Dual core processor not recognized as dual core

[Guest]

I have a new system with an Intel D 830 dual core processor.
Unfortunately when the machine was first sent to me the motherboard was
faulty, so I had to return it. However before returning it I was able to get
windows XP Pro installed and working, and upgrade the BIOS to recognize the
dual core. Not surprisingly, having done this windows recognized that it was
on a dual core machine and installed the ACPI multiprocessor HAL.

Now of course when the machine went back to replace the mobo, they didn't
flash the new BIOS, so I was back to a single processor machine. However
after flashing the BIOS myself, windows didn't ask to reboot or anything - I
guess because it already had the HAL installed.

I checked in the task manager, and indeed it was showing 2 cores.

I tried running a game, which locked the machine up totally in the initial
security process - not entirely surprising I suppose, since it was installed
when it thought it was one processor. So, I rebooted - and checked in task
manager again, to find that I was back to one core.

So, anybody out there know a way I can force XP to recognize that I have two
cores ? I checked the device manager, it still shows that I have the
multiprocessor HAL in place.

Or is it possible that my processor is actually broken, and the second core
doesn't work ? Is there any way I can test this when Windows doesn't even
recognize that I have two cores to test ?

 

[Larry Samuels]

If your install was on a faulty motherboard the first thing I would
recommend is to perform a repair installation. This will load the correct
HAL,and eliminate any possible problems caused by the faulty board.

How to do a repair install on Windows XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm


--
Larry Samuels Associate Expert
MS-MVP (2001-2005)
Unofficial FAQ for Windows Server 2003 at
http://pelos.us/SERVER.htm
Expert Zone-

 

[Guest]

Thanks - I'll give that a try.
By the way, it came back to recognizing the dual core after I reflashed the
BIOS, so I suspect that the security from the game I tried running (which was
StarForce protection) may have in some way confused things.
Anyway, after getting dual core recognition back, the machine still locks up
and crashes, so I guess a repair install would be a good idea anyway !

 

[kenny]

Forget the repair if you can. Backup, format and reinstall clean from
scratch, and if you can
install XP that has SP2 slipstreamed inside.

Kenny www.computerboom.com