Halp! My Q6600 only uses one core!

[GtF]

Hello there,

About 2 months ago I attempted building my very first computer from scratch and to be honest I thought it all went pretty well. All the components were delivered and I had it up and running by the end of the day enjoying a rather spiffy game of Crysis! And it was all good. Until today.

From just reading around on forums and blogs and whatnot I found out that my Quad core Q6600 wasn't actually working properly and it was only ever using 1 core. All the bios blurb at start up says there's 4 recognised cpus, and I've made sure they're all enabled as well in the system setup, but XP nor any of my applications seem to see them. Which is quite annoying.

I just ran CPUZ and here's a link (HERE) to all the details and such.

I tried doing a bootcfg /rebuild using the XP cd after reading about a similar problem here but that hasn't done a thing. The only thing I haven't tried yet is to update my BIOS because I hear if it goes wrong it can kill my computer, plus it's a pretty recent version so it should be ok, Shirley?

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions on what might be wrong and how to fix it I'd be really greatful.

 

[arges86]

most bios need to updated, as new versions come out for new architecture. If you have a Gigabyte mobo, then the program @Bios that comes w/ it is able to update the bios through windows.
I assume other manufactures have similar offerings.
Its though to know your problem w/o knowing your system configuration.

 

[GtF]

Well I've spent ages looking all over for a bios update for my motherboard (EVGA nForce 750i FTW) but all I've come up with is a load of these bios scanning programs that you have to buy before it'll download the required updates :/

Apologies for my lack of knowledge about these things but could you tell me what details of my system configuration you would need?

 

[dagger]

Well I've spent ages looking all over for a bios update for my motherboard (EVGA nForce 750i FTW) but all I've come up with is a load of these bios scanning programs that you have to buy before it'll download the required updates :/

Apologies for my lack of knowledge about these things but could you tell me what details of my system configuration you would need?

To to manufacturer's website. They usually have a free bios updating utility. Or you can update manually. Although that can be even riskier than in Windows if you don't know what you're doing.

That cpuz link shows you have a 650i motherboard, not 750i. 650i does not support quads natively, and have trouble running them.

 

[GhislainG]

If I read the original post correctly, the BIOS sees all 4 cores, but Windows XP doesn't. Was XP reinstalled from scratch? What's displayed under Device Manager, Computer?

 

[GtF]

That cpuz link shows you have a 650i motherboard, not 750i. 650i does not support quads natively, and have trouble running them.

Well that's strange, my motherboard is definately a 750i, I'm even looking at the box it came in and it's definately a 750i!

Could I have perhaps of installed 650i drivers by mistake at some point?

 

[GtF]

If I read the original post correctly, the BIOS sees all 4 cores, but Windows XP doesn't. Was XP reinstalled from scratch? What's displayed under Device Manager, Computer?

Windows was indeed installed from scratch, although I did try installing Vista beforehand, found most of programs didn't work, reformatted and installed XP.

Under the Computer heading in the Device Manager it reads: "Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC"

 

[GhislainG]

On my XP systems, it reads "ACPI Multiprocessor PC". Is your BIOS configured correctly, i.e., is there a setting that could disable multiple cores? Have you tried updating the Windows drivers? Right-click "Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC" and see if it will load the correct HAL drivers.

 

[GtF]

On my XP systems, it reads "ACPI Multiprocessor PC". Is your BIOS configured correctly, i.e., is there a setting that could disable multiple cores? Have you tried updating the Windows drivers? Right-click "Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC" and see if it will load the correct HAL drivers.

I've just updated the BIOS and gone through all the settings to make sure nothing could be disabling them. In the Device Manager now under 'Processors' it's now showing all 4 processors which is promising as that's never happened before. Unfortunately CPUZ still doesn't see them nor does the Task Manager.

I also tried what you suggested by right clicking on the "(ACPI) PC" but I can't find any option to load HAL drivers, whatever they are. There's also no available updates to it which seems unlikely since the current driver is dated back to 2001!

 

[Gradis]

bios setting see

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=586059&mpage=1&key=&#586059

and

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=592773&mpage=1&key=&#596894

 

[GtF]

bios setting see

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=586059&mpage=1&key=&#586059

and

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=592773&mpage=1&key=&#596894

Tried these BIOS settings and it still ain't working

Looks like my last hope is to reinstall windows... will I be able to do it with out formatting my hard drive by any chance?

Or perhaps if I try installing Vista aswell to see if all 4 cores work on that?

 

[GhislainG]

The EVGA nForce 750i SLI FTW BIOS has a setting where cores can be individually enabled or disabled. Are all cores enabled in the BIOS? If Device Manager sees all cores, then try searching for hardware modifications. If that doesn't work, then contact EVGA support or visit their support site to see if they provide a solution.

 

[xnem3s1sx]

Sounds like you may have installed the wrong drivers, reinstall the drivers, the 750i chip set should work with that, I'm running the same chip set, with a Q6600 as well. Also, use a different install disk for windows, I've had some really weird stuff from scratched windows disks. If none of that works, you should try out Vista.

 

[GtF]

Fix'd it now!

It was because during the first installation of XP it didn't recognise my system as being a multiprocessor one or something. That's why in the Device Manager under computer it wasn't saying "ACPI Multiprocessor PC."

After reading a few forum posts I found this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299340

I then repaired my XP installation making sure setup used the multiprocessor ACPI thingy and now everything is all rather UBER spiffy!

Thanks for everyones help!