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Athlon x2 processors

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velocci   03-06-2006 at 07:28:31 PM

hi there, i'm at work right now using a machine with a Pentium 4 with hyperthreading. device manager shows it has 2 CPUs and when i go to
taskmanger->processes and right click on a task, it gives me the "set affinity" option where I can choose which cpu is used to run the process.
But at home I have an X2 3800 cpu and device manager shows only one cpu and there is no "set affinity" option in task manager. my bios sees my cpu properly and says it has 2 cores. why does device manager only show 1 CPU? is this the same for all X2 processors?

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psyno   03-06-2006 at 07:49:39 PM
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Nope. You've got a problem. :wink:

Reply to psyno
Luminaris   03-06-2006 at 07:54:56 PM
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What version of Windows do you have at home? I wonder if your using home edition and it can't see the two cores ..... just a thought ..

I know Professional Edition will see both cores with no problem.

Reply to Luminaris
jtt283   03-06-2006 at 08:02:23 PM
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What's your O/S? Are you running XP Pro at work, and XP Home at home? I think Home only works with one CPU...

Reply to jtt283
psyno   03-06-2006 at 08:03:14 PM
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Quote :

What version of Windows do you have at home? I wonder if your using home edition and it can't see the two cores ..... just a thought ..

I know Professional Edition will see both cores with no problem.

Oh... I've never really used Home Edition and didn't realize this was the case...

Quote :

Also absent is Symmetric multiprocessing, the ability to divide work between multiple processors (CPUs) — Windows XP Professional supports up to two CPUs, while the Home Edition supports only one. Windows XP Home Edition does however support the Hyper-threading functionality present on some Intel microprocessors. Although it has been reported to work on some dual-core microprocessors available from both AMD and Intel, Microsoft has recommended upgrading to Professional Edition for improved stability and compatibility.

s.v. Windows XP

Good to know.

Reply to psyno
Rustol3um   03-06-2006 at 08:05:08 PM
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If dual core only works with XP pro then I would like to add "that suxors". that is all......

Reply to Rustol3um
crazypyro   03-06-2006 at 08:06:12 PM
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also unless your running a Pentium D your P4 isn't a dual-core. Hyperthreading creates a mythalogical dual-core that works and acts like one, but isn't. If that makes sense or if you already knew that then sorry i wasted your time. Its 3pm, i'm at work and very bored.

have a nice day

Reply to crazypyro
dvdpiddy   03-06-2006 at 08:07:35 PM
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wow beaten to the punch agian :cry:

Reply to dvdpiddy
velocci   03-06-2006 at 08:09:44 PM
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i'm running windows XP Pro with SP2 at work and at home i'm running winXP Pro with SP1. the one at work is a legal copy.

Reply to velocci
Grimmy   03-06-2006 at 08:11:25 PM
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SP2 should add more support for dual core.

Since I don't have dual core, but may upgrade in the future, thought I'd try to dig around.

Dual Core Support - MS - XP

Home Edition is included. Might have to do registry modifcations for it to work - show up properly.

Quote :

APPLIES TO
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition
• Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, when used with:
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Microsoft Windows XP Professional
• Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005

Reply to Grimmy
Mind_Rebuilding   03-06-2006 at 08:11:34 PM
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Quote :

hi there, i'm at work right now using a machine with a Pentium 4 with hyperthreading. device manager shows it has 2 CPUs and when i go to
taskmanger->processes and right click on a task, it gives me the "set affinity" option where I can choose which cpu is used to run the process.
But at home I have an X2 3800 cpu and device manager shows only one cpu and there is no "set affinity" option in task manager. my bios sees my cpu properly and says it has 2 cores. why does device manager only show 1 CPU? is this the same for all X2 processors?


you need a cpu driver from amd?

Reply to Mind_Rebuilding
Strangestranger   03-06-2006 at 08:28:36 PM
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the other guy is right about the driver. there is one other thing that most people forget and that is to set windows up to use multi cores.

go into the control panel and select system then the hardware tab then the device manager then click on computer, it should say ACPI multiprocessor pc. if it does then dig out your driver cd that came with your mobo and install the amd driver or go to the mobo manufacturer website and download the right one.

Reply to Strangestranger
velocci   03-06-2006 at 08:32:29 PM
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hi there, if I disabled ACPI in the bios, will that also prevent it from having acpi multiprocessor pc in device manager?

Quote :

the other guy is right about the driver. there is one other thing that most people forget and that is to set windows up to use multi cores.

go into the control panel and select system then the hardware tab then the device manager then click on computer, it should say ACPI multiprocessor pc. if it does then dig out your driver cd that came with your mobo and install the amd driver or go to the mobo manufacturer website and download the right one.

Reply to velocci
hawkeye22   03-06-2006 at 08:40:46 PM
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Disabling ACPI in the bios is not recommended. Anyhow, XP is probably running the incorrect HAL - hardware abstraction layer. I'm not sure how successful you'll be trying to change HAL's now that XP is installed. Turning ACPI in the bios and reinstalling XP will definately fix it.

Reply to hawkeye22
ivoryjohn   03-06-2006 at 08:44:50 PM
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xp home works fine with dual cores, and task manager shows two cores.

As far as I know, the amd drivers have more to do with cool n quiet than how the dual cores operate.

