Only One Processor working?

English Hardware
#1

Just recently loaded 13.1 on my ol’ ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe with an Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Socket 939 dual core 2.4MHz processors.
Still shaking off the dust but noticed that it’s crash prone at the moment.
Checking System Monitor I noticed it now only shows activity for one CPU. Worked fine under opensuse 12.2, showed 2 processors, etc.
All that’s changed here is the software so not sure why only one processor is reporting.

Found a link regarding this topic and pulled this info based on that suggestion but i don’t know how to interpret it actually:

JeepNut@linux-twnw:~> cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor       : 0
vendor_id       : AuthenticAMD
cpu family      : 15
model           : 35
model name      : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4800+
stepping        : 2
microcode       : 0x4d
cpu MHz         : 2410.761
cache size      : 1024 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 1
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 1
apicid          : 0
initial apicid  : 0
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 1
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt lm 3dnowext 3dnow rep_good nopl extd_apicid pni lahf_lm cmp_legacy
bogomips        : 4821.52
TLB size        : 1024 4K pages
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts fid vid ttp

Can anyone confirm for me whether I’m running on only one processor?
And if so, any ideas how to determine what’s going on?
Is my processor down a core or is this software/firmware issue?

Thanks!

#2

Yes, you only show one processor “block” in there (starting with processor
: 0) where you should have at least two (processor : 1, etc.).

Why? No good ideas. All of the default kernels support at least two
processors afaik, so this seems a bit odd. How about some additional
output from commands:

Code:

cat /proc/cmdline
uname -a
rpm -qa | grep kernel

–
Good luck.

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#3

Yes, apparently you are only using 1 core.

Are you maybe booting to “recovery mode”? That would turn off additional cores (among other things) for compatibility.

Please post your kernel boot options:

cat /proc/cmdline
#4

On 2014-02-18 19:16, SomeSuSEUser wrote:
> And if so, any ideas how to determine what’s going on?

Did you boot in safemode, perhaps? It disables all cores save one.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.

(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” (Minas Tirith))

#5

Yes I was afraid that I should be seeing data for a processor : 1 also…
OK here’s the output of those cmndlines:


JeepNut@linux-twnw:~> cat /proc/cmdline
BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.11.10-7-desktop root=UUID=73afb39b-0903-40d5-b0ff-dfb4fbaaaf75 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD2500HHTZ-60N21V0_WD-WXB1E62TEY98-part2 splash=silent quiet showopts

JeepNut@linux-twnw:~> uname -a
Linux linux-twnw 3.11.10-7-desktop #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Feb 3 09:41:24 UTC 2014 (750023e) x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

JeepNut@linux-twnw:~> rpm -qa | grep kernel
kernel-desktop-3.11.10-7.1.x86_64

Thanks!

#6

Also have confirmed in the BIOS that I don’t have anything there locking out a core or anything. This aging ASUS board doesn’t sport the “most configurable BIOS ever” either.
I don’t find any options in BIOS that allow me to bypass or shut off a core or anything near that complicated.
And although I’m not finding an option for “adjustable” processors or enable/disable options, everywhere in BIOS screens that the processor is mentioned, it’s referencing 2 cores. So the BIOS knows that it is a dual core processor.

Whether that is really any indicator of core health or not I do not know.
It seems very possible to me that the BIOS could show there is a dual core type processor installed, but still have one of those cores failing or failed and not performing at all.

I’ve also confirmed that I didn’t get booted into safe mode somehow and I was/am not.

#7

On 02/18/2014 02:16 PM, SomeSuSEUser wrote:
>
> Also have confirmed in the BIOS that I don’t have anything there locking
> out a core or anything. This aging ASUS board doesn’t sport the “most
> configurable BIOS ever” either.
> I don’t find any options in BIOS that allow me to bypass or shut off a
> core or anything near that complicated.
> And although I’m not finding an option for “adjustable” processors or
> enable/disable options, everywhere in BIOS screens that the processor is
> mentioned, it’s referencing 2 cores. So the BIOS knows that it is a
> dual core processor.
>
> Whether that is really any indicator of core health or not I do not
> know.
> It seems very possible to me that the BIOS could show there is a dual
> core type processor installed, but still have one of those cores failing
> or failed and not performing at all.
>
> I’ve also confirmed that I didn’t get booted into safe mode somehow and
> I was/am not.

Two quick ways to check the number of CPUs is to ‘cat /proc/interrupts’, or
‘dmesg | grep smpboot’. If you truly have only one running, you need to check
the output of dmesg to see why.

