Need help with BIOS - unlocking cores PHenom II - MSI - 785G - E53

[JessieJ]

I just built a new PC - with

AMD Phenom II 555 Dual Core

MSI 785G-E53 Motherboard.

I haven't installed my O/S yet and am trying to navigate my way through the BIOS to see if I can unlock the 2 additional cores and get a Quad core - or maybe 1 freebie and one I need to shut down b/c it's unstale and end up with a triple core.

I haven't found an menu that's allowing me to do it < but this is my first time in BIOS except setting RAM timing & boot sequence - so I'm new at this >

My Board has a reset CMOS button - so I'm not afraid to poke around - I found a feature in the " Cell Menu " with Unlock CPU core - that was disabled - I enabled - and the CPU core control still shows only 2 cores enabled. Hunting around a little more - the only place I could see 4 cores is in the menu Advanced clock Calibration if I click the " per core " option - I see 4 cores.

Can anybody with a bit more familiarity with this aim me in the right direction so I might be able to find these missing cores and possibly unlock one or two of them for some free processing power?

Also, would this work better if I install WIndows 7 first - or am I doing this in the proper sequence - to set the BIOS before installing Windows 7.

thanks

 

[T_T]

ACC is the way to go. Also, since your CPU isn't Black Edition (BE), you won't have the ability to raise the multiplier. That's not to say that you cannot overclock, but rather, you'll have to OC by raising voltages and lowering NB frequency.

I suggest reading AMD Black Edition Overclocking Guide just to familiarize yourself with doing an OC. Though you don't have a BE, this info is still very useful.

AnandTech did a very good story on unlocking the PII 555, you should read it.

As a comparison of ACC w/ 2 unlocked cores vs. a genuine quad core, the difference varies from set up to set up, but for me, I was almost able to OC my 945 to 4.0GHz from stock, 3.0GHz.

Edit: Forgot to answer your last question. Generally, it is better to install the OS first. With the OS is the only way you'll guarantee stability. After all, you won't be using your computer just to play in the BIOS.

After installing your OS, download Prime95, CPU-Z, SpeedFan, GPU-Z, FurMark, and CPU-Z Hardware Monitor; you'll need these.

 

[JessieJ]

ACC is the way to go. Also, since your CPU isn't Black Edition (BE), you won't have the ability to raise the multiplier. That's not to say that you cannot overclock, but rather, you'll have to OC by raising voltages and lowering NB frequency..

Actually, the 555 is a Black Edition CPU. It's clearly written on the box my CPU came in .

I suggest reading AMD Black Edition Overclocking Guide just to familiarize yourself with doing an OC. Though you don't have a BE, this info is still very useful.

AnandTech did a very good story on unlocking the PII 555, you should read it.

As a comparison of ACC w/ 2 unlocked cores vs. a genuine quad core, the difference varies from set up to set up, but for me, I was almost able to OC my 945 to 4.0GHz from stock, 3.0GHz.

I'll check those links out - and be back if / when I have any questions after reading that. I'm really more interested in unlocking cores vs overclocking - b/c it's not a PC that I built for myself. I just want it working as powerful as I can get it before I hand it off to it's owner.

 

[T_T]

Yeah, the 555 is a BE, for some reason I was thinking it wasn't.

 

[JessieJ]

I read your link on EC Firmware - and checked my Motherboard manual.

My manual has that submenu " EC Firmware " - with submenus of [normal / special ]

but

My actual BIOS is somewhat different - it has instead " Unlock CPU Core " [Disabled]

I tried the closest choice by [enable]ing my Unlock CPU core menu - and setting "Advanced Clock Calibration" to [auto] and save with F10.

My PC is not rebooting - the monitor just turns off while the rest of the PC is on - and the light on my keyboard is still lit? The past few times this happened - I reset the CMOS - and it booted up properly. Right now - though - nothing's happening.

Any suggestions? Do I need a BIOS update? Is that something difficult or complicated?

Edit: Your article said - "Patiently waiting and a self-initiated reboot later and my CPU was identified as a Phenom II X4 B55 BE. Four cores running at 3.2GHz, just like a Phenom II X4 955 but for $99. "

Is this something that should take an extensive amount of time - to unlock the CPU - or should it be a standard save / reboot.

Thanks

 

[T_T]

When you adjust any CPU setting, you're venturing into the overclock realm, whether it is a large increase or a small increase.

I recall having to wait about 30 seconds to a minute once, while I was overclocking my CPU.

