o.O

 

A P4 3.2 is going to run hot at the best of times.   It has a built-in protection which is intended to DOWNCLOCK the if there's overheating.  Perhaps somehow this is being mis-configured; I've heard in experimental cases, they can run a P4 without a heatsink, it stalls out performance-wise, but still runs.

 

You might also check in the power-management and system monitor pages of the bios setup.  Many lappies with desktop chips will downclock the processor a lot to retain battery life; a scheme like this would also keep the chip cool.

 

Another thought:  Does a full-CPU-load in Windows give you grief?  If so, talk to them about warranty replacement or possible design fault.  If it only happens in Linux, perhaps a SW glitch (like not setting the downclock right)