Help with unlocking AMD Phenom II x2 555 BE cores

[MufinMcFlufin]

Hey, I'm using, as stated in the title, an AMD Phenom II x2 555 BE CPU on a MSI 880GM-e43 Motherboard, and was hoping to get some advice on how to unlock my cpu to a quad core. I know the motherboard natively supports unlocking this processor in particular, but I couldn't find any official support. I went through the BIOS, and found an (iirc,) 'Unlock Cores' option, set to enabled, but I'm still only using two cores. If any more information is needed, I'll be sure to provide it to the best of my knowledge for anyone willing to help.

EDIT: just checked the BIOS again, and the option is called 'Unlock CPU Core' which doesn't show up in the manual. Set to Enabled, and still only two cores.

 

[trents]

You do realize don't you that many or most CPUs with locked cores cannot be successfully unlocked and even if the cores will unlock they may not be stable. Sounds like you did what you could do. Sometimes it helps to increase the CPU core voltage a little but if none of the hidden cores are showing up without it I doubt if that would help. The only other thing I would suggest is to make sure you have the latest bios for that board installed.

 

[drosera01]

I have exact same CPU with Gigabyte 870A MB. I am able to unlock as Phenom II x4 B55 and is running now @ 3.89 GHz OCed. I dont know the BIOS setting of MSI Boards but Gigabyte board was very straight forward, ust enable the "CPU Unlock" on BIOS and when your computer starts your CPU would be recognized as Quad core.
Another option was using Easytune6 provided by Gigabyte for their MBs which has the option to unlock cores. You might want to do a little more research on "how to" on MSI boards.
Most of these CPUs are unlockable and are stable as i have skimmed quite a lot of forums while unlocking mine. But once you unlock your CPU cores you loose temp reporting from cores and might have to go aftermarket CPU coolers as stock heatsink is not good enough to run your CPU as Quad Core.
Here is my thread as unlocked and OCed to 3.89 GHz
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=698396
and This thread while running on stock Heatsink/cooler.
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=695946

UPDATE:
I did skim your manual and did not see the option for unlocking cores through the BIOS, although you are saying you had option to "unlock Cores" on BIOS. Have you ever updated BIOS to the latest one? Which Version of BIOS you are in? seems 2.3 released on 2009 Sept and then after support CPU unlock feature and I read somewhere they have a software as well that will unlock your CPU without even entering to BIOS.

 

[MufinMcFlufin]

I have exact same CPU with Gigabyte 870A MB. I am able to unlock as Phenom II x4 B55 and is running now @ 3.89 GHz OCed. I dont know the BIOS setting of MSI Boards but Gigabyte board was very straight forward, ust enable the "CPU Unlock" on BIOS and when your computer starts your CPU would be recognized as Quad core.
Another option was using Easytune6 provided by Gigabyte for their MBs which has the option to unlock cores. You might want to do a little more research on "how to" on MSI boards.
Most of these CPUs are unlockable and are stable as i have skimmed quite a lot of forums while unlocking mine. But once you unlock your CPU cores you loose temp reporting from cores and might have to go aftermarket CPU coolers as stock heatsink is not good enough to run your CPU as Quad Core.
Here is my thread as unlocked and OCed to 3.89 GHz
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=698396
and This thread while running on stock Heatsink/cooler.
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=695946

UPDATE:
I did skim your manual and did not see the option for unlocking cores through the BIOS, although you are saying you had option to "unlock Cores" on BIOS. Have you ever updated BIOS to the latest one? Which Version of BIOS you are in? seems 2.3 released on 2009 Sept and then after support CPU unlock feature and I read somewhere they have a software as well that will unlock your CPU without even entering to BIOS.

Not sure which version of BIOS I'm on, I'll check in a bit, and I've never updated the BIOS. I've never changed that setting myself, and found it set to that by default, but if it was set to that by default, then that'd explain why the stock heatsink kept overheating on me. I'm currently using a CoolerMaster heatsink (which actually required me to get a bigger case, just btw >_>) so that it'd no longer overheat. It now stays at around 29-39C with the new heatsink, whereas before it was getting up in the 80's, which now after having seen a review on the CPU now perfectly explains why my machine would seemingly randomly and instantly shut down considering that it's not supposed to operate above 70C.

Anyways, as far as the software for unlocking extra cores, yes, I've heard of it too, but like the BIOS setting, I've yet to find official documentation about it, or instructions on how to do that. I guess I'll look more into that specifically first.

