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Athlon 64 X2 - Windows only recognises one core. Help!

deathwalker666 said:
Oh ok, thats an interesting point. Ive never performed this before, do I do this while the PC is off? And do I need to turn it on at all once the jumper has been moved to the clear position? Cheers mate
Click to expand...

look at your motherboard manual, it is near the battery.
 
To elaborate a little, you move the jumper to the clear position whilst the PC is off. Leave it in the clear postiton for a few seconds, then return it to the normal position. Then power on the PC, go into the bios, put in any settings you need to (time, boot order, that sort of thing) and save the changes.

Your PC should be good to go then. I'm pretty confident this will fix your dual core problems too.
 
Cheers zomb mate. Ill give that a try. Does clearing the BIOS just revert it back to its original settings, and Windows will still boot as normal right?

Would you still recommend updating the BIOS to the newest version, after clearing it?

Thanks again.
 
deathwalker666 said:
Cheers zomb mate. Ill give that a try. Does clearing the BIOS just revert it back to its original settings, and Windows will still boot as normal right?

Would you still recommend updating the BIOS to the newest version, after clearing it?

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

You would still need to update the BIOS in order to make your motherboard recognise the dual core. I had to flash my BIOS (ASUS A8N Sli-Deluxe) to rev. 15 to have it covered.
 
deathwalker666 said:
Haha mate...The thought struck me yesterday that the damn thing might not even be a dual core, but yeah, I did check the code and it definately matches up to the 4400+ x2 model.

Here is a screenshot from the latest version of CPUZ. Very worrying is the fact that the 'code name', 'package' and 'technology' fields are all blank. CPUZ Results

But yeah, the reason I was worried about getting a refund was because it was purchased from a well known auction site, and Im unsure of their policies if the seller refuses to give a refund.

It does seem to be a losing battle though, Im going to try it on my mates 939 board tommorow and see what happens on that. But yeah, thanks for all the great help, and if anyone has anymore suggestions, Ill give it a try. :)
Click to expand...

Got a camera? What about a decent image of the top of the CPU please.
 
deathwalker666 said:
Thanks for the suggestion, but I was using the latest (Reliable) BIOS for a while even before I got the CPU, and then I did indeed perform a fresh install of Windows, with no luck. :(

I just recieved an e-mail from the seller saying he will not replace it, so Ive opened a dispute with the afforementioned website.....
Click to expand...
If you paid by Paypal and your account is linked to a credit card, you could also take the matter up with your card issuer, as they're jointly liable and you haven't got the goods you paid for (not as described).

As previously said, only having Windows Home Edition makes not odds, XP Pro only adds support for 2 chips.
 
deathwalker666 said:
Cheers zomb mate. Ill give that a try. Does clearing the BIOS just revert it back to its original settings, and Windows will still boot as normal right?

Would you still recommend updating the BIOS to the newest version, after clearing it?

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

Yes, yes and yes.
 
Cheers again. However, I followed the instructions in my mobo manual (turned off power, took out battery, changed the jumper to pins 2 and 3, left for 20 seconds, then moved jumper back and replace battery) but it doesnt seem to have actually erased the BIOS, AsusUpdate still says that I have the most recent BIOS there. Very strange.

I wish I knew what my BIOS screen should look like. It says theres an Athlon64X2 in there, but should it mention anything about there being two cores?
 
PaulProteus said:
You would still need to update the BIOS in order to make your motherboard recognise the dual core. I had to flash my BIOS (ASUS A8N Sli-Deluxe) to rev. 15 to have it covered.
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Heh. This just gets weirder. When I flash the BIOS to this revision, it doesnt even recognise the processor as a dual core, just a regular athlon 64 4400+ whereas with the 14 and 16 revisions, at least it was saying Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+

EDIT: Ok, Ive changed back to the 16 revision and its once again displaying Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+. How can I know in the BIOS whether its picking up one or two cores? Should there be a separate voltage and temperature displayed for each core? As Im only getting one.

