Computer freeze.. but why?

[Deadgye]

I was sleeping, and my computer started making loud screwed up short repeated sounds through the speakers. I jumped up and sure enough it had frozen and I was forced to shut it down through holding the power switch. This is the third time this has happened in the last month and I can't figure out what's causing it.

Tried looking in the event log for a reason, but I could only find notifications about it being powered off incorrectly. Anybody have tips on what I can do to find out what's wrong and prevent future freezes?

[Lucavi]

Probably overheating. Are you checking your temps? You'll get crashes when components get too hot and force themselves to shutdown. When's the last time you've cleaned out your PC or checked your fans?

[Deadgye]

I'm pretty sure the temperature has been fine, but I can't make sure since it likes to freeze when I'm not using the computer and therefore haven't looked at speedfan for a while. I don't have anything very intensive running. Usually just FFXI, Steam, Idle winamp, Idle MPC, Firefox with ~15 non flash tabs, Pidgin, uTorrent, TS3.

My computer is definitely in need of a cleaning though. Would dust cause non-heat related problems?

[messagefly]

I'm pretty sure the temperature has been fine, but I can't make sure since it likes to freeze when I'm not using the computer and therefore haven't looked at speedfan for a while. I don't have anything very intensive running. Usually just FFXI, Steam, Idle winamp, Idle MPC, Firefox with ~15 non flash tabs, Pidgin, uTorrent, TS3.

My computer is definitely in need of a cleaning though. Would dust cause non-heat related problems?

anyway, you should clean your computer as soon as possible.