If the monitor is not showing a display after you performed any adjustment, resetting CMOS is the first thing to do. The two most practical ways of doing so is to either:

1. Use the CLR_CMOS jumper (may be labeled differently on your mobo); or
2. Remove the battery for about 10-20 seconds.

Either way you choose, always remove the 4/8-pin CPU and 20/24-pin main power connections from the motherboard.

Also, for clarification, I didn't write the article. The main reason for linking the article was to guide you toward understanding that not every chip is successful at "unlocking" the disable cores.

For your MSI board, the procedure should be:

1. Enter "Cell Menu" in the BIOS
2. Enable "Unlock CPU Core"
3. Enable "Advanced Clock Calibaration" - at this point you should have seen the option to enable/disable cores

While you clearly demonstrated that you properly performed the above procedure, you should understand that if any of the unlocked cores is unstable, you will likely encounter a "no boot" issue.

 

[fergieferg]

I read your link on EC Firmware - and checked my Motherboard manual.

My manual has that submenu " EC Firmware " - with submenus of [normal / special ]

but

My actual BIOS is somewhat different - it has instead " Unlock CPU Core " [Disabled]

I tried the closest choice by [enable]ing my Unlock CPU core menu - and setting "Advanced Clock Calibration" to [auto] and save with F10.

My PC is not rebooting - the monitor just turns off while the rest of the PC is on - and the light on my keyboard is still lit? The past few times this happened - I reset the CMOS - and it booted up properly. Right now - though - nothing's happening.

Any suggestions? Do I need a BIOS update? Is that something difficult or complicated?

Edit: Your article said - "Patiently waiting and a self-initiated reboot later and my CPU was identified as a Phenom II X4 B55 BE. Four cores running at 3.2GHz, just like a Phenom II X4 955 but for $99. "

Is this something that should take an extensive amount of time - to unlock the CPU - or should it be a standard save / reboot.

Thanks

Have the same situation going on here, even after updating the bios I am not getting all the cores unlocked, I have tried many different combos to try to make sense of it. Let me know what you find. I would like to find out if I may need a different mb.

 

[jmunjr]

I have the 785G-P45 with a 555 BE.

I have enabled unlock cpu core and set ACC to "auto" as well. No matter what I do "CPU core control" only shows 2 cores available.

I raised the voltage enough one time to get it to post and boot into windows. Both looking in the bios and using CPU-Z there were only two cores. The bios did not have any option to disable the 3rd and 4th cores - only cores 1 and 2 were listed. As stated by another posted 4 core options came up for ACC, but that is the only place.

Unless this motherboard doesn't do what it says it can do or I am doing something wrong my CPU does not have 4 cores even though it is a 555 BE.

unlock cpu core is enabled
ACC is auto.
CPU core control has been set to both auto and manual.

No matter what I never see two cores. I've even booted into XP this way - only two cores showing while unlock cpu and acc enabled..

What am I missing?

 

[T_T]

There is a gamble with this unconventional method. Just because you have a BE and just because others have successfully "unlocked" one or two cores, that doesn't mean that all of these CPU's with disabled cores will be able to re-enable the cores.

To give you some insight on why the cores are disable...

AMD has been manufacturing quad core CPU's long before the demand in the market. Unfortunately, some of these chips were defective. In some of the chips, the defective cores were disabled. In an effort to make some money off of these defects, AMD sold the chips with disabled cores and marketed them as dual core.

In short, some chips can and some can't.

 

[neelbh]

jeese,

I am assembling the same set up as yours, I am not getting a POST, did you come across this issue, I have the AMD Phenom II 555 Dual Core BLACK edition and MSI 785G-E53 Motherboard.

help me out please
installed everyhting as per manual and powered up, i see *|#***
there are only 3 APS lights and one NB light on

thank you
Neel

 

[JessieJ]

After a little tinkering - I came to the conclusion that this MOBO was not capable of unlocking the 2 closed cores of this cpu. If anybody has been able to - feel free to share - or start a new thread - but I'm closing this one up.

 

[JessieJ]

Best answer selected by JessieJ.

 

[Guest]

hi bro

i can give u master unlock code to perform full unlock

for ur pc no need to disconnect or do any hardware on it

just send to me

hm_besoooo@hotmail.com

 

[ironman187]

Hey all, I actually just unlocked the two extra cores in my Phenom II dual core Black Edition on my MSI 785G-E53 motherboard. Here is what I did.

go into the Bios
go to Cell menu
Make sure you replicate these settings.

-unlock CPU core [Enabled]

-Advanced clock calibration [Per Core]
(you should now see the following underneath the ACC option
Value (core 1)
Value (core 2)
Value (core 3)
Value (core 4)

-CPU Core Control [Auto]

save settings and reboot. Upon loading up, windows 7 told me that device software was installed and that I needed to reboot, when I did my processor was listed as a phenom II x4 B60

Hope this helps!

