Laptop with unexpected shutdowns

Hardware Support
1

I am relatively new to Zorin (or Linux in general). I had several old laptops that all were running Windows 10 or Windows 7 with no issues (the 7 had no internet). They were all too slow for what my children needed for school so I have repurposed them into running older games from the 90s and early 2000s I had for the kids. 2 of them work flawlessly (aside from the many hurdles I went through getting Windows games to work). One of them however will work for hours if I am using the webbrowser or other tools in the system, but the moment I start to play a game it will shutdown unexpectedly after a few minutes. I have ran memory diags on it with no errors after hours and multiple complete passes. Other hardware diags seem to show no errors either.

Initially this device only had Black and White installed via Lutris, but I also tried a native Linux Game (The Dark Mod) both still experience the shutdowns.

I tried shutting down power management with his command based on another forum post (xset -dpms) but I am at a loss as to proceed further in troubleshooting.

Here is a dump of the Lutris Hardware stats plus the make/model
OS: Zorin OS 16 focal
Arch: x86_64
Kernel: 5.13.0-41-generic
Desktop: XFCE
Display Server: x11
CPU] endor: GenuineIntel
Model: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2310M CPU @ 2.10GHz
Physical cores: 2
Logical cores: 4
RAM: 7.7 GB
Swap: 2.0 GB
Graphics Vendor: Intel Open Source Technology Center
OpenGL Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000 (SNB GT2)
OpenGL Version: 3.0 Mesa 21.2.6
OpenGL Core: 3.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 21.2.6
OpenGL ES: OpenGL ES 3.0 Mesa 21.2.6
Vulkan: Supported
System Model: Dell Latitude E5520

2

This sounds like graphics or - Overheating. Have you checked the temps while running a game?
You can install Psensor to have an actively running open window displaying temps

sudo apt install -y psensor

Check the vents for the fans and see if they are clogged with dust.
On older machines, the thermal paste may need to be replaced - which on a notebook computer is always loads of fun.

Lastly, check fan speed if all of the above checks out but you are seeing higher than wanted temps.

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