EDIT: BIOS Version Number: 2.11, according to the Control Center in the MSI's utility applications for this motherboard

 

[drosera01]

EDIT: BIOS Version Number: 2.11, according to the Control Center in the MSI's utility applications for this motherboard

I think you can carefully try to update your BIOS to the latest version. I can see that version 2.C released early 2011 is available for your Board.
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/880GM-E43.html#/?div=BIOS
Refer to your manual about BIOS Flash/upate page 3-24.

Next(Before that): you said it was already enabled "unlock core" Have you tried disabling it, what happens and enabling it after that.

What are your other PC components? like PSU? What voltage are you in? can you post the screenshot of CPU-Z? CPU tab.

 

[MufinMcFlufin]

I think you can carefully try to update your BIOS to the latest version. I can see that version 2.C released early 2011 is available for your Board.
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/880GM-E43.html#/?div=BIOS
Refer to your manual about BIOS Flash/upate page 3-24.

Next(Before that): you said it was already enabled "unlock core" Have you tried disabling it, what happens and enabling it after that.

What are your other PC components? like PSU? What voltage are you in? can you post the screenshot of CPU-Z? CPU tab.

I did try disabling it once, but I never left the BIOS before I re-enabled it. There was an option for setting power per core, iirc, and I turned off Unlock CPU Cores to see if it would affect that, and when I saw it didn't, I turned it back on. I'll try that out.

Also, here's the screenshot. I didn't see you only wanted the CPU tab before I took the screenshot of all tabs, and one for each GPU. >_> The 4250 is built into my Motherboard, and the other is separate, although now that I'm looking at it, it seems the memory values are reversed somehow in the graphics menu? Not sure how that would work, or if it's significant, but there you go.

EDIT: Also, yeah, saw the 2.C version as well after you mentioned, and I have it now, but I haven't installed it yet. Can't say I've done this before so I wanted to have it, and just wait until I know exactly how to update my BIOS to do anything with it.

EDIT2: Just disabled Unlock CPU Cores, and it doesn't seem to have had any noticeable affect. My CPU Meter gadget still picks up two cores, along with CPU-Z. Here's screenshots of CPU-Z again.

 

[drosera01]

I may sound fool, but have you checked if unlocked cores (i mean the cores by themselves) are actually enabled or diabled? Once you unlock the cores, does it show all 4 cores on bios. Each cores except one should have option to enable or disable.
And when i asked you about PSU, iwas meant what make model and wattage of your power supply?

 

[MufinMcFlufin]

I may sound fool, but have you checked if unlocked cores (i mean the cores by themselves) are actually enabled or diabled? Once you unlock the cores, does it show all 4 cores on bios. Each cores except one should have option to enable or disable.
And when i asked you about PSU, iwas meant what make model and wattage of your power supply?

Yes, that was one of the things I did check, there was no change when I disabled or enabled Unlock CPU Cores in the individual core settings. Also, I'm not entirely sure what my PSU is, as it's literally the first thing I got for my computer, and I didn't keep my boxes at the time >_> but if memory serves, it's a 400W PSU, can't remember anything other than that. Lemme check.

EDIT: Opened up my computer, and the PSU is apparently 450W. Brand: BFG Model No.: BFGR450WGSPSU

Also, double checked the BIOS setting you were talking about. There's a setting for CPU Core Control, which you can either set to Auto or Manual, default Auto. When set to Manual, then you can disable or enable each individual core. By default, both of the cores are enabled. I left it at Auto with both cores enabled, but this happens both when I have Unlock CPU Cores enabled and disabled, and I've also tried when booting with both settings with the same results. And, to be sure you know, this is still while I'm on version 2.11. Do you want me to update to 2.C and check again?

 

[drosera01]

i would say go for it. I am guessing although they had unlock core option available on earlier version of BIOS but it was not supported/working to unlock cores. MSI says version 2.3 and then after only supports "unlock cores" function. and I heard MSI boards are kinda hard to work on and BIOS very less userfriendly.
But i think its worth to give a try. Update to latest BIOS.

Make sure you thoroughly and again check your MB model number and version on Motherboard itself and update BIOS only downloaded for that Model/version from MSI webside directly.

