How do I enable all four cores on my Toshiba P70-A notebook? (only one enabled now)

Solution 1:

The answer is odd, and rather simple, however taking more than a day to determine the root behind this issue. There have been many problems with almost every distro of linux on this machine, from no wireless, graphics issues etc.etc. I realized I couldn't have been the only person with this processor running linux, so I managed to find some forums regarding the same issue with this particular chipset running only one core.

And it turns out if you run in acpi=off, then the kernel will only utilize one core, and on one thread. That solution worked for that particular individual, however acpi=off was the only way to actually install linux, period. nomodeset would get you to the install screen, but the try out ubuntu/kubuntu screens were... just not there, not rendering. And as this was listed as a viable option for getting rid of the black screen problem, I had done just that, without any mention that this would disable cores, wireless networks, the fan etc.

After many attempts at different solutions, I had decide to do a fresh install with nomodeset anyway, despite not being able to render the desktop. Upon restarting after the installation, everything worked fine. Every issue i've had seems to have been resolved, minus testing if unity still breaks.