OS V3.1 and Dual CPU support in MPS Multiprocessor Mode

liulai · Post by **liulai** » Fri Apr 26, 2002 12:26 am

Hi all,
I have found this forum refreshing, as I was able to find users with the same problems as mine. I have bought a Pulsar 2 only a few days ago, only to find that my Dual Athlon MP system wouldn't make my life a nightmare.
Not only do I get the "common core" of issues (copy protection pop-ups, PCI errors etc.) but also the following:
- mouse and/or keyboard stop responding after a fairly short amount of time
- I have a _very_ dangerous issue with the bus mastering function of the EIDE ports and, at present, I have my 2 EIDE HD littered with write errors. In a nutshell, I cannot be sure of the integrity of my data whenever the Pulsar card is plugged in (even with no driver or OS installed!). I have obviously tried different slots to no avail.

I have even tried the SPF 3.1 Beta9 but it doesn't seem to solve any of the problems I had with the "older" 3.01b.

Faced with the idea of shelling out another £500/£600 to buy a dedicated single-CPU box, I found all this insane! Why did I buy the Pulsar in the first place? To integrate the power of a second system within my current PC (I also have sheer space problems in my bedroom, so that's very welcome!).

I would like to know if anybody tried running their Pulsars on a Dual CPU system both in ACPI Multiprocessor and MPS Multiprocessor. In the former case, does the performance drop due to ACPI on has the advantage of causing less issues? Or it's just the same?

Thanks for your support, I dearly hope I won't have to sell my card without even have used it ONCE (and I mean for ONE project)!

Vanni

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Fri Apr 26, 2002 1:26 am

I kicked out one cpu, and installed 'Standard PC'. Do you prefer 2 cpu's, or one cpu and a Pulsar?

You could bypass CPVErrors by not loading card-registered software. Also on my VIA deck I did not have CPVE. But then again, I could not use reverbs, samplers etc. cos the pci buss has bandwidth problems.

You've just bought your card, and you tested 3.1 bèta!? Nice

As you may have found on other posts here, they're still improving the 3.1, so your bèta may not be representative... let's hope so.

at0mic.

liulai · Post by **liulai** » Fri Apr 26, 2002 2:35 am

Hi, thanks for your help.

There must be a solution...I can't just shut one CPU down, that would affect performance of all the other software, unless I create a special boot partition for the Pulsar only. I would like to use Pulsar with VST, which I have already appreciated as a Dual CPU juggler.

There must be a solution. The solution is not the Beta 9, that's for sure. Perhaps they may improve.

P.S. There is one user, nicked "subhuman", who seems to have managed to run the Pulsar on a very similar system (Tyan Thunder K7 vs. his Tyan Tiger MP). I would really value if he could let me know how he did it!

Cheers,
Vanni

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Fri Apr 26, 2002 2:43 am

Yes I think I know who you're talking about

He specifies a very specific mod of the mobo. Take a look in the tech section, 'Creamware User Setups'. Please post your setup there (this is not only a request to you, but to every Pulsarian) so the topic can be used as easy reference and one doesn't have to mention his whole setup when he's got a problem. The list makes troubleshooting sooo much easier and quicker for us. Please keep the User Setups on topic, post questions and/or remarks else where.

at0mic.

_________________
http://www.moby.com

[ This Message was edited by: at0mic on 2002-04-26 03:43 ]

liulai · Post by **liulai** » Fri Apr 26, 2002 4:11 am

Sorry atomic, maybe I am missing something but I couldn't find subhuman's "miraculous" setup in the section you mention. I can see subhuman has a single-CPU P4 system, although he did mention about having the Tiger MP in the other post.

I might be just dumbened by distress & lack of sleep (due to troubleshooting), but it would be really kind of you or subhuman himself to give me a direct clue.

Thank you so much.
Vanni

On 2002-04-26 03:43, at0mic wrote:
Yes I think I know who you're talking about He specifies a very specific mod of the mobo. Take a look in the tech section, 'Creamware User Setups'. Please post your setup there (this is not only a request to you, but to every Pulsarian) so the topic can be used as easy reference and one doesn't have to mention his whole setup when he's got a problem. The list makes troubleshooting sooo much easier and quicker for us. Please keep the User Setups on topic, post questions and/or remarks else where.

at0mic.

_________________
http://www.moby.com

[ This Message was edited by: at0mic on 2002-04-26 03:43 ]

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Fri Apr 26, 2002 8:25 am

Thunder is a server board with too much onboard stuff to make it work with Pulsar. I really doubt there will be a way to make that board work, it's a frusterating board with quirks that will drive you mad... (at least myself and one other user who didn't have CW in it had problems, and Tyan has yet to issue fixes) Anyway, I wouldn't even try to put Creamware in that board, too much onboard stuff.

liulai · Post by **liulai** » Fri Apr 26, 2002 8:32 am

Thanks for your reply, subhuman. Frankly, being that my only PC, I would have stuffed a couple of LAN cards and a SCSI controller anyway, thus making not so much of a difference from the all-in-one box that is the Thunder K7.

I would prefer thinking that, being your Tiger MP based on the same chipset, the fixes that you implemented to make it work _may_ work in my case too.

If you are not too busy, could you tell me what such fixes are?

Thanks,
Vanni

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Fri Apr 26, 2002 8:40 am

First of all most modern duallie boards don't like the MPS kernel... unstable/quirky.

Second, I found WinXP Pro in ACPI mode to be the best solution for duals due to the enhancements in ACPI found in XP. So for dual, I strongly suggest XP and not 2k.

It's not so much the onboard stuff being there but how it's implemented... I have a network card in my machine and it's fine, but SCSI will be a problem with a Creamware setup as it eats your PCI. At least if you have a fast SCSI card, of course there is a solution and that is to limit the amount of PCI traffic your SCSI card is allowed to use, generally in your SCSI card's BIOS. I remember when I had SCSI... ahh, I sure don't miss those 1+ minute boot times.