Re: XP smp using a lot of CPU [SOLVED]

[Ross Boylan <ross@biostat.ucsf.edu>]

Using ACPI fixes the problem; CPU useage is now quite low.  Start line
was
sudo vdeq kvm -net nic,vlan=1,macaddr=52:54:a0:12:01:00 \
    -net vde,vlan=1,sock=/var/run/vde2/tap0.ctl \
    -boot d -cdrom /usr/local/backup/XPProSP3.iso \
    -std-vga -hda /dev/turtle/XP00 \
    -soundhw es1370 -localtime -m 1G -smp 2
I switched to -boot c later.

I ended up doing a fresh install; my repair got mucked up and I got the
message "The requested lookup key was not found in any active activation
context" when I entered a location into MSIE, including when I tried to
run Windows Update.  Googling showed this might indicate some permission
or file corruption issues.  They may have happened during my earlier
(virtual) system hang.

My experience suggests a theory: if you use SMP with XP (i.e., more than
1 virtual processor) you should enable acpi, i.e., not say -no-acpi.  It
this is true, the advice to run windows with -no-acpi should probably be
updated.  It's possible single CPU systems are affected as well.

Ross