In order to improve cold start capability and survivability of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), a fundamental understanding of its internal behavior is required. In this study, the cold start processes of a PEMFC with different operating conditions have been investigated, and the characteristics of current density and temperature distributions are studied through in-situ experiments with a printed circuit board (PCB). It is found that the start ability of PEMFC is strong at -3 and -5 degrees C, but weak at -7 and -10 degrees C. Also the self-start ability can be enhanced by decreasing the initial current load. Polarization curves show almost no degradation after successful cold start at -3 and -5 degrees C, while the PEMFC degrades a lot after failed cold start at low temperature like -10 degrees C. Also electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) shows a big degradation after galvanostatic mode cold starts. Local current density of segmented cell results shows that the highest current density is initially near the inlet region and then quickly moves downstream, reaching to the region near the middle eventually during the successful cold start process. However, during the failed cold start process, the highest current density is initially near the inlet region of the flow channels and quickly moves down stream, reaching the upper left corner region (A1) before shut down eventually. For both successful and failed cold starts, the highest temperature can be observed near the middle of the cell after the reaching of the highest current density. Copyright (C) 2013, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.