Could Aperture crash my machine?

Question

Ok I am creating a mobile me gallery of 284 images and every time it gets to 80% published my 27 in iMac just shuts off. Completely off. No crash reporter on start up, nuthing...
it's happened 5 times at generally the same moment of publishing with 2 of those times after I deleted and created a new Mobile Me album.
Could the intensity of publishing this album (which by the way takes FOREVER compared to others I have done) cause overheating or some sort of processing shut down? Like I said, the iMac on rebooting has no crash reporter.
Is there a way of checking the logs for evidence of what's happening?
FYI I am completely up to date, on OS software including all firmware updates.

Answer 1

If you're worried your system is overheating (usually this would be due to a fan or fan-controller failure) you could run iStat Pro to let you view the temps: http://www.islayer.com/apps/istatpro/
You can check system logs using the "Console" utility (it's in the/Appliations/Utilities folder). On a normal system shutdown you'll find an entry created by the "shutdown" command (you can type 'shutdown' as the search string). You might also search for the words 'panic' or 'halt' (excessive CPU temps can throw a 'thermal' panic which forces the machine to shutoff immediately -- though annoying, this is intentional as it saves you from potential permanent damage in the hope that you'll investigate the cause and discover the the over-heat condition.)
Uploading pics to MobileMe isn't exactly hard on the system and shouldn't be generating heat. Is the system merely going to sleep due to lack of use while you wait?
You can also check filesystem health by running Disk Utility (also in /Applications/Utilities) and letting it do a 'Verify Disk' (should come back clean) as well as a 'Repair Disk Permissions' (may come back with a few errors or warnings -- some of which are documented as known errors but otherwise harmless.) What you don't want to see are any errors regarding Aperture or it's files.
You could check the Aperture library to make sure it isn't corrupt. Hold down both 'Command' + 'Option' keys while double-click the Aperture icon to launch. You'll get a prompt to repair permissions, repair database, or rebuild the library (they don't recommend you do a 'rebuild' unless you are unable to remedy a problem with the previous two methods.)