Dual core tester

  • Thread starter Thread starter GT
  • Start date Start date
G

GT

Is there a little utility that can test the number of processor cores active
in a machine? I have upgraded from single core Athlon to Core 2 Duo. I have
kept the same Windows XP installation and replaced a few drivers and all
'seems' to be working OK, except I suspect only 1 core is being used:

Whilst the Device Manager shows both cores in the Processors section, the
task manager shows only 1 core. CPU-z reports the correct processor on the
CPU tab, but the dropdown at the bottom is greyed out (as if there is only 1
core available). This seems to confirm what task manager reports. Perhaps
this is a simple XP problem, but I don't know if some system command is
reporting the wrong core information to these pieces of software, or if
windows really is only using 1 core!

Many moons ago I used to run a PII with 2 processors on the board and I
recall the ACPI driver being different from normal (its name had something
about multi-core), so do I perhaps need to change this? How? I have tried
updating the driver for that and nothing changes.

Incidentally, the windows upgrade couldn't have gone better - switched on
with the new hardware and gave it the motherboard CD when it spotted some
new devices and that was it!
 
Is there a little utility that can test the number of processor cores active
in a machine? I have upgraded from single core Athlon to Core 2 Duo. I have
kept the same Windows XP installation and replaced a few drivers and all
'seems' to be working OK, except I suspect only 1 core is being used:

Whilst the Device Manager shows both cores in the Processors section, the
task manager shows only 1 core. CPU-z reports the correct processor on the
CPU tab, but the dropdown at the bottom is greyed out (as if there is only 1
core available). This seems to confirm what task manager reports. Perhaps
this is a simple XP problem, but I don't know if some system command is
reporting the wrong core information to these pieces of software, or if
windows really is only using 1 core!

Many moons ago I used to run a PII with 2 processors on the board and I
recall the ACPI driver being different from normal (its name had something
about multi-core), so do I perhaps need to change this? How? I have tried
updating the driver for that and nothing changes.

Incidentally, the windows upgrade couldn't have gone better - switched on
with the new hardware and gave it the motherboard CD when it spotted some
new devices and that was it!
Click to expand...

You will have to do a repair install to enable the second core.
Sorry.
 
GT said:
Is there a little utility that can test the number of processor cores active
in a machine? I have upgraded from single core Athlon to Core 2 Duo. I have
kept the same Windows XP installation and replaced a few drivers and all
'seems' to be working OK, except I suspect only 1 core is being used:

Whilst the Device Manager shows both cores in the Processors section, the
task manager shows only 1 core. CPU-z reports the correct processor on the
CPU tab, but the dropdown at the bottom is greyed out (as if there is only 1
core available). This seems to confirm what task manager reports. Perhaps
this is a simple XP problem, but I don't know if some system command is
reporting the wrong core information to these pieces of software, or if
windows really is only using 1 core!

Many moons ago I used to run a PII with 2 processors on the board and I
recall the ACPI driver being different from normal (its name had something
about multi-core), so do I perhaps need to change this? How? I have tried
updating the driver for that and nothing changes.

Incidentally, the windows upgrade couldn't have gone better - switched on
with the new hardware and gave it the motherboard CD when it spotted some
new devices and that was it!
Click to expand...

Some background here:

"HAL options after Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 Setup"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309283/en-us

Paul
 
@@@"do a repair install to enable the second core."@@

Good to know...but will that still apply if the old CPU was a P4 with
hypertheading ?
which presents itself as if 2 core ??
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(") mouse
 
@@@"do a repair install to enable the second core."@@

Good to know...but will that still apply if the old CPU was a P4 with
hypertheading ?
which presents itself as if 2 core ??
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(") mouse
Click to expand...

I think that would be OK. But a frequent issue with motherboard
changes is the "inacessible boot device" Blue screen that often
occurs. The cure for that is also a repair install.
 
I have upgraded from single core Athlon to Core 2 Duo. I have
You will have to do a repair install to enable the second core.
Click to expand...

I did a repair install last night, but it has completely broken the XP
installation! It took about 10 minutes to boot into safe mode and a normal
boot wouldn't work at all - as soon as the windows logo appears during boot,
the first disk access caused the boot to freeze. I have done a Format c: and
re-installed everything, but why do you think a the repair would break an
otherwise OK installation?
 
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