Need help with AMD processor problem

[Baskervore]

Hi everyone. I might have a problem with my new processor. To start off, I'll list some of my computer parts that I think might be useful to know in solving the problem.

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Socket 939
Motherboard: DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Power Supply: Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 ATX12V 550W
Operating System: Windows XP w/ SP2



Ok so here is what happened. I just upgraded to the processor listed above yesterday from an Athlon 64 3700+. The installation went smoothly. First Problem: In Device Manager, the processor shows up as "AMD Hammer Family processor - Model Unknown". Second Problem: Inthe Windows Task Manager, there is only one CPU Usage graph. It is my understanding that a dual core processor has two CPU usage graphs in the task manager.

I searched the internet a little, and I suspect that I can fix my problem by upgrading my motherboard BIOS. However, I would rather not have to do that. So my question is this: is my processor fully functional without upgrading my BIOS? (i.e. both of the cores will work normally)

I e-mailed AMD tech support (basically a verbatim e-mail of the above) and didn't get a very straight answer. To me it sounded like he wasn't able to answer my actual question, but at least he did confirm that the problems that I noticed are generally solved by a BIOS upgrade. See the below quote:

Dear customer, Thank you for contacting AMD. The Bios update is always highly recommended in order to the proper hardware recognition between the motherboard and the other connected devices and proper functioning of the system as a whole. This CPU model misidentification is a known problem that is generally solved with the Bios update. The core identification error is probably also related to the Bios version installed. Also, please be sure that you have uninstalled all the drivers related to the early CPU and that the needed drivers for your new CPU are installed properly. If you still have problems, please contact us again. Regards, Pier M. B. Branco AMD Technical Support Center

I'm thinking that if the processor works fine and absolutely normal, then I won't want to upgrade my BIOS. But, if there are other potential problems or mishaps that would result from this (like the processor behaving like a single core processor), then I'd definitely want to upgrade the BIOS.

I'm going to run 3DMark06's CPU tests sometime today to see what kind of score I get. That might shed some light on the situation.

Thoughts anyone?

[glc]

Update the bios.