A server will run for about 30 minutes and then shut down suddenly. Which of the following is MOST likely causing this behavior?

A power supply failure typically results in immediate shutdown or inability to power on, rather than running for a consistent period before shutting down.

A hard drive failure would usually cause system freezes, boot issues, or data corruption, but rarely a complete system shutdown after a consistent operational period.

Cooling failure leads to overheating of components like the CPU or GPU. Modern servers have built-in thermal protection that will automatically shut down the system to prevent permanent damage once a critical temperature threshold is reached. This process often takes some time to occur as heat builds up, aligning with the 30-minute runtime before shutdown.

A POST (Power-On Self-Test) failure occurs at startup and would prevent the server from booting or even reaching the operating system, not shutting down after 30 minutes.