Upgrade to Dual Processor

[TH Siow]

I'm upgraded to Dual CPU Processor. ( PII 450 mhz x 2 ). And the system message shown : Dual Ready sytem initialize for Single processor. Any setting to let system know that i'm running dual processor system ?

[Mark Young_2]

Hi,

Are you using Win2k? I know that in win2k (And probably other Microsoft OS's, that if you originally installed the OS with a single processor, it will automatically install the HAL for single processor support. What this means is that if you later add a second processor, it will not be recognized in the OS.

You can contact Microsoft or check their knowledge base, but I'm pretty sure you only option is to reinstall the OS so that you can get the multiprocessor HAL installed.

Mark

[Sean T. Craig]

Hi Guys,
As a follow-up to Mark's response, here are the steps for updating the HAL in Win2K:

1. Right-click the My Computer icon on the desktop and click Properties.
2. Click the Hardware tab and click Device Manager.
3. Double-click Computer in the device list.
4. Double-click the listing under computer, usually Standard PC.
5. Click the Driver tab and click Update Driver.
6. In the installation wizard, be sure to select the option to "Display a list of the known drivers for this device..." Click Next.
7. Select the option to "Show all hardware of this device class."
8. Under Models, select "ACPI Multiprocessor PC," and click Next.
9. Follow the screen prompts to complete the installation.

If you are running NT4, use UPTOMP.EXE. See the following MS KB articles: "To Upgrade Single-Processor to Multiprocessor" (Q124541). Or "How to Manually Add Support for a Second Processor" (Q156358).

Hope this is helpful.

[Mark Young_2]

Hi,

Just a caution, if this is a server with a ACPI BIOS (advanced power and configuration interface), you cannot upgrade from a single processor regular HAL to a mulitprocessor ACPI HAL. This can result in an inability to boot the server. You want to be sure which HAL you are running before doing the upgrade. Again, it may be worth while to contact Microsoft, and I know that is what HP usually recommends.

The Netservers that have ACPI are: E60, E800, LH4, LPr, LC2000, LP1000r, LP2000r, LH3000, LH6000, LT6000r, LXr 8000, LXr 8500.

[Jonathan Rosen]

This may be obvious, but I just wanted to add that you have to upgrade to multiprocessor support in Windows before adding the other processor. If you don't do this, good luck running Win 2k. It won't boot.

I also wanted to make one other note that I didn't really see when I was setting up multiprocessor on my Netserver LH6000r.

There is something called a VRM, or virtual RAM module, that you will find on the motherboard of systems configured for multiple processors. This may be unique to Xeon systems. However, when you install the additional processors, you MUST:

1) Go to device manager in Win2k and change the system type under Computer to ACPI Multiprocessor (or if your system is not ACPI compliant, there are other multiprocessor options). Just make sure you know whether it is ACPI compliant or not.

2) Restart.

3) Shutdown the computer.

4) Add the other processor, and if your motherboard has a slot for VRM's, then you must add an additional VRM in the slot for processor #2, and additional VRM's for each additional processor.

If you don't do this, your system either will run terribly, or more likely won't boot at all. I know with mine, I couldn't even get the BIOS load screen without the VRM installed.

Apparently the VRM allows for memory management with multiple CPU's. Without it, the system doesn't know how to divide resources between processors.

-Jon