My HP All-In-One 20-c081nt has the processor Intel Core i3-6100U, which is supposed to not run hotter than 100C. On Windows if 100C is reached, the screen will fade out and PC will immediately shutdown. A warning will be shown at next boot. On Linux, seen in the video, the PC will simply keep running as if nothing has happened and show the thermal shutdown warning after a graceful reboot.
On Windows there is an odd way of throttling which only sometimes triggers and lowers CPU frequency to 1380 MHz. It is bypassable via custom power plan. As I said, it only sometimes triggers. On Linux iGPU is never throttled and CPU is throttled around 97 C to speeds slightly below max MHz. Shutting down is, under normal circumstances, for situations where throttling fails. I have another laptop which successfully throttles and keeps temps below 90C.
I’ve used laptops for more than a decade. And sure, in the early times thermal management wasn’t that elborate. But I really haven’t seen any laptop in many, many years that doesn’t do it with perfect accuracy. And usually it’s done in hardware so there isn’t really any way for it to fail. And I played games and compiled software for hours with all CPU cores at 100% and fans blasting. At least with my current laptop and the two Thinkpads before. The first one had really good fans and never went to the limit. The others hit it with an accuracy of like 2 or 3 degrees. No software necessary. I’m pretty sure with the technology of the last 10 years, throttling doesn’t ever fail unless you deliberately mess with it.
But now that I’m thinking of the fans… Maybe if the fan is clogged or has mechanically failed, there is a way… A decent Intel or AMD CPU will still throttle. But without a fan and airflow inside the laptop, other components might get too hot. But I’m thinking more of some capacitors or the harddisk which can’t defend itself. The iGPU should be part of the thermal budget of the rest of the processor. Maybe it’s handled differently because it doesn’t draw that much power and doesn’t really contribute to overheating it. I’m not sure.
Maybe it’s more a hardware failure, a defective sensor, dust, a loose heat conductor, thermal paste or the fan? I still can’t believe a laptop would enter that mode unless something was wrong with the hardware. But I might be wrong.