SMP not being detected?

[Cheator]

Hey guys.

I am currently running my trixbox CE (CentOS 5.1 Kernel 2.6.18) off of a Dell Latitude D520 which has a Core 2 Duo T2300 1.6ghz dual core CPU. When trixbox boots, it doesn't seem to find the second core and only uses the 1 (which leads to heavy spikes when using the pbx!).

Here is my cpuinfo:

bash-3.1# cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 14
model name : Genuine Intel(R) CPU T2300 @ 1.66GHz
stepping : 8
cpu MHz : 1662.649
cache size : 2048 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 1
core id : 0
cpu cores : 1
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 10
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx constant_tsc up pni monitor est tm2 xtpr
bogomips : 3327.37

bash-3.1#

TOP and HTOP show that there is only 1 core as well, but a uname shows the kernel is capable of SMP:

bash-3.1# uname -a
Linux trixbox1.localdomain 2.6.18-53.1.4.el5 #1 SMP Fri Nov 30 00:45:16 EST 2007 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

Anyone know how to kick this box into thinking it has 2 cores?

 

[shuiends]

Is it possible for you to check your .config file in /usr/src/linux and make sure that SMP is actually compiled? That would be my first guess of what the issue is.

 

[Cheator]

Is it possible for you to check your .config file in /usr/src/linux and make sure that SMP is actually compiled? That would be my first guess of what the issue is.

I've confirmed it's been compiled in. Not only have i installed CentOS many times, but it reports that its SMP enabled.

 

[Shelnutt2]

I've confirmed it's been compiled in. Not only have i installed CentOS many times, but it reports that its SMP enabled.

I recommend compiling a newer kernel, 2.6.18-54, that might be all it takes. I know with Gentoo for some reason the 2.6.20-1 kernel has a bug and will not initialize the second core. 2.6.20 and 2.6.20-2 doesn't have this issue.

 

[Cheator]

I recommend compiling a newer kernel, 2.6.18-54, that might be all it takes. I know with Gentoo for some reason the 2.6.20-1 kernel has a bug and will not initialize the second core. 2.6.20 and 2.6.20-2 doesn't have this issue.

While I can recompile, it will probably break asterisk. I've done an update on the kernel, though, and it's still the case. I'll try it eventually as a last resort, but any other ideas until then?

 

[Shelnutt2]

While I can recompile, it will probably break asterisk. I've done an update on the kernel, though, and it's still the case. I'll try it eventually as a last resort, but any other ideas until then?

Check your kernel log and see if there is any issues happening.
On my gentoo system the kernel log is in /var/log/kernel.log.

 

[Cheator]

Check your kernel log and see if there is any issues happening.
On my gentoo system the kernel log is in /var/log/kernel.log.

It doesn't seem to be detecting it:

messages.2:May 7 12:00:07 trixbox1 kernel: Freeing SMP alternatives: 14k freed
messages.2:May 7 12:00:07 trixbox1 kernel: SMP motherboard not detected.
messages.2:May 8 13:55:02 trixbox1 kernel: Linux version 2.6.18-53.1.4.el5 ([email protected]) (gcc version 4.1.2 20070626 (Red Hat 4.1.2-14)) #1 SMP Fri Nov 30 00:45:16 EST 2007
messages.2:May 8 13:55:02 trixbox1 kernel: SMP alternatives: switching to UP code

 

[Misfit138]

I've never used CentOS, but on Arch I use several kernels in parallel that all peacefully co-exist. Why not try another kernel?

 

[David]

I've never used CentOS, but on Arch I use several kernels in parallel that all peacefully co-exist. Why not try another kernel?

Seconded. Compile an alternative kernel and add them both to GRUB/LILO/Bootloader of Choice.

Then you can try the new one, if all hell breaks loose go back to the one you were using.

 

[Cheator]

Yeah I know that I can and I've tried 3 different kernels (all three I know work), and still nothing. It just doesn't want to detect it...

 

[petteyg359]

Made sure that the number of CPUs in the SMP field is set to at least 2?

 

[Cheator]

Made sure that the number of CPUs in the SMP field is set to at least 2?

The kernel works on my other dual core rig just fine. Both of them do infact. Infact I don't remember the last time having to compile a kernel to support SMP.

 

[Cheator]

No luck in fixing this. But since we're done with this test machine we'll be ordering up a decent one soon, so no worries on this laptop.

Thanks for the help, all!

 

[MRD]

Try booting up Knoppix and see if it sees 2. If it doesn't, are you sure that the bios is set right and there are no hardware failure issues?

 

[Cheator]

Ubuntu live CD shows 2 cores, and so did windows, so I know it works.