"This was not a big deal since it recognized the processor correctly but listed two. "
each thread says to the system that is a cpu core, then you have two cores but in this setting both are just logical, only one real
"The reason why I think PCC is detecting the processor's L2 memory is because it detects 2048 in the "second stick" and only 16kb in the "first stick" "
i seriously doubt that the system can confuse a cache that is only for the use of the cpu as system ram and only detect the second stick
how much ram slots do you have on that mainboard? do you have colored pairs? each ram module should be in a different color socket
about the ram on system, have you tested it is working fine? is it a new pair of ram modules?
you could try memtest86 and see if it reports a ok status
i just opened pcc/hardware/browse and configure hardware and had a interesting surprise, the first module reports 8 gbs of ram and the second reports 256 mbs of ram

since i know that in the first slot i put 1 gb and in the second 256 i am not worried for this(i already tested ram modules)