Q6600 - Windows XP can't see 4 cores

[idata]

I have a Q6600 G0 step + Asus P5KC motherboard.

I've had the Q6600 for 13 months and i love it.

In Windows XP SP2 every time i looked at Task Manager it showed 4 cores, when i used Asus's AI utility, it showed all 4 cores.

But over the weekend my PC got badly hit by a virus and trojan horse, this totally wrecked my PC and I could not even format the hard drive from bootup.

I managed to fix this problem, reformated and re-installed XP, but now every time I look at task Manager it shows 2 cores, when i use Asus's AI utility, it shows 1 core, instead of 4.

When i check the BIOS it tells me I still have 4 cores in full working order.

In Windows XP when i run Intel's Processor Identification Utility, it tells me I still have 4 cores in full working order.

I even underclocked the Q6600 and then tested it with Intel's Processor Identification Utility, it still tells me I still have 4 cores in full working order running at the underclocked speed.

When I install Ubuntu 8.10, it tells me I have 4 cores and shows what they are up to.

So these are telling me my Q6600 is ok and is running on all 4 cores But when i re-install windows XP SP2 and look at task Manager it still shows 2 cores instead of 4, when i use Asus's AI utility, it shows 1 core, instead of 4.

This is worrying the life out of me.

Is BIOS and Ubuntu correct or is windows correct ?

Can any one help ?

[idata]

Hi,

My bet is on that the BIOS and ubuntu are right.

What does the device manager in windows say?how many processors does it see?

How are you installing teh drivers for the system?from the CD or the website?

[idata]

Cpt.Dogfruit wrote:

Hi,

My bet is on that the BIOS and ubuntu are right.

What does the device manager in windows say?how many processors does it see?

How are you installing teh drivers for the system?from the CD or the website?

I feel the same but didn't have time to check Device Manager. As soon as Task Manager said it could only see 2 cores. I got very worried, did few more tests (as outlined in my last post) then i reformatted the hard drive and installed Ubuntu, after that I installed Xubuntu to double check Ubuntu both versions of Linux showed 4 cores.

In windows some drivers are installed from original CD, others down loaded via the people who made my hardware and software.

But over the weekend my Anti Virus did say it could see a Trojan horse and virus and i reckon these 2 wrecked Windows on my PC.

If i can't fix this then i will assum Q6600 is faulty and will be forced to buy a new Quad core cpu. The Q9650 fits my motherboard but that costs £250. For that price I can buy a new AMD Phenom II + motherboard and the AMD is faster than the Q9650.

Intel i5 and i7 are better, but they cost more and use DDR3 ram.

I still like the Q6600 and feel it has a lot of life in it, so idealy I want to fix the Windows / Q6600 problem and keep the Q6600.

[idata]

Hi,

I dont think you need to worry about your CPU being faulty...99.9% they either work or they don't,. they don't half work generally. Specially when tehBIOS is seeing it correctly.

I would reinstall windows and before installing any drivers, see what windows says in task manager and in device manager.

By the way if you are saying that the q9650 is £250 then you can get an i5 cheaper, but as you said you would need the RMA, and also a new board

[idata]

Hi

The i5 looks good and is much faster, but I'd need to buy DDR3 ram = more money on an unplanned, unbudget upgrade.

If my Q6600 is ok i'd rather stick with it and DDR2 ram and if i need to upgrade get Q9650 (when its price drop) as then all i have to buy is a new CPU but i can use DDR2 ram.

If my Q6600 is faulty then i'll buy an AMD Phenom II cpu + AM2+ motherboard = same price as current Q6950, The AM2+ motherboard can use DDR2 ram.

You can get Q8200, Q8300, Q9400 cpus but they are not as quick as overclocked Q6600, the Q9550 looks good, is faster than an overclocked Q6600 but i think its price is close to £200, so for that i might still defect to AMD for the same money.

Intel will be bringing out a 6 core cpu but you can't use that on Q6600's motherboard, you have to buy an i9 motherboard + triple channel DDR3 ram = more expense.

Next year AMD will be bringing 6 core cpu that can be used on the current AM2+ motherboard which uses AMDs version of the Intel Q6600 and Q9650 quad core cpus.

So from that side AMD are better.

If i get the i5 and if i wanted to upgrade from an i5 to an i9 i'd have to again buy a new i9 motherboard which is silly.

Intel need to follow AMD and have one motherboard which can use past, present and near future cpus, instead of having 4 motherboards

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Socket 775 = core2duo and core2duo qaud cores.

Socket i3 = some thing above socket 775 but it can't use socket 775 cpus and is not as quick as i5 or i7.

Socket i5 = qaud core cpu with 2 channel DDR3 ram

Socket i9 = qaud core cpu with 3 channel DDR3 ram

Its a pity Intels boffins never made the i3, i5 or i9 motherboards backward compatible with socket 775 so people like me could buy an i5 motherboard, use our current Q6600 cpu on it and then upgrade to an i5 cpu when we had the cash.

Intel could also make an interface to allow a Q6600 to fit an i5 or i7 motherboard but they won't.

I'm not bashing Intel or the Q6600, i love the Q6600. Just confused with so many cpus when AMD just use one or two motherboard for all their cpus instead of Intels 4 motherboards.

I appreciate your help, better get back and see if teh Q6600 is ok.

[idata]

This should be an answer to the thread opener.

Sorry, also editet.

Not so easy to answer here.

[idata]

edit double post

[idata]

Hello.

First you have to check some settings in your Bios.

1. Search for ACPI/APIC and set it to enabled.Without Apic/Acpi the Mutliprocessor Driver ist not installed and you have only one Core.

2. If Apic/ACPI is enebled but there is still one Core:

Search in your Bios: The Max CPUID Value Limit hat to be Dissabled. If this is enabled, you have only 1 Core.

3. If this is/was enabled, try this

1.Open Start and than write msconfig, or start msconfig.exe.

2.Go to Registercard Boot (Start) than oben extensions Settings.

Take a look at you CPU Cores, can you change from one to four??

If no, search there for option like HAL and aktivate it and than Reeboot.

By Rebooting the Check for CPU runs again.

If than all cores are present, deaktivate HAL again.

For All, where is the Handbook Manual for use this Forum??

I had never seen such a Forum Structure bevor.

[idata]

Just like to say thank you to every one who helped.

Last week was a very worrying week as XP was telling me I'd lot all 4 cores but I did what you all said,

my PC is back to normal and XP can see all 4 cores.

I won't have to defect to AMD because the newer Q9550 or Q9650 are to expensive.

So far the Q6600 is still running strong and i am happy with it.

I may need to get a better cooler so i can overclock it 3.4 ghz but we will what happens.