 

[MufinMcFlufin]

i would say go for it. I am guessing although they had unlock core option available on earlier version of BIOS but it was not supported/working to unlock cores. MSI says version 2.3 and then after only supports "unlock cores" function. and I heard MSI boards are kinda hard to work on and BIOS very less userfriendly.
But i think its worth to give a try. Update to latest BIOS.

Make sure you thoroughly and again check your MB model number and version on Motherboard itself and update BIOS only downloaded for that Model/version from MSI webside directly.

So, I waited a long while, because I really didn't want to even attempt this process until I had a second reliable computer I could use in the event that something goes wrong.

I'm on my laptop now, because something seems to have gone wrong.

I updated the bios, it took a long while because of the memtests, but after all that, the bios update went through, no problems, and it's now on the latest bios version. I boots and I can get to the bios every time I boot, and get to the select boot device menu as well, however, it no longer detects my c drive I was using, and no longer starts windows because it can't find the drive with windows on it.

While updating the bios, once you run the software it asks you to shut down your computer, take out the power cord from your PSU, reset the CMOS settings via the instructions in the manual, plug it back in, reboot into the BIOS, select Load Optimized Settings, then start it back up.

For resetting the CMOS settings, I had to go to a certain set of pins on my motherboard, and take the provided jumper wire out from the first and second pins, which has it retain the current CMOS settings, then place them on the second and third pins, which has it reset the CMOS settings. Afterwards, return it back to the first and second, which I did.

The only thing I really touched other than those pins while doing this was a cable for my front USB drive, which I unplugged so to get out of the way, then put it back in place where it was before, and now it doesn't detected my main hard drive.

Do you have any idea what could cause a problem like this, or how I could fix it?

On the flip side, I think the updated bios was what it needed for unlocking the extra cores, as I can now easily find the settings to change voltages for individual cores, numbering as many as four cores, so I think now that I have it set to unlock extra cores, once it does start windows, I'll see four cores instead of just two.

We've also recently finally gotten air conditioning in my house, so my room stays at a much cooler temperature, so my computer now idles around 23C and peaks at 29C when it was under full load for the two cores, so after checking the temperatures under full load with four cores, I'm considering overclocking my CPU as well. Any suggestions for that?

Thanks again for all the help, I really appreciate it.

 

[RGone]

I did NOT realize you had just about abandoned the thread. Wish you had left the bios flash alone.

You write >> if it was set to that by default, then that'd explain why the stock heatsink kept overheating on me. = Sounds like BC to me. You show no cores unlocked so how could there be any heating effect? Nope did not add heat. Unlocking the cores will DISABLE Cpu Core Temps and they should have been not visible with the option in bios to do "core unlocking" enabled. A temp call CPU Temp but not cpu core temps.

You write >> There was an option for setting power per core, iirc, and I turned off Unlock CPU Cores to see if it would affect that, and when I saw it didn't, I turned it back on. I'll try that out. =Many options such as that one must have a Save & Exit bios for the setting to take effect.

I wrote all the above and THEN began to look for bios to see what possible HDD settings might have gone to default when clearing the CMOS and kept the HDD from showing up. I 'found' this while searching about the drives.

Now all this tells me is that the CPU has the cores, to see if I could unlock them I went into the Cell Menu and enabled "Unlock CPU Cores". Set the "CPU Core Control" to manual and I only saw two of the cores. I restarted to see if that would change anything and it did. All four cores showed up.

I am now the proud new owner of a quad-core!

Still looking to see what bios says about the HDDs.

 

[MufinMcFlufin]

I did NOT realize you had just about abandoned the thread. Wish you had left the bios flash alone.

You write >> if it was set to that by default, then that'd explain why the stock heatsink kept overheating on me. = Sounds like BC to me. You show no cores unlocked so how could there be any heating effect? Nope did not add heat. Unlocking the cores will DISABLE Cpu Core Temps and they should have been not visible with the option in bios to do "core unlocking" enabled. A temp call CPU Temp but not cpu core temps.

You write >> There was an option for setting power per core, iirc, and I turned off Unlock CPU Cores to see if it would affect that, and when I saw it didn't, I turned it back on. I'll try that out. =Many options such as that one must have a Save & Exit bios for the setting to take effect.

I wrote all the above and THEN began to look for bios to see what possible HDD settings might have gone to default when clearing the CMOS and kept the HDD from showing up. I 'found' this while searching about the drives.

