Sims 3 randomly closes-- somewhat resolved

[EelKid]

(See last post for the 'somewhat resolved' part)
I will just be playing the game, when it just closes. Sometimes I don't even command the sims to do anything, the game just closes.
I first tried reinstalling the game because I was afraid it was because I had installed content from this site incorrectly (some of it would show up, some of it wouldn't... long, agonizing story), but right now, after having reinstalled the game and left it vanilla, it's still randomly closing. Oddly enough, it does not close when I'm in CAS, only in live mode.

Here are my specs;

System

* Operating System: Windows Vista Ultimate (6.0, Build 6000)
* System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
* System Model: Dell DXP061
* Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6420 @ 2.13GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.1Ghz
* Memory: 3070MB RAM
* Page File: 1389MB used, 4941MB available
* DirectX Version: DirectX 10

Display

* Name: NVDIA GeForce 8800 GTX
* Manufacturer: NVIDIA
* Chip Type: GeForce 8800 GTX
* Approx. Total Memory: 2011MB
* Main Driver: nvd3dum.dll,nvwgf2um.dll
* Version: (assuming this is DDI Version) 9Ex

Sound

* Name: Speakers / Headphones (SigmaTel High Definition)


Thank you to anyone who can help me solve this :)

[callistra]

You're the second person with that model of Dell that has crashing problems.

Lets try updating some drivers:
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us+
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/confirm.aspx?httpDown=http://downloadmirror.intel.com/16023/a08/infinst_autol.exe&agr=&ProductID=2529&DwnldId=16023&strOSs=&OSFullName=&lang=eng

I would also like to check temps:
Please download and run this program:http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php Leave it running while you attempt to play the game, and it will automatically record the maximum temperature your hardware reaches while you are gaming. Ideally you want to play at least 20minutes, but if things are crashing like that then you may not be able to do that. Play as long as you can. Screencap the results (print screen and paste into photo program) and post them here.

[EelKid]

I installed both updates, restarted my computer, and ran the sims without any background programs apart form the temperature.
...speaking of which

http://i43.tinypic.com/xngto9.jpg

[callistra]

You're GPU and HDD are getting awfully hot, but your CPU temps are very good, which is odd. Neither are technically overheating but prolonged temps that high will wear your hardware out faster. Bringing your temps down may help your crashing. How long did you run the game?

A trick to lower graphics card temps is to make sure that you don't have anything installed in the PCI slot right next to the graphics card. Sometimes I even tell people to leave the PCI slot cover off the adjacent slot to get some better airflow.

Have you tried cleaning out your computer for dust? If you've never done that before, have a read through the section of this guide which talks about that: http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Onboard_Graphics You also might want to try the msconfig trick.

[EelKid]

The temps on my graphics card where already really high without playing the sims, so I tried running it again today (My computer was off all night, instead of being on sleep).
After 6 minutes and twenty two seconds of playing (from when it went full screen to when it just closed), the temperatures looked like this.
http://i43.tinypic.com/10gxk46.jpg
I'll try cleaning out my computer and checking the PCI slot when my parents get home (I'm sure they won't be happy if I do something wrong and kill my computer again/electrocute myself). I'll keep on testing things to see, and edit this post if anything conclusive happens.

EDIT:
All right, I put graphics back to defaults (except for screen size) and the game has been running for over an hour. I'll check out the overheated graphic card anyway, but it's a start!