Could Chuck possibly be a real person? Apparently not content to monitor his processor's temperature, he has more questions (which he e-mailed to me three times):

hi i have one fan where the power cord plugs in  i have one fan where the processor is but what is that gray metal thing on top the proessor       #2SHAT and should the fans be cleaned

This was an easy one. I could handle it myself without consulting any Dell engineers:

This e-mail is in reference to issue # A2SHAT.

Hi Chuck,

I believe this is a retaining clip to hold the processor to the motherboard. As you know, a processor vibrating at 2Ghz can really rattle around in the case. We use these clips to keep the vibrating microprocessors from shooting out the side of your PC.

Is this where you saw the flames you spoke of in an earlier e-mail? Around that clip?

Thank you for your continued support,

Dell Customer Support.