P2B-DS

[angieas]

Hi,
I'm running a P2b-DS under XP Home, and I am having problems with the
power management. In other words, I can't use the stand-by option as
it isn't enabled. I've tried all manner of Bios option in Power
management but nothing works. Is this a Bios bug or because XP Home
isn't meant to run on a dual processor board. The Bios is 1013, I was
advised elsewhere that 1014 was ok but I figured go for the "official"
version before I run the Beta version.

Any help or pointers appreciated,

angie

 

[alex]

try bios 1014 beta3 on asus homepage and see what happens. i think the
problem isn't in bios it is in xp, maybe not! download aida32 and see in os
propities does it say any error for system rummimg on dual board!

 

[Roland Scheidegger]

Hi,
I'm running a P2b-DS under XP Home, and I am having problems with the
power management. In other words, I can't use the stand-by option as
it isn't enabled. I've tried all manner of Bios option in Power
management but nothing works. Is this a Bios bug or because XP Home
isn't meant to run on a dual processor board. The Bios is 1013, I was
advised elsewhere that 1014 was ok but I figured go for the "official"
version before I run the Beta version.

Any help or pointers appreciated,

If win 2000 and xp detect an old bios, they will assume it's broken and
will not use the acpi HAL. So you need the latest beta bios if you want
w2k/wxp to use ACPI (even though iirc the older bios isn't actually broken).
Unfortunately, you can change the bios later as much as you want, that
won't change anything unless you reinstall xp. You could try changing
the HAL (by using device manager or whatever it's called nowadays,
there's a system component which says something like "standard PC" you
could force it to "ACPI uniprocessor" or similar) but this is strongly
discouraged (all hardware will be redetected for instance) and windows
might not run at all if you do this (I once tried the reverse in windows
2000, going from ACPI to standard PC which worked just fine, but YMMV).

That's at least what I can remember, some details might be wrong...
Roland

btw I assume you have only 1 cpu installed? Win XP Home will not use the
2nd CPU if you have two cpus, you should opt for W2k or Win XP
Professional (or Linux) instead if you have 2 cpus. IIRC changing the
hal is even more problematic if you change between dual/uniprocessor
hals, but since you have XP Home this is likely not an issue.

 

[angieas]

Ok, thanks Alex. Tried that and it says only one processor is
installed and to change to uniprocessor.hal. It is running under a
MPS driver and changing from one to the other needs a bit of looking
into, I think. I'll be flashing the Beta later to see if it makes a
difference.

angie

 

[SGT]

http://homepage.hispeed.ch/rscheidegger/p2b_procupgrade_faq.html

 

[SGT]

If you plan on using Windows XP / 2000 in ACPI mode (instead of standard
mode) there is also a hardware bug present on most revisions of these boards
which you probably need to fix (only if you use 2 cpus, and do this only if
you're experienced in soldering SMD parts).

http://homepage.hispeed.ch/rscheidegger/p2b_procupgrade_faq.html

http://www.asuscom.de/support/FAQ/faq075_W2K_ACPI_dual-mb.htm

 

[SGT]

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=P2B-D

 

[Tim]

Yip,

Upgrade the bios first! I am sure that it is the bios version that will
determine if the system comes up in ACPI or not since it is the bios that
responds to h/w config queries and the Windows 2000 upgrades have special
mention of the P2B family of boards (amongst many others) that are not ACPI
compatible prior to a certain bios. You can override this behaviour by
editing one of the Windows install script files.

Before you consider this specific h/w fix, check your mobo version first -
for a P2B-DS it applies to v 1.05 and prior boards - see the screen shots
and notes provided by SGT.

This bug will not stop you from running ACPI bios - it fixes an issue where
the 2nd CPU will show 100% usage all the time and thats about it. The fix
does nothing other than correct a cosmetic reporting error in task manager -
you can run OK without doing this fix, however if you have the resources it
is up to you. (That was my experience on a Rev 1.05 board.)

In case you hadn't noticed, this is exactly what happened to my dual & it
runs Windows 2003 Server 100%

- Tim

 

[P2B]

Hi,
I'm running a P2b-DS under XP Home, and I am having problems with the
power management. In other words, I can't use the stand-by option as
it isn't enabled. I've tried all manner of Bios option in Power
management but nothing works. Is this a Bios bug or because XP Home
isn't meant to run on a dual processor board. The Bios is 1013, I was
advised elsewhere that 1014 was ok but I figured go for the "official"
version before I run the Beta version.

Any help or pointers appreciated,

angie

Cool!

I've never tried standby under XP on my P2B-DS before, but it works
perfectly! (Well, almost - after resuming from standby XP detects a "new
networking device" and offers to "set up a network", but I ignored it
and my network works just fine, thanks).

I'm running XP Pro and BIOS 1014beta3, so other replies suggesting you
need a BIOS update are likely correct. It's only beta because Asus
released it long after "official" support for the P2B series ended,
there are no issues and several advantages to running 1014beta3. I've
run it for years.

P2B

 

[angieas]

btw I assume you have only 1 cpu installed? Win XP Home will not use

the 2nd CPU if you have two cpus, you should opt for W2k or Win XP
Professional (or Linux) instead if you have 2 cpus. IIRC changing the
hal is even more problematic if you change between dual/uniprocessor
hals, but since you have XP Home this is likely not an issue.

Thanks Roland, I do have both processors up and running, and XP Home
is running a MPS driver (Multi Processor System?) with the reinstall
driver option showing standard pc. I have XP Pro so I reckon I'll
bung that on and see what happens after I install the Beta bios.

angie

 

[angieas]

Oh
Lol, there you go, i'm not about to mess around with that. Many
thanks, SGT

angie

 

[angieas]

Thanks P2B, lots of points to consider but I think updating the bios
will be the first thing


angie

 

[angieas]

Ok, thanks Tim.

angie

 

[angieas]

Hi all,
Well, flashed the Bios to the beta version, reinstalled XP and still
nothing. I even tried F5 during the Raid SCSI F8 option, and selected
ACPI Multi Processor but it just hung. Looks like I'll have to live
with it. Thank you all for the help and ideas.

Angie

 

[P2B]

Hi all,
Well, flashed the Bios to the beta version, reinstalled XP and still
nothing. I even tried F5 during the Raid SCSI F8 option, and selected
ACPI Multi Processor but it just hung. Looks like I'll have to live
with it. Thank you all for the help and ideas.

Angie

Did you load BIOS defaults after flashing to 1014beta3?

I just installed XP on another P2B-DS yesterday and power management is
fully functional on that system as well, so it should work for you.

P2B

 

[angieas]

Did you load BIOS defaults after flashing to 1014beta3?

I just installed XP on another P2B-DS yesterday and power management is
fully functional on that system as well, so it should work for you.

P2B

Yep, loaded Bios defaults and everything. I think it's just one of
those things.

Might have another bash in the future, but for now, sleeping dogs and
all that. Thanks for the help,
angie