unexplained reboots

hey
i have had a series of overheating problems.
i used to keep my pc at a very low level (low, as in only magazines between the case and the floor) and i experienced occasional restarts when running games with particularly demanding specs eg. gothic 2
that is, i'm playing away when suddenly *vamoof* a blank screen that then acts like i have just turned it on..

now i have my pc on about 4-5 inches off the ground (still waiting for that damn new desk) and encounter different problems- same circumstances, but now instead of restarting, the program closes and i'm show an error message box informing me that i have "encountered a Serious Error" and mentions a few of the factors, including overheated hardware (hint hint)

i have TRIED playing with my window open, but you all know how cold it is this time of year- are there any alternatives other than buying a better heatsink?

kirb

you get error messages saying your computer overheats? news to me but ah well. It's probably a software issue and if it is overheating just clean out the system of dust and reseat the HeatSink

yep - reseating the heatsink/ re-applying thermal compound should help here.

If overheating is the problem, when the PC reboots enter the BIOS and take a look at the temps. I'd say that you want them to be below 50C. If not, you make need a new case with better ventalation, more case fans or a better heatsink.

this is my first pc so i'm pretty new to all this: how do i reset a heatsink? do you mean detatch and then re attatch it?

If you want help reseating the heatsink, I'd be willing to help. Might need some of this:

http://www.cpucitystore.co.uk/catalo...roducts_id=363

What kind of PC is this? Doesn't sound like you built it yourself. What's in the box - AMD/Intel?

I'm guessing it's not overclocked? I usually see the "encountered a serious error" when setting up an overclock (on a Pentium 4) and it usually implies the CPU needs more voltage or it's overclocked a little too far.