Darshan Institute of Engineering & Technology: Advance Processors UNIT-2

Darshan Institute of Advance Processors
Engineering & Technology UNIT-2
1. Explain 80286 architecture. OR

List the four major processing units in an 80286 microprocessor and briefly describe the
function of each.
Ans - The 80286 was designed for multi-user systems with multitasking applications, including
communications and real-time process control.
- It had 134,000 transistors and consisted of four independent units: address unit, bus unit, instruction
unit and execution unit.
- These were organized into a pipeline, significantly increasing performance.
- It was produced in a 68-pin package including PLCC (Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier), LCC (Leadless chip
carrier) and PGA (Pin Grid Array) packages.
- The Intel 80286 had a 24-bit address bus and was able to address up to 16 MB of RAM, compared to
1 MB for its predecessor. However cost and initial rarity of software using the memory above 1 MB
meant that 80286 computers were rarely shipped with more than one megabyte of RAM.
- 80286 Architecture contains 4 separate processing units.
(1) Bus Unit (BU)
(2) Instruction Unit (IU)
(3) Address Unit (AU)
(4) Execution Unit (EU)
Figure: Architecture of Intel 80286
Swati R. Sharma Page 1

Bus Unit (BU):

It has address latches, data transceivers, bus interface and circuitry, instruction pre-fetcher, processor
extension interface and 6 byte instruction queue.
Functions :
- To perform all memory and I/O read and write.
- To pre-fetch the instruction bytes.
- To control the transfer of data to and from processor extension devices like 80287 math co-
processor.
- Whenever BU is not using the buses for the operation, it pre-fetches the instruction bytes and put
them is a 6 byte pre-fetch queue.
Instruction Unit (IU):
It has 3 decoded instruction queue and instruction decoder.
Functions :
- It fully decodes up to three prefetched instructions and holds them in a queue.
- So that EU can access them.
- It helps the processor to speed up, as pipelining of instruction is done.
Execution Unit (EU):
It includes ALU, registers and the Control unit. Registers are general purpose, index, pointer, flag register
and 16 bit Machine Status Word (MSW).
Functions :
- To sequentially execute the instructions received from the instruction unit.
- ALU result is either stored in register bank or sent over the data bus.
Address Unit (AU):
It consists of segment registers, offset address and a physical address adder.
Functions :
- Compute the physical address that will be sent out to the memory or I/O by BU.
- 80286 operate in two different modes
1. real address mode
2. Protected virtual address mode.
- When used in Real address mode, AU computes the address with segment base and offset like
8086. Segment register are CS, DS, ES and SS hold base address. IP, BP, SI, DI , SP hold offset.
- Maximum physical space allowed in this mode is 1MB.
- When 80286 operate in protected mode, the address unit acts as MMU.
- All 24 address lines used and can access up to 16MB of physical memory.
- If descriptor table scheme is used it can address up to 1GB of virtual memory.
2. Explain Register Organization of 80286
Ans The 80286 CPU contains almost the same set of registers, as in 8086, namely
1. Eight 16-bit general purpose registers (AX, BX, CX, DX)
2. Four 16-bit segment registers (CS, SS, DS, ES)
3. Status and control registers (SP, BP, SI, DI)

4. Instruction Pointer (IP)

5. Two 16-bit register - FLAGS, MSW
6. Two 16-bit register - LDTR and TR
7. Two 48-bit register - GDTR and IDTR
Figure: 80286 Register Set
Figure: 80286 Flag Register

- Flag register is of 32 bit . 15 th bit undefined/reserved.
- System flags: reflect the current status of machine.
i. IOPL I/O Privilege Level flag: 2 bits are used in protected mode. It holds the privilege
level from 0 to 3. 0 assigns to highest privilege whereas 3 assigns to lower privilege level.
ii. NT: Nested Task flag: It is used in protected mode. Bit is set when one task invokes another
task.
3. Salient Features of 80286
Ans - The 80286 is the first member of the family of advanced microprocessors with memory
management and protection abilities.
- The 80286 CPU, with its 24-bit address bus is able to address 16 Mbytes of physical memory.
Various versions of 80286 are available that runs on 12.5 MHz, 10 MHz and 8 MHz clock
frequencies.

- 80286 is upwardly compatible with 8086 in terms of instruction set.

- 80286 have two operating modes namely real address mode and virtual address mode.
- In real address mode, the 80286 can address up to 1Mb of physical memory address like 8086.
- In virtual address mode, it can address up to 16 Mb of physical memory address space and 1 GB of
virtual memory address space.
- The instruction set of 80286 includes the instructions of 8086 and 80186.
- 80286 has some extra instructions to support operating system and memory management.
- In protected virtual address mode, it is source code compatible with 8086.
- The performance of 80286 is five times faster than the standard 8086.
4. Explain MMU of 80286.
Ans In advanced microprocessor, memory management becomes extremely important. Memory management is
required due to the following two reasons.
1. Limitation of Physical Memory
A microprocessor has limited number of address lines. Hence the physical memory addressability is
limited. Increasing the number of address lines is not attractive as it makes the architecture and
design complex without significant gain. Packaging becomes difficult and expensive. Memory
Management Unit (MMU) solves this problem by translating the virtual memory address into the
physical memory address. Virtual memory can be many times larger than the physical memory.
Only the programs currently required are brought from the secondary storage such as a hard disk
to, the physical memory (RAM) for execution.
2. Need for Protection
In a multi-user operating system, there is a possibility that a user program can corrupt the
operating system area or the area of some other user unless a protection mechanism is built. Hence
each user should be protected from other users and the operating system should be protected from
other user (task). The user (task) should be allowed to have a controlled access to the operating
system resources. Hence various privilege levels are defined. For example, in a situation having 4
privilege levels, 0 is the highest privilege and 3 has the lowest privilege as shown in the figure. The
figure shows a typical UNIX operating system layout. It has to be noted that the user is at the
lowest privilege level, i.e., privilege level 3 and the operating system Kernel is at the highest
privilege level, i.e., privilege level 0.
Role of Memory Management Unit (MMU):
- The virtual address space of a microprocessor may be many times larger than the actual physical
address space.
- This is desirable as a microprocessor is supposed to store large programs and data which cannot be
accommodated in the physical memory space.
- Usually programs and data are stored in a secondary storage such as a hard disk.
- The hard disk is in the virtual or logical address space but not in the physical address space.
- Faster memory such as RAM is used as the physical memory (Primary Storage).
- When a microprocessor is to execute a program, it checks whether the program is available in the
physical memory (RAM).

