Member Avatar for mike1563414

Hello! I recently aquired a small form factor emachines system and transplanted the motherboard to a somewhat custom case to use it as a htpc. I installed a phenon x4 9550 in it and removed the shitty small original cooler and proprietary backplate and mounted a lga775 cooler to cool the new chip. The board works fine with the chip installed, with the caveat that only a single core seems to be running on the processor. the boards model number is dao61/087l. any help would be greatly appreciated!

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Brief expert addendum tied to the thread: ’s report that a Phenom X4 9550 showed only one active core on an eMachines DAO61/087L, while an Athlon II X2 235e later ran both cores, most commonly points to a platform/BIOS compatibility or configuration issue rather than a simple hardware cooler problem. Small‑form‑factor OEM boards often have limited CPU microcode support and hidden/locked BIOS options, which can produce the exact symptoms described here.

Practical checklist (in roughly the best order to try):

  • Confirm what the BIOS reports: verify the CPU model and core count in the BIOS screens; reset CMOS to defaults after a CPU swap.
  • Update the BIOS: apply the latest OEM BIOS for DAO61/087L if available — microcode updates often restore correct core enumeration for older AMD steppings.
  • Check OS-level limits: Windows’ Boot → Advanced options can be forced to a single processor; on Linux run the quick checks below to confirm how many logical CPUs the OS sees. 
# Linux quick checks
nproc
grep -c ^processor /proc/cpuinfo
lscpu
  • Isolate CPU vs. board: test the Phenom in a known‑compatible AM2/AM2+ board, or put a known‑good CPU (the working Athlon II) back into the DAO61 to see whether the board always reports fewer cores.
  • Inspect mounting/fit: improper backplate/cooler mounting can flex the board or damage PGA pins on AMD CPUs; visually inspect for bent pins or uneven pressure.

Why this happens: OEM BIOSes sometimes lack microcode or explicit support for certain CPU steppings, so they may not enable all logical cores or will fall back to a safe single‑core mode. Given ’s suggestion and ’s confirmation that an Athlon II worked, using a CPU from the board’s official support list or updating the BIOS are the most pragmatic next steps.

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Member Avatar for mike1563414

I installed a athlon II x2 235e which I had lying arround and it seems to work fine, it is running on both cores. Interesting how the newer athlon II works but not the Phenom. thank you for your input though!

Member Avatar for rproffitt

@mike, read
You win!

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