my Core 2 Quad Q9300 showing only ONE CORE :(((??? plz HELP!!!

[philanthropic1989]

Hi..
I made a new rig like 1 and half months ago

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.5 GHz 6 MB L2 Cache 1333 MHz FSB
EVGA 750i FTW Motherboard
EVGA 9800 GTX+ Graphics card
PC Power & Cooling 750W Quad Silencer Power Supply
Corsair XMS2 4 GB DDR2 Dual Channel Memory

Microsoft Windows XP 32 bit

I've used softwares like everest ultimate edition, cpu-z, HWMonitor before too and they all showed 4 cores working perfectly...
but today i checked it just by the way... and it showed only ONE CORE!!! !!! i was almost gonna cry!!! i spent quite some money on this stuff... i checked lots of different bios settings.... but no use..

EVEREST ultimate edition shows 4 cores but they all have the same temperature reading meaning that its actually a single core. Coz before, it was like 3 cores at 47 or 45 degrees celcius and one at 35 degrees celcius under idle conditions.

PLZ PLLZZ PLZZZ help me out.. i'm not a hardware or software expert guy.. i need you guys to help me out of this problem.. i'm very worried about my rig ((( and the money i spent on it.

 

[formulav8]

If the cores are definitely enabled in the bios, it sounds like Windows might be using the AcpiUniProcessor or whatever driver under the "Computer" setting in Device Manager. Change the driver and try to set it to the AcpiMultprocessorSystem. Reboot the computer if you change the driver.

Otherwise if Windows already has MultiProcessor selected then I'm not sure what the problem might be.


Hopefully you understand what I said.



Jason

 

[Zap]

Bring up Windows Task Manager and click on the Performance tab. Look at the CPU Usage History and see how many cores Windows gives you.

 

[philanthropic1989]

thanks jason.. i guess u're quite close to the actual problem...

but when i go to device manager and under the computer drop down, it shows as Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC.... and when i try to update the driver.. the only two options availble are this one and Standard PC....
the ACPI multiprocessor pc option is not available..

any ideas about how this problem can be solved?

 

[Keysplayr]

Do a Windows repair. I've never seen this problem before, but if you do not have the ACPI multiprocessor PC option in Device manager, it's most likely not detecting more than one core at all, OR, there is a genuine prob with the OS.

One way to tell for sure. Do you have an extra/old hard drive? If so, try this out.

With the computer off, disconnect your current hard drive(s) power and data cables.
Connect an old drive to power and data.
Clear your motherboards CMOS (refer to your manual)
And while you're in there, it couldn't hurt to reseat your CPU.
Boot up to your Windows installation CD and install a fresh copy of Windows XP.

Load all the proper drivers for your motherboard from the CD it shipped with.

Check Task Manager and Device Manager for the results.

If it shows only one core, I think it might be a motherboard problem (not the CPU). You rarely, if ever hear of a CPU going bad unless severely overclocked or overvolted/undercooled.

 

[dbcooper1]

You could boot from a Linux live CD and check what it sees. You can do this without installing anything or taking anything apart.

 

[ghost recon88]

Have you tried doing a clean windows install? Always recommended when you swap motherboards and/or processors.

 

[philanthropic1989]

Originally posted by: Keysplayr
Do a Windows repair. I've never seen this problem before, but if you do not have the ACPI multiprocessor PC option in Device manager, it's most likely not detecting more than one core at all, OR, there is a genuine prob with the OS.

One way to tell for sure. Do you have an extra/old hard drive? If so, try this out.

With the computer off, disconnect your current hard drive(s) power and data cables.
Connect an old drive to power and data.
Clear your motherboards CMOS (refer to your manual)
And while you're in there, it couldn't hurt to reseat your CPU.
Boot up to your Windows installation CD and install a fresh copy of Windows XP.

Load all the proper drivers for your motherboard from the CD it shipped with.

Check Task Manager and Device Manager for the results.

If it shows only one core, I think it might be a motherboard problem (not the CPU). You rarely, if ever hear of a CPU going bad unless severely overclocked or overvolted/undercooled.

Hey kyesplayr... u know.. so far u and i've come to the same conclusion... i was also thinking about that changing the harddrive could fix it...
as for that i've thought about formatting the harddrive CLEAN.. coz it doesn't contain any critical data.. coz i just made the rig a like 1 and half months ago and only for gaming...
moreover... u know what happens when i try to reinstall the windows xp on the current status of my pc?.. i dont even get the different HAL options when i press F5 during the installation.. all i get are 2 options saying : Standard PC with C-Step i486... and Other...
i'm actually incrediebly dumbfounded at that....
so i think it could even be a bios issue.. i've updated the bios... but still the issue remains.

lemme tell u one thing that i think is the root cause of all thats happened...
a few days ago, my monitor stopped working.. so i got it fixed after 4 or 5 days (coz i'm a university guy and am busy)... then i connected it back to the computer.. it booted up properly the first time i guess.. but the second time.. it HANGED while booting..with the NUMLOCK, CAPS LOCK and SCROLL LOCK lights blinking wildly together.. it hanged like this several times... due to that i went into the bios and loaded the failsafe defaults... since then.. its stopped seeing my 4 cores in windows...
as for that i also know why that is so.. because switching to failsafe defaults turns the APIC mode off which turns the MPS off.. (Multiprocessor standard or something like that).... however it does not turn off the ACPI mode.
but when i go into the bios and turn the MPS on, the computer hangs even during the windows xp installation.. i've also tried isntalling vista but it even hangs on that setup if MPS is on.. so i could not install vista yet..
but it installs properly with the MPS turned off.. but with that it shows only 1 processor under the processors tab in device manager, but it shows proper 4 processors when i go to bios and turn the MPS back on.. (surprisingly it still boots into the already installed windows xp after turning the mps back on)..

so in short.. i'm completely flabbergasted and staggered at what on earth is going on with my rig... i really really think that it might even be a HDD issue.. so i'm really gonna go forward and format the drive clean after making it a slave and attaching to someone else's computer and then turning it back to master and attaching back to my rig and reinstalling windows xp.

what say u to all this? plz respond with ur wise suggestions.

PS: i'm sorry i couldn't respond for quite a long time (( .. i've been so preoccupied with my university work and quizzes... my exams are starting from monday!!!!