is it possible for crashes to occur due to clogged cooling fan?

[Steve Poulton]

I had a number of crashes occur for no reason whatsoever;
no new drivers, no new hardware, no updates, no changes,
etc.

all of a sudden, my computer would crash for no reason,
whether it be in internet explorer, photoshop, notepad,
etc. I did an extensive memory test, no errors found.

out of frustration, i pulled my computer and opened the
case after yet another crash. it was extremely hot. i
checked the two cooling fans, and both were extremely
clogged with dust. i cleaned, re-setup the computer and
all appears to be fine.

is it possible that all my crashes were due to clogged
cooling fan? xp kept giving me device driver and memory
error messages, but now, all seems to be fine.

any thoughts would be appreciated.

thanks in advance,
steve

 

[purplehaz]

Yes excessive heat will most certainly cause crashes and freeze ups.

 

[Steve C. Ray]

Yes, it is possible. Many motherboards monitor temperature and will shut
down if a maximum is exceeded.