I have a dual core cpu but can't see it in task manager!

[impboy]

Ok, the title says it all. I just got a Core 2 Duo 6300 and when I go into the task manager under the Performance tab, I only see one core. What's up with that? Other than that, the whole system is running fine.

When I go to the Device Manager, both cores are shown under Processors.

 

[chocobocorey]

give some specs on your system. what motherboard are you using- is it a newer one that supports the core 2?

 

[warthog]

Ok, the title says it all. I just got a Core 2 Duo 6300 and when I go into the task manager under the Performance tab, I only see one core. What's up with that? Other than that, the whole system is running fine.

When I go to the Device Manager, both cores are shown under Processors.

Have you reinstalled Windows? I'm not certain if it's true for XP, but under Windows 2000 you had to reinstall Windows if you added a second CPU. This ensured that it loaded the SMP kernel. Otherwise it runs, but only on one processor.

 

[Akira25]

in task manager, under View - CPU History. Is it set to One Graph Per CPU or One Graph, All CPUS?

 

[NotSoSober]

If you previously had a single core CPU then windows might be using the wrong HAL. To verify this go to device manager, click on computer and if it doesnt say multiprocessor PC then you have the wrong HAL. You can change this by upgrading the driver, not letting windows find it automatically and selecting the correct one from the list (probably ACPI Multiprocessor PC). However if you mess this up your computer might not boot .

 

[Crashman]

you can also switch off the second core in some BIOS, which would be a bad thing to do...

 

[plankmeister]

Maybe use CPU-Z to find out?

 

[weskurtz81]

If you have an older motherboard..... did you ever flash your bios? Post your sepcs, and if you want, before you even do that, download the latest bios version from the mobo maker and flash your bios. I am about 99% sure that is your problem.

wes

 

[ms2005]

Try the view selection Akira mentioned, even then you only see 2 graphs in the CPU usage history section - taskbar stays as 1. Look up system info in windows - if it sees your CPU correctly all is likely OK - any benchmarking utility like Sandra lite will then check if both cores are used.

 

[weskurtz81]

Oopps,

I obviously didn't read the entire OP. I didn't see that the OP said that both cores were showing up in the CPU usage area. That wouldn't be a bios issue, so, NM.

wes

 

[impboy]

Specs:

cpu: C2D E6300
mobo: pc chips p23g (yes, i know it's a piece of crap but it does support C2D.)
1 gb ddr2 ram

This is a brand new setup with a fresh install of Window XP Pro.

 

[impboy]

Grrr...
I left out that I had 2 hard drives installed - one from the old computer, and a new one that was freshly formatted. When I set the bios to boot up from the old drive, I couldn't see the 2 cores. When I set the bios to boot up from the new drive, there were the 2 cores staring me in my n00b face.

So i guess now the best thing to do is copy the files I need from the old drive onto the new one and enjoy my dual core power.

Thanks to all who posted!

 

[rhk0327]

I had the same problem since the hard drive was configured for another computer (intel p4 chipset) moved to amd am-2 dual core chipset. I stuck the original hard drive and it booted to windows successfully, installed motherboard drivers via cd, and everything looked good. However, it didn't recognize the other core.

*Instead of fresh install, just boot in to windows setup, hit enter to setup up windows (do not use recovery console). After it scans for previous windows installations it asks you if you want to repair. Hit "r" to perform repair-install. This fixed the problem.