Dual core tester

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!

On Apr 23, 9:37 am, "GT" <ContactGT_remo...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> 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!

You will have to do a repair install to enable the second core.
Sorry.

GT wrote:
> 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!
>
>

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

On Apr 23, 3:16 pm, "Trimble" <no-s...@never.spam> wrote:
> @@@"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

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
>> 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.
>
> You will have to do a repair install to enable the second core.

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?