Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!bbn!bbn.com!cosell
From: cosell@bbn.com (Bernie Cosell)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Laptops and Airports
Message-ID: <39382@bbn.COM>
Date: 2 May 89 20:22:15 GMT
Sender: news@bbn.COM
Reply-To: cosell@BBN.COM (Bernie Cosell)
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., Cambridge MA
Lines: 16

Does anyone know what impact the airport security systems can have on
a portable computer?  A colleague had his laptop passed through the metal
detector and one raster-line of the display stopped working...  it might
be coincidence, but it sure lOOKED like the magnetic detector may have
caused some havoc.

In particular: CAN the metals detectors harm microcircuits?  How about the
xray machine... can zapping a laptop hurt it?  Does the answer change if the
laptop has, say, an internal hard disk?

Thanks

   __
  /  )                              Bernie Cosell
 /--<  _  __  __   o _              BBN Sys & Tech, Cambridge, MA 02238
/___/_(<_/ (_/) )_(_(<_             cosell@bbn.com