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My 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mac Mini suffers unexpected shut-downs from time to time.

I suspect this is because it gets too hot - iStat Menu shows the CPU temperature reaching 98 C when it's working hard. However, after the reboot there's nothing at all in the Console logs to indicate what went wrong.

Is there somewhere else I can look for log entries that would help me diagnose this ?

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If it's getting hot under load, and you're not doing anything that you've not been doing before, I'd suspect it's more physical factors than software problems, more specifically inadequate cooling! You should open the machine and check for dust and operation of any and all fans. You might also consider removing, reapplying thermal paste, and reseating the heatsink on the processor, although that may be easier said than done in a small-form factor Mac (I'm not familiar with the internals on this so I couldn't say myself).

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Agreed - I suspect it's the CPU temperature exceeding some limit. However before I start opening it up I wanted to confirm this was definitely the cause - I am surprised that there's no log entries that indicate why the shutdown occurred. – stevec Dec 30 '10 at 9:09
@stevec - I'm not a Mac guy, but I can't think of why there would be a log entry. Thermal emergency shutdown is controlled directly by the hardware. You sure as hell wouldn't get one on a Windows machine. – Shinrai Dec 30 '10 at 15:30
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