- If the program is not available in the physical memory, it is brought from the secondary memory to
the physical memory for execution.
- If available space is inadequate in the physical memory, some less important or unused program
can be swapped back to the secondary memory to create space.
5. Explain Operating Modes of 80286
80286 works in two operating mode:
i. Real Address Mode (Just act as a fast 8086).
- Instruction set is upwardly compatible
- Because of extra pipelining and other circuit level improvements, in real address mode
also, the 80286 operates at a much faster rate than 8086, although functionally they
work in an identical fashion.
- As in 8086, the physical memory is organized in terms of segments of 64Kbyte
maximum size.
- In the real mode the first 1Kbyte of memory starting from address 0000H to 003FFH is
reserved for interrupt vector table.
- The addresses from FFFF0H to FFFFFH are reserved for system initialization.
- When the 80286 is reset, it always starts the execution in real address mode.
- In real address mode, it initializes the IP and other registers of 80286.
Figure: Real Address Mode Address Calculation

ii. Protected Virtual Address Mode (PVAM)

- 80286 is the first processor to support the concepts of virtual memory and memory
management.
- The concept of Virtual Memory is implemented using Physical memory that the CPU can
directly access and secondary memory that is used as storage for data and program,
which are stored in secondary memory initially.
- The complete virtual memory is mapped on to the 16Mbyte physical memory.
- If a program larger than 16Mbyte is stored on the hard disk and is to be executed, if it is
fetched in terms of data or program segments of less than 16Mbyte in size into the
program memory by swapping sequentially as per sequence of execution.
- The 80286 is able to address 1 GB (2 30 bytes) of virtual memory.
- 80286 uses the 16-bit content of a segment register as a selector to address a
descriptor stored in the physical memory.
- The descriptor is a block of contiguous memory locations containing information of a
segment, like segment base address, segment limit, segment type, privilege level,
segment availability in physical memory descriptor type and segment.
- Hardware reset is the only way to come out of protected mode
Figure: Physical Address Calculation in PVAM

6. Explain Privilege level.

Ans There are four types of privilege levels
1. 00 - kernel level (highest privilege level)
2. 01 - OS services
3. 10 - OS extensions
4. 11 - Applications (lowest privilege level)
Figure: Privilege Level
- Each task assigned a privilege level, which indicates the priority or privilege of that task.
- It can only changed by transferring the control, using gate descriptors, to a new segment.
- A task executing at level 0, the most privileged level, can access all the data segment defined in
GDT and LDT of the task.
- A task executing at level 3, the least privileged level, will have the most limited access to data and
other descriptors.
- The use of rings allows for system software to restrict tasks from accessing data.
- In most environments, the operating system and some device drivers run in ring 0 and applications
run in ring 3.
7. What is Descriptor table? What is its use? Differentiate between GDT and LDT.
Ans - Descriptor is a identifier of a program segment or page.
- A segment cannot be accessed, if its descriptor does not exist in either LDT or GDT.
- Set of descriptor (descriptor table) arranged in a proper sequence describes the complete program.
- The descriptor is a block of contiguous memory location containing information of a segment, like
i. Segment base address
ii. Segment limit

iii. Segment type

iv. Privilege level prevents unauthorized access
v. Segment availability in physical memory
vi. Descriptor type
vii. Segment use by another task
Figure: Protected Mode Addressing with Descriptor Table

Requirement of Descriptor Table:
- The descriptor describes the location, length, and access rights of the segment of memory.
- The selector, located in the segment register, selects one of descriptors from one of two tables of
descriptors.
7. Explain LDT, GDT and IDT. Differentiate LDT and GDT
Ans Global Descriptor Table (GDT):
- The 80286 has a single Global Descriptor Table (GDT) which is shared between all tasks and
addresses up to 512MB of the virtual address space.
- The Global Descriptor Table or GDT is a data structure used by Intel x86-family processors
starting with the 80286 in order to define the characteristics of the various memory areas used
during program execution, including the base address, the size and access privileges like execute-
ability and write-ability.
Local Descriptor Table (LDT):
- Each task will have its own Local Descriptor Table (LDT) which is a private 512MB of address space.
- LDT is essential to implement separate address spaces for multiple processes.
- The operating system will switch the current LDT when scheduling a new process, using the LDT
machine instruction.
Descriptor Table (LDT):
- IDT used to store interrupt gates and task gates.

- LIDT instruction is used to Load Interrupt Descriptor table.

Differentiate LDT and GDT:
- LDT is actually defined by a descriptor inside the GDT, while the GDT is directly defined by a linear
address.
- The lack of symmetry between both tables is underlined by the fact that the current LDT can be
automatically switched on certain events, notably if TSS-based multitasking is used, while this is
not possible for the GDT.
- The LDT also cannot store certain privileged types of memory segments.
- The LDT is the sibling of the Global Descriptor Table (GDT) and similarly defines up to 8191
memory segments accessible to programs.
- LDT (and GDT) entries which point to identical memory areas are called aliases.
- Instruction to load GDT is LGDT(Load Global Descriptor Table) and instruction to load LDT is
LLDT(Load Global Descriptor Table). Both are privileged instructions.
7. Processor Status Word in 80286
Ans There are four Processor Status Word in 80286:-
1. PE - Protection Enable
The PE bit is set to enable the Protected Mode. If PE is reset, the processor operates again in Real
Mode.
2. MP - Monitor Processor Extension
The MP bit is used in conjunction with the TS bit to determine if the WAIT opcode will generate a
Coprocessor Not Available fault when TS e 1. When both MP = 1 and TS = 1, the WAIT opcode
generates a trap. Otherwise, the WAIT opcode does not generate a trap. Note that TS is
automatically set whenever a task switch operation is performed.
3. EM - Processor Extension Emulator
The EMulate coprocessor bit is set to cause all coprocessor opcodes to generate a Coprocessor Not
Available fault. It is reset to allow coprocessor opcodes to be executed on an actual Intel387 DX
coprocessor. Note that the WAIT opcode is not affected by the EM bit setting.
4. TS Task Switch
TS is automatically set whenever a task switch operation is performed.
Figure: Processor Status Word in 80286

8. Explain 80286 Interrupt Handling
Ans - Real addressing mode has 256 interrupts with types 0-255.
- Each interrupt takes 4 bytes, so we have to reserve 1KByte of memory for interrupt.
- In PVAM mode also we have 256 interrupts but it is not assigned a fixed memory.

