Dual-core, lost second CPU

[Quentin Stephens]

XP Pro SP2, fully patched. Pentium D 805 2x 2.266 GHz, 1 GB RAM,
Geforce 4 4200, Asus P5P800VM motherboard.

I made the mistake of trying IE7 RC1. Shortly after installing it,
I noticed that my second CPU had disappeared in Task Manager. I
checked, and while I can see a second CPU in Device Manager, I can
no longer Set Affinity in Task Manager and a single process will
take up 99% CPU.

Removing IE7 did not restore the second CPU. Nor has reverting to
various restore points. Nor has doing an upgrade install of
Windows XP Pro.

MS's knowledgebase didn't help. I've posted in the IE 7 newsgroup
without sucess.

I've confirmed that I'm running the correct HAL - ACPI
Multiprocessor PC. I'm definitely running XP Pro. There are
definitely two processors listed under Processors in Device
Manager, yet Windows only seems to be using one.

I'm reluctantly looking at yet another full install. Unless you
know the fix.

 

[Guest]

http://www.amdzone.com/modules.php?...=article&sid=3964&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
See if the MS hotfix associated with issue 896256 is for you, it can be
downloaded without calling MS, from the above link..
Cheers..
j;-j

 

[Guest]

Go to intel.com/downloads,install the chipset installation utility for youre
board,also download the processor id utility and run after the 1st....

 

[NoNoBadDog!]

That is why I love my AMD Athlon64 X2...I don't have to have 13 different
pieces of software installed to get the processor to work.

Bobby

 

[Robert Moir]

That is why I love my AMD Athlon64 X2...I don't have to have 13
different pieces of software installed to get the processor to work.

And nor do you with Intel processors. There's clearly something abnormal
here, I suspect it'll be very very odd indeed or a "hardware independant"
system problem.

 

[Guest]

You could try looking in msconfig, boot.ini tab, advanced options, check the
box /NUMPROC= 2 and reboot to see if it will force dual mode.. If it has been
checked and set to 1, just uncheck it and reboot the system..

Another option might be to manually add /usepmtimer to the boot.ini file, to
fix irregularities for AMD or Intel Dual Core CPU systems, see example below..

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimer

Check your bios, chipset drivers, etc - against the latest updates too..
http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=P5P800-V
http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=P5P800-VM
Cheers..
j;-j

 

[Jeff Barnett]

I thought that XP choose the HAL (hardware abstraction layer) during the
initial system install and that is where if makes the one/more than one
CPU distinction. If that is true, XP would have to be reinstalled to
gain use of the second CPU, the HAL cannot be switched dynamically. I'm
not sure that what I said is true. Could one of the group experts please
comment.

-- Jeff Barnett

 

[xxx]

I thought that XP choose the HAL (hardware abstraction layer) during the
initial system install and that is where if makes the one/more than one
CPU distinction. If that is true, XP would have to be reinstalled to
gain use of the second CPU, the HAL cannot be switched dynamically. I'm
not sure that what I said is true. Could one of the group experts please
comment.

-- Jeff Barnett

This thread might help you (I hope!).

http://discuss.extremetech.com/forums/1004339342/ShowPost.aspx


Steve

 

[Jeff Barnett]

This thread might help you (I hope!).

http://discuss.extremetech.com/forums/1004339342/ShowPost.aspx


Steve

The thread had little to do with the point I was making. If XP was built
with a single CPU, no HT enabled in the BIOS, then I don't think you
can enable it later.

-- Jeff Barnett

-- Jeff Barnett

 

[Guest]

I had a similar problem. Was working fine in dual mode and then stopped.
Showed two processors in device manager, but only one CPU window in
taskmanager. BootIni\advanced only showed one processor.

Went to device manager\Computer and it showed a Multiprocessor PC. Updated
the driver, rebooted. Now fine.

As always, Windows is as fragile as an egg.

 

[Zilbandy]

Went to device manager\Computer and it showed a Multiprocessor PC. Updated
the driver, rebooted. Now fine.

As always, Windows is as fragile as an egg.

Just be careful not to crack the shell on that egg. It might be rotten
inside.