vista and 2 physical processors

[rtdavide]

OK, i have seen some posts on this group to the effect that vista
business and ultimate will support multi processors, but not home
premium.

i have a dual processor setup 2 athlon MP 1800's and 2 gigs RAM
i didn't know that home premium would not support it, so i bought
that.
i have just recently figured out that while you can see 2 processors
in the device manager, only one seems to be actually processing data.

so i am willing to upgrade to ultimate, providing it will actually see
the 2 processors and use them.

so i decided to call MS directly.

the first call was routed to a sales rep who read the EULA stating
that i could legally install the copy on a device with 1-2 processors.
that didn't help...

so i went back through and got transferred to a tech ... in india...
that assured me home premium should be able to see both, and they
would help me resolve the issue.

1. he tried updating the drivers, that didn't work
2. he tried adding the second processor through a regedit, by copying
the contents of the first folder... that didn't work either....
3. he tried uninstalling the processors
4. he tried telling me the reason the second processor wasn't showing
up was because it would show until the system needed it.. like under a
graphic intense situation... this despite the fact that the one
processor showing was pegged at 100% usage just opening the task
manager.
but it also happens that i do graphics, so i opened photoshop and
illustrator and the task manager, and still no second processor
5. he is now having me reinstall vista...
6. he is telling me if that doesn't work, that it isn't a windows
problem but some issue with the motherboard.. a setting... [it worked
great under XP pro by the way...]

i have repeatedly asked if home premium really supports the two
processors and he has repeatedly told me that he has checked and that
is not the issue.

I would gladly pay [well, maybe not gladly, but i'd do it ...] for the
upgrade to ultimate if it will utilize the second processor and so
speed up some things that are completely bogged down, BUT....

i don't want to bother paying for ultimate if it won't help.

so... will vista ultimate see and use the second processor?
should home premium see the second processor?

thanks for advice..

dave

 

[MyronH]

According the Microsofts documentation on the various versions, Home and
Premium will support multi core (dual core, quad core) but will not support
dual processors. This may have been the confusion you encountered with the
(lack of) tech support you talked to. Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise
will support dual processors.

Hope this help and sorry for the bad news.

 

[AJR]

First - Vista Home Premium DOES NOT support multiple (meaning two)
processsors - support begins with Vista Business version.

All Vista versions support "MULTI_CORE"
(not same as multiple processsors) processsors.

Problem of semantics!

 

[the wharf rat]

All Vista versions support "MULTI_CORE"

When Windows blue screens on that kind of system do you
get multi core dumps? Or still just one?

 

[rtdavide]

First - Vista Home Premium DOES NOT support multiple (meaning two)
processsors - support begins with Vista Business version.

All Vista versions support "MULTI_CORE"
(not same as multiple processsors) processsors.

Problem of semantics!

OK, i have seen some posts on this group to the effect that vista
business and ultimate will support multi processors, but not home
premium.

i have a dual processor setup 2 athlon MP 1800's and 2 gigs RAM
i didn't know that home premium would not support it, so i bought
that.
i have just recently figured out that while you can see 2 processors
in the device manager, only one seems to be actually processing data.

so i am willing to upgrade to ultimate, providing it will actually see
the 2 processors and use them.

so i decided to call MS directly.

the first call was routed to a sales rep who read the EULA stating
that i could legally install the copy on a device with 1-2 processors.
that didn't help...

so i went back through and got transferred to a tech ... in india...
that assured me home premium should be able to see both, and they
would help me resolve the issue.

1. he tried updating the drivers, that didn't work
2. he tried adding the second processor through a regedit, by copying
the contents of the first folder... that didn't work either....
3. he tried uninstalling the processors
4. he tried telling me the reason the second processor wasn't showing
up was because it would show until the system needed it.. like under a
graphic intense situation... this despite the fact that the one
processor showing was pegged at 100% usage just opening the task
manager.
but it also happens that i do graphics, so i opened photoshop and
illustrator and the task manager, and still no second processor
5. he is now having me reinstall vista...
6. he is telling me if that doesn't work, that it isn't a windows
problem but some issue with the motherboard.. a setting... [it worked
great under XP pro by the way...]

i have repeatedly asked if home premium really supports the two
processors and he has repeatedly told me that he has checked and that
is not the issue.

I would gladly pay [well, maybe not gladly, but i'd do it ...] for the
upgrade to ultimate if it will utilize the second processor and so
speed up some things that are completely bogged down, BUT....

i don't want to bother paying for ultimate if it won't help.

so... will vista ultimate see and use the second processor?
should home premium see the second processor?

thanks for advice..

dave- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

unfortunately, given the level of knowledge the techs had about my
computer, and my repeated questions about two physical processors, i
think it's obvious they simply didn't know. i was very specific about
it not being a single multi core processor, but 2 separate physical
processors...

i just got a call back from the tech, and he told me after checking
that it is correct... only ultimate, business and enterprise will
support dual processors.
i wish he would have figured that out before he had me do all this
other stuff....

