mixed stepping levels on multi processor LH3000s

[Doug Davidson]

I noticed in my event log a message about my processors being different stepping levels. Microsoft's website indicates this could cause a problem with system stability. One is a Stepping level 3 and the other is a stepping level 6.

Is this a problem?

[Greg Carlson]

Doug,

Are you getting event ID 41 pop ups? As for mixed stepping levels it is recommended to get your two cpu's to the same level however: In dual processor systems, the processor with the lowest feature set, as determined by the CPUID Features Bytes, must be the Bootstrap Processor (BSP). In the event of a tie in feature set, the tie should be resolved by selecting the BSP as the processor with the lowest stepping as determined by the CPUID instruction.
This is from: http://users.erols.com/chare/mixed.htm

Ciao,
Greg

[Arimo Laine_2]

Hello.

Official info on the mixed stepping business: http://isupport2.hp.com/Solution.asp?id=a331f6b3-39b3-11d5-beaf-0090278a7756

Shortly, HP complies with Intel specifications on the issue, so this should be checked from Intel website. For example for PIII Xeon the info is in http://developer.intel.com/design/Xeon/specupdt/24967815.pdf.

If both CPUs have same HP partnumber, there's no problem.

Only exception is Assured Availability systems, in these all CPUs must be exactly identical.

~A~