topic Re: Hyper-Threading Motherboard hardware support in Mobile and Desktop Processors

Hyper-Threading Motherboard hardware support

SpiritualMadMan — Sat, 11 Nov 2023 11:19:45 GMT

I know this is a long shot. But, my curiosity is quite high, so here goes.

I am an Electronics Engineering Technician with some 50+ years of bench and some design experience.

I have two motherboards both Dell 0M9KCM one is a rev A00 and one is a Rev A02. Both have A30 BIOS and i7-3770 cpu's

The A00 does not properly enable Hyper-Threading leaving the system with two cores and four threads. YECH!

The A02 works as expected with four cores and eight threads.

My question is this what hardware change might Dell's designer have made to make their motherboard compatible with your multi-threading?

In my mind there is probably an FPGA or bad etch in their design.

I am willing to sign an NDA and my past Naval Security Clearances and later work at Intel (Contractor) Analog Validation Columbia, SC should make me a reasonable risk.

Thanks!

Re: Hyper-Threading Motherboard hardware support

AlHill — Sat, 11 Nov 2023 12:48:17 GMT

Your 11-year-old processor is no longer supported.

And, you need to ask Dell about Dell's bios.

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[Maybe Windows 12 will be better]

Re: Hyper-Threading Motherboard hardware support

SpiritualMadMan — Sat, 11 Nov 2023 14:15:46 GMT

It's not BIOS, It's not CPU, it's some hardware change on the motherboard itself.

If I were an actual developer I might know what that change might have been.

That's what I am looking for. Intel has a spec for properly enabling Hyper-Threading. What is it.

At 71 I take obsolescent and obsolete very seriously.

Re: Hyper-Threading Motherboard hardware support

n_scott_pearson — Sat, 11 Nov 2023 17:05:49 GMT

Actually, you shouldn't make blanket statements like this. It might still be the BIOS, doing something different because of the stepping of the chipset, etc. Speculating, this could result in updated CPU microcode NOT being installed and a lack of support for hyperthreading thus occurring.

The A00 board is obviously a very early pre-production version. In most cases, you cannot do anything with these boards other than (a) recycle them or (b) put up with foibles like this. I personally wouldn't trust a board that has something like hyperthreading not working.

Sorry,

...S

Re: Hyper-Threading Motherboard hardware support

SpiritualMadMan — Sat, 11 Nov 2023 19:31:27 GMT

BIOS, CPU and Chipset stepping are all the same. Strange.

The A00 board has been my primary system for over a year. The problem didn't show up until I decided to upgrade to the i7-3770 CPU's so that I could play DCS World.

Both processors tested good in an A02 MoBo. Which is why I am asking about possible hardware issues.

I suspect that when the board was designed there were no Hyper-threaded four core CPU's to either target or test with so the board was not designed with Hyper-threading in mind.

It's just a guess...

Re: Hyper-Threading Motherboard hardware support

AlHill — Sat, 11 Nov 2023 20:52:59 GMT

"It's not BIOS, It's not CPU, it's some hardware change on the motherboard itself."

You do not know that. And, if you want to debug Dell's bios, contact Dell. And, rather than try to debug the bios, why not just simply update the bios, if dell still has the updates available. And, you do not even know the the i7-3770 processor is supported by dell's bios.

Trying to troubleshoot this makes no sense, especially on an 11-year-old processor, with an initial bios release that has not been updated.

You should know well what bios updates are for. UPDATE THE BIOS.

Now, you will not get any support from Intel on this obsolete, unsupported processor. Take the advice Scott and I have provided.

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[Maybe Windows 12 will be better]

Re: Hyper-Threading Motherboard hardware support

AlHill — Sat, 11 Nov 2023 20:48:19 GMT

I just looked up your board. The last version of the bios is A30, from 2018.

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/optiplex-9010/drivers

They also provide older bios updates for your board.

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[Maybe Windows 12 will be better]