Windows XP Multi Core config - Does your OEM do it for you?

can you take a snapshot of the error message that you see? i can try and translate.

save it as a JPG or BMP and attach it

 

This is the error, in portuguese and in english (i tried in potuguese english and spanish). I do have the service pack 2. Do i have to modified it to be able to use the patch?

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/9319/erro2dn9.png

thks for the help

 

hmmm, let me give you a very simple suggestion.

- Go to your Control Panel
- Go to Regional and Language Options
- set all settings to English and United States


- now try the English hotfix

If that does not work, try to set it all to Portuguese and try the Portuguese XP hotfix....

If that does not work, try to set it all to Spanish and try the Spanish XP hotfix....

thats the simplest way that I can think of for your problem.

Tell me how it goes.

-Gophn

 

looks like an update and final verison of this KB has been released.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...48-8240-4934-bbd8-34fb8a0fce3b&DisplayLang=en

&

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...9d-c427-4f40-bc56-f481837effbe&DisplayLang=en

 

thanks for the heads up, I'm going to upload them with other available languages to some mirror sites.

 

This last patch finaly worked on my pc but... the super pi and 3dmark scores are the same :S maybe my pc was already configured... xD i have around 1500 (cpu score) points in the 3dmark2006 and 32.xx seconds in super pi 1M (i have an dual core 1.83GHz
thks for all the help

 

for super pi scores,i am getting 4 minutes 20 seconds for my acer aspire, for calculating pi upto 2 m. i read in another review that it is around 2 mins, i have set the cpu speed to maximum, and the power cable plugged in, this is very low for a processor like this, i was told to dual core fix up for my notebbok but i was not able to follow the guidelines on the first page,
i have a amd turion dual core processor, do i need to install amd cpu drivers and i downloaded and installed amd dual core optimiser but was not sure whether to install cpu drivers, so from here what must i do , do i need to install the windows hot pix sorry guys but i am new to computers..

 

Hi,

Just a question. My Notebook is Intel-based. I did the regedit adjustment and boot.ini adjustment before installing SP2 and installing the hotfix for my Windows. Have i done anything wrongly? will the adjustment still work?

I'm using Windows MCE btw. Any help is appreciated

 

no its fine. you can do the steps in any order really. i made the steps to help people do it the quickest.

P.S. this is my 1000th post.... dang, i thought that my Clevo Guide update was going to be my 1000th.. o well

 

Thanks. BTW is there any way to check whether the KB896256 update is already installed? I downloaded and installed the patch from your original post mirror sites, but it doesn't ask me to restart my computer like the pic in your original post does.

Thanks again.

 

To check on WinXP hotfixes:
- go to Control Panel
- Add/Remove Programs
- check " Show Updates" on top
- now scroll down to check on the particular hotfix, its in numerical order.

 

Well, I did the hotfix on my m570u today, and saw an extremely minimal improvement.

My overall 3DMark06 score went from 5223 to 5290 and the CPU portion went from 1686 to 1690. How does this correspond to what should be expected from this fix? (And this hardware configuration, for that matter?)

Core2Duo T7200 (2GHz), GF Go 7950 GTX, 2GB Ram, 100GB 7200RPM HDD

 

Core 2 Duo's seem to have optimized settings already, you results are probably the average for C2D owners. AMD Athlon X2/Turion X2/dual-core Opterons & Intel Core Duo's have a more noticeable performance increase.

Congrats on the new notebook, hope that you can give us some impressions of it or even a review of it with some pics.

 

Aye, I need to stop using it long enough to actually sit down and do a review of it.

I'll do that after I get linux fully up and running on it. That's my plan at least.

 

Ok, i did the multicore config from the beginning and experienced no performance increase. I want to update to the newer multicore fix submitted by Tenchi. Would i have to uninstall the previous 896256 V3 hotfix before installing V4?

 

no, no need to uninstall. The Updated hotfix can just be installed over the older version.

 

I have an HP dv6000t and after downloading the hotfix and performing all steps I get a screen on startup that asks me to chose the OS to boot up and gives 30 seconds to do so. I don't think that this did this before, and if it did it definitely didn't give me 30 seconds. Is there a way to disable this or change the time it gives me? Also when I look in add/remove programs it lists the Hotfix as being installed in september, so HP might have actually installed.

 

Dang it, you copied and pasted the BOOT.ini example didnt you?!?

I said it was an example ONLY.

I made sure to prevent people from doing that.

I can help you fix it, copy and paste the BOOT.ini that you have currently.

I'll help you correct it.

 

here it is:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
/usepmtimer

all I did was added "/usepmtimer"

 

I figured it out. After I added to the boot.ini it automatically enabled the "time to display list of operating systems" option. So I just unchecked it and everything is fine now. The boot.ini looks the same except it lists timeout=0 instead of timeout=30.

 

umm.. that works too, but the real solution is to move the /usepmtimer to the last line... NOT to give it another line.

