[SOLVED] Quad core using 2 cores?!

[xmastah78]

Today i recieved a AMD Athlon II X4 631 quad-core ive installed it and its showning that its only has 2 cores and 2 threads in task manager, cpu-z and piriform speccy. I have a generic 320w psu and i have to restart the pc several times before the monitor gets a signal for some reason im on win 8 btw, does anyone know why its only showing 2 cores is the cpu faulty i looked at the windows hardware panel and on the dropdown it shows 4 cpus which are all working??

 

[jimmysmitty]

Have you checked the BIOS to make sure the other two cores are not disabled in the BIOS?

 

[matthew_nicho2]

You may have to update your bios to the latest version for it to recognise all 4 cores. What motherboard you using?

 

[xmastah78]

ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. CM1735 (FM1 ), is it f2 to go into bios and what do you mean update the bios?

 

[xmastah78]

Could it be that the pc is trying to reduce power consumption as my psu is quite bad and the problem with the pc not restarting may be down to it, I had an amd a4 dual core before and it restarted and booted fine.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Asus uses Delete or F2. Depends on the age of the system.

 

[xmastah78]

When I restart the computer to try and get into bois mode there is no screen where i can enter it and whenn i keep pressing del or f2 the pc does not turn on at all D:

 

[xmastah78]

Hey u all helped a lot (not) , anyways I got it working by going into msconfig and changing boot settings

 

[Y0GI]

When I restart the computer to try and get into bois mode there is no screen where i can enter it and whenn i keep pressing del or f2 the pc does not turn on at all D:

Pressing Del or F2 will not "turn on" the computer. You must first push the power button on the case to power up the system. Then you should see a "POST" screen appear, which lists hardware, BIOS version, etc. As soon as the POST screen appears, start tapping Del or F2.
See if that works.

Yogi

 

[matthew_nicho2]

By the sounds of it you may not have enough power OR the bios doesn't recognise the cpu and gives up (shutdown). I cant find anywhere that says that this motherboard will support the Athlon cpu. Just because its the same socket (fm1) doesn't mean its compatible.

Personally I would put your old cpu back in and check if you can get into the bios and check its working. If that works find out what version your bios is check if there is a newer version on the ASUS website (I think this one is yours): -

https://www.asus.com/us/Tower-PCs/CM1735/HelpDesk_Download/

The program that you need to do the update is also there. Here is a vid that explains how to do it (a bit cheesy but it serves its purpose): -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vr4y8rUNXA

The file name and folders will differ. then if all this works put the athlon back in and see if it works better. If it still doesn't work then it is either not enough power(psu), defective cpu or most likely not compatible.

so tldr:-

1. but old cpu back in
2. update the bios to the latest version (if not already up-to-date)
3. put athlon back in
4. success?

 

[matthew_nicho2]

Glad I couldn't help...

Shouldn't have needed to go to msconfig and dictate the no of cores unless you already manual set it. Whatever, working is working.

 

[xmastah78]

When I restart the computer to try and get into bois mode there is no screen where i can enter it and whenn i keep pressing del or f2 the pc does not turn on at all D:

Pressing Del or F2 will not "turn on" the computer. You must first push the power button on the case to power up the system. Then you should see a "POST" screen appear, which lists hardware, BIOS version, etc. As soon as the POST screen appears, start tapping Del or F2.
See if that works.

Yogi

Really i have to push the power button to turn on the pc?!?!?!
Well thats new info to me

But in all seriousness I don't think i was clear enough.
I meant the pc would not power on at all when I pressed the power button then proceeded to press f2 or del Im sure there's something wrong with the psu so ill get a new one

 

[xmastah78]

Glad I couldn't help...

Shouldn't have needed to go to msconfig and dictate the no of cores unless you already manual set it. Whatever, working is working.

Thnx for the answers appreciate it