- The Interrupt descriptor table can be anywhere in the physical memory.

- Base address of interrupt descriptor table is stored in interrupt descriptor table register (IDTR).
- The particular descriptor is accessed as follows:-
(Interrupt Type * 8) + IDTR -> Descriptor
9. Draw and explain Pin Diagram of 80286.
Ans The pin interface diagram of 80286 is as follows:-
Signals/pins are divide into four groups
1. Memory I/O interfaces signals
2. Interrupt interface signals
3. DMA interface signals
4. Co-processor interface signals
Figure: 80286 Interface Diagram
- VCC is the system power supply connection for 10%, +5.0 V.

- VSS is the system ground connection.
- CLK is System Clock.
- RESET the companion reset output pin (goes high for a reset) connects to system peripherals to
initialize them whenever the input goes low.
- NMI is a non-mask able interrupt input. It is positive edge-triggered and always active. When NMI is

activated, it uses interrupt vector 2.

- A0-A23: Unidirectional Address bus.
- D0- D15: Bidirectional Data bus.
- The bus high enable pin indicates (when a logic 0) that valid data are transferred through data
bus.
- PEREQ and PEACK#: Processor extension/co-processor request and acknowledge.
- PEREQ input request the 80286 to perform data transfer for a processor extension/co-processor.
- Co-processor cannot transfer the data over the data bus by itself. Whenever it needs read or write
the data from memory, it indicates 80286 to initiate the data transfer by making PEREQ signal high.
- PEACK# indicates co-processor that data transfer has started.
- Busy# indicates processor extension is busy with allotted job. Busy goes low indicates 80286 to
suspend the execution and wait until busy becomes high.
- Error# signal indicates the error is detected by the co-processor. So when low, 80286 need to
perform the processor extension interrupt while executing WAIT instruction.
- The lock pin is an output controlled by the LOCK prefix. If an instruction is prefixed with LOCK, the
pin becomes a logic 0 for the duration of the locked instruction.
- S0 and S1 are bus cycle status output pin
- M/IO is memory I/O select pin
- COD/INTA# is code interrupt acknowledgement pin
- HOLD is bus hold input signal and HLDA/HOLDA is hold acknowledgement output signal
10. Features of 80386
Ans - The 80386 microprocessor is an enhanced version of the 80286 microprocessor
- Memory-management unit is enhanced to provide memory paging.
- The 80386 also includes 32-bit extended registers and a 32-bit address and data bus.These
extended registers include EAX, EBX, ECX, EDX, EBP, ESP, EDI, ESI, EIP and EFLAGS.
- The 80386 has a physical memory size of 4GBytes that can be addressed as a virtual memory with
up to 64TBytes.
- The 80386 is operated in the pipelined mode, it sends the address of the next instruction or
memory data to the memory system prior to completing the execution of the current instruction
- This allows the memory system to begin fetching the next instruction or data before the current is
completed. This increases access time.
- The instruction set of the 80386 is enhanced to include instructions that address the 32-bit
extended register set.
- The 80386 memory manager is similar to the 80286, except the physical addresses generated by
the MMU are 32 bits wide instead of 24-bits.
- The concept of paging is introduced in 80386
- 80386 support three operating modes:
1. Real Mode (default)
2. Protected Virtual Address Mode (PVAM)
3. Virtual Mode

- The memory management section of 80386 supports virtual memory, paging and four levels of
protection.
- The 80386 includes special hardware for task switching.
11. Explain 80386 Architecture
Ans - The internal architecture of the 80386 includes six functional units that operate in parallel. The
parallel operation is called as pipeline processing.
- Fetching, decoding execution, memory management, and bus access for several instructions are
performed simultaneously.
- The six functional units of the 80386 are
1. Bus Interface Unit
2. Code Pre-fetch Unit
3. Instruction Decoder Unit
4. Execution Unit
5. Segmentation Unit
6. Paging Unit
Figure: 80386 Architecture

- The Bus Interface Unit connects the 80386 with memory and I/O. Based on internal requests for
fetching instructions and transferring data from the code pre-fetch unit, the 80386 generates the
address, data and control signals for the current bus cycles.
- The code pre-fetch unit pre-fetches instructions when the bus interface unit is not executing the
bus cycles. It then stores them in a 16-byte instruction queue for decoding by the instruction

decode unit.
- The instruction decode unit translates instructions from the pre-fetch queue into micro-codes.
The decoded instructions are then stored in an instruction queue (FIFO) for processing by the
execution unit.
- The execution unit processes the instructions from the instruction queue. It contains a control
unit, a data unit and a protection test unit.
- The control unit contains microcode and parallel hardware for fast multiply, divide and effective
address calculation. The unit includes a 32-bit ALU, 8 general purpose registers and a 64-bit barrel
shifter for performing multiple bit shifts in one clock. The data unit carries out data operations
requested by the control unit.
- The protection test unit checks for segmentation violations under the control of microcode.
- The segmentation unit calculates and translates the logical address into linear addresses at the
request of the execution unit.
- The translated linear address is sent to the paging unit. Upon enabling the paging mechanism, the
80386 translates these linear addresses into physical addresses. If paging is not enabled, the
physical address is identical to the linear address and no translation is necessary.
11. Register organization of 80386
Ans The Register organization of 80386 is as follows:
Figure:80386 General Purpose, Index and Pointer Register
General Purpose Register

- Registers EAX, EBX, ECX, EDX, EBP, EDI and ESI are regarded as general purpose or multipurpose

registers.
- EAX (ACCUMULATOR): The accumulator is used for instructions such as multiplication, division and
some of the adjustment instructions. In 80386 and above, the EAX register may also hold the offset
address of a location in memory system.
- EBX (BASE INDEX): This can hold the offset address of a location in the memory system in all
version of the microprocessor. It the 80386 and above EBX also can address memory data.
- ECX (count): This acts as a counter for various instructions.
- EDX (data): EDX is a general-purpose registers that holds a part of the result for multiplication or
part of the division. In the 80386 and above this register can also address memory data.
Pointer and Index Register
- EBP (Base Pointer): EBP points to a memory location in all version of the microprocessor for
memory data transfers.
- ESP (Stack Pointer): ESP addresses an area of memory called the stack. The stack memory is a
data LIFO data structure. The register is referred to as SP if used in 16 bit mode and ESP if referred
to as a 32 bit register.
- EDI (Destination index): EDI often addresses string destination data for the string instruction. It
also functions as either a 32-bit (EDI) or 16-bit (DI) general-purpose register.
- ESI (Source index): ESI can either be used as ESI or SI. It is often used to the address source
string data for the string instructions. Like EDI ESI also functions as a general-purpose registers.
Figure:80386 Segment Register

- CS (Code): The code segment is a section of memory that holds the code used by the
microprocessor. The code segment registers defines the starting address of the section of memory
holding code.
- SS (Stack): The stack segment defines the area of memory used for the stack. The stack entry
point is determined by the stack segment and stack pointer registers. The BP registers also
addresses data within the stack segment.
- DS (Data) The data section contains most data used by a program. Data are accessed in the
data segment by an offset address of the contests of other registers that hold the offset address.
- ES (extra) The extra segment is used to hold information about string transfer and manipulation
- FS and GS These are supplement segment registers available in the 80386 and above
microprocessors to allow two additional memory segments for access by programs.

