Core i5 2410M cpu seems to have lost a core overnight and is only showing one?

[Event2020]

Windows 10

I have a samsung laptop running an Intel Core i5 2410M cpu which is only showing as having one core when previous it showed 2 and 4 Logical processes?

I know it is an old legacy processor but it is a laptop that my children use for home schooling and it is more than acquitted for them (at least it was until now). However it appears to have lost lost 1 core or threads and some programs are now causing "your computer is not powerful enough" error messages but it was working fine yesterday.

To explain: late last night I was using it to encode some music files from wave format to flac using a program called dbPoweramp and in powermps settings you can set whether it uses 1 core, 2 core and so on to encode. When set to 4 (as I had it) it really flys through the encoding but when I tried to encode a new CD to flac this morning it showed only 1 core in its settings.

Some how it has lost a core/s /threads over night.

I have checked Task Manager > Performance it is showing

Cores: 1 Logical processors - only one graph is showing and there is no option to show more.

Task Manager > Startup is showing only 4 programs - CCleaner, ETD Control Center, Realtek HD Audio Manager and Windows Security notification icon.

I checked Device Manager > Processors and it shows 4 instances of Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2410M CPU @ 2.30GHz.

I right clicked on each > General tab - shows This device is working properly.

I right clicked on each > Driver > Update Driver - and allowed it to search online. Each time it said that the best drivers are installed.

There are no yellow exclamation marks against anything .

I then opened CPU-Z and it shows only one socket, #1, Cores 1, Threads 1.

I then opened Windows PowerShell which normally opens quite quickly but there was a short delay this time and it then took a few seconds for the copyright notice and PS C:\Users to come up.

I then typed: WMIC CPU Get DeviceID,NumberOfCores,NumberOfLogicalProcessors which returned: DeviceID - CPU0

NumberOfCores - 1

NumberOfLogicalProcessors -1

The BIOS is the last version released for this machine.

I checked the BIOS and in the Advanced Tab:

CPU Power Saving Mode - Disabled (it was set to enabled but neither settings seem to make a difference)

Hyperthreading - Enabled

EDB (Execute Disable Bit) -

Enabled Fast BIOS Mode - Disabled

AHCI Mode Control - Auto

This has reached the limit of my knowledge so I wonder if anyone can provide any help? Thanks in advance

[AlHill]

Run the IPDT:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005567/processors.html

Also, So we can have more information about your system, Download, run, and save the results of this utility as a text file:
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25293/Intel-System-Support-Utility

Then ATTACH the text file using the instructions under the reply window ( Drag and drop here or browse files to attach ).

Doc

[Event2020]

Hi @AlHill 

Thank you for your reply and suggestion.

I will download, run and post the results here as you ask.

Many thanks.

[Event2020]

I have run both programs "as is" without changing any options and I attach the results here.

Hope this helps.

Many thanks

[AlHill]

right click on the task bar, and open the task manager.

select the performance tab.

select the cpu graph

right click on the graph, change graph to, logical processors.

Is that what you want to see?

Doc

[Event2020]

The options to Change graph to Logical processors and NUMA nodes are greyed out and unavailable, only Overall utilisation (the default) is not greyed out.

[AlHill]

Did  anyone by any chance use msconfig, boot, advanced options, and change the number of processors?

Doc

[Event2020]

Not that I am aware of.

I was the last person to use the laptop last night and it was perfectly fine. 

I was also the first person to use it this morning and I can be certain when I say this as the children are strictly monitored when they use it and it is kept locked in a cupboard when they are not using it for school work.

The strange thing is before I started this post I tried to access the boot settings in msconfig to check and I am unable to find the appropriate settings to enable more than 1 core.

In the boot options > Advance settings > Number of processors - drop down menus, there is only 1 processor listed. There is no option to select 2.  It's very strange.

[AlHill]

The IPDT says it is fine.

Do you leave the laptop on all the time? 

Doc

[Event2020]

Well this matter has just become even stranger.

I deselected "1 core", rebooted and low and behold I have 2 cores and 4 threads.

I am running IPD tool again and it has detected both cores and 4 threads which have passed all tests.

I am at a complete loss to explain what has happened.

The only program I ran last night and this morning (before discovering this issue) was dbPoweramp and to my knowledge that would not alter any of the boot config settings...

[Event2020]

I apoligise I did not see your question.

No, it is always fully shutdown when not in use and by that I mean turned off rather than sleep.

[AlHill]

So, it is working ok now? 

With a device this old, who knows what could be going on.  It could be the beginning of component failure, a weak coin battery, a weak system battery, etc.

You may want to check your system battery.  Is it holding a fulll charge?

Doc

[Event2020]

That is a fair point.

May I clarify, when you say system battery do you mean the onboard CMOS or the main laptop battery charged by the PSU?

If you mean the CMOS/BIOS battery I have not checked it as I do not know how but the main battery is fine and holds charges well.

[AlHill]

System battery/Main battery are the same to me.  As long as it holds a good charge.

But, all is working now?

Doc

[Event2020]

It appears all is well again.

I have rebooted it, ran dbPoweramp, re-ran the intel app and all reports as fine.

I then rebooted again (in case something is changed by dbPweramp) and re-ran the intel app again and it reports both cores and 4 threads.

I know definitively that I did not change anything in msconfig before this issue happened so it is a unknown. However I am happy it is ok although I have just told my children they are back using it for lessons tomorrow and they are not quite as happy.

Thank you for your forbearance and help, I really appreciate it.

[AlHill · Accepted solution]

Glad all is working again. 

Doc