Random crashes...from official forums

[Poundmax]

Hey all,

So I just recently moved in with my better half and since then there's been something rather strange going on. I have a dell mini tower desktop and I have all that setup very nicely in her large office type desk however, if I close up all the cabinet doors that the tower is in while the computer is on, there isn't such a good airflow (some small airflow behind the computer but that's about it) so it gets somewhat hot. Now, without jumping to conclusions, it doesn't seem to be an overheating problem HOWEVER, it's yet to crash when I've had a fan directly pointing at it. Here's the thing though, without a fan, it really only takes 10-15 minutes (sometimes less) for my screen to go completely black (monitor going into standby mode) and my computer seemingly locking up completely. I had this happen recently while I was playing an online radio station and after the monitor shutoff, the music basically locked up/stopped playing as well.

When the monitor shuts off, nothing seems to help fix the problem but the worst possible solution either flipping the power switch in the back or just straight up pulling the plug. I can CTRL+ALT+DEL or push the power button all I want but nothing happens.

Now for the extra little twist, if I have the door closed up causing the computer to get rather hot, I could just be on the internet or doing pretty much anything else on my comp but WoW and it'll be perfectly fine. So I'm rather stumped, it's a relatively new computer (~2 years) and this hasn't happened at all until I moved.

Is it a overheating issue? video card? or perhaps a mix of the two? I'm really clueless here but obviously really want to get this fixed. Thanks!

Also, I got a little bit of response when I posted this on the main forums (i'll copy+paste since I can't link)

"It definitely sounds like an overheating issue.

Run hwmonitor and post the temperatures you get after playing for 10-15 minutes: (can't link yet)"

-----
My response:

Hmm well I tried this for 6 minutes (didn't want to risk another crash) and there really doesn't seem to be much of a change at all. When it does crash out after 10-15 minutes the comp really doesn't "feel" hot at all, and like I said, it's when there is a good airflow going as well, just not a fan directly on it.

(can't link pics yet)

[Fuzzykins]

First, pop the bugger open and make sure your memory is seated properly.
If it isn't, push it firmly down. Also do this for the rest of your components. Make sure all cables are firmly in place.
http://www.memtest86.com/
Run that for good measure, then get back to us.

[Poundmax]

awesome will do, I won't be home for a while but i'll test that out and follow up on here when I do. Cheers

---------- Post added 2011-06-22 at 06:21 AM ----------

...so a little delayed but I got "distracted" after putting everything back together. Basically, there was a TON of dust all over on the inside including more than a few dust bunnies in there, I cleaned out every nook and cranny, pulled out all the fans, cleaned those out and didn't really notice anything was loose but unplugged and plugged back in pretty much every cord I saw. Essentially, before the internal temp (according to this program) was 136 F, but now it's at a more reasonable 103-109, and after playing for almost an hour this morning without a fan blowing on the comp, all is well cheers!