EIP (Instruction Pointer): EIP addresses the next instruction in a section of memory defined as a code
segment. This register is IP (16bit) when microprocessor operates in the real mode and EIP (32 bits) when
80386 and above operate in protected mode
Figure:80386 Instruction Pointer and Flag Register

Flag Register:
Indicates the condition of the microprocessor and controls its operations. Flag registers are also upward
compatible since the 8086-80268 have 16bit registers and the 80386 and above have EGLAF register (32
bits)
Figure: 80386 Flag Register

- IOPL (I/O Privilege level): IOPL is used in protected mode operation to select the privilege level
for I./O devices. IF the current privilege level is higher or more trusted than the IOPL, I/O executed
without hindrance. If the IOPL is lover than the current privilege level, an interrupt occurs, causing
execution to suspend. Note that an IPOL is 00 is the highest or more trusted; if IOPL is 11, its the
lowest or least trusted.
- NT (Nested Task): The nested task flag is used to indicate that the current task is nested within
another task in protected mode operation. This flag is when the task I nested by software.
- RF (Resume): The resume flag is used with debugging to control the resumption of execution
after the next instruction.
- VM (Virtual Mode): The VM flag bit selects virtual mode operation in a protected mode system.
- Note: All the other flag bit is having similar description as in 8086 flag register.
System Address Register:
Four memory management registers are used to specify the locations of data structures which control
segmented memory management.
- GDTR (Global Descriptor Table Register) and IDTR (Interrupt Descriptor Table Register) be loaded
with instructions which get a 6 byte data item from memory

- LDTR (Local Descriptor Table Register) and TR (Task Register) can be loaded with instructions which
take a 16-bit segment selector as an operand.
Special 80386 Register

- Control Register: Four Control Register (CR0-CR3)
- Debug Register: Eight Debug Register (DR0-DR7)
- Test Register: Two Test Register (TR6-TR7)
12. Explain Control Register in detail. OR
Describe the control registers of 80386 with proper meaning of each field.
Ans - The 80386 has three 32 bit control registers CR0, CR2 and CR3 to hold global machine status
independent of the executed task.
- Load and store instructions are available to access these registers
- Common tasks performed by control registers include interrupt control, switching the addressing
mode, paging control, and coprocessor control.
Figure: Control Register

CR0:
It contains system control flags, which control or indicate conditions that apply to the system as a
whole, not to an individual task.
- PE (Protection Enable, bit 0)
Setting PE causes the processor to begin executing in protected mode. Resetting PE returns to real-

address mode.
- MP (Math Present, bit 1)
MP controls the function of the WAIT instruction, which is used to coordinate a coprocessor.
- EM (Emulation, bit 2)
EM indicates whether coprocessor functions are to be emulated.
- TS (Task Switched, bit 3)
The processor sets TS with every task switch and tests TS when interpreting coprocessor
instructions.
- ET (Extension Type, bit 4)
ET indicates the type of coprocessor present in the system (80287 or 80387).
- PG (Paging, bit 31)
PG indicates whether the processor uses page tables to translate linear addresses into physical
addresses.
CR2:
- CR2 is used for handling page faults when PG is set. The processor stores in CR2 the linear address
that triggers the fault.
- Contains a value called Page Fault Linear Address (PFLA). When a page fault occurs, the address
the program attempted to access is stored in the CR2 register.
CR3:
- It is used when virtual addressing is enabled; hence when the PG bit is set in CR0, CR3 enables the
processor to translate linear addresses into physical addresses by locating the page directory
and page tables for the current task.
- Typically, the upper 20 bits of CR3 become the page directory base register (PDBR), which stores
the physical address of the first page directory entry.
Note: Reserved field shown in figure are kept reserved by manufacturer
13. Explain Debug Register in detail.
Ans Debugging of 80386 allows data access breakpoints as well as code execution breakpoints.
- 80386 contains 6 debug registers to specify
4 breakpoints
Breakpoint Control options
Breakpoint Status

Figure: 80386 Debug Register
Linear Breakpoint Address Registers:

- The breakpoint addresses specified are 32-bit linear addresses
- While debugging, Intel 386 h/w continuously compares the linear breakpoint addresses in DR0-DR3
with the linear addresses generated by executing software.
Debug Control Register:
Figure: Debug Control Register

- LENi(i=0 - 3): Breakpoint Length Specification Bits:
o 2 bit field for each breakpoint
o Specifies length of breakpoint fields
o The choices of data breakpoints are 1byte, 2bytes & 4bytes
o For instruction execution breakpoint, the length is 1(beginning byte address)

Table: LENi Encoding

- RWi(i=0 - 3): Memory Access Qualifier Bit
o 2 bit field for each breakpoint
o Specifies the type of usage which must occur inorder to activate the
associated breakpoint
Table: Table: RWii Encoding

- GD: Global Debug Register Access Detect
o Debug registers can only be accessed in real mode or at privilege level 0 in
protected mode
o GD bit, when set, provides extra protection against any Debug Register
access even in Real Mode or at privilege level 0 in Protected Mode.
o The GD bit, when set, causes an exception 1 fault if an instruction attempts
to read or write any Debug Register.
o The GD bit is then automatically cleared when the exception 1 handler is
invoked, allowing the exception 1 handler free access to the debug registers.
- GE and LE bit: Exact data breakpoint match, global and local
- Gi and Li(i=0 - 3): Breakpoint Enable, global and local

o If either G i or Li is set then the associated breakpoint is enabled.