BTW, a standard openSUSE kernel is configured to have a maximum of 512 CPUs.

#8 
JeepNut@linux-twnw:~> cat /proc/interrupts
           CPU0       
  0:        120    XT-PIC-XT-PIC    timer
  1:          2    XT-PIC-XT-PIC    i8042
  2:          0    XT-PIC-XT-PIC    cascade
  5:      17146    XT-PIC-XT-PIC    ohci_hcd:usb2, sata_sil24, snd_hda_intel, snd_cmipci
  6:          3    XT-PIC-XT-PIC    floppy
  7:       5090    XT-PIC-XT-PIC    ehci_hcd:usb1
  8:          0    XT-PIC-XT-PIC    rtc0
  9:          0    XT-PIC-XT-PIC    acpi
 10:      54644    XT-PIC-XT-PIC    nouveau, firewire_ohci
 11:      58496    XT-PIC-XT-PIC    sata_nv, sata_nv
 12:          4    XT-PIC-XT-PIC    i8042
 14:          0    XT-PIC-XT-PIC    pata_amd
 15:          0    XT-PIC-XT-PIC    pata_amd
 21:      11435   PCI-MSI-edge      enp2s0
NMI:        158   Non-maskable interrupts
LOC:    3877186   Local timer interrupts
SPU:          0   Spurious interrupts
PMI:        158   Performance monitoring interrupts
IWI:     597918   IRQ work interrupts
RTR:          0   APIC ICR read retries
RES:          0   Rescheduling interrupts
CAL:          0   Function call interrupts
TLB:          0   TLB shootdowns
TRM:          0   Thermal event interrupts
THR:          0   Threshold APIC interrupts
MCE:          0   Machine check exceptions
MCP:        102   Machine check polls
ERR:          1
MIS:          0

JeepNut@linux-twnw:~> dmesg | grep smpboot
    0.000000] smpboot: Allowing 1 CPUs, 0 hotplug CPUs
    0.017102] smpboot: weird, boot CPU (#0) not listed by the BIOS
    0.017104] smpboot: SMP motherboard not detected
    0.018000] smpboot: SMP disabled
    0.025006] smpboot: Total of 1 processors activated (4822.15 BogoMIPS)
JeepNut@linux-twnw:~>

So I’ve only got one CPU responding… => why?
Could this be a “bad load” of some sort during installation?
Would there be any reason to suspect a fresh download and reinstalling the OS might resolve?

How do you prove that 1 core is “dead” in a CPU?
…or do CPUs even fail like that?

Interesting messages from the code above…
“boot CPU (#0) not listed by the BIOS”… is that a clue?
SMP disabled… is that a bad thing?

… what kind of tale do those outputs tell?
Thanks!

#9

On 02/19/2014 12:16 AM, SomeSuSEUser wrote:
>
> lwfinger;2625733 Wrote:
>> …
>> Two quick ways to check the number of CPUs is to ‘cat /proc/interrupts’,
>> or
>> ‘dmesg | grep smpboot’. If you truly have only one running, you need to
>> check
>> the output of dmesg to see why.
>> …
>
>
>
> Code:
> --------------------
> JeepNut@linux-twnw:~> cat /proc/interrupts
> CPU0
> 0: 120 XT-PIC-XT-PIC timer
> 1: 2 XT-PIC-XT-PIC i8042
> 2: 0 XT-PIC-XT-PIC cascade
> 5: 17146 XT-PIC-XT-PIC ohci_hcd:usb2, sata_sil24, snd_hda_intel, snd_cmipci
> 6: 3 XT-PIC-XT-PIC floppy
> 7: 5090 XT-PIC-XT-PIC ehci_hcd:usb1
> 8: 0 XT-PIC-XT-PIC rtc0
> 9: 0 XT-PIC-XT-PIC acpi
> 10: 54644 XT-PIC-XT-PIC nouveau, firewire_ohci
> 11: 58496 XT-PIC-XT-PIC sata_nv, sata_nv
> 12: 4 XT-PIC-XT-PIC i8042
> 14: 0 XT-PIC-XT-PIC pata_amd
> 15: 0 XT-PIC-XT-PIC pata_amd
> 21: 11435 PCI-MSI-edge enp2s0
> NMI: 158 Non-maskable interrupts
> LOC: 3877186 Local timer interrupts
> SPU: 0 Spurious interrupts
> PMI: 158 Performance monitoring interrupts
> IWI: 597918 IRQ work interrupts
> RTR: 0 APIC ICR read retries
> RES: 0 Rescheduling interrupts
> CAL: 0 Function call interrupts
> TLB: 0 TLB shootdowns
> TRM: 0 Thermal event interrupts
> THR: 0 Threshold APIC interrupts
> MCE: 0 Machine check exceptions
> MCP: 102 Machine check polls
> ERR: 1
> MIS: 0
>
> JeepNut@linux-twnw:~> dmesg | grep smpboot
> 0.000000] smpboot: Allowing 1 CPUs, 0 hotplug CPUs
> 0.017102] smpboot: weird, boot CPU (#0) not listed by the BIOS
> 0.017104] smpboot: SMP motherboard not detected
> 0.018000] smpboot: SMP disabled
> 0.025006] smpboot: Total of 1 processors activated (4822.15 BogoMIPS)
> JeepNut@linux-twnw:~>
>
> --------------------
>
>
> So I’ve only got one CPU responding… => why?
> Could this be a “bad load” of some sort during installation?
> Would there be any reason to suspect a fresh download and
> reinstalling the OS might resolve?