I am not on my dual atm, and this cpu is only a single, but I think I recall an option in task manager to show both cores or only show a single overall cpu usage. You might want to check that.

I have never played with afinity and can't comment on that.

BTW, XP home works with dual cores, but I think it's restricted to a single cpu. I think the same restrictions existed for W2K home vs. W2K pro.

Reply to ivoryjohn
ivoryjohn   03-06-2006 at 08:47:16 PM
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Quote :

Disabling ACPI in the bios is not recommended. Anyhow, XP is probably running the incorrect HAL - hardware abstraction layer. I'm not sure how successful you'll be trying to change HAL's now that XP is installed. Turning ACPI in the bios and reinstalling XP will definately fix it.



Reinstalling XP means a NEW xp directory at the very least. Installing it over an existing install will probably not fix the problem. Is it possible that the motherboard was upgraded, and the existing XP install was simply booted up without doing a fresh reload?

Reply to ivoryjohn
hawkeye22   03-06-2006 at 08:58:43 PM
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Quote :

Disabling ACPI in the bios is not recommended. Anyhow, XP is probably running the incorrect HAL - hardware abstraction layer. I'm not sure how successful you'll be trying to change HAL's now that XP is installed. Turning ACPI in the bios and reinstalling XP will definately fix it.



Reinstalling XP means a NEW xp directory at the very least. Installing it over an existing install will probably not fix the problem. Is it possible that the motherboard was upgraded, and the existing XP install was simply booted up without doing a fresh reload?

/me bad... I should have said a "clean" install will fix it as long as ACPI is on in the bios. Velocci didn't say if this was a new system or not. My first thought was he did a CPU replacement or bios update (that supports dual core), but when he mentioned having ACPI turned off in the bios I assumed this was a clean install. The device manager should read as "ACPI Multiprocessor PC". If it doesn't say "multiprocessor" there is nothing he can change in the task manager to make it show two cpu's or set affinity.

Reply to hawkeye22
Strangestranger   03-06-2006 at 09:00:41 PM
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ah ivory john is correct. go into task manger then into performance. in the view tab check it is displaying a history graph for each cpu and not one for all.

oh and i never meant for anyone to daisble anything in BIOS. i only meant for the person to check that windows was set-up for a multiple processors.

Reply to Strangestranger
velocci   03-06-2006 at 09:03:16 PM
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i'll check that when i get home. the bios does say that there are two cores. Tonight i will install a legal copy of winXP Pro and apply SP2 and enable ACPI in the bios and see what happens. wish me luck.

Quote :

ah ivory john is correct. go into task manger then into performance. in the view tab check it is displaying a history graph for each cpu and not one for all.

oh and i never meant for anyone to daisble anything in BIOS. i only meant for the person to check that windows was set-up for a multiple processors.

Reply to velocci
siggsy   03-07-2006 at 11:26:01 AM
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Good luck

I have XP home and the same processor as you. I have sp2 and I have installed the amd driver for dual cores.

I have acpi disabled in the bios and my windows sees 2 processors and I can set the affinity.

The only thing I can't do is answer your question. I'm just confused at the other replies, sorry.

Reply to siggsy
velocci   03-07-2006 at 03:01:58 PM
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ok here is what i did last night: i disabled acpi in the bios, reinstalled a legal copy of winXP pro with SP1, enabled acpi in the bios, did all the windows updates and installed SP2 and did more updates. now my OS is all upto date. i installed the latest nvidia chipset drivers from their website (version 6.85 that i got from http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforc [...] x16_6.85). right now device manager shows 2 CPUs and under computer it has "advanced configuration and power interface (acpi) pc". however in task manager, it only shows one cpu, there is no affinity option when i right click on a task. why is task manager showing only one cpu and no affinity option?

Reply to velocci
Covered_in_bees   03-07-2006 at 03:11:22 PM
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I had the same problem on the same board, and this was due to the fact that I had to disable ACPI during winxp install.

As Hawkeye22 stated, it's due to an incorrect HAL.

This can be fixed without reinstalling winxp. Check this article for details on how to change the HAL during boot of winxp.

Applying the changes as detailed in the above article basically provides a selection screen in dos during the winxp boot, allowing you to select the required HAL.

On this selection screen, you need to select the option with ACPI + APIC for this mobo (A8N32-SLi Deluxe). Winxp will reboot with the correct HAL, overwriting the hal.dll file with the one selected (and updating whatever else in registry). The system should then automatically install the required drivers for your X2 multi-processor. Once this is done, the system will reboot. You can select the standard 'Windows XP Professional' boot option this time, as the hal.dll file has been replaced and is correct. You can later remove the additional entries you added in the boot.ini file.

hth

Reply to Covered_in_bees
Strangestranger   03-07-2006 at 04:37:29 PM
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velocci did you do as ivoryjohn suggested and change the task manager to show an individual history chart for each core?

Reply to Strangestranger
velocci   03-07-2006 at 05:13:19 PM
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yes i checked it and that option was greyed out. i don't remember exactly what it said, but there was only one option and it was greyed out.
i'll check it tonight and let you know.

Quote :

velocci did you do as ivoryjohn suggested and change the task manager to show an individual history chart for each core?

Reply to velocci
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