Debug Status Register:
A Debug Status Register allows the exception 1 handler to easily determine why it was invoked.
It can be invoked as a result of one of several events:
1) DR0 Breakpoint fault/trap.
5) Single-step (TF) trap.
6) Task switch trap.
7) Fault due to attempted debug register access when GD = 1.
Figure: Debug Status Register

- Bi : Debug fault/trap due to breakpoint 0 -3
o Four breakpoint indicator flags, B0-B3, correspond one-to-one with the breakpoint
registers in DR0-DR3.
o A flag Bi is set when the condition described by DRi, LENi, and RWi occurs.
- BD : Debug fault due to attempted register access when GD bit is set
o This bit is set if the exception 1 handler was invoked due to an instruction attempting to
read or write to the debug registers when GD bit was set.
- BS : Debug trap due to single step
o This bit is set if the exception 1 handler was invoked due to the TF bit in the flag
register being set
- BT : Debug trap due to task switch
o This bit is set if the exception 1 handler was invoked due to a task switch occurring to a
task having an Intel386.
14. Explain Test Register in detail.
Ans - Two more test register are provided by 80386 for page cacheing
- They are used to control the testing of Translation Look-aside Buffer(TLB) of Intel386.
- TR6 is the command test register
- TR7 is the data register which contains the data of Translation Look-aside buffer test.
Figure: Test Register

15. What are program-invisible registers?
Ans - The global and local descriptor tables are found in the memory system.
- In order to access and specify the address of these tables, the program invisible registers used.

- The program invisible registers are not directly addressed by software so they are given name.
- The GDTR (global descriptor table register) and IDTR (interrupt descriptor table register) contain
the base addresses of the descriptor table and its limit.
- The limit of each descriptor table is 16 bits because the maximum table length is 64 Kbytes.
- When the protected mode operation is desired, the address of the global descriptor table and its
limit are loaded into the GDTR.
16. Explain Real Modes of 80386
Ans - Default Mode
- After reset, the 80386 starts from the memory location FFFFFFF0 H under real address mode.
- In real address mode, 80386 works as a fast 8086 with 32 bit registers and data types.
- Real-address mode is in effect after a signal on the RESET pin. Even if the system is going to be
used in protected mode, the start-up program will execute in real-address mode temporarily while
initializing for protected mode.
- The addressing techniques, memory size, interrupt handling in this mode of 80386 are similar to
the real addressing mode of 80286.
- In real address mode, the default operand size is 16 bit but 32 bit operands and addressing modes
may be used with the help of override prefixed.
- Maximum physical memory = 1Mega byte (1MB)
- The only way to leave real-address mode is to switch to protected mode.
17. Explain PVAM of 80386
Ans - Introduced in the 80386 processor.
- 32-bit address bus => access up to 232 bytes = 22. 230 B = 4 GB
- Base address => 32-bit value
- Offset =>16-bit or 32-bit value
- Linear address = base address + offset
- Linear address physical address with paging
- In protected mode, the segment registers contain an index into a table of segment descriptors.
- Each segment descriptor contains the start address of the segment, to which the offset is
added to generate the address.
- In addition, the segment descriptor contains memory protection information.
- This includes an offset limit and bits for write and read permission.
- This allows the processor to prevent memory accesses to certain data.
- Protected mode is accessed by placing a logic 1 into the PE bit of CR0
- This system contains one data segment descriptor and one code segment descriptor with each
segment set to 4G bytes in length.
- PVAM mode support memory management, virtual memory, multitasking, protection, debugging,
segmentation and paging.

18. Explain Virtual Mode of 80386

Ans - In its protected mode of operation, 80386DX provides a virtual 8086 operating environment to
execute the 8086 programs.
- The real mode can also used to execute the 8086 programs along with the capabilities of 80386, like
protection and a few additional instructions.
- Once the 80386 enters the protected mode from the real mode, it cannot return back to the real
mode without a reset operation.
- Thus, the virtual 8086 mode of operation of 80386, offers an advantage of executing 8086
programs while in protected mode.
- The address forming mechanism in virtual 8086 mode is exactly identical with that of 8086 real
mode.
- In virtual mode, 8086 can address 1Mbytes of physical memory that may be anywhere in the
4Gbytes address space of the protected mode of 80386.
- Like 80386 real mode, the addresses in virtual 8086 mode lie within 1Mbytes of memory.
- In virtual mode, the paging mechanism and protection capabilities are available at the service of the
programmers.
- The 80386 supports multiprogramming, hence more than one programmer may be use the CPU at a
time.
- Paging unit may not be necessarily enable in virtual mode, but may be needed to run the 8086
programs which require more than 1Mbyts of memory for memory management function.
- In virtual mode, the paging unit allows only 256 pages, each of 4Kbytes size.
- Each of the pages may be located anywhere in the maximum 4Gbytes physical memory.
- The virtual mode allows the multiprogramming of 8086 applications.
- The virtual 8086 mode executes all the programs at privilege level 3.
- Any of the other programmers may deny access to the virtual mode programs or data.
- Even in the virtual mode, all the interrupts and exceptions are handled by the protected mode
interrupt handler.
- To return to the protected mode from the virtual mode, any interrupt or execution may be used.
- As a part of interrupt service routine, the VM bit may be reset to zero to pull back the 80386 into
protected mode.

19. Explain Segment Selector in 80386

Ans In protected mode the contents of segment register is called selectors shown below:-
Figure: Segment Selector

- Descriptor Index Selects any one of the 8192(213) descriptor from a descriptor table
- TI Table Indicator
TI=1 Local Descriptor Table
TI=0 Global Descriptor Table
- RPL (Requested Privilege Level)(2-bit), refers the privilege of that segment. They are used while
protection checks to indicate whether access to segment is allowed or not allowed.
20. Explain 80386 Descriptor.
Ans Need of Descriptor
- Segments are the memory area defined by programmer and can be code, stack and data segment.
- 80386 segments are also assigned to have attributes viz. privilege level, segment type, segment
limit.
- So, its not possible to use a 16 bit segment register to represent all the info regarding a segment.
therefore the Solution is Descriptor
- Segment sizes vary from 1byte to 4GB in 80386.
Figure: 80386 Descriptor

Offset Bit Description
40 A(Accessed) 80386 sets this bit to 1 whenever a memory reference to a segment

defined by this descriptor is made.
41-43 TYPE Describes the type of segment
44 S(System) 0 Specifies system segment descriptor

1 Specifies non system segment descriptor
E.g. code, stack or data
45-46 DPL (Descriptor Indicates privilege level associated with memory space. 0 - most
Privilege level) privileged 3 least privileged
47 Present If set 0 , indicates that the address range that is specified by the
descriptor is temporarily not present.
52 U(User) Undefined bit.
53 X Reserved by Intel
54 D(Default Size) 0 Operands within this segments are assumed to be 16 bits.

