laptop shutting down when playing video/games

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I have a problem playing videos/games . After playing a game for about 10
minutes the laptop shuts down (turns off) and I have to switch it back on .
This has been happening for the past year , even games I have played in the
past with no problem (diablo) now shut the laptop down after a short length
of time . It only occurs when playing videos or games , all other times the
unit runs normally ... going into and returning from standby , etc . and
there are no other problems with the system I know of. As it has only just
started I am wondering if one of the automatic updates has changed something
..
It is an emachine laptop running XP home edition (orig system software) and
is approx 4 years old .
I have updated Direct X .
I have checked hibernation settings ... although unit doesn't go to sleep -
it switches off
I have tried restore , but can only go back 6 months
I have defragmented and cleaned up the hard drive
Where does a novice computer tech start to trouble shoot this problem ???
Any help would be really appreciated
Thank you


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