Posted on 03/28/2012 3:16:01 PM PDT by MeganC
Hello, I'm looking for some technical help and FR never steers me wrong!
I have an older Hewlett Packard xw8400 workstation that came with one CPU and it is now running 64 bit Windows 7 with the 2010 BIOS update. I've now inherited another 8400 that isn't working and I've transplanted the RAM, a hard drive, and the CPU to my original machine.
The motherboard has two CPU slots and the new CPU fan runs fine in the slot.
But I'm not getting the new CPU to run. I also can't find in the BIOS how to enable multiprocessor support.
Anyone have any advice?
Thank you!
I should say that I used the 2nd hard drive to get the RAID working and it is working just fine.
I thought I’d ping the 11 of you.
M/B jumper settings?
HP has the service and technical manuals for all their computers online. I found what I think is the correct manual here. There may be something of use in there.
Also, I am not sure what processor was installed in the computer. If it was a single-core processor, then you will need to reinstall Windows to see the second CPU. Windows has two versions of the 64-bit kernel: a uniprocessor kernel and a multiprocessor kernel. The kernel is selected at install time based on what processor is in the box.
Another thing i would check is that the two CPUs are the same type.
Good luck!
Thank you!
The two CPU’s are identical and they are both 4 core processors.
I’ll try reimaging it since there’s nothing on it yet.
Thank you for the advice!
I am not sure it applies.
How do I add the second processor to the HP xw6400 and xw8400 Workstations? Is a system board swap required?CPU upgrades are field and customer installable without system board swaps using the HP xw6400 or HP xw8400 Workstation CPU upgrade kits. The second processor must be the same speed and stepping as the first.
Well, you shouldn’t have to reinstall Windows if your original processor was a 4-core. There must be some other issue.
I’m wondering if there is something maybe in the BIOS. The stuff online for the 8600 mentions multiprocessor support BIOS settings but the 8400 BIOS doesn’t seem to have the same settings.
The CPU’s are identical. I checked that first before I installed the 2nd one. Also put on new thermal paste.
That’s a good theory. Also look and see if there is a jumper located near the second CPU socket. I didn’t see anything relevant in the technical guide, but the HP site might have a user guide that has more info.
What version of Win7 are you running? It looks like only some versions of Win7 will support multiple physical processors.
Win 7 Ultimate SP 1
I’m going with your advice to try reimaging it. We’ll see how that goes. (-:
Enable SMP in the bios.
I looked and I’m not seeing SMP as an option.
How about if you turn *off* hyperthreading?
Reinstalling Windows isn’t going to help if the BIOS doesn’t see the other CPU.
Just as an aside, you say the second system was not working, do you know what happened to it, and could something have happened to the second processor? As a test, and its risky, but you might be able to get a boot off of the second processor if you install it in the primary slot and remove the original processor. That way you will be able to see if you can get a boot off of it, and you may get more information about it from the bios or others diagnostic software. Just an idea. Of course, if something really bad happened to your second processor, you might actually damage your motherboard by trying the above test. If it was a junker I had laying around, I might try it, but if its your only machine or is needed for a significant reason, I probably wouldn’t try the test above. It all comes down to don’t try it, unless you can afford to lose it.
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