1 Operands assumed to be 32 bits
55 G(Granularity 0 Unit of limit field is 1 byte.

bit) 1 Unit of limit field is of 4096 bytes (or 1 page).
- The Above figure is the format of the code/data descriptor; one descriptor is 64-bit long.
- As we can see, a descriptor actually includes a 32-bit base address and a 20-bit limit and some
attributes, the 32-bit base address indicate where the segment starts, and the 20-bit limit indicates
the length of the segment.
- However, a problem comes up, 20-bit limit can only represent 2^20 = 1MB memory, to access a
4GB memory space, descriptor uses G bit to indicate whether the limit use 4K or 1 byte for one
unit, that means if G bit is set then we get 2^20*4K = 4GB memory, if it is unset then we only use
a memory space under 1MB.
21. Explain Descriptor tables in 80386
Ans - The segment descriptors that we defined are grouped together and placed in a continuous memory
location. The group arrangement called Descriptor Table.
- Each descriptor requires 8byte in order to store the info of a particular segment.
- Descriptor table can contain 8192(8K) descriptors at the max.
- The maximum length of a descriptor table is a 64Kbytes.
- The descriptor tables define all the segments used in the 80386 when it operates in the protected

mode.
- There are three types of descriptor tables: the global descriptor table (GDT), the local descriptor
table (LDT), and the interrupt descriptor table (IDT).
- The registers used by the 80386 to address these three tables are called the global descriptor table
register (GDTR), the local descriptor table register (LDTR), and the interrupt descriptor table
register (IDTR).
- These registers are loaded with the LGDT, LLDT, and LIDT instructions, respectively.
- The local and global descriptor tables hold up to 8192 entries each, and the interrupt descriptor
table holds up to 256 entries.
- A descriptor is indexed from either the local or global descriptor table by the selector that appears in
a segment register.
- Whenever a new selector is placed into one of the segment registers, the 80386 accesses one of the
descriptor tables and automatically loads the descriptor into a program-invisible cache portion of the
segment register.
Global Descriptor Table (GDT):
- This is the main table of descriptors.
- The same GDT can be used by all programs to refer to segment of memory.
- 80386 can have many LDTs but only one GDT.
Figure: Global Descriptor Table

Local Descriptor Table (LDT) :
- A multi tasking system is defined on a per task basis.
- The main purpose of an LDT would be combined with GDT in order to expand the total number of
available descriptors.
- Generally, each task can have its own LDT and can also be shared with other task.
22. Differentiate real mode interrupts and protected mode interrupts
Ans - The difference between real mode interrupts and protected mode interrupts is that the interrupt
vector table is an IDT in the protected mode.
- The IDT still contains up to 256 interrupt levels, but each level is accessed through an interrupt

gate instead of an interrupt vector.

- Thus, interrupt type number 2 (INT 2) is located at IDT descriptor number 2 at 16 locations above
the base address of the IDT.
- This also means that the first IK byte of memory no longer contains interrupt vectors, as it did in
the real mode.
- The IDT can be located at any location in the memory system.
23. Explain the basic concepts of 80386 paging system.
Ans - Paging is one of the memory management techniques
- The paging mechanism allows any linear (logical) address, as it is generated by a program, to be
placed into any physical memory page, as generated by the paging mechanism.
- A linear memory page is a page that is addressed with a selector and an offset in either the real or
protected mode.
- A physical memory page is a page that exists at some actual physical memory location.
- For example, linear memory location 20000H could be mapped into physical memory location
30000H, or any other location, with the paging unit. This means that an instruction that accesses
location 20000H actually accesses location 30000H. Each 80386 memory page is 4K bytes long.
- Paging allows the system software to be placed at any physical address with the paging mechanism.
- Three components are used in page address translation: the page directory, the page table, and the
actual physical memory page.
- The segmentation scheme may divide the physical memory into a variable size segments but the
paging divides the memory into a fixed size pages.
- The segments are supposed to be the logical segments of the program.
- The pages are just fixed size portions of the program module or data.
Advantage:
- The advantage of paging scheme is that the complete segment of a task need not be in the
physical memory at any time.
- Only a few pages of the segments, which are required currently for the execution need to be
available in the physical memory.
- Thus the memory requirement of the task is substantially reduced, relinquishing the available
memory for other tasks.
-
24. Explain the Page Table and Page Directory Entry with example.
Ans Page Directory
- The page directory contains the location of up to 1024 page translation tables, which are each four
bytes long.
- Each page translation table translates a logical address into a physical address.
- The page directory is stored in the memory and accessed by the page descriptor address register
(CR3).
- Control register CR3 holds the base address of the page directory, which starts at any 4K-byte
boundary in the memory system.

- Each entry in the page directory translates the leftmost 10 bits of the memory address. This 10-bit
portion of the linear address is used to locate different page tables for different page table entries.
Page Table
- The page table contains 1024 physical page addresses, accessed to translate a linear address into a
physical address.
Page Directory Entry
- Total Page Directory Entries are1024
- Each directory entry is of 4 byte
Figure: Page Directory Entry
Page Table Entry

- The page table entries contain the starting address of the page and the statistical information about
the page.
- Total Entries are1024
- Each page table entry is of 4byte
Figure: Page Table Entry

- D-bit: Dirty bit is undefined for page table directory entries by the 80386 microprocessor
- and is provided for use by the operating system.
- A-bit: Accessed bit is set to a logic 1 whenever the microprocessor accesses the page
- directory entry.
- R/W and Read/write and user/supervisor are both used in the protection scheme. Both bits
combine to develop paging priority level protection for level 3, the lowest user level.
- P-bit: Present bit, if logic 1 indicates that the entry can be used in address translation. If P = 0,
the entry cannot be used for translation. When P = 0, the remaining bits of the entry can be used to

indicate the location of the page on the disk memory system.

