I have a 2012 or thereabouts mac mini I've been using as a back-up to a newer one. I also keep it for using my old photoshop. It is running in El Capitan.
In the last couple weeks it had taken to shutting off at will. Sometimes within 20 minutes of start-up, sometimes after a couple of hours. Lately it's been happening almost every hour.

I'm thinking this is something other than a hard drive problem, tho I've been wrong before. Anybody with suggestions? Thanks.

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And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.
—Friedrich Nietzsche
Western Massachusetts

hmmm, when's the last time you gave it a good cleaning out?

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39°36'17"N 75°44'43"W

DuckDuckGo
The search engine that doesn't track you.

You've probably already checked, but is the power cable plugged in securely at both ends?

Years ago, that was the cause of random shut downs of a friend's 6500.

Yes, a friend's, I never owned one.

Heat related? Are you using a keyboard with a power button?

You can pass the dunce hat over here, MrNoBody, I took the bottom off and there were dust bunnies big enough to fight back. It's been running for an hour now with no quits. I think it's been a couple years since I looked in there.

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And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.
—Friedrich Nietzsche
Western Massachusetts

Bunnies, even dust bunnies, multiple at an alarming rate.

I spoke too soon. After about 4 hours the computer shut itself down. I think I will have to disconnect it and dig a little deeper into the innards.

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And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.
—Friedrich Nietzsche
Western Massachusetts

Quote
blooz
I spoke too soon. After about 4 hours the computer shut itself down. I think I will have to disconnect it and dig a little deeper into the innards.

Not knowing your model of Mini, can't provide specific instructions but you may
want to look into some heatsink maintenance.
Clean & reapply h-s paste to CPU, etc.
After eight years (2012?) you might be shocked how dried out the original
paste has become!

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39°36'17"N 75°44'43"W

DuckDuckGo
The search engine that doesn't track you.

Overheating? Clogged/broken fan? Loads of dust inside? Those would be my first guesses...

I had some heat sink paste that looked like flaking brick mortar. And it was applied VERY poorly as well.

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The police have no duty to respond. See Castle Rock v. Gonzales, 545 U.S. 748 (2005) or Warren v. District of Columbia[1] (444 A.2d. 1, D.C. Ct. of Ap. 1981)

Thanks for the suggestions. I has often been hot to the touch so I think both the dust and heat sink/fan suggestions have merit. It is eight years old so I am not sure how much more money I want to put into it (actually, after original purchase, I haven't put any money into it. Lucky I guess). I'll investigate further.

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And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.
—Friedrich Nietzsche
Western Massachusetts