I don't know a huge amount about computers so I don't really know what to do about this problem...

Every time I play certain games (mainly football manager) my pc seems to cut out and restart after a while. A message on a blue screen comes up briefly but there's not enough time to read it. I thought that maybe this is because my computer is overheating or something, but maybe that isn't the reason at all. Please help me if you have any idea.

Thanks

Welcome To Pc Help Forum

Can you do this for me so we can see what the error code is the next time your pc act's up on you.

Right Click My Computer....Click On Properties...Click on the Advanced Tab...then click on the Startup and Recovery tab setting's.? Inside you will see a little circle with Auto Restart..Untick the circle so the next time your pc will not restart, and you can copy the error code..

If you wnt to check the temps of your pc you can download this program and run it...http://www.almico.com/speedfan425.exe

I followed your advice and this is the error message:

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps.

Check to be sure you have adequate disk space. If a driver is identified in the stop message, disable the driver or check with the manufacturer for driver updates. Try changing video adapters.

Check with your hardware vendor for any BIOS updates. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use safe mode to remove or disable such opponents, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.

Technical Information:

*** Stop: 0x0000008E (0xc0000005, 0x804F01E1, 0xED13E97C, 0X00000000)

Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete.
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance.



--I know that I'm only using about a third of my disk space, so that can't be problem. Otherwise that message doesn't really mean a lot to me..

Could be a ram problem , do you have more then 1 stick of ram in youre pc? If yes then try one at a time and see if that helps.
You can also run memtest to test youre ram:

http://www.memtest86.com/

i downloaded that memtest thing, but how do i use it?

Copy it to a floppy and re-boot youre computer with the floppy inserted and it will boot from the floppy to run.