ASUS P5W DH - Problems + Fixes Thread

[Falkentyne]

Forget the overclocking. I'm having another problem, and it's serious.
Unfortunately, I don't think anyone is going to be able to help with this, and I could be just completely screwed, but here goes...

Basically, the system is **SLOW**.
It seems to be using something like 1% of the available processing power.
It's FINE in safe mode, but NOT in normal mode.

I'm currently not at that system, but I did a 1M SuperPi run and I think it completed in something like 3 minutes and 48 seconds. I checked Speedfan and Coretemp, and the temps were going up by a whopping TWO degrees at best. I think speedfan went from 34C idle to 35C with Superpi/4 prime threads.

I ran Prime with 4 threads, and the temps went up by again, like 1C or something. I think the cores read: 31C, 32C, 27C, 30C.

When I did the same thing in safe mode, Speedfan went up a LOT more, to 48C. Also, the 1M SuperPi score was around 15.8 seconds...a LOT better than 3 minutes.

Is this a BIOS bug or something? (CPU-Z identifies the CPU, cache and etc correctly). Is this a problem with windows, that can be fixed somehow?

Note: EVERYTHING runs at proper speed if I disable 2 cores in the boot.ini, where the NUMPROC switch is. The problem is when I remove that switch and boot with all 4 cores.

Any suggestions, people? I updated to 2406 with no change.
I need to know if this is a BIOS bug, or is my OS improperly configured somehow, after using a Core 2 X6800 for a year?

I'll buy a new board if I have to, but I want to make SURE it's the board or the BIOS first.

This may not be of help, but why does System Properties, in control panel, say this? (again sorry no screenshots):

Computer:
Intel Core 2(TM) Extreme
CPU X9650 @ 3.00 ghz
360 mhz, 2.00 GB of RAM <---------???
Physical Address Extension <---------??? wth....

360 mhz?
PAE? WHAT? T_T

I changed the multiplier from 9 to 10, and that "360 mhz" became 400 mhz. (core speed was reported at 3.33 ghz).

On my older single core system, that exact same location had the CPU string for 3.4 ghz (P4 extreme Northwood), and showing 3.61 ghz. (yes, overclocked a bit, forgot the exact settings, but 3.6 ghz in BIOS).