I do not think a bad install is responsible. Hold off on re-installation for the
moment.

> How do you prove that 1 core is “dead” in a CPU?
> …or do CPUs even fail like that?

Yes, one core could fail in any number of ways. Whether it would do that without
the BIOS complaining is a question that only the BIOS authors could answer.

> Interesting messages from the code above…
> “boot CPU (#0) not listed by the BIOS”… is that a clue?
> SMP disabled… is that a bad thing?

SMP disabled is a symptom, not the cause. The real reason is that the BIOS only
listed #1 and not #0. When the kernel only found one CPU, there was no reason to
have SMP.

> … what kind of tale do those outputs tell?
> Thanks!

What you can do, however, is boot the installation media. In fact, the 12.2
media would be best. If it is the Live ISO, then open a terminal and run the
above tests. For the NET and DVD ISOs, boot into rescue mode and do the same.
Does this show SMP? If 12.2 is still OK, then try the 13.1 media. It is always
possible that a kernel bug has been introduced that keeps only your
configuration from working with multiple CPUs. Unlikely, but possible.

If none of these steps show both CPUs, then enter the BIOS and reset to factory
defaults. You will need to reset the time, any boot medium settings, and
anything else that you know has been changed. Did that help?

The final thing would be to try to reload or update the BIOS. Of course, that is
always a risky step that may brick the motherboard if it fails.

#10

Not sure if that could possibly help in this case, but try to install kernel-firmware.
This contains updated microcode for certain CPUs, but it isn’t installed automatically in every case on 13.1 due to https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=847158

#11

Oops, sorry. The microcode is in ucode-amd of course (which might not get installed automatically on 13.1. because of that bug), so check if you have that installed.
This comes from the kernel-firmware src rpm as well, that’s why I mixed them up.

But again, I have no idea if that could help in this case.

#12

On 02/19/2014 06:06 AM, wolfi323 wrote:
>
> wolfi323;2625793 Wrote:
>> Not sure if that could possibly help in this case, but try to install
>> kernel-firmware.
>> This contains updated microcode for certain CPUs, but it isn’t installed
>> automatically in every case on 13.1 due to
>> https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=847158
>
> Oops, sorry. The microcode is in ucode-amd of course (which might not
> get installed automatically on 13.1. because of that bug), so check if
> you have that installed.
> This comes from the kernel-firmware src rpm as well, that’s why I mixed
> them up.
>
> But again, I have no idea if that could help in this case.

Most of the processors that need firmware loaded at boot time are newer models.
Do any of the Athlon models need such firmware? None of mine do.

I’m not sure that missing firmware would make CPU #0 unavailable. I would expect
#1 to be absent in that case.

#13

On Wed 19 Feb 2014 06:16:01 AM CST, SomeSuSEUser wrote:

lwfinger;2625733 Wrote:
> …
> Two quick ways to check the number of CPUs is to
> ‘cat /proc/interrupts’, or
> ‘dmesg | grep smpboot’. If you truly have only one running, you need
> to check
> the output of dmesg to see why.
> …

Code:

JeepNut@linux-twnw:~> cat /proc/interrupts
CPU0
0: 120 XT-PIC-XT-PIC timer
1: 2 XT-PIC-XT-PIC i8042
2: 0 XT-PIC-XT-PIC cascade
5: 17146 XT-PIC-XT-PIC ohci_hcd:usb2, sata_sil24,
snd_hda_intel, snd_cmipci 6: 3 XT-PIC-XT-PIC floppy
7: 5090 XT-PIC-XT-PIC ehci_hcd:usb1
8: 0 XT-PIC-XT-PIC rtc0
9: 0 XT-PIC-XT-PIC acpi
10: 54644 XT-PIC-XT-PIC nouveau, firewire_ohci
11: 58496 XT-PIC-XT-PIC sata_nv, sata_nv
12: 4 XT-PIC-XT-PIC i8042
14: 0 XT-PIC-XT-PIC pata_amd
15: 0 XT-PIC-XT-PIC pata_amd
21: 11435 PCI-MSI-edge enp2s0
NMI: 158 Non-maskable interrupts
LOC: 3877186 Local timer interrupts
SPU: 0 Spurious interrupts
PMI: 158 Performance monitoring interrupts
IWI: 597918 IRQ work interrupts
RTR: 0 APIC ICR read retries
RES: 0 Rescheduling interrupts
CAL: 0 Function call interrupts
TLB: 0 TLB shootdowns
TRM: 0 Thermal event interrupts
THR: 0 Threshold APIC interrupts
MCE: 0 Machine check exceptions
MCP: 102 Machine check polls
ERR: 1
MIS: 0

JeepNut@linux-twnw:~> dmesg | grep smpboot
0.000000] smpboot: Allowing 1 CPUs, 0 hotplug CPUs
0.017102] smpboot: weird, boot CPU (#0) not listed by the BIOS
0.017104] smpboot: SMP motherboard not detected
0.018000] smpboot: SMP disabled
0.025006] smpboot: Total of 1 processors activated (4822.15
BogoMIPS) JeepNut@linux-twnw:~>

So I’ve only got one CPU responding… => why?
Could this be a “bad load” of some sort during installation?
Would there be any reason to suspect a fresh download and
reinstalling the OS might resolve?

How do you prove that 1 core is “dead” in a CPU?
…or do CPUs even fail like that?

Interesting messages from the code above…
“boot CPU (#0) not listed by the BIOS”… is that a clue?
SMP disabled… is that a bad thing?

… what kind of tale do those outputs tell?
Thanks!

Hi
I have a AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+ running here on
a ASUS A8N-SLI Premium ACPI BIOS Revision 1303.

But from your output it looks like there is an acpi issue since it
isn’t on. Haven’t made any changes in the BIOS or maybe it was reset to
defaults?

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 13.1 (Bottle) (x86_64) GNOME 3.10.2 Kernel 3.11.10-7-desktop
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please show your appreciation and click on the star below… Thanks!

#14

As I said, I don’t know.
Mine doesn’t either (Athlon 64 3000+, but that’s single core anyway).

But I remembered that bug report and the 13.1 update, so I thought I should mention that. Although the bug report doesn’t mention anything about a core not being recognized.

#15

And there it is.
Got the same results with a 12.2 KDE LIVE CD and a 13.1 KDE Live disc as well as the 13.1 installation disc “rescue” boot option.
So I went through the BIOS again and I could not find anything that said to me “limit yourself to one core”.
But returning the BIOS to system defaults did the trick.
Booted back up into 13.1 from /sda1 and viola! 2 cores showing up in System Monitor.

Thanks for the push. I obviously need to understand my BIOS better… If I hit upon the errant setting, will share.

*@wolfi: *
Wanted to confirm that I did install kernel firmware tools early in the process of troubleshooting. It didn’t seem to help anything but didn’t hurt either.
You also however mentioned seeing my kernel boot options:

BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.11.10-7-desktop root=UUID=73afb39b-0903-40d5-b0ff-dfb4fbaaaf75 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD2500HHTZ-60N21V0_WD-WXB1E62TEY98-part2 splash=silent quiet showopts

Anything remarkable there? I’m not sure what half of that means.

*@malcomlewis:
*

But from your output it looks like there is an acpi issue since it isn’t on.

Yeah I normally turn all that stuff off. But it’s an interesting thing to note and keep in the back of my mind.

As I mentioned, I will tag the thread again if I find out what setting in BIOS was locking out one of the cores to the OS.

THANKS EVERYONE for your kind assistance chasing that down.

#16

No, that’s pretty standard.
To explain:
root= specifies the root partition to use, resume= tells from which partition to try to resume after hibernation (should be the swap partition normally), splash=silent and quiet turn off all text messages during boot and show the splash screen instead.
And grub1 only shows options after the showopts on its kernel command line, so it is there that the standard options are not shown. (I think this has no effect for grub2 though)