E6300 only showing one core

[johnnybiggles]

Ok... I'm trying to upgrade my system to be able to play HD movies (HD-DVD/Blu-Ray). I origially had a P4 3GHz but the systems test said I need better CPU and according to specs and reviews, a Core 2 Duo E6300 should be fine to use for running HD stuff. So, I bought one, took out the old processor and installed the E6300 and to my surprise, my system did not explode and kill everyone on my block, nor did it electrocute me. My PC started up fine the first time (which almost never happens when I alter it), the system properties even showed the correct processor and speed. I tried to run the program to start the HD stuff, but 1- it did not play a Blu-Ray disc, and 2- It did play the HD-DVD disk but was very choppy (Using Nero 8/Showtime 4 - PowerDVD kept giving installation issues which I'm STILL waiting for support on-- CYBERLINK ONLINE SUPPORT SUCKS - 3 weeks now, 3 different issues) . (It didn't play either with the old processor) So i opened the performance tab in Task manager and low & behold, the damn thing is running steady at about 96-100%. I did manage to overclock the CPU speed only to about 1.9 (changed speed from 266MHz to 275MHz) which barely made a difference, but that was it. I installed CPU-Z to check the stats further, but at the bottom it only shows 1 core and 1 thread.... also in the performance tab there is only 1 graph rather than the 2 i believe it should show with a Core 2 Duo. The system specs and screenshots are below. Can someone help me out here? Why is it running so slow? It looks to only be utilizing one core... how can i get this to run properly?

SYTEM:

Motherboard: Asrock 4CoreDX90-VSTA (BIOS Version 1.4 - 7/2007)
CPU: Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz 2MB (slightly overclocked only by increasing Freq. from 266 to 275)
RAM: 1GB PC3200 DDR
OS:Windows XP Pro w/SP2
Drive: LG Blu-ray/HD-DVD ROM
CPU-Z: Version 1.41

 

[Grimmy]

whelp... I kinda supect that your XP is perhaps using the wrong HAL (Hardware Abstract Layer) even though it says ACPI Multiprocessor.

Only advice I can give, is:

1.) Backup your stuff
2.) Make sure you have the latest bios
3.) Make sure ACPI Management is enabled in the bios
4.) Reinstall a fresh copy of XP Pro

Other then that I just don't want to imagine (other then explain) the headaches from doing a repair from the install disk, or doing registry hacks to fix it.

Heh... GL on that. Perhaps someone has an easier solution.

 

[The_OGS]

That's harsh... Windows appears to see multi-core CPU (but not really...?)
Yes, could be OS problem. I would first uninstall the CPU from device manager, then reboot.
Of course johnnybiggles, your new CPU is a large change for your BIOS and will have all kinds of new questions for you in there.
Go back into your BIOS and poke around, good luck.
Oh well, a good new fresh Windows is always a nice thing I s'pose (even if a bit harsh, oh well... it's the only way to be sure)
Regards

 

[johnnybiggles]

Can you reinstall Windows XP by overwriting the copy now? (Ex: Run WinXP CD from windows and reinstall from that- i'm trying hard to avoid formatting and starting from scratch if at all possible) [I remember with Win98 you could and programs would still be in tact.] I have so many programs & settings that would be a royal pain to reinstall and would take forever.

 

[Grimmy]

I don't think the XP setup will allow you to do that. It would want to install a fresh copy on a new formated partition on the disk. Your basically opening another can of worms it trying to copy over system files.

The only other option you have is to use the setups repair disk or recovery part. Thing is, if you have the XP Pro setup disk but it is not SP2, you will run into another problem. It's going to be a royal pain no matter how you look at it.

One thing that does stick in my mind... your old P4 3ghz, did it have HT (HyperThreading)? If it did, it should have shown 2 cores as well, since HT fools the OS thinking theres another CPU. So that would explain why it still shows ACPI multiprocessor PC, and should have worked correctly.

Edit:

Well.. I looked at your manual, seems as though there really isn't an option for ACPI alone as far as enabling or disabling. It does have ACPI HPET, which should be enabled if Vista is used. I'm assuming your old P4 did have HT since it was 775 socket P4.

So the only questions I have are:

1.) Can you remember if it showed 2 cores before when your old P4 was installed?
2.) Did you reset your bios, after you put the new CPU in?
3.) Did XP say found new hardware when you changed your CPU?
4.) Was XP a fresh install for the MB/CPU combo, or was XP already installed on a HD and you simply just put it on the system?

 

[jitpublisher]

You can do a repair install of XP.
Insert the disk, when prompted choose "new install"
Dont choose the repair console or try to repair the installation at this point, choose new install and wait for it to find your old installation and then ask you if you want to repair it.
Windows will find that you have a previous version of XP and ask if you want to repair it, now choose repair, and basically XP will completely run through the install-but will leave all your programs intact.