Difference between page directory and page table entry:
- The main difference is that the page directory entry contains the physical address of a page table,
while the page table entry contains the physical address of a 4K-byte physical page of memory.
- The other difference is the D (dirty bit), which has no function in the page directory entry, but
indicates that a page has been written to in a page table entry.
25. Explain Page Translation Mechanism in 80386
Ans - A page frame is a 4K-byte unit of contiguous addresses of physical memory. Pages begin onbyte
boundaries and are fixed in size.
- A linear address refers indirectly to a physical address by specifying a page table, a page within that
table, and an offset within that page
Figure : Format of Linear Address

- The below figure of page translation shows, how processor converts the DIR, PAGE, and OFFSET
fields of a linear address into the physical address by consulting two levels of page tables.
- The addressing mechanism uses the DIR field as an index into a page directory, uses the PAGE field
as an index into the page table determined by the page directory, and uses the OFFSET field to
address a byte within the page determined by the page table.
- In the second phase of address transformation, the 80386 transforms a linear address into a
physical address.
- This phase of address transformation implements the basic features needed for page-oriented
virtual-memory systems and page-level protection.
- Page translation is in effect only when the PG bit of CR0 is set.
Figure: Page Translation

26. Explain Translation Look aside Buffer(TLB)

ANS - 80386 supports demand paged virtual memory systems.
- Performance degrades if the processor access two levels of tables for every memory reference.
- To solve this problem, the Intel386 DX keeps a cache of the most recently accessed pages and this
cache is called Translation Look aside Buffer (TLB).
- TLB has 4 sets of eight entries each.
- Each entry consists of a TAG and a DATA.
- Tags are 24 bit wide. They contain 20 upper bits of linear address, a valid bit (Validation of Entry)
and three attribute bits(D,U/S and R/W).
- Data portion of each entry contains higher 20 bits of the Physical address.
- It automatically keeps the most commonly used Page Table Entries.
- TLB cache holds recent 32 entries of Page Table.
- 32-entry TLB coupled with a 4K page size results in the coverage of 128KB of memory addresses.
Figure: Translation Look aside Buffer(TLB)
27. Protection Mechanism in 80386

Ans - The purpose of the protection features of the 80386 is to help detect and identify bugs.
- To help debug applications faster and make them more robust in production, the 80386 contains
mechanisms to verify memory accesses and instruction execution for conformance to protection
criteria.
- Protection in the 80386 has five aspects:
1. Type checking
2. Limit checking
3. Restriction of addressable domain

4. Restriction of procedure entry points

5. Restriction of instruction set
- The protection hardware of the 80386 is an integral part of the memory management hardware.
- Protection applies both to segment translation and to page translation.
- Each reference to memory is checked by the hardware to verify that it satisfies the protection
criteria.
- All these checks are made before the memory cycle is started; any violation prevents that cycle
from starting and results in an exception.
- Since the checks are performed concurrently with address formation, there is no performance
penalty.
Segment-Level Protection:
- All five aspects of protection apply to segment translation:
1. Type checking:
It is used to determine whether the current memory access (read/write) is allowed. For
example, write operation is not allowed for the read only data segment.
2. Limit checking:
Limit checking uses the twenty limit bits stored in the segment descriptor to guarantee that
addresses outside the range of the segment are not allowed. The limit field of a segment
descriptor is used by the processor to prevent programs from addressing outside the
segment.
3. Restriction of addressable domain:
The addressable domain of a task is a function of the tasks CPL (current privilege level). A
task can access data segments of only same or lower (greater in magnitude) privilege
levels.
4. Restriction of procedure entry points:
It is done through the use of Call gate. Call gates are used to control the transfer of
execution between procedures of different privileged levels.
5. Restriction of instruction set:
The instructions that affect system data structures can only be executed when CPL is zero. If
the CPU encounters one of these instructions when CPL is greater than zero, it signals a
general protection exception.
- The segment is the unit of protection, and segment descriptors store protection parameters.
- Protection checks are performed automatically by the CPU when the selector of a segment
descriptor is loaded into a segment register and with every segment access.
- Segment registers hold the protection parameters of the currently addressable segments.
Page-Level Protection
- Page-Table entries hold protection parameters (i.e. U/S and R/W bit)
- Two kinds of protection are related to pages:
1. Restriction of addressable domain:
The concept of privilege for pages is implemented by assigning each page to one of two

levels:
i. Supervisor level (U/S=0) -- for the operating system and other systems software and
related data.
ii. User level (U/S=1) -- for applications procedures and data.
The current level (U or S) is related to CPL. If CPL is 0, 1, or 2, the processor is executing at
supervisor level. If CPL is 3, the processor is executing at user level. When the processor is
executing at supervisor level, all pages are addressable, but, when the processor is
executing at user level, only pages that belong to the user level are addressable.
2. Type checking:
At the level of page addressing, two types are defined:
i. Read-only access (R/W=0)
ii. Read/write access (R/W=1)
When the processor is executing at supervisor level, all pages are both readable and
writable. When the processor is executing at user level, only pages that belong to user level
and are marked for read/write access are writable; pages that belong to supervisor level are
neither readable nor writable from user level.
28. Explain the concepts of Call gates with suitable example.
Ans - Call Gates are required at procedure entry point check.
- Call gates allow a program to directly call system calls.
- However, since system calls are often in a privileged ring, calling them directly is not allowed
because of the ring protection. The 80386 protection mode uses a call-gate concept to allow this
kind of transfer.
- Call gates enable programs in a lower privileged ring to jump to designated places in a higher
privileged ring.
- It is used to control the transfer of execution between procedures of different privilege level.

Figure: Call Gate

- 80386 do allow a program to jump to a more privilege ring, but a program cannot jump to an
arbitrary place, it must go through Call Gates, which basically define the entry points for the
privileged code.
- Corresponding security checks will be conducted at those entry points to decide whether the
invoking code has sufficient right.
- These security checks are enforced by operating systems.
- Like segment descriptors, call-gate entries (call-gate descriptors) are also stored in the GDT (or
LDT) tables.
- Gates define an entry point of a procedure.
- Call-Gate Descriptor contains the following information:
Figure: Call Gate Descriptor

- Segment selector: Code segment to be accessed
- Offset in segment: Entry point for a procedure in the specified code segment
- DPL: Privilege level required for a caller trying to access the procedure
- Parameter Count: if a stack switch occurs, it specifies the number of optional parameters to be

copied between stacks.

