I am considering trying out gentoo linux on my machine and wanted it to compile while I was gone (going to be gone for a week). I just want to make sure that my system will not MELT while I am not there to make sure everything is okay. I have a pentium 4 prescott. Will my computer automatically shut itself down if it overheats? I've heard its supposed to but sometimes is too late. Can I trust it?

Presscot is known of getting hot 45 degree idle and 71 degrees on high cpu usage, each motherboards has thermal protection if am correct, u can always check at the system page in the bios, if the airflow in the systemcase is oke with fan in front and back airflow in one way than it should be allright, u can do some stress test on the cpu and look if the fans go harder and watch the temperatur,if in bios is that the pc goes off at an temperatur above 80 degrees ,and when reaches the pc goes off than u know ur safe, if its set in bios on 80 degrees and the temperatur goes 90 degrees and pc not turn of than its not ok and u have to check settings, if their are no settings than there are programs,but to be onest i dont trust those programs communication ok with the hardware so do it only when u have the protection in bios.

Hi

In a word: No.

It is simply not worth the risk.

Running unsupervised PC computer equipment in other than a computer/server room designed with a minimum of combustible materials, independent thermal sensor on the mains to shut off power to the room, and smoke detection equipment for fire detection, it is very unwise to leave PC computer equipment operating continuously for long periods of time without routine regular human supervision.

It takes only a large amount of lint build up in a cooling channel, or sharp rise in temperature in the surrounding environment, to create a substantial risk of system damage or fire.

Oh and I hasten to add, that there are a large number of reports on the Internet of CRT monitors starting fires, so leaving peripherals turned on for long periods without regular human supervision is also a very bad idea.

In that case I usually leave a program or script to check the temperature and commence shutdown above a certain temperature. That's safe enough for me, but for other people it may not be.

If you are going for a week, it is stupid to leave any electronics on because that is just wasting power. For your computer it should not have any problem compiling for long periods. If it does, Intel processors will throttle down and then shut down if it is generating too much heat. The automatic throttle will only work if your motherboard is setup properly in the BIOS to do the throttling. If it is not, you processor will halt and power down when the processor reaches its highest temperature limit right before damage. You should always do a heat test to find out if your cooling system is enough to handle your setup for very long periods.

Every time I do a new install of Gentoo, I always hit a snag. It is sometimes simple to fix or I may have to take a different path to install something else that is similar. Usually it happens with GUI programs. I may have to compile KDE first and GNOME or install GNOME first and then KDE. It all depends at the time of install where the ebuild is for each GUI environment.

On my Pentium 4 2 GHz with 1 GB of ECC memory, it takes about 18 hours to install Gentoo for desktop use if there is no snags. If there is some problems during the installation process when setting up a setup for desktop, it will take longer than expected.

Do not install Gentoo using Gentoo's discs because they are not setup correctly for the latest Xrog version. I suggest use Sabayon or any LIVE Linux distribution to install Gentoo. Sabayon Linux is not Gentoo and I do not recommend using it for every day use because it penalizes performance even if you install it. Using Sabayon Linux for a LIVE Linux distribution is OK while installing Gentoo. You can get some use out of your computer while your computer is installing Gentoo.