Inspirion N7010 Freezes up after 4-6 hours of operation

I bought this Notebook for Christmas, however recently it started to freeze up on me.

Seems after a few hours of operation, the fan kicks on then all programs hang up. Then I hit the power switch to shut it down which reboots it then seems to be ok for some period thereafter which I haven't timed.

Seems to freeze right after the fan kicks on...maybe overheating?