Like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimer

 

what if my partition equals 2... should i change it in the boot.ini?????

 

no, do not do anything to your boot.ini, except to add the the /usepmtimer to the last line.

Like I said, the Example BOOT.INI should not be copied, it should only be used for an illustration to show where to add the /usepmtimer.

If you modify anything in your BOOT.INI, you are going to cause problems for your boot-up.

 

there, this should the final update for this thread...
or until I get a hold of some of the Vista editions to see if they need optimization for multi-cores.

I might just turn this thread into the Windows XP/Vista Multi Core config thread if needed.

Game On People,
-Gophn

 

Just let me know if/when you want the title changed, I would be more than happy to do so.

 

Hey Gophn, thanks for all your help.

I got one question though, sorry if it's already been answered.

On that HotFix, it says:

Computers that are running Windows XP Service Pack 2 and that are equipped with multiple processors that support processor power management features may experience decreased performance.

Dual Cores are not multiple processors, but one processor with two cores. So why would this Hot Fix apply? Thanks.

 

If you had a chance to read the entire MS 896256 article... then you would have found this as well:

So there you go, this is for:
- multi processors
- multi-core processors
- multiple logical core processors (ex. Hyper Threading)

Hope that clears things up,
-Gophn

 

Okay here's my situation....

Have me AMD X2 4400 processor up and running, thought I'd try this out. First I tried downloading the Dual Core Optimizer since I already had a AMD Processor Driver installed.... I did NOT download the one posted here, because I wasn't sure if I should uninstall my current drivers. Anyways, after installing the Dual Core Optimizer, my computer went black and restarted when it got into Windows.... so I went in to Safe Mode and took it out and uninstalled it.

Next, I figured I'd try the windows hotfix route. I didn't have the "Throttle" folder, so I created one and put in exactly the PerfEnablePackageIdle thing and changed the value to 1. I exited and then went to the boot.ini file and put in the /usepmtimer.... restarted, nothing bad happened.

So I had gotten a 3DMark06 score of 5274 BEFORE I did any of the tweaks, and AFTER I got a 5285. Presumabely because I didn't have AIM open the 2nd time... there was no change.

Am I forgetting a step? Do I need to anything in addition to the windows hotfix, or have any idea why things aren't working?

 

Welcome to the NBR forums.

Nice scores, well i see that you did pretty much everything....

except you didnt say anything about downloading the XP Hotfix and installing it.

Other than that, if you did everything in the Registry and Boot.ini (similar to the pics) then you are good to go.

What kind of system do you have, custom built or bought in store?

 

I downloaded the hotfix and installed it (it shows in my programs list in my control panel add/remove option). I'm pretty sure I did everything you mentioned... I saw a little improvement in the game Vanguard I've been playing, but they did patch it and mention performance tweaks in the patch notes, so I don't know if it's just from that. I didn't notice a change in 3Dmark06 at all, but maybe it is doing stuff other places....

I ordered my PC custom built from Cyberpower a few years back, but just upgraded from a amd 3500+ to a x2 4400 and from a gefore 6800 to a 7950gt. So it's custom built really.

 

You did everything right, most of the time I look at the 3DMark06 CPU score rather than the overall score. The difference is usually marginal, but you can feel it in certain games like BF2 or Oblivion.

 

Hm okay. Well I just figured since everyone else (well most everyone) was reporting leaps of 1000+ on their 3dMark06 scores, I might be expecting something. I guess things seem a LITTLE faster, but then again that might just be my mind playing tricks on me =)

 

First of all, this is a great thread.

I read almost every page, and I'm wondering if this hotfix would be worth it on my machine (I'm a noob so I'd rather not get this technical unless I'd see a real fix).

The machine I have is in my sig. I'm asking b/c I saw a post that said core 2 duo's see a very small performance gain. If the gain will be small I won't even bother. When I got my system I did a clean install of windows xpmce 2005. (in case that makes a difference). thanks very much. great thread!

PS - I do a fair bit of gaming so that's the reason I'm interested in the hotfix.

 

You can install it, and it would not hurt you system, but for Core 2 Duo's...

it seems that they are always running at full speed, rather than "speed-stepp"ing like their predecessors. So the hotfix usually shows not too much of a difference.

The hotfix does make sure that XP is utilizing both cores evenly... that a good thing to have piece of mind with.

 

Thanks for your quick post - I'll go ahead and perform the hotfix then. The idea of the 2 cores running evenly does sound good. I'll 'before and after' with 3dmark06 too and post the results. thanks.

 

I don't have the exact 3DMARK06 test numbers as I left them at home, but I can tell you that my Overall Score went up only 6 points after the hotfix, while my CPU score went down 4.

Still a net +2 I suppose but it didn't seem to improve anything for me.

 

Hi!
I saw this very interesting thread and wanted to win some fps on my laptop (see specs below). I did not have any of these things done (patch, reg trick...) so I did them all.
But before I ran a full set of benchmarks:
CPUMARK, PCMARK 05, 3DMARK 06, CINEBENCH, SCIENCEMARK, LOTR Online on High Settings and BF2 on very high, both tested with FRAPS.
Then I did the exact same set of test, in the same order, with exactly the same background processes running.