I dont think theres any point in me worrying about HAL and windows problems until everything is showing correctly in the BIOS.
 
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I would guess that the naming of the CPU in the bios is just how they decided to name it in the revisions you've using. I wasn't aware of a single core 4400+ (stop me if I'm wrong).

Be sure to reset your bios after every attempt at flashing it. Also resetting the bios will only get rid of any changes to settings you've configured. The revision sticks.
 
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deathwalker666 said:
Heh. This just gets weirder. When I flash the BIOS to this revision, it doesnt even recognise the processor as a dual core, just a regular athlon 64 4400+ whereas with the 14 and 16 revisions, at least it was saying Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+

EDIT: Ok, Ive changed back to the 16 revision and its once again displaying Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+. How can I know in the BIOS whether its picking up one or two cores? Should there be a separate voltage and temperature displayed for each core? As Im only getting one.

I dont think theres any point in me worrying about HAL and windows problems until everything is showing correctly in the BIOS.
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My revision is 1015. Do you have the same motherboard? I have X2 4800 and in the BIOS it says X2 dual core. It also gives the amount of cache 2x1024. Do you get the amount of the CPU cache correctly?

Do you have asus probe installed? In the info menu it will give you the ID of the processor if the mobo reads properly the CPU data.

To make sure it is not the mobo (it looks very suspicious) try to put your CPU in your mate's S939 mobo and see what happens.

According to ASUS site every revision after 1010 must be dual core enabled. One thing however which they have made explicit is that before you instal this BIOS revision you MUST install a different (newest) NF4 chipset.
I have got this from Nvidia website, isntalled it after a clean Win XP isntallation and then flashed the BIOS to 1015. Since then I have not bothered to update it with the latest one.

EDIT:
The chipset could be found here:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_nf4_win2k_6.86.html
and the BIOS instructions here:
http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=A8N-SLI Deluxe
 
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Hi guys.

Paul - My mobo is an Asus A8n-Sli Deluxe and my BIOS also says the cpu is a X2. However, at the moment BIOS is only showing 1024 cache. Ill be going to my friends place later this evening, so I will try it on his PC. Until then, I am going to try the combination of chipset/BIOS revisions that you suggested and see if I get any luck.

Asus Probe gives an ID for my CPU.
 
Hmmm, tried it in my friends PC, who has the same mobo as me....Exact same thing happens.

BIOS only shows 1024kb of cache instead of 1024X2, so BIOS is definately not detecting both cores. I had one last attempt, got a brand new formatted hard drive, updated my BIOS to the latest reliable version (Tried all versions since dual core support was added now), installed Windows, installed the chipset and AMD drivers and Windows still reported the processor as a uniprocessor instead of a multiprocessor. I carried out the HAL fix and changed it to a multiprocessor, and still no luck; Only one CPU usage graph, and only one processor in device manager.

Ive tried everything now, so I think Ill give up, leave it 6 months or a year, and then just build a totally new PC. I guess it must be something with my motherboard. Ive been told many times that if the CPU was borked the PC wouldnt boot at all, so I guess it could be nothing else.

But anyway, the help given has been great, so I really appreciate it.
 
z0mbi3 said:
You have done all the BIOS resets after updating the firmware right?
Click to expand...

It must be the processor. If your friend's mobo gives the same result it must be the CPU. (the probability of having bothh mobo's faulty is negligible and I do not believe it either)

Why do not you send a letter to AMD? AMD CPU's are covered by a three year warranty so they should be able to sort it out for you.

Some time ago someone on the forum had a problem with a C2D (could not prove it had been faulty) and ended up sending it back to Intel who found it faulty and exchanged it for him.

I guess that if you describbe everything to AMD they will do the necessary for you to get a replacement.

Instead of simply giving up (the lowest resistance rule) you could give it a final shot.

Good luck!
 
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