
To me a laptop is now a black box; the XT chasses were not.
Had I kept a detailed log of boot failures I might be able to report that "boot failures occurred six days a week in winter (in Bonavista) but only one day a week in summer (in Bonavista)"
I am uncomfortable with placing a laptop in a box each night - excessive metal fatigue in cables seems to me like a bigger problem than a fire hazard, although I confess that the latter would greatly reduce the message load on Eileen's Lounge

My bottom line remains that IF the cause is battery failure, I must devote more of my time to migrating to the Win11 Acer.
This weekend I would be well served by listing tasks that remain to complete the migration. Do I HAVE to wait for a big SSD and more RAM, or can I get by with the machine as-is, and so on.
Cheers, Chris
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Re: Bypassing failed COLD boot on a DELL win7 10+years old
"mobo" = MOtherBOard
PJ in (usually sunny) FL
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Re: Bypassing failed COLD boot on a DELL win7 10+years old
stuck wrote: ↑18 Jan 2025, 18:44Well, we wouldn't want to put a 300w bulb in if a 15w would do, would we?
I've used this technique before always being careful to size the bulb and the box appropriately and taking care not to include any combustibles. It works a treat for tender your plants started from seed when Winter decides to send a hard freeze. One should always take care as you suggest.
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Re: Bypassing failed COLD boot on a DELL win7 10+years old
Two weeks have passed with not a single instance of boot failure. I have just rebooted successfully again, this morning.
Cheers Chris
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Re: Bypassing failed COLD boot on a DELL win7 10+years old
I am almost totally moved to the Acer Win11 from the problem-ridden Dell Win7.
I've left the thermostat at 19c for three weeks now.
Yesterday I didn't use the Dell Win7 at all; just left it running, doing nothing.
This morning I needed a stray file and found this pop-up message:- FWIW this confirms my belief that Firefox is consuming memory when it has nothing better to do.
Yes, it might be some part of Windows chewing up RAM. I can test that theory by shutting down all apps before I retire to bed, and see if I run out of memory when Firefox is NOT running.
Cheers, Chris
I've left the thermostat at 19c for three weeks now.
Yesterday I didn't use the Dell Win7 at all; just left it running, doing nothing.
This morning I needed a stray file and found this pop-up message:- FWIW this confirms my belief that Firefox is consuming memory when it has nothing better to do.
Yes, it might be some part of Windows chewing up RAM. I can test that theory by shutting down all apps before I retire to bed, and see if I run out of memory when Firefox is NOT running.
Cheers, Chris
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Re: Bypassing failed COLD boot on a DELL win7 10+years old
Hi Chris
I have had the problem of Firefox eating up my C drive disk space in windows 7 when the computer was doing nothing, a couple of times. Once it was terminal. (That was coincidently an old Dell machine).I think the problem peaked at the time that windows 7 was going out of fashion so maybe that helped sweep it under the mat. I did find a few reports of the problem on the internet at the time
When I had the problem , CCleaner did very little, Bleach-Bit a bit more, but what often helped a lot was the Firefox help clean up stuff. – see here: https://www.eileenslounge.com/viewtopic ... 47#p305247
Alan
PS. As a general rule I always find heat bad for my older computers and laptops. The computers I always leave the covers off, and the older laptops I rip the bottoms off, and they usually sit on a hole in the table that has a few old fans blowing air up its bottom, like the old Vista I am using now . My fingers sometimes get a bit chilly this time of the year, but the laptops certainly seem to perform better.
I have had the problem of Firefox eating up my C drive disk space in windows 7 when the computer was doing nothing, a couple of times. Once it was terminal. (That was coincidently an old Dell machine).I think the problem peaked at the time that windows 7 was going out of fashion so maybe that helped sweep it under the mat. I did find a few reports of the problem on the internet at the time
When I had the problem , CCleaner did very little, Bleach-Bit a bit more, but what often helped a lot was the Firefox help clean up stuff. – see here: https://www.eileenslounge.com/viewtopic ... 47#p305247
Alan
PS. As a general rule I always find heat bad for my older computers and laptops. The computers I always leave the covers off, and the older laptops I rip the bottoms off, and they usually sit on a hole in the table that has a few old fans blowing air up its bottom, like the old Vista I am using now . My fingers sometimes get a bit chilly this time of the year, but the laptops certainly seem to perform better.
Regards , Ālan , DocÆlstein
, 


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Re: Bypassing failed COLD boot on a DELL win7 10+years old
Thanks Alan. I agree that excessive heat can be bad, and in both Toronto and Bonavista I have had days when laptops overheated in summer. (The laptops probably deserved a good vacuuming out).DocAElstein wrote: ↑06 Feb 2025, 22:15PS. As a general rule I always find heat bad for my older computers and laptops.
But here I am coping with excessive cold, rather than excessive heat. If I turn down the thermostats at night in rooms other than my bedroom, the temperature would drop below freezing quite readily, [art;u due to the outside temperature, and partly due to leaky joints as the house settles and all the doors shift out of alignment.
Cheers, Chris
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