windows xp crashes, restarts, and "error messages"

[John]

hi. i have a few questions regarding some problems i am
having with windows xp professional. first, from time to
time, my computer restarts itself for no apparent reason.
i can be in the middle of a game or watching a dvd using
power dvd and bam, it reboots itself. i notice it seems
to happen with games by Electronic Arts like medal of
honor. yes i have the latest drivers for my video card, a
geforce 4 ti4200, and i have the latest build of direct x
9. i also have the latest patches installed for my
games. second, from time to time i get error messages
saying that a game for example, must be shut down due to
some problem. i reboot, start the program or game again,
it works fine for a little while then another error
message appears again. third, how do i uninstall windows
service pack 1 so i can redownload the newer, more
improved version from windows update? i tried through add
and remove programs, but it gives me a list of programs on
my pc(all of them) saying that nothing will work if i
uninstall the service pack. can i uninstall safely or
does this require me to do a clean reinstall of windows
xp? thanks in advance to anyone who can help. it will be
truly appreciated.

 

[George W.]

Since this happens only when you're gaming, it's a much better bet that if
it's a hardware problem at all, you're probably overheating your processor.
This can happen if you have a heatsink that's not seated properly or if the
fan isn't operating at full speed.