Single to Dual CPU = Reinstall WinXP?

[Eric]

Hi,

I have an existing WinXP installation (installed while only have 1 CPU) and
just plugged in a second CPU. The BIOS is seeing both fine, various
utilities under WinXP are saying two are there, and was able to get them
working together in Linux by installing a new kernel to support dual.

I thought, (hoped), WinXP would be smart enough on first boot with a dual to
see both and do it's magic, but apparantly not so.

A quick deja/google revealed that in order to get both up and running one
needs to do a "repair installation". Thats fine, but what caught my
attention was that is "99 percent effective". The "one percent" has me
wondering if there are any issues that may come up later from doing a repair
install versus a brand new fresh install?

I'm using WinXP Pro, of course, and my installation medium is the full
Microsoft WinXP -- not "upgrade" or OEM "backup" junk.

TIA...

 

[Ron Martell]

Hi,

I have an existing WinXP installation (installed while only have 1 CPU) and
just plugged in a second CPU. The BIOS is seeing both fine, various
utilities under WinXP are saying two are there, and was able to get them
working together in Linux by installing a new kernel to support dual.

I thought, (hoped), WinXP would be smart enough on first boot with a dual to
see both and do it's magic, but apparantly not so.

A quick deja/google revealed that in order to get both up and running one
needs to do a "repair installation". Thats fine, but what caught my
attention was that is "99 percent effective". The "one percent" has me
wondering if there are any issues that may come up later from doing a repair
install versus a brand new fresh install?

I'm using WinXP Pro, of course, and my installation medium is the full
Microsoft WinXP -- not "upgrade" or OEM "backup" junk.

TIA...

A Repair Install will be necessary in order to reconfigure the HAL
(Hardware Abstraction Layer) to use the dual CPUs.

Repair Installs are usually pretty bulletproof but there is always
Murphy's Law so a good backup of at least your critical data would be
a sensible precaution.

For detailed instructions see
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[Eric]

A Repair Install will be necessary in order to reconfigure the HAL
(Hardware Abstraction Layer) to use the dual CPUs.

Repair Installs are usually pretty bulletproof but there is always
Murphy's Law so a good backup of at least your critical data would be
a sensible precaution.

For detailed instructions see
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada

Hi,

Thanks. I just finished the repair install and now up and cooking with both
CPU's. Task manager is showing graphs for both and can also set the
affinity for processes. All looks good, although unfamiliar with how SMP
comes together in WinXP so its going take some learning. I know only
certain applications are coded to take advantage of duals (i.e., photoshop),
but suspected it would be easy to choose with CPU different programs ran
under by something like a right-click property.. I'm assuming that right
now WinXP is doing all this automatically, but eventually would like to
manually set them myself. Thinking along the lines of all system processes
(and SETI) running on a dedicated CPU, while regular programs get another,
etc.

Thanks!

 

[Eric]

Been playing around since last post. Actually, for now, I'll just let WinXP
automatically assign CPU's as needed. It does seem to be working pretty
good. I'm digging this SMP thing now. Nothing is running "faster" alone
(didn't expect it to be), but CPU contraints have all but disappeared.
Programs are running "faster", when there are a lot of other programs
running, than before. Definetly noticable there.

I see how Boinc/SETI is making use of duals now too. It sees two processors
and is crunching on both. Wasn't sure how that would've worked, thought
maybe would've had to do another BOINC install in a different directory, but
it is smart enough to automatically take advantage of both.

This is pretty cool. I'll get around to learning how to manually trick it
out to be more efficient down the road, but for now I'm very happy.

 

[John R Weiss]

Task manager is showing graphs for both and can also set the affinity
for processes. All looks good, although unfamiliar with how SMP comes
together in WinXP so its going take some learning. I know only certain
applications are coded to take advantage of duals (i.e., photoshop), but
suspected it would be easy to choose with CPU different programs ran under by
something like a right-click property.. I'm assuming that right now WinXP is
doing all this automatically, but eventually would like to manually set them
myself. Thinking along the lines of all system processes (and SETI) running
on a dedicated CPU, while regular programs get another, etc.

The more you manually restrict affinity, the less Windows will be able to
automatically and dynamically allocate resources. Unless you have good reason
to do so (and few people do), let Win manage this one itself.