Here are the changes from BEFORE to AFTER modifications (note that I take into account only the test using mainly the processor):
- CPU MARK: +0.00%
- PC MARK 05: 4008 -> 4012: +0.1%
- 3D MARK 06: 2276 -> 2274: - 0.1%
- CINEBENCH: Single threaded: +0.0%, Double threaded: +0.2%
Only exception: "Shading (OpenGL Hardware Lighting)": 2971 -> 3189: +7%
- Science Mark: Overall: 824 -> 810: -1.7%
- LOTR Online: +0.00%
- BF2: from -1% to +0.3% with an average at +0.1%

Average change (weighted average): +0.003% which, of course, doesn't mean anything (another run could have given a different but still unsignificant result)

Hardware: Asus A8Jm, Centrino Duo T2400, 1GB DDR2-667, HDD 4200rpm, nVidia GeForce GO 7600.

My conclusion is: there is something else to be done, OR already done, which leads to no difference in using this trick. Is my XP SP2 by Asus already patched and optimized? Or does my settings require any additional changed to be made in order to get the best out of my Duo?

Just to be sure, here is what I did:
Checked for patch, not here, so I installed the french one from your links.
Regedit: no such key, I created it, and added the DWORD value and gave it a 1.
Boot.ini: added the switch at the end of the only matching line (I have no dual boot).
Rebooted PC, and started to bench!

If anyone had an idea on how to to make this trick work, or at least to be sure it is not possible.

Thank you guys! Read you soon I hope.

 

Wow thanks for the thorough benchmarks, it seems that most of the OEMs have caught on, and usually have the hotfix and an Intel chipset software (that I have been suspecting already gives the dual core optimization w/o having to mess with the OS) installed ahead of time. Although you have a Core Duo (Yonah), it should have had some effect. When you are testing 3Dmark or games, make sure that the Powermizer (in the Nvidia Control Panel) is set to Max Performance (on both AC Power and Battery). And disable System Restore (since is a rarely used feature thats hogging 10-15% of resources/performance).

I would not worry about your score after the doing the hotfix, it only helps the OS utilize both scores when needed... especially for the programs/games that fully support it.

-Gophn

 

Yeah, for sure the optimization is already in place
Powermizer was of course on MAX and AC was plugged.
Sys restore is on but was on in both case so no impact on percentages values.

The quesiton isnow: should I revert the changes back to how it was before? Or is it alright to let it like that anyway?

Thanks for the quick answer Gophn, read you soon!

 

I would leave it they way it is, newer games/applications will need that multi-core hotfix in place to get optimal performance,

The hotifx only helps

 

Under.. (Other Languages) Windows XP Hotfix Patch: KB896256 (from LaptopVideo2go):

I cant find swedish ^^ where can I find a swedish patch for this?

 

Microsoft made it Public now - just checked all languages working and ready for download (WGA Validation).

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...48-8240-4934-BBD8-34FB8A0FCE3B&displaylang=en

You may need to validate your copy ( WGA ) in order to download this patch.

Just change to swedish and have fun

New Version V4

Halmacpi.dll 5.1.2600.3023 134,400 30-Oct-2006 11:27 x86 SP2
Ntkrnlmp.exe 5.1.2600.3023 2,137,600 30-Oct-2006 12:11 x86 SP2
Ntkrnlpa.exe 5.1.2600.3023 2,059,264 29-Oct-2006 19:27 x86 SP2
Ntkrpamp.exe 5.1.2600.3023 2,017,280 30-Oct-2006 11:27 x86 SP2
Ntoskrnl.exe 5.1.2600.3023 2,182,016 30-Oct-2006 12:13 x86 SP2

 

thanks for the heads up, i already knew and added the direct link for the English version a while back.

But i'll add the link for those that have XP in other languages.

 

Great Thread! Thanks for sharing. my 3D Mak 06 went from 4637 to 4986

 

nice score boost there.

 

Gophn, happen to get vista yet? Waiting to see what you say regarding dual core and vista.

 

yea i got Vista Ultimate 32bit and 64bit, all free from Intel.

I initially tested a few games on it, and got disappointed by the loss in performance (compared to XP). The task manager seemed to have the multi cores both running and sharing the load, but i'll try to dig into it more later. I had to revert back to XP because I could not stand a system with low performance (gaming, 3ds, Maya, etc). I am going to set a dual boot, so that i can still use both Vista and XP.

I'll make an update when something comes up.

 

Great, looking forward to it.

 

Hello,

I seem to not have a throttle key in my registry, and when I try to add one, I get an error message telling me that I "Cannot create key: Error writing to the registry."

Anyone know what's up?

Thanks very much in advance.

 

make sure you are not using a limited account on your computer.

use an account that has Administrator access.