Multiple-core portable computers may show inflated times (version 3)

Category: Troubleshooting & error messages
Date: 17 Jun 2009
Product: ANTS Performance Profiler
Versions: 3
Platforms: Microsoft Windows XP (32-bit), ACPI processors
Fix version: 4.0

Portable computers such as laptops that are equipped with dual processors or multiple-core processors that support power management may cause ANTS Profiler's performance profiler to reflect drastically-inflated method times. The timing compensation mechanism is potentially affected by a CPU going into low-power mode, and this can skew the results. If this happens for the reason above, the timing disparity is in the order of hundreds or thousands of times greater than the real-world time.

One possible solution for this issue is to install Microsoft update KB896256 on the affected computer. This update is designed to address incomplete support for power management support in Windows XP Service Pack 2. This issue can also affect Windows Server 2003 and x64-based versions of Microsoft Windows, but an update is not available for these systems. Applying the update on a Windows XP SP2 32-bit system has been shown to be effective in some cases.

To download and install the update, please visit Microsoft's website at:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896256

Please note that this issue should not affect ANTS Performance Profiler 4, because the issue is related to processor affinity and version 4 of the engine sets the affinity to one processor automatically.

Document ID: KB200708000085 Keywords: ANTS, Profiler, KB896256, inflated, times, laptop, XP

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