I have a DUAL CPU motherboard here, but when using 2 CPU's it tends to freeze up for some reason. When using 1 CPU it works just fine, what would cause this problem? Both CPU's are 350Mhz, and i dont know if any other numbers need to match inorder for the system to work right.

Hi Chris Trebesch: From what I've heard over the years is dual CPU motherboards need an OS & programs that take advantage of the second CPU. That's might be the reason your PC freezes , the XP OS night not be designed for dual CPUs. I think Win NT & 2000 were (guessing), but again the program also need to be written for the second CPU or you gain nothing. Good luck. Z

XP Pro supports dual processors, but I don't know why your system is freezing. Maybe the 2nd processor is having problems. Have you tried swapping them, and see if you freeze up using it just as a single? Just a thought. Good luck.

Hello there, I myself am just about to setup another Dual CPU system and contrary to popular belief you gain a lot through the use of a Dual CPU system. The operating system just has to support multi-processing. Current popular operating systems that support this are Win NT(check versions), Win 2000 and Win XP Pro(the home and personal editions do not support multi-processing so if your using one of those versions of the OS, that could be your problem). Also Linux utilises multi-processing. Add to this it supports a lot more CPU's than Win XP Pro, which only supports up to 2 CPU's at this time. So that is the main help I can give you. The other is that some Dual CPU boards are fussy. In these cases, the CPU's(I am guessing you have Pentium II or III) CPU's you have not specified, must be Dual CPU compatible, for the Pentium II CPU's you will need to consult the Intel site and check your processor individual specifications(even with processors that support dual processing some of the CPU's failed this criteria for reasons detailed by Intel for some batches(most however didn't and this is a rare case, you should check out your CPU's if there P III's also). Consult the manufacturer of the motherboard if in doubt as to the exact CPU's they supported with the processing. I can tell you that with the Pentium III CPU's they often have to be Coppermine or the 512K Tualatin processors, however the Intel site does state that many of the 256K Tualatin processors are dual CPU compatible in fact even different speeds should work. The system will just run at the slower of the 2 CPU speeds. Once again it's totally motherboard dependent at the end of the day. So failing all that consult the manufacturer directly.(This information is for the S370 processors, I am not certain of the Slot range of processors as I havn't studied them in close detail like the socket CPU's) Finally just for your reference, a Dual CPU system running an OS that supports multi-processing is a gem and all these people that will tell you it does nothing have never run a dual CPU system in there life. For example I can burn CD's while MP3ing while surfing the net while having a couple of Office applications all running at the same time without reducing the computational rate of the MP3ing process or risking a buffer overun or worse with the burn process all using just IDE hard disk drives. Try doing that on your single CPU systems and tell me you don't get a degradation in computing performance, not to mention a total loss of MP3ing power. Basically the 2 CPU's are assigned different tasks and effectively you have at least a 50% increase in speed and at least twice the capability of multitasking applications. Yes if your just a big game head then dual CPU's are not for you unless you wish to play Quake 3 with some amazing performance difference(but then it's an older game right people?). However there is the added advantage of being able to be the server at your next LAN and not get any decrease in performane. You guessed it 1 CPU will perform the server tasks(controlled by the operating system), while the other does all the computing for your beloved game(sound more appealing now game heads). Basically anyone who is into REAL computing(mathematical calculations, heavy CAD design programs etc), will benefit immensely from a Dual CPU system. So go for it and get it working. All the best, Sean.

Let me clear a few things up for you guys. I have a Dual PIII 1GHz system running XP Pro. XP allows you to set the processor you want applications to run on, hence you can set all your background apps to 1 CPU and set just one application to run on the second CPU! However, if you don't set the affinity, XP just automatically evens out the field. All SYSTEM apps are automatically run on both processors, unfortunitely. As for the system freezes, I can help you with that. I was running into those problems too. The system would run fine and then just stop all together, and nothing would respond, right? Well, I went in search of a reason (still looking...) and someone said that it could be your power supply (which it's not.) so I had my system running on 2 power supplys. But that didn't fix it. Conclusion: Under clock your CPU's about 20-25%. It made my system more stable than ever before. Both my PIII's are running at 756MHz and I haven't had a single freeze up in about 2 months. :) I don't like the fix, but it works. I'm still seaking an alternitive solution to get my 500MHz back. Matt. Email me for more info.