How to disable a CPU core in Windows?

Question

So I have my hands on a refurbished laptop, and it has been having crashes from the start. After a very long troubleshooting, I found the evidence that the third physical core in the processor is having problems. To use Windows, I need to lock down the whole processor frequency to a certain level for it to not crash. In Linux, if I turn the third core offline, then I am able to use the other 3 cores (quad core processor) fine at max frequency.

Let's kindly not start from square one asking "What's the BSOD error code" and all that. I have been active with these questions a lot over and over again on other forums as well. I am pretty knowledgeable and technical in tech, and I have a clear evidence that the third core has problems running at full turbo. Right now, I am finding a way to change voltages, as that can help, or also change the turbo ratio limits to run that core at a lower frequency, but I have access to neither of them because of the firmware.

So, is there any way, I can disable that physical core in Windows? Maybe park it all the time? Maybe make everything not schedule on that core? I know the msconfig way, but that doesn't allow me to choose which CPUs to not use. So if the CPUs 2 and 6 are having problems (third core with hyper-threading, and CPUs are 0-indexed), I can still only choose to run off of the first 2 CPUs. And I think turbo boost doesn't work at all then.

I am willing to do anything for this. I am fine with third party solutions as well.

Answer 1

Hello,

It seems like you have done a thorough investigation and identified the issue with the third physical core on your processor. While it’s not possible to disable a specific physical core in Windows directly, you can try some workarounds to limit its usage or prevent processes from running on that core. Here are a few suggestions:

Affinity settings: Windows allows you to manually set the processor affinity for individual processes. While this won’t disable the core entirely, you can prevent specific programs from running on the problematic core. To do this:

a. Open Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc.

b. Go to the “Details” tab and find the process you want to modify.

c. Right-click on the process and select "Set affinity."

d. Uncheck the box for the core you want to avoid using.

Process Lasso: Process Lasso is a third-party software that offers more advanced control over CPU affinity settings. It allows you to set CPU affinities for specific processes, create rules, and automate the process. You can download it from their website and explore its features to configure the desired settings.

Power options: In some cases, adjusting the power plan settings can have an impact on core usage and performance. You can try modifying the power plan settings in Windows to limit CPU usage or adjust the maximum processor state. This won’t specifically target the problematic core but can help manage overall CPU utilization.

BIOS settings: Although you mentioned that firmware access is restricted, it might be worth exploring if there are any BIOS settings related to processor configuration or core affinity. Check the manufacturer’s documentation or contact their support for assistance in finding such settings.

Best Regards,

Hania Lian

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