Thermal event

Hi,
I have had for the first time today, my PC shutdown due to a thermal event. I eventually got it booted, hence I could post this thread! I have done a bit of looking around and all I see are things about overheating and fans not working. My landlord had arranged for new windows to be fitted today and -Murphy's law - it was -3 today! Could the thermal event due to the PC like me getting darn cold and just needing to warm up? Please say yes, I can't afford a new motherboard and all the paraphanalia that will go with it - like graphics cards etc. I have an old Pc - it's a Dell Dimension 4600 so I suppose it could be old age!:cry

 

Apparently your computer made the hall of shame for the 10 worst computers
http://www.pcworld.com/article/129857-2/the_10_worst_pcs_of_all_time.html

the thermal event could be caused by, the power supply going, the CPU overheating because the thermal compound has dried up or one of the fans cut out.

Take the side off the computer so you can observe and hear. When the computer stops, it might give an indication a few seconds before - see if you notice any fans not spinning. If you can't catch what is happening, then it is a trial and error process to figure out what is causing the shut down.