approx 5 -6 years old .Thanks

Do you know if you have opened it before? Because it is most likely to be clogged up with dust. If this is the case then will need to clean all the dust off. I think to do this you have to blast air onto it, i think sucking it off causes damage. Maybe someone could back me up on this?

Ok thanks alot you have been a great help. Lisa.

No Problem, Good luck.

You may want to open it up and check the capasitors and make sure that they are not swollen, leaking or busted they should be flat on top but if they over heat they can cause unseen problems. If you could give me some info on the machine ex: prossesor type, brand and model (if not custom built). But if it is five or six year old it may not have a heat sensor on it. I work on over 300 or 400 computers a month. Let me know what type of socket, prossesor. If you don't know you can google "SIW.EXE" and it will give you this info. AND YES HEAT IS A MAJOR FACTOR ON HOW YOUR COMPUTER RUNS. So check fans and top of heat sink on prossesor it cools off more then just you prosessor.

Important: don't just send the report it my have some personal info you may noy want people to know. Just cut and past computer hardware info.

Post the info and i'll try to reply with a brake down on what to look for.

If it a Dell check the capasitors around prossesor.

maybe northbridge heatsink also or voltages on the cpu are messed up