What needs to be done when installing XP SP2 on an X2?

EnJoY · 03-31-2006, 08:56 AM

Hey there,

I just got my new 3800+ X2 and it's my first dual core. I installed a fresh XP SP2 os and even after installing all my drivers and following the instructions in the dual core sticky, I'm getting really slow performance and worst of all, it keeps telling me it's detecting new "unknown devices" that it can't define or find drivers for. Did I just have a corrupted install or is there something I'm missing? Also, when I open CPU-Z, it doesn't give me the option to select cores, it just displays as if it were a single core, does this mean the OS isn't detecting both cores at the moment?

Any help is greatly appreciated, I feel like a newb, but asking questions is the only way to get answers at times...

[timko] · 03-31-2006, 09:03 AM

What version of CPU-Z are you running? You need a relatively recent one in order to be able to select cores.

I've received my DFI Venus today and just done a total reinstall of WinXP SP2 and didn't do anything special. Installed the nVidia drivers that came on the DFI install disk, also install ATI graphics drivers and it was good to go. I haven't even got round to the dual core stickied thread yet.

When you say you're getting "slow performance" where exactly is this? In games or when you're still on the Windows desktop running basic apps etc?

EnJoY · 03-31-2006, 09:05 AM

Latest CPU-Z, 1.32.1.

And yes, slow performance just in windows use, not even heavy apps.

I'm just gonna reformat and reinstall I think.

[timko] · 03-31-2006, 09:08 AM

Have you installed the ATI graphics drivers yet? Dragging windows around etc are all going to be slow with the built in Microsoft VGA drivers until you get ATI ones

Kobalt · 03-31-2006, 09:18 AM

Try reformating and/or redo-ing the dual-core fix

sinister1st · 03-31-2006, 09:24 AM

check you HAL make sure your running ACPI multi-proc- pc if not reformat press F5 during install scroll down and choose acpi multi p pc.

EnJoY · 03-31-2006, 01:15 PM

Yea, that's the answer, no multi-processor driver was loaded. Unfortunately this means I need a new copy of XP Pro SP2 as my slipstreamed version apparently doesn't have the driver on it or the txtsetup.oem file needed.

raju · 03-31-2006, 01:36 PM

wasn't there a post here by someone (it was very well explained) who said the 'dual core fix' only works on cool and quiet, not solving the xp dual core issues????

edit: I meant the 'throttling in games' and not the amd driver....

thunderstruck! · 03-31-2006, 07:38 PM

Fresh install of XP Pro SP2 with Opteron 170 and everything is working fine. Didn't eben get any "drivers" because I haven't had a need for them.

EnJoY · 03-31-2006, 11:41 PM

Brand new XP Pro SP2 install and all is well. Question, how do I make apps run on a specific core? Say, for example I want to run two instances of prime and I want one to run on core 0 and the other to run on core 1, how would I do this?

thunderstruck! · 04-01-2006, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EnJoY

Brand new XP Pro SP2 install and all is well. Question, how do I make apps run on a specific core? Say, for example I want to run two instances of prime and I want one to run on core 0 and the other to run on core 1, how would I do this?

Task manager -> Processes -> Right-click & set affinity...

Btw, you can run prime95 on both cores w/o manually setting it through task manager. Google is your friend. (And I'm not talking about the old SP2004)