My Computer Is Seeing Double

[nirikun]

I seem to have a very strange problem/issue with my computer. I have a Toshiba Satellite A75-S206 Laptop that has served me quite well over the past two years, ignoring the inconvenience of irregular overheating and the like. Microsoft XP, Service Pack 2, etc.

Now, imagine my surprise (or, perhaps my dear friends' surprise) when, after getting frustrated over constant CPU Throttling while playing World of Warcraft apparently brought on by heat, I look in my system information file to find my computer showing I have two processors. Count them, two.

My computer is seeing double.

The hardware description of my laptop does not show two processors, but one: a 2.8 Ghz Mobile Pentium 4 Processor. But my system information says I have two. And not only that, my Control Panel says I have two. My Device Manager says I have two. My SpeedFan program says (surprise!) I have two. A third-party system scan application says I have two. My Task Manager says I have two, and yes, they show two different loads and usage simultaneously. If I had not the wondrous powers of the Internet at my disposal I would have had no reason to suspect this amazing, yet baffling consensus.

Dare I question the knowledge of Microsoft Windows XP (cue guffawing here), my Toshiba software, and every other system I've used to scan my system with? Or is there something seriously wrong with my computer? My dear friends say the latter. What say you?

[2k_dummy]

Maybe its Intel's good old, nearly useless, hyperthreading. It makes it look like there are two processors when in fact there is only one. The CPU is effectively divided and there will be different processes running in each hyperthread.

[soybean]

If hyperthreading is the reason, I wonder why this was not noticed until now?

nirikun, is your processor one of the ones shown here?: http://www.intel.com/products/ht/hyperthreading_more.htm

[nirikun]

Yes, it is. The 2.80 Ghz Intel Mobile Pentium 4 chipset.

Is there a way to fix this?

[soybean]

I believe you need to access your BIOS and look for an option to disable HyperThreading. 

I'm still wondering why you did not discover this until you had the computer for two years.

[nirikun]

I do remember the Hyper-threading, I just didn't really know much about it at the time.

Is Hyper-Threading a problem, though?

[soybean]

Honestly, as far as I know, I haven't worked with machine with HyperThreading enabled, so let's see if someone else has an opinion.  But, I would say that, since it is a feature of the processor, it's not a "problem".  Also, I would guess that, since Windows is reporting two processors running in that computer, showing two Task Manager lists, etc., it's clearly working in HyperThreading mode and you might experience poorer performance by disabling it. 

If you want, you could look in your BIOS to see whether it has an option to disable it, and, if so, disable it as a test to see how it runs.  But, I think I'd leave it as is unless I learned of a specific reason to justify disabling it.  Disabling it without specific cause just doesn't make sense, IMO.

[nirikun]

Well, the whole reason I "discovered" this hyper-threading feature is because lately I've been getting terrible CPU Throttling whenever I play World of Warcraft. This has been happening only for the past, maybe, two weeks or so, and I'm wondering how to stop it, because it's throttling everywhere now. Every 20-30 seconds my CPU will just slow and my frame rate will collapse. I've been trying to figure out what the heck is the problem.

I don't know if hyper-threading would do this, though. It's probably heat-related, though it still does this when my computer is cool to the touch.

[2k_dummy]

Some programs are helped by hyperthreading, some are hindered. Just try your game both ways and see which gives better results.

[Raptor]

It's a laptop. It could very well be overheating.

[Calum]

Sounds like heat to me.
Hyper-Threading may have been activated by a recent Windows Update, sometimes it wasn't shown correctly but an update fixed this, although I'm sure it was a long while ago.
HT is fairly useless, although some people see a big increase with it enabled.
I don't think it'd be a problem though.

[GX1_Man]

It's probably heat-related, though it still does this when my computer is cool to the touch.

The computer may  be cool, but that chip can burn your fingers within seconds.

[Calum]

The case on a laptop will take a while to warm up and cool down.
Don't take it as a reliable indicator of the temperature of the components.