To execute immediate cancellation of limiting and controlling on power, by monitoring the overheating state of a drive circuit while the power supply to a load is limited and the active state of the drive circuit is canceled, and then a timing signal is synchronized when the overheating state of the drive circuit is detected, and generating a gate control signal when the cancellation is detected.

An overheating protective device 10 generates a load driving instruction 102a for instructing the drive of a load, by activating a drive circuit which drives the load and monitors the active state of the drive circuit. When the device 10 detects the overheating state of the drive circuit while the circuit is in the active state, the device 10 limits the power supply to the load by canceling the active state, and monitors the overhearing state synchronously to a timing signal 102 having a prescribed period by maintaining a power limiting and controlling state. When the device 10 detects the cancellation of the overheating state while the device 10 monitors the overheating state, the device 10 generates a gate control signal 108a for canceling the power limiting and controlling state. Therefore, the power limiting and controlling state can be canceled immediately by using the gate control signal 108a synchronized to a reset signals 110a.