Making A Program Use Only 1 Processor?

SeanGil · Joined: Dec 30, 2004 Posts: 9

Does anyone know of a way to force an application to use only 1 processor when it starts up?
I have a Dell E520 with a core2 Duo processor and Windows XP and I have read that some older programs dont run well with a dual processor. I have 1 such program.
It crashes everytime I try to start it

THanks in Advance

greyknight17 · Joined: Feb 03, 2003 Posts: 5674 Location: Brooklyn, NY

Unless I'm missing something here (which does happen from time to time Rolling Eyes

), what you are saying is not possible. The Duo processors are not actually two physical processors. Basically it's working as if there were two processors, but it's physically only one...if you understand that Wink

Never heard that a faster processor can cause problems running older programs. Thought if anything, the newer Windows version might have problems running them. If that's the case, try running the old programs in XP Compatibility Mode.

DeepSix · Joined: Aug 09, 2003 Posts: 15

I've come across this problem several times in XP and Vista, there is a workaround but it's a bit awkward.

Open Task Manager using ctrt+alt+del or by typing taskman in the start/run box, if i remember correctly for XP.

Go to the processes tab and find the process you want to to run on just 1 core, firefox.exe for example, right click the process and select Set Affinity. You will see a dialogue box saying "The Processor Affinity settings controls which CPUs the process will be allowed to execute on."

With core2 you should see two checkboxes with CPU0 and CPU1 both checked, uncheck one and the process will only use one core.

Hope this helps, or at least points you in the right direction.

If anyone knows of an easier way to do this please post as this isn't an ideal way of doing it and i believe there must be a better way.

SeanGil · Joined: Dec 30, 2004 Posts: 9

THat is what I was thinking about is the Affinity but the problem is the program crashes when I start it so I cant get to the point of setting the core to 0 or 1.
The reason Im thinking its this processor is I have the program on another machine with XP and it runs fine.
Any other ideas?

Thanks for the responses

goretsky

Hello,

I do not know if it will work for you, but have you considered using Mike Lin's SMP Seesaw to change the processor affinity for the application in question?

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

SeanGil · Joined: Dec 30, 2004 Posts: 9

I just tried the program on Mike Lins site. While it looks to be very good what I think I need is something that I can choose the processor before the program starts. The minute I start it it crashes so I cant choose which core to use.
Is there such a thing to make a program use a single core before it starts?

Thanks

goretsky

Hello,

You might want to contact Mike Lin and report the problem you experienced. I suspect if it is a bug in his program he would be interested in fixing it.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

User: inactive Posts:

I'm running a Dual Core AMD X2, 3800+ cpu on an MSI AM2 mobo.
(OS=Xp/Pro/SP2)

I run some pretty old apps from time to time (some that I ran on Windows 98 ) and have never yet had any problem with any of them. Laughing

The Dual Core aspect of the CPU is completely transparent. Wink

Cheers!

Shadow Cool

MacMax · Joined: Dec 16, 2007 Posts: 3

I know this is a very old thread, but since I'm new in the forums and since I think I may have the solution to the original poster's problem, I'll just go ahead and give you a link for a program that does just what SeanGil needs (or needed):

http://www.geocities.com/edgemeal_software/LnS/Index.htm

It isn't all that pretty and it doesn't support drag n' drop (which is kind of a pain), but since ideally you should need to set the program only once you can overlook the interface.

If you google for this issue there are also some command line software available, as well as code for DIY software.

Hope it helps