Howver, I would try as already suggested and delete or remove the processor from your hardware configuration, then reboot and let it reinstall, see if that fixes it.

 

[johnnybiggles]

So the only questions I have are:

1.) Can you remember if it showed 2 cores before when your old P4 was installed?
2.) Did you reset your bios, after you put the new CPU in?
3.) Did XP say found new hardware when you changed your CPU?
4.) Was XP a fresh install for the MB/CPU combo, or was XP already installed on a HD and you simply just put it on the system?

1) I don't think it ever showed 2 cores (the one i had before is Intel SL9KG). Well, at least in Performance because I didn't install CPU-Z until i got this processor.
2) I did reset the BIOS in trying to overclock a little bit. I had set it to like 285 or 290 (from 266) and it didn't start up right so I took out the CMOS battery and put it right back and rebooted and checked to see if reset which it did and started fine after that.
3)I don't think it showed the found new hardware, or , maybe it did pop up for a sec but I was so excited that it started normally that maybe I missed it... but i'm 90% sure it didn't. I don't recall seeing the driver install thing when u add new hardware either.
4) All I did was unplug everything, open the case, took out the old processor, put some thermal grease on the new one, popped it in, put the heatsink & fan on, closed it up, plugged everything back in, and powered it up. It started normally and the system property check showed what you see above, only at 1.86GHz at first rather than what you see in the pic above. XP was already in place.

Also, I tried to remove the processor from tthe "Processor" section in the Device Manager but I could only click one of the 2 at a time. I clicked the first one and clicked uninstall, and it prompted me to reboot which I didn't since i wanted to click the other to do the same and THEN reboot, which I then did, manually after clicking no for rebooting automatically, and the two listed still remained anyway. When it did reboot, nothing changed.

What sucks is that I'm in school and have a buncha programs I need and am using and i know itz gonna take forever to reinstall everything from scratch, and I want to get a bigger hard drive and partition differently anyway but not yet. I still have 5 weeks of school left.... CRAP. I thought for a sec this would be a 1, 2, 3 process... as I said earlier that almost never happens for me!! *kicks rocks*

Anymore assistance?

 

[Grimmy]

The #4 question.

I ment, when you had your MB/P4 3ghz combo, did you do a fresh install when you got it? Or was this HD from another system?

 

[Zorg]

I didn't read this but it might help you. ARTICLE: HAL Upgrade -- Uniprocessor to Multiprocessor HAL Upgrade

Edit: I changed the link, the other one was complete crap.

 

[johnnybiggles]

I didn't read this but it might help you. ARTICLE: HAL Upgrade -- Uniprocessor to Multiprocessor HAL Upgrade

Edit: I changed the link, the other one was complete crap.

You are my hero

Thanks.

IT WORKED!!


HOWEVER, i have a new issue, not a major one but it could become one or at least an annoyance...

My drives got switched around... My first HDD was split to C and D and my other one was just F... now, D is E and F is D and my CD drive (which was E) is now F. How can I get it back to the way it was?

I'm still having issues playing Blu-ray but the HD-DVD worked. I gotta find out whatz up with Blu-ray

 

[PCD]

You are my hero

Thanks.

IT WORKED!!


HOWEVER, i have a new issue, not a major one but it could become one or at least an annoyance...

My drives got switched around... My first HDD was split to C and D and my other one was just F... now, D is E and F is D and my CD drive (which was E) is now F. How can I get it back to the way it was?

I'm still having issues playing Blu-ray but the HD-DVD worked. I gotta find out whatz up with Blu-ray

You can change driverletters in the Disk management tool in Computer Management. Simply rightclick a partition and select "Change driveletter or path"

http://www.syschat.com/images/diskmanagement.jpg

 

[PCD]

Somehow double posted, sorry

 

[Zorg]

Glad it worked.

 

[mikezachlowe2004]

I had this problem as well with a 4 core processor.

I did not have to reinstall windows or do a system restore.

Just before I had this problem, in the system monitor it showed that half of the ram installed in my system was reserved for hardware. The way that I fixed this problem was that I went to start menu and typed in "system config". Clicked on system configuration. Once the window opens up went to the "boot" tab. Click on advanced options. At the top of the window there is a box to check for "number of processors" and "maximum memory". I checked both of these boxes, pressed okay, then apply, then restarted the computer. Once the computer booted back up the memory problem was fixed but then in AMD Overdrive and system monitor, it was only showing the processor with one core. I went back into the system configuration and unchecked the boxes for "number of processors" and "maximum memory" and then restarted my computer. Once the pc restarted, problem solved with both memory and cpu.

I hope this helps for anyone who reads it.