 

[Richard G. Harper]

Any version of Vista will install on a multiprocessor or multicore system.
The difference is that they all support multiple cores on a single physical
processor but only the Business and Ultimate editions will support multiple
physical processors. A Home version of Vista will install fine on a
multiple physical processor system but it will only use the first physical
processor present.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/

OK, i have seen some posts on this group to the effect that vista
business and ultimate will support multi processors, but not home
premium.

i have a dual processor setup 2 athlon MP 1800's and 2 gigs RAM
i didn't know that home premium would not support it, so i bought
that.
i have just recently figured out that while you can see 2 processors
in the device manager, only one seems to be actually processing data.

so i am willing to upgrade to ultimate, providing it will actually see
the 2 processors and use them.

so i decided to call MS directly.

the first call was routed to a sales rep who read the EULA stating
that i could legally install the copy on a device with 1-2 processors.
that didn't help...

so i went back through and got transferred to a tech ... in india...
that assured me home premium should be able to see both, and they
would help me resolve the issue.

1. he tried updating the drivers, that didn't work
2. he tried adding the second processor through a regedit, by copying
the contents of the first folder... that didn't work either....
3. he tried uninstalling the processors
4. he tried telling me the reason the second processor wasn't showing
up was because it would show until the system needed it.. like under a
graphic intense situation... this despite the fact that the one
processor showing was pegged at 100% usage just opening the task
manager.
but it also happens that i do graphics, so i opened photoshop and
illustrator and the task manager, and still no second processor
5. he is now having me reinstall vista...
6. he is telling me if that doesn't work, that it isn't a windows
problem but some issue with the motherboard.. a setting... [it worked
great under XP pro by the way...]

i have repeatedly asked if home premium really supports the two
processors and he has repeatedly told me that he has checked and that
is not the issue.

I would gladly pay [well, maybe not gladly, but i'd do it ...] for the
upgrade to ultimate if it will utilize the second processor and so
speed up some things that are completely bogged down, BUT....

i don't want to bother paying for ultimate if it won't help.

so... will vista ultimate see and use the second processor?
should home premium see the second processor?

thanks for advice..

dave

 

[rtdavide]

Any version of Vista will install on a multiprocessor or multicore system.
The difference is that they all support multiple cores on a single physical
processor but only the Business and Ultimate editions will support multiple
physical processors.  A Home version of Vista will install fine on a
multiple physical processor system but it will only use the first physical
processor present.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User]  (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ...http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website -http://rgharper.mvps.org/

OK, i have seen some posts on this group to the effect that vista
business and ultimate will support multi processors, but not home
premium.

i have a dual processor setup 2 athlon MP 1800's and 2 gigs RAM
i didn't know that home premium would not support it, so i bought
that.
i have just recently figured out that while you can see 2 processors
in the device manager, only one seems to be actually processing data.

so i am willing to upgrade to ultimate, providing it will actually see
the 2 processors and use them.

so i decided to call MS directly.

the first call was routed to a sales rep who read the EULA stating
that i could legally install the copy on a device with 1-2 processors.
that didn't help...

so i went back through and got transferred to a tech ... in india...
that assured me home premium should be able to see both, and they
would help me resolve the issue.

1. he tried updating the drivers, that didn't work
2. he tried adding the second processor through a regedit, by copying
the contents of the first folder... that didn't work either....
3. he tried uninstalling the processors
4. he tried telling me the reason the second processor wasn't showing
up was because it would show until the system needed it.. like under a
graphic intense situation... this despite the fact that the one
processor showing was pegged at 100% usage just opening the task
manager.
but it also happens that i do graphics, so i opened photoshop and
illustrator and the task manager, and still no second processor
5. he is now having me reinstall vista...
6. he is telling me if that doesn't work, that it isn't a windows
problem but some issue with the motherboard.. a setting... [it worked
great under XP pro by the way...]

i have repeatedly asked if home premium really supports the two
processors and he has repeatedly told me that he has checked and that
is not the issue.

I would gladly pay [well, maybe not gladly, but i'd do it ...] for the
upgrade to ultimate if it will utilize the second processor and so
speed up some things that are completely bogged down, BUT....

i don't want to bother paying for ultimate if it won't help.

so... will vista ultimate see and use the second processor?
should home premium see the second processor?

thanks for advice..

dave- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

i know that now... but the problem as i see it is that i called MS
directly about this and was told wrongly that home premium should
work... and then spent 2 hours on the phone to india while the tech
tried to make it do something it was simply not going to do: recognize
the second processor.
i'm now about 2 hours into a reinstall of windows that was
unnecessary.. so that is 4 hours down the toilet for asking MS tech
support something i'd have thought they should have known straight up.

and given that i outlined the problem in no uncertain terms, and
repeatedly asked about it during all the different attempts, it's kind
of ...well no.. VERY frustrating to have squandered all the time.

now i'm supposed to wait until it's all done, who knows how much
longer, back up all the data, and then do a clean install again...
this time without giving the product key and claiming my version is
ultimate.
then it is supposed to install ultimate and i can check and see if the
2 processors show up.. if they do, then they will hook me up with a
new key upgrade.

but i feel like i really got kicked here for calling directly to
microsoft to get an answer
why wouldn't their techs know the answer to something like this?

 

[the wharf rat]

. A Home version of Vista will install fine on a
multiple physical processor system but it will only use the first physical
processor present.

Can't you just install it twice?