Crashing only when using dual CPUs (W2K)

  • Thread starter Thread starter ToasterKing
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ToasterKing

I've installed Windows 2000 SP2 on an HP Vectra XU 5/90c with dual 133
MHz Pentium-1 processors and 112 MB of RAM. It is running on a SCSI-2
drive using the built-in AMD PCscsi BIOS and controller. The graphics
controller is a Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 PCI card using the S3 Virge
chipset.

My problem is that at seemingly random intervals, the computer will
lock up. When it does lock up, the PS/2 keyboard and PS/2 mouse stop
working and the video stops updating, but disk activity continues and
the OS seems to complete whatever task it was working on. The lockups
occur sometimes during boot-up, and sometimes after several hours of
use. Here's the kicker though -- the lockups only occur when using 2
processors. I'm currently using the MPS Multiprocessor HAL in Windows
2000. If I switch to the MPS Uniprocessor HAL, the crashes vanish.

To troubleshoot, I've tried:
- Swapping in a newer and higher-wattage power supply;
- Switching CPUs with other known working CPUs of the same type;
- Made sure both CPUs are of same stepping #;
- Installing Windows 2000 SP2 on an IDE drive instead;
- Removing all ISA cards in case of a mis(un)reported IRQ conflict;
- Freeing up all IRQs in BIOS;
- Removing other drives and peripherals

Needless to say, none of those worked, or I wouldn't be posting now.
Does anyone have any clue as to what could be causing my trouble?

Thanks,
TK
 
ToasterKing said:
I've installed Windows 2000 SP2 on an HP Vectra XU 5/90c with dual 133
MHz Pentium-1 processors and 112 MB of RAM. It is running on a SCSI-2
drive using the built-in AMD PCscsi BIOS and controller. The graphics
controller is a Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 PCI card using the S3 Virge
chipset.

My problem is that at seemingly random intervals, the computer will
lock up. When it does lock up, the PS/2 keyboard and PS/2 mouse stop
working and the video stops updating, but disk activity continues and
the OS seems to complete whatever task it was working on. The lockups
occur sometimes during boot-up, and sometimes after several hours of
use. Here's the kicker though -- the lockups only occur when using 2
processors. I'm currently using the MPS Multiprocessor HAL in Windows
2000. If I switch to the MPS Uniprocessor HAL, the crashes vanish.

To troubleshoot, I've tried:
- Swapping in a newer and higher-wattage power supply;
- Switching CPUs with other known working CPUs of the same type;
- Made sure both CPUs are of same stepping #;
- Installing Windows 2000 SP2 on an IDE drive instead;
- Removing all ISA cards in case of a mis(un)reported IRQ conflict;
- Freeing up all IRQs in BIOS;
- Removing other drives and peripherals

Needless to say, none of those worked, or I wouldn't be posting now.
Does anyone have any clue as to what could be causing my trouble?

Thanks,
TK
Click to expand...

Your hardware's too old.

Seriously. I'm not trying to be a smart-ass.
The SMP implementation probably is lacking.

If you *really* need to run this box with both
processors, consider "downgrading" to NT4.
 
A dual P133 with 112MB is surely on the low end of the resources it takes to run
Windows 2000. Add the AMD PCscsi controller, now long unsupported and certainly
old chips to support multi-processors, and one has a recipe for a failure prone
dual processor system. Finally, there were not a lot of successful Pentium
multi-processor systems. With the Pentium Pro, Intel got enough of the kinks
worked out to make it viable.

Honestly, if you want to run a multi-processor Windows 2000 system, you're
better off with a whole different hardware platofrm. There are plenty of more
modern motherboards available. Even something as old as a dual Pentium Pro
would probably run better... Ben Myers
 
ToasterKing said:
I've installed Windows 2000 SP2 on an HP Vectra XU 5/90c with dual 133
MHz Pentium-1 processors and 112 MB of RAM. It is running on a SCSI-2
drive using the built-in AMD PCscsi BIOS and controller. The graphics
controller is a Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 PCI card using the S3 Virge
chipset.

My problem is that at seemingly random intervals, the computer will
lock up. When it does lock up, the PS/2 keyboard and PS/2 mouse stop
working and the video stops updating, but disk activity continues and
the OS seems to complete whatever task it was working on. The lockups
occur sometimes during boot-up, and sometimes after several hours of
use. Here's the kicker though -- the lockups only occur when using 2
processors. I'm currently using the MPS Multiprocessor HAL in Windows
2000. If I switch to the MPS Uniprocessor HAL, the crashes vanish.
Click to expand...

I would venture that the lock-ups might be due, in part, to insufficient
memory. All NT operating systems are real memory hogs. My recommended bare
minimum has always been 128MB with a preferred minimum of 256MB. (Yeah, I
know - we used to run servers with less memory than that.)

Why it would hang when using the multiprocessor HAL is a bit of a head
scratcher. Is there a possibility the multiprocessor HAL was corrupted or
installed improperly?

Are you receiving any error messages or a BSOD? Or is it just a temporary
hang that eventually comes back?

Try to see if you can locate the active process at the time of the hang.
Bring up Task Manager, go to the Processes tab and click the CPU column to
sort by CPU usage - keep half an eye on the display to see if the same
process seems to be on or near the top when the hangs occur.
 
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