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I installed Debian 9.13 (stretch) amd64 to a (pretty old) PC tower, and it randomly powers off a few minutes after boot, every time I boot, since the first ever boot into the new system. I booted into recovery mode and using $ journalctl -xb I see that nouveau is reporting increasingly high temps (90C 'fanboost' threshold reached, 95C 'downclock' threshold reached, and so on) until eventually the 'shutdown' threshold is reached and the machine powers itself off.

Is this more likely an OS issue or a hardware issue? I didn't experience a shutdown with the previously installed Windows 7 OS for the 10 minutes that I used it before installing Debian. I'm new-ish with linux systems so am wondering if there's something obvious I can do to save me from the very time consuming trial-and-error process of trying different machines and OS image architectures/versions.

Hardware specs:

  • System model: Dell Precision Workstation 490
  • System type: x64-based PC
  • Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU 5140 @ 2.33GHz, 2327 Mhz, 2 Cores, 2 Logical processors
A__
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  • Perhaps consider Fan issues or accumulated dust and dirt as one possible cause – John Jan 26 '23 at 16:40
  • You may need to de-dust it and/or replace the thermal paste on the cpu/gpu. Why use 2yo version? – Bib Jan 26 '23 at 16:41
  • @Bib To run specific software. I'll try opening up the tower and seeing if I can give it a good clean :) – A__ Jan 26 '23 at 16:44
  • Then remember to take esd precautions. And no, momentarily touching metal once in a while does not count. And don't use a vacuum cleaner on it unless it's esd certified. – Bib Jan 26 '23 at 17:08
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    After cleaning out dust, trying different OS's **from USB** is quite quick and easy. Download an ISO (e.g., Ubuntu Live or other Live Linux distro [https://www.pendrivelinux.com/live-cd-repository/], Hiren's CD, Ultimate Boot CD), put it on a USB flash drive with Rufus or similar tool, and boot from the device. Only install an OS if it works well from flash drive. – DrMoishe Pippik Jan 26 '23 at 18:13

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I installed Debian 9.13 (stretch) amd64 to a (pretty old) PC tower

This is the first problem that should be addressed even if unrelated to the reported problem: Debian 9.0 is EoL since 2 years ago and shouldn't be used. So, start by installed a currently supported Debian release, 11 (Bullseye).

I see that nouveau is reporting increasingly high temps (...)

nouveau is the community open-source driver for Nvidia graphics. What you're reporting suggests this driver is inadequate. Knowing that the Dell Precision Workstation 490 was sold with a few different Nvidia Quadro graphics cards and given the specificity of this Nvidia line of products, installing the proper Nvidia proprietary drivers is strongly recommended if not "mandatory" for acceptable performance.

Other than this and what was already commented under the question about cleaning there's really nothing else you can do. The hardware is what it is and hardware of similar vintage can and will show all sorts of problems.

ChanganAuto
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  • Thanks for this. Frustrating that I only get 2-3 minute intervals to install said drivers but I'll try my best to get the software I need to be compatible with an updated OS first, maybe that'll do it. – A__ Jan 26 '23 at 20:56