The firmware being too old is my guess as well, although for High Sierra and APFS in this case the MacOS installer will actually not allow you to install to the APFS volume and will instead show a warning that your Mac needs a newer firmware and cannot install onto APFS.
Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.
support.apple.com
Get the Mountain Lion installer from the website, then create a USB thumbdrive installer from it. The Mac's firmware will be able to boot Mountain Lion. From within Mountain Lion you can then use the app store to download High Sierra and then upgrade directly to High Sierra.
That upgrade will ensure the firmware will be updated to the latest one for that Mac. Make sure the power adapter is plugged in the entire time, otherwise firmware upgrades might not install. Needs to be an upgrade from within OSX, clean installs via USB don't apply new firmware.
After the upgrade is complete, you can then create a High Sierra USB installer and wipe the Mac again to make sure you start fresh with no upgrade-introduced bugs. You could also install Catalina which should work on that Mac:
http://dosdude1.com/catalina/
This model can also run Monterey:
https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/ However there is an issue on this model that requires SIP and secure boot to be disabled. So that installation is a bit more involved. If you don't need a modern OS that runs the latest software and is reasonably well patched against security flaws, i.e. if it's just for some Youtube on the couch, then Catalina and High Sierra are fine.
Your Mac's issue could also be a defective logic board, which wouldn't be all that surprising after 10+ years. There are series defects discovered in a bunch of chips that kill even newer Macs from 2015 and 2016 that aren't even that old.