topic should APIC be enabled for Centrino Duo? in PCs & Accessories

should APIC be enabled for Centrino Duo?

drehleier241 — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 23:44:47 GMT

Hi,
I have a question maybe somebody more experienced than I can answer. I got a new VAIO PCC-7H2M and encountered some crashes I could not track. Finally I used a hardware diagnosis tool Sisoftware SANDRA and did a system check. One remark was that in the BIOS the "APIC" should be enabled. I don't have any ideal what the heck this is and before I just do something stupid I would like to ask some advise from people who know wheather I should enable this function or if not why this is the case with my notebook.
I am very grateful for any hint. Thanks to anyone answering.
Best,
Uli

Re: should APIC be enabled for Centrino Duo?

Blencogo — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 23:59:14 GMT

I have never heard of it but a quick 'Google' has found

APIC

Wonder what an Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller does? Probably stops Interrupt Conflicts which may be your problem.

Re: should APIC be enabled for Centrino Duo?

Blencogo — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 00:26:54 GMT

Hi

A bit more reading for you here: -

Microsoft

Seems to imply that you need APIC turned on for multiprocessor systems - Is a Duo a multiprocessor system? There's an interesting question!

Re: should APIC be enabled for Centrino Duo?

drehleier241 — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 10:04:10 GMT

Thank you, Blencogo, for your answer. Yes, ist is a Centrino duo Core system. Meanwhile I checked the BIOS (where the APIC functionalitiy should be enabled following the SANDRA tool) but I did not find any enty called APIC.

Maybe the advise the system checking tool gave is not valid for this brand new duo core system?
Anyway thanks for your help. I guess I have to watch out for more unexpected system crashes and at what occasion they occur. I suspect a plugin I use for word (a third party correcting tool) or adobe acrobat elements to be responsible for this crashes. Or maybe there is a incompatibility between the VAIO onboard dvd burnign device and the NERO software I installed additionally.
Once more: thank you Blencogo and it woudl be great to get any further help from the community.

Re: should APIC be enabled for Centrino Duo?

Blencogo — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 18:20:18 GMT

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Obviously SANDRA thinks you have two processors - it doesn't know about Duo - and thinks you need APIC to stop the two processors allocating IRQ values independently and almost certainly causing a device conflict.

As the two processors are on one chip, they don't need APIC as they almost certainly talk to each other before allocating an IRQ value.

I presume you have checked in Device Manager for any conflicts - just in case.

Good Luck.

Re: should APIC be enabled for Centrino Duo?

drehleier241 — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 11:39:53 GMT

Thank you once more, Glencogo,

probably the new technology does not need that APIC interrupt contol.
Yes, I checked the Device Manager and did not find any conflict.

I guess I will ahve to wait and see ...

I try to find some answer directly from the VAIO support.

Yesterday only one hard crash - maybe caused by the dvd drive.

Best regards,

Uli