only 2 cores showing up

[wazi]

ive a problem , heres my setup

asus p5b deluxe wifi/ap
hd 4670
4gb ocz reaper pc 6400
Q9250 es (Q9450 equivalent)
vista 64

i updated my bios to 1238 from 1236
which is the latest ,when pc boots up it says i need to update bios to unleash full power of cpu
hence it is running with only 2 cores , but i have put on the latest bios

how to i get the 4 cores to work
thnx

[circuitmonkey]

I'm looking at your sig, and it looks like you've recently upgraded from a dual core processor to quad, if this is the case and you didn't re-install vista, you might need to do one or both of the things bellow:

1) Start -> Run -> msconfig
Boot (tab) -> Advanced options...
Now if the number of processors option is selected and set to 2, deselect it, or increase it to 4.

Reboot and see what it does.

2) if that hasn't helped try doing this first and then repeat 1) to ensure the settings have stayed
Start -> (right click) Computer -> Properties
Advanced System Settings -> Hardware (Tab) -> Device Manager
Expand the "Processors" Tree
and if for any reason your old processor is still showing up on that list
right click and select uninstall
Reboot, check step 1, and hopefully enjoy your quad coreness!

[wazi]

sweet m8ty comes up with 4 cores
one lil prob when i boot up in bios its comes up with cpu unkown to unleash full power u need to update bios ( which i have done ) press f1 to continue ?? which i have to do everytime
will i have to live with this as the quad is a engineering sample ??

[circuitmonkey]

its a possibility, in my experience the engineering samples will some times use slightly different microcode to the retail versions. as such the bios may not recognize it fully, may be worth checking that it's running at the correct frequencies.