Now all this tells me is that the CPU has the cores, to see if I could unlock them I went into the Cell Menu and enabled "Unlock CPU Cores". Set the "CPU Core Control" to manual and I only saw two of the cores. I restarted to see if that would change anything and it did. All four cores showed up.

I am now the proud new owner of a quad-core!


Still looking to see what bios says about the HDDs.[/QUOTE]

I tried that setting, and unfortunately it showed no change. It's default set to disabled, and CPU Control shows two cores, I enable it, reboot, and it still only shows two cores when I go back to CPU Control. One thing I find rather odd is with the Unlock CPU Cores option set to either Enabled or Disabled, Advanced Core Calibration always shows four cores when I try to calibrate them on a per core basis.

Also, on a side note, I tried setting Advanced Core Calibration from Disabled to Auto, like on your machine, and every time I did, the machine wouldn't boot, and I had to reset CMOS to get it to start back up.

Anyways, I'm right now shutting down my machine to take out my C drive, and put it on my brother's computer and back up the important data, and reformat it then reinstall windows on it. Hopefully it will at least show up on another machine so we can reformat it, then I'm pretty sure it'll show up on my machine again so I can reinstall windows.

 

[RGone]

Hope you get it sorted for booting problem.

You write >> I tried setting Advanced Core Calibration from Disabled to Auto, like on your machine, and every time I did, the machine wouldn't boot, and I had to reset CMOS to get it to start back up. = Those are the symptoms of two cores that are bad and will not and should not be unlocked.

 

[BeepBeep2]

If the board has a core unlocking feature as well as Advanced Core Calibration, it is best to leave Advanced Core Calibration alone.

When enabling the Core Unlocking feature of your motherboard, what is the EXACT behavior of the system when you save bios settings and exit the bios?

 

[Kosay1991]

I used to have the same exact CPU. My biostar motherboard natively supports unlocking the cores and even advertises it!.. but I had no luck. Bumped up my voltages up to +0.25! still failed to unlock... so don't be bummed if you didn't get the other 2 cores you're not alone.

As for the hard drive problem you're having it is familiar to one a coworker of mine used to have. Will ask him tomorrow at work see if I can help you with that .

 

[MufinMcFlufin]

I'm not sure about the harddrive itself, but I feel really stupid, because on my machine, I have 3 HDDs, and the one that stopped showing up on the list, I only realized recently wasn't the C drive. I simply assumed so because I thought if it couldn't boot from one device it would go down the list to the next. I tried booting from all my devices and found my old C Drive once again. As it turns out, the one that stopped showing up was my old 80 GB HDD which I don't need anymore (yay for fancy new 80GB coasters)

I went back to the BIOS, changed the boot sequence so my C drive, a Hitachi 1TB HDD, is back at the top, and it works no problems.

I just need to be sure that I remember to do that every time I reset CMOS settings from now on XD

Anyways, for the CPU Unlock Cores problem, I'm not sure what to look for, it seems to reboot just the same as any other time I exit BIOS. I could try taking a video, but I'm currently away from home and it will have to wait until sometime Friday.

And such a shame, I really wish I could have gotten a quad core out of this. Since the temperatures are still rather low, what do you guys think about overclocking it instead of unlocking the extra cores? Currently it idles around 23C and under full load, it gets up to 29-31C, so I think I have a lot of breathing room for overclocking under those circumstances.

 

[Kosay1991]

Since you have the black edition you have the pstate unlocked (unlocked multipliers). When I had that CPU I was running it at 4GHz stable. Now that you only have 2 cores you have LOTS of headroom its extremely comfortable.

Trying increasing the voltage for the core by 0.2V and and increasing the multiplier by 2 see where that takes you first.

ADD:

Also for your harddrive settings your motherboard will troll you that way. My motherboard whenever I incorrectly overclock or my checksum is false it will make my default drive an SD card reader...-.-.. Check if your motherboard has the ability to save profiles and back them up, it would come in handy when trying different overclocks.

For the time being though the best route is increasing the multiplier incrementally and whenever it doesn't boot or spazes out on prime95 give it one more step of voltage (usually 0.05V for core). Keep doing that till you get where you want and rememeber to always watch your temperatures. From my understanding from these forums for a long use you don't want your core temperatures to be over 55 (I personally am okay with 60 I'm adventurous like that )


ADD2!:

Btw I still have that CPU. And it is proven stable at 4GHz (around a year of use!) so when we get access to classified section we can do a trade only if your CPU is used though cuz mine is kinda old :/ but beast