 

[hvn4179]

Hey all, I actually just unlocked the two extra cores in my Phenom II dual core Black Edition on my MSI 785G-E53 motherboard. Here is what I did.

go into the Bios
go to Cell menu
Make sure you replicate these settings.

-unlock CPU core [Enabled]

-Advanced clock calibration [Per Core]
(you should now see the following underneath the ACC option
Value (core 1)
Value (core 2)
Value (core 3)
Value (core 4)

-CPU Core Control [Auto]

save settings and reboot. Upon loading up, windows 7 told me that device software was installed and that I needed to reboot, when I did my processor was listed as a phenom II x4 B60

Hope this helps!

I've the same mobo/cpu but not been able to unlock. Many setting are results in non bottable condition excetp when ACC set per core to 0% but in cpu-z, it still shows only 2 cores. What are the values of your ACC? TIA.

 

[ironman187]

Then your CPU is the culprit. One or both of you locked cores are faulty (which is why they were locked and why the processor was sold as a dual core.) I got lucky with mine, all four cores were stable and working. I'm not sure how to find out what core/cores are faulty, but I believe there is a way to do so, and just lock the faulty core again. You could very well end up with a tri core. I would clear your BIOS to the default settings, then try the same settings I posted above. If that does not work, then as I said, you may have one or two faulty cores.

EDIT: My ACC is set @ - 2 for all four cores, this was the default value that the BIOS set. Did you update your BIOS before you tried to unlock the other two cores? If not I would try doing so.

 

[hvn4179]

Then your CPU is the culprit. One or both of you locked cores are faulty (which is why they were locked and why the processor was sold as a dual core.) I got lucky with mine, all four cores were stable and working. I'm not sure how to find out what core/cores are faulty, but I believe there is a way to do so, and just lock the faulty core again. You could very well end up with a tri core. I would clear your BIOS to the default settings, then try the same settings I posted above. If that does not work, then as I said, you may have one or two faulty cores.

EDIT: My ACC is set @ - 2 for all four cores, this was the default value that the BIOS set. Did you update your BIOS before you tried to unlock the other two cores? If not I would try doing so.

Thx for a quick response and I'll take your suggestion to unlock one of them at a time (worse case scenario is to return it back to Micro center for an exchange). My bios version is v3.8, what's yours?

 

[ironman187]

my BIOS version is 3.9. try updating that first, reset your bios to the default settings, try using the settings I had, if that doesn't work, then try unlocking them one by one. Remember to run Prime 95 for at least 12 hours after you have found out what cores can be unlocked, this will tell you if they are stable enough to keep unlocked.

 

[hvn4179]

Still can't unlock the 2 extra cores (even a single one). I'm going to made an exchange hope to be lucky on the next one. At least now I know what to expect.

 

[trevor011]

i would like to up this thread.. i have the same build such as yours.. Im planning to unlock the extra cores too.. will try ironman's suggestion..

@ironman -- did you raise your core voltage? vcore and such?
what if cpu failed to boot up? what should i do.. u see, i'm just new to this thing.. planning to try it myself ..

tnx..

 

[ironman187]

i would like to up this thread.. i have the same build such as yours.. Im planning to unlock the extra cores too.. will try ironman's suggestion..

@ironman -- did you raise your core voltage? vcore and such?
what if cpu failed to boot up? what should i do.. u see, i'm just new to this thing.. planning to try it myself ..

tnx..

I'm pretty new to this stuff myself, I did nothing with my voltages, or any other bios settings other than what I listed. If your PC won't boot after unlocking the cores, well, I think you may also have faulty cores. This is more a matter of luck than anything, and apparently, I got lucky. You can try raising the core voltage in increments of .05v and see if your PC will boot. be careful though, if you raise it too much, you will fry your CPU. I don't know how high you can go, but no matter what, you will want to put your PC through a 12 -24 hr Prime95 torture test. Monitor the CPU temps and make sure you don't get too hot.

 

[hvn4179]

My 2nd (exchanged) CPU was able to unlock using the simple BIOS setting but even it passed torture tests and run cool, once in awhile it has a slight freeze on a couple applications (app start required). Right now, I've it run with 2 cores and overclocked it to 4 Ghz.

 

[trevor011]

tnx, ironman..

will try it later when i get my cpu cooler..

 

[Gandipoland]

Downgrade bios to v 3.4 and it will work just fine on all 4 cores!!!!!