AMD Core Unlocking stopped working after BIOS update

[drcrack007]

My system has been working perfectly for over a year. My MSI 880gm-e43 allowed me to unlock my Phenom II X2 3.4GHz Black Edition into an X4 and it would even let me overclock it all the way to 4.1GHz through AMD Overdrive in Windows. I could play games for hours with no bluescreen or any other indication of pushing the system beyond its limits. I have gone back and forth between clock speeds and between 2 cores and 4 cores (enabling and disabling the core unlocking feature in the BIOS), and there has never been a single problem with any of it. Recently I upgraded my video card from an nVidia 9600GT to a Radeon HD 6870 to enjoy better graphics and FPS on Skyrim but although I was able to push the settings higher, it seemed to me that something was not quite working as well as it should. I applied the mouse lag fixes to the game, disabled acceleration on my mouse driver, capped the FPS at 60, 50, 40, tried vSync on and off, etc, but no matter what I did, I could not get rid of this annoying hesitation every 3-5 seconds while looking around quickly with the mouse, even inside tiny areas like houses.So I thought I would check all my drivers, firmware, etc for updates. And after a few other things that didn't fix my issue, I installed MSI's Live Update 5 and let it update my BIOS from version 2.A (the one I had been using for over a year) to the latest (and final) version 2.C (which I thought should be reliable since it has been out for about a year). I did the update while in Windows, then the installer rebooted the system, and bam! After the reboot there were 2 cores only available for my CPU, so I thought the BIOS settings must have been reset to factory defaults and went back into the BIOS, enabled Core Unlocking, booted into Windows but still only two cores. CPUz used to show my processor as an X4 but now it shows it as an X2. Same with windows task manager. Please help! I am so lucky to have an X2 3.4GHz that unlocks to X4 4.1GHz and I don't want to lose that privilege because of a bad BIOS update. What can I do?

 

[o1die]

I would write msi tech support and have them email you an older bios file for your board. The old adage: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" also applies to bios files.

 

[randomkid]

^MSI makes available for download all BIOS version in their support page. This is one thing why I love MSI motherboards a lot.
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/880GM-E43.html#/?div=BIOS

 

[sosofm]

I agree with @o1die "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

 

[randomkid]

^Actually, he have good reason to update. He have problems & I quote:
"it seemed to me that something was not quite working as well as it should. I applied the mouse lag fixes to the game, disabled acceleration on my mouse driver, capped the FPS at 60, 50, 40, tried vSync on and off, etc, but no matter what I did, I could not get rid of this annoying hesitation every 3-5 seconds while looking around quickly with the mouse, even inside tiny areas like houses.So I thought I would check all my drivers, firmware, etc for updates. And after a few other things that didn't fix my issue, I installed MSI's Live Update 5 and let it update my BIOS from version 2.A (the one I had been using for over a year) to the latest (and final) version 2.C (which I thought should be reliable since it has been out for about a year)"
@OP: I do not trust live updates or any BIOS update done in Windows. I suggest you download the BIOS yourself & flash it within BIOS under the M-Flash utility.

 

[status4]

I've been struggling with the same issues with MSI's core unlocker and my Phenom II X2 560 BE, I've had non stop issues with the cores not unlocking again after disabling them and with the infamous HSTFE, which is somehow tied to the CPU voltage, the MSI guys say it's a CPU under volt issue, some others say it's an over volt issue, all I know is that the only thing that has fixed the troubles with the core unlocker permanently has been to revert to BIOS version 2A0, I had updated all the way to the current 2C version and it has been horribly unstable for use with overclocking and core unlock, version 2A is rock solid for me, all 4 cores operational at just under 4ghz and my RAM running at it's full 1600. I also abandoned using the overclock genie in the BIOS and I'm using the easy OC switches on the board set for a 20% OC, so far so great.