Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 problems.. Second Core DISABLED in XP

[phrozenfearz]

Hello world.

My Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 is having some issues... The Intel Processor Identification Utility is reporting that the second core is "disabled". Likewise, task-manager is only showing one the load on one core (One Graph per CPU is checked).

I'm running Windows XP Professional SP2 - with all the latest recommended updates, as well as the "hotfix" released by Microsoft intended to address the issue of XP disabling all extra cores. It didn't work.

It's not disabled in BIOS, although BIOS does recognize that it is a dual-core.

I've been working at this for two days now, but have gotten nowhere. If anybody can help, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
phrzn

P.S. I posted this originally in the modern collectibles forum by accident.

[andamus]

What is the brand/model of your motherboard?

[phrozenfearz]

It is an eVGA 780i SLI ready motherboard.

[andamus]

On eVGA site I've found only one i780 Motherboard with 3-SLI. I hope this is your model.

Enter Bios, under Advanced Bios Features check that "MPS Version Control For OS" is set on "1.4"
In "Cpu configuration" check that all the core are "enabled"

[phrozenfearz]

@andamus - Yep, that's the one.

In Bios, "MPS Version Control for OS" is set to "1.4" and both cores are enabled in the CPU configuration.

I'm beginning to think I just need to "refresh" Windows' understanding my my processor - is there a way to do this without reinstalling? (I don't have my Windows disk with me...)