Pentium D 940 = one task manager graph

[phaxmohdem]

My computer at my campus job is running a Pentium D 940. When it first came in all was well, there were two CPU graphs in task manager and the thing ws pretty fast. For some reason over the summer, the motherboard needed replacing, and when I got back this fall and started working on it again, the task manager showed only one CPU graph, and performance felt slower.

Obviously the first thing I tried to do was change over the HAL to Multiprocessor PC, however this is not an option for some reason. The only options I can change the profile to are "Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC" and "Standard PC".

Dual Core is enabled in the BIOS so the problem (if there is one) resides in Windows.

I put in a work order for the techs here to look at it and hopefully reinstall Windows with the proper HAL this time, however the guy that came over looked at it and told my boss it was fine, and that even though there is one graph, it is using both cores. In my head I was thinking bullshit when I was told this, but I want to check with a few people first before I bitch again, and call the techs back.

I've taken a screen shot of the pertinent information so you can see whats going on, and hopefully tell me if this tech was full of crap or not, and whether my PC is using both cores.

I've also run Prime95 with affinity set to CPU 0 with 100% utilization results on the CPU. (My thinking is, that if both cores are represented in one graph it should only hit 50%)

Check out the CPU-Z pane in particular. It shows 2x2048K Cache, however there is only one processor to choose from at the bottom, and Cores = 1 Threads = 1

Link to screen shot

 

[SparkyJJO]

Wow if CPU-Z is displaying the wrong thing then something is definitely wrong. Almost like one core is disabled. But why would it show up in device manager then....

The tech is being stupid. Windows can not use both cores at the same time like one single core. XP doesn't know how to do that, but even if it could CPU-Z would still show 2 cores/2 threads.

 

[mitaiwan82]

I think the tech is wrong, and I think there might be a way to enable SMP functionality without having to reinstall.

Here's a screenshot of my X2 system at home for reference:
link

 

[Golgatha]

Just to be sure, in the task manager do you have CPU History displayed as one graph per CPU?

Edit: Bump for a fellow Missourian!

 

[Madwand1]

In Task Manager / Performance, select View / CPU History. You should see options for One Graph, All CPUs, and One Graph Per CPU -- this can toggle the display of single and multiple graphs (if you have multiple processors) If you're on One Graph Per CPU and you only see one graph, then something's wrong.

With the 2 processors showing up in Device Manager, I can see why the tech thought that everything was fine.

You should also check the c:\boot.ini command line -- /numproc=1 would also give you your reported behavior, disabling one core in the OS. Removing that option would then fix your problem.

 

[zephyrprime]

It's running the wrong kernel. I upgraded a single core machine to dual core before and the same sort of stuff happened. There's multiple versions of the Windows kernal that come on the cd and the correct one is installed at runtime. You can see both processors in the device manager because it's not a driver or hardware recognition issue. The single processor kernel simply lacks the ability to schedule 2 processors.

The HAL is different than the kernel and should be set to ACPI. There is no MP HAL.

Google Ntoskrnl.exe and Ntkrnlmp.exe for more info. There is a way to force windows to install a particular kernel during installation. The easiest way to fix your problem is to just boot into recovery console and copy the right kernel in. Actually, you might even be able to do it while the computer is running (not sure).

Tell your company tech that ZephyrPrime says that he is a putz.

 

[phaxmohdem]

W00t for Missouri

AS for the "One graph per cpu" thing... I checked that as well, and there is only one option... which is "One graph per CPU" and that is selected and greyed out since there are no other options. I think the school techs may have installed some crappy WinXP image used on all the other single processor machines on campus.

And mitaiwan82 thanks for your screen grab. THat helps a lot. I was going to ask if someone could post that but you beat me to it.

Thanks a million guys, and I'll be sure to slap the lazy tech across the face with a trout a few times for all of you.