power turning off

[ussj5bardock]

hello all i have a HP machine xp about 3 years old just got a new hdd installed because last one died anyway just recently the computer shuts off by itself when my father is playing a game i have torrents runing in the background only 2 at a time and thats is i was just wondering why the heck would my puter turn off by its self

my ideas are as follows

1 the machine is too hot so its turning itself off

2 i have some kinda weird undetectable virus

3 my ram is runing so low that the VM is not kicking in and the puter is going retarted and shuting off

help me out here what do you think it could be

 

[Praetor]

Heat. What games are you playing? What are the temps like?

 

[ussj5bardock]

re

i dont know what the temp is but the game he is playing is called hunting unlimited

the computer only shuts down when he is playing that game and never any other time

 

[Praetor]

- Check the temperature (http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,7309,00.asp) both before and after the game
- What are the specs on the machine?

 

[ussj5bardock]

i havent checked the heat yet but i did just clean it so maybe i will see what happends both my parents smoke while they are on the computer so it gets quite dusty and grose lol i will check the temps if it happends again thanks for your help i may need some more soon so dont stray to far away lol thanks again

RT

 

[Praetor]

When you're cleaning, make sure you dont short anything out!