Dell Precision T3500 keeps crashing

[ThinkPad560X]

I got my Dell Precision T3500 out and wanted to put it to use again. It has a new old stock WD 2TB Enterprise class HDD installed, 8GB RAM X2 4GB sticks, Intel© Xeon© CPU W3520 @ 2.67GHz × 4 and a NVIDIA Corporation G98 [Quadro NVS 295]
It original came with Windows Vista Business as that is the COA on the top. I been running Linux mint for a day on it and no problems. I went and installed Windows 10 Pro x64bit on it and it ran fine. It was stuck at 1024x768 until Windows update would start and get the latest updates. After an hour of getting first round of updates on a new Win10 install, it installed the Nvidia Quadro driver and got the 1080p res. on display. Restarted and was fine for a few minutes and taskbar went to a red hew color and mouse got a box around it, but could still move mouse and then it locked up and froze. Had to hard shut off system and tried 3 times before going back on linux mint.

Took system apart and reseated graphics card, RAM. New thermal paste on CPU and the Northbridge. (The Northbridge heatsink was very hot to the touch) https://linustechtips.com/topic/1267516 ... vals-help/. I am running Linux mint again by disc, not installed and typing this up right now and no problems. So it is not the northbridge but do get worried about the temp as the old cloth paste I cleaned off was getting a hair black. So It has to be Windows 10 or the Windows update version of the Nvidia card it installed. I may even just install Linux mint fully on this then as I heard Windows 11 will not install security updates and rollup updates without you having to manually install them as this system didn't pass the windows 11 test.

[ThinkPad560X]

Well from installing a clean install of Windows 7 and letting it install the card driver. It did the exact same thing as being on Windows 10. So it isn't the OS but the card it self. I did throw in a cheap card and the system ran fine. Not sure if the Quadro NVS 295 card is bad or a driver from Microsoft it bad. It didn't have any problems running on Linux Mint at all. And even for Windows 7 and 10 it ran fine until the windows update installed then crashes the graphics causing the system to freeze and have to manually turn off. Also the card looks new in good condition. Debating if I should install Linux mint on this T3500 or W10 but 10 is out in 2025.

[axur-delmeria]

If it's OK with the microsoft basic driver but crashes with the proper driver, it's usually a hardware issue.

[ThinkPad560X]

I didn't manually download and install the driver from Nvidia. I should do a Windows 10 reinstall and stay offline and download the driver for the card. I know MS drivers crash things such as my IBM ThinkPad USB keyboard. When it would install the keyboard driver even tho it worked without MS updates, it would self auto install the driver everytime and then I would lose functionality of the touchpad and trackpoint.

[ThinkPad560X]

I downloaded the Nvidia driver off Nvidias website and still crashed after install and it was newer. I even updated the T3500 bios from A01 to the latest A17. I just swapped in another small Nvidia card as getting tired of the card crashing. The Quadro seems to not crash on Linux mint for some reason though and I get full 1080p with the already supplied driver in mint. I may use the card in a Linux only web browsing machine.