IMac shuts off on its own

First off - I am trying to help my daughter - she has a 2009 21" iMac she got last fall. She called yesterday and said that twice when she went to use it, it had shut completely off. Had to push the power button to turn it on. No other obvious issues. Her fans seem to run louder than mine is the only thing I notice. We have run disc utility and checked the energy settings. She is up to date on all of her software. Everything else seems to be ok. She does have it plugged into an older power strip. Could that be it? What kind of things can we check from this point?

One thing to start with is to rule out a thermal shutdown, which will shut off the computer to protect it if it's getting too hot.
Ask your daughter to open up Console in Utilities from the Applications Folder and select "All Messages." In the field where it says "String Matching," enter "maximum temperature" and see what, if anything, comes up. Also, enter "shutdown" separately and see what comes up for that.
To see if it's a temperature problem, she can get free Temperature Monitor. Post back with the results in Celsius.
http://www.bresink.com/osx/TemperatureMonitor.html
iStat Pro will read out the temps and the fan rpms, and we'll be able to see if one of the fans is malfunctioning.
http://www.islayer.com/apps/istatpro/
You probably only need the iStat, although I consider Temperature Monitor quite accurate.
Make sure all the vents are clear of dust. With the computer off, you can gently vacuum the lower grille and the top exhaust vent.

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