WinXP - unable to set affinity with Core 2 Duo E8400

[tarrenam]

I've been having trouble with a game I just bought, and the readme suggested limiting the game to run on a single core. So, as instructed I went to the Task Manager to try to set the affinity of the process to only one core, however the Set Affinity option isn't showing up. I can see both cores in the Device Manager under Processors. I Googled a bit, and I hit upon TaskAssign.exe on this very site. I loaded that up, and it can only see 'CPU 0', no more. Does this mean that Windows is for some reason not using my second core? Does anyone have any idea how I could get it to do so, if this is the case?

Specs:

E8400 Core 2 Duo 3.0 GHz
Asus P5K-E
3x1GB DDR2 1066
Nvidia 8800GTX 768MB


All help appreciated

 

[roadrunner197069]

you set the affinity on the processes tab by right clicking the exe you want to set.

you should see two graphs on the performance tab if the cpu is running 2 cores.

 

[tarrenam]

Indeed, I know that's how I'm supposed to do it, but the option simply isn't there when I right-click on the process.

I can only see one graph in the performance tab, so it would seem that Windows is only using one of the cores. So, how do I get it to use the other one as well?

 

[will_chellam]

Im not sure what your problem is but I can tell you for a fact that core affinity isnt the problem with your game.....

 

[roadrunner197069]

Well I would say if better check your temps and see if its possible you burned your e8400 or you are throttleing due to temps.

realtemp or coretemp.

Also It is possible you cmos needs reset if you upgraded from a different CPU, and it is possible if you have the E0 stepping 8400 you need a bios update.

But ya the affinity isnt the proble, the proble is your cpu isnt running right.

 

[tarrenam]

Thanks for your replies, chaps, though I've managed to sort out the problem with the processor. It turned out that the Windows installation had used the wrong HAL, so it wasn't running as an ACPI multiprocessor PC. I've done a repair installation of XP and it now shows up.

As people have pointed out, affinities can't have been the problem with the game, since XP was only using one core anyway, so I'll have to see what I can do to fix that, but at least now I'm actually using both the cores I bought!