How to use call gates?
- Can be invoked through Call * or JMP * instructions.
- * specifies the call gate entry in the GDT (or LDT) table
- From the table, the entry point of the procedure will be obtained.
- DPL of the gate descriptor allows the CPU to decide whether the invocator can enter the gate.
Access Control Policy for Call Gates
- CPL<= DPL of the call gate.
- For CALL: DPL of the code segment <= CPL (only calls to the more privileged code segment are
allowed).
- For JMP: DPL of the code segment = CPL.
29. Explain Access Control on Data and Code Access
Ans Privilege Check for Data Access (Figure a):
- Policy: CPL <= DPL of code segment.
- A subject can only access data objects with the same or lower privilege levels.
Privilege Check for Control Transfer without Using a Gate (Figure b):
Policy
- For non-conforming segment: transfer is allowed when CPL = DPL.
- For conforming segment: transfer is allowed when CPL >= DPL.
- RPL does not have much effect here.
Why cant we access code with a higher DPL (i.e., lower privilege)?
- Possible reason 1:
It is easy to jump (lower the CPL) to the code with higher DPL, but it is difficult to return back,
because on returning, we jump from a lower privileged ring to a higher privileged ring. This violates
the mandatory access control policy.

- Possible reason 2:
Another reason is the data access. If a code A jumps to another code B at a lower privilege level, B
cannot access As data because the data are most likely in As ring level.
- Possible reason 3: Is there really a need to allow jumping from a higher privilege to a lower
privilege?
Why cant we jump to code with a lower DPL (i.e., higher privilege)?
- For security reasons, we cannot do this.
How can we achieve jumping to lower DPL?
- Gates are designed for this purpose.
30. Multitasking in 80386
Ans - Protected mode has the ability to support execution of multiple programs (called tasks)
simultaneously.
Figure: Multitasking in 80386

- To provide efficient, protected multitasking, the 80386 employs several special data structures.
- It does not, however, use special instructions to control multitasking; instead, it interprets ordinary
control-transfer instructions differently when they refer to the special data structures.
- The registers and data structures that support multitasking are:
i. Task state segment
ii. Task state segment descriptor
iii. Task register
iv. Task gate descriptor
- With these structures the 80386 can rapidly switch execution from one task to another, saving the
context of the original task so that the task can be restarted later.
31. Explain Task State Segment and Task Descriptor.

Ans Task State Segment
- During a task switch, the contents of all processors registers, as well as other information, are
saved for the task being suspended and new information is loaded for the task.
- This information is saved in a special memory structure called task state segment.
- Task state segments may reside anywhere in the linear space.

Task Descriptor
- The BASE, LIMIT, and DPL fields and the G-bit and P-bit have functions similar to their counterparts
in data-segment descriptors.
- A procedure that has access to a TSS descriptor can cause a task switch.
- TSS descriptors may reside only in the GDT
Figure: Task Descriptor

32. Explain Task Register
Ans - When multiple TSS descriptors exist in the GDT, the TSS currently in use is accessed through the
use of task register.
- The task register (TR) identifies the currently executing task by pointing to the TSS.
Figure: Task Register

- The task register has both a "visible" portion (i.e., can be read and changed by instructions) and an
"invisible" portion (maintained by the processor to correspond to the visible portion; cannot be read
by any instruction).
- The selector in the visible portion selects a TSS descriptor in the GDT.
- The processor uses the invisible portion to cache the base and limit values from the TSS descriptor.
- Holding the base and limit in a register makes execution of the task more efficient, because the
processor does not need to repeatedly fetch these values from memory when it references the TSS
of the current task.
33. Explain Task Gate and Task Gate Descriptor.

Ans - A task gate descriptor provides an indirect, protected reference to a TSS.
Figure: Task Descriptor

- The SELECTOR field of a task gate must refer to a TSS descriptor.
- The DPL field of a task gate controls the right to use the descriptor to cause a task switch.
- A procedure may not select a task gate descriptor unless the maximum of the selector's RPL and
the CPL of the procedure is numerically less than or equal to the DPL of the descriptor.
- This constraint prevents un-trusted procedures from causing a task switch.
- A procedure that has access to a task gate has the power to cause a task switch.
- Task gates may also reside in the IDT, making it possible for interrupts and exceptions to cause
task switching. When interrupt or exception vectors to an IDT entry that contains a task gate, the
80386 switches to the indicated task.
- Thus, all tasks in the system can benefit from the protection afforded by isolation from interrupt
tasks.
34. Explain Context Switching.
Ans - Switching from one task to another is accomplished with four different ways:
1. The current task jmps or CALLs a TSS descriptor.
2. The current task jmps or CALLs a task gate.
3. The current task executes a IRET.
4. An interrupt or exception selects a task gate.
When a context switch is called following tasks take place:
- The new TSS descriptor or task gate must have sufficient privilege to allow a task switch.
- The DPL, CPL and RPL values are compared before any further processing takes place.
- The new TSS descriptor must have its present P bit set and have a valid limit field.
- The state of current task also called context is saved. This involves copying the contents of all
processor register into the TSS for the current task.
- The task register is loaded with the selector of new TSS descriptor.
- The busy bit in the new TSS descriptor is set as TS bit in CR0 by CLTS (Clear task switched flag)
instruction.
35. Explain protection of I/O in protected mode of 80386.
Ans Two mechanisms provide protection for I/O functions:
1. The IOPL field in the EFLAGS register defines the right to use I/O-related instructions.
2. The I/O permission bit map of a 80386 TSS segment defines the right to use ports in the I/O
address space.

- These mechanisms operate only in protected mode, including virtual 8086 mode; they do not
operate in real mode.
- In real mode, there is no protection of the I/O space; any procedure can execute I/O instructions,
and any I/O port can be addressed by the I/O instructions.
I/O Privilege Level (IOPL):
- Instructions that deal with I/O need to be restricted but also need to be executed by procedures
executing at privilege levels other than zero.
- For this reason, the processor uses two bits of the flags register to store the I/O privilege level
(IOPL).
- The IOPL defines the privilege level needed to execute I/O-related instructions.
- I/O instructions can be executed only if CPL <= IOPL
I/O Permission Bit Map:
- The I/O operations are allowed on a port by port basis via permission bits stored in the I/O
permission bit map section of the tasks TSS.
- Each byte in the bit map stores permission bits for eight consecutive ports.
Figure: Sample I/O permission Bit Map

- The I/O permission map is a bit vector. The size of the map and its location in the TSS segment are
variable.
- The processor locates the I/O permission map by means of the I/O map base field in the fixed
portion of the TSS.
- The I/O map base field is 16 bits wide and contains the offset of the beginning of the I/O
permission map.
- Because the I/O permission map is in the TSS segment, different tasks can have different maps.
- Thus, the operating system can allocate ports to a task by changing the I/O permission map in the
task's TSS.

36. Exceptions and Interrupts in 80386.

Ans - Interrupts and exceptions are special kinds of control transfer; they work somewhat like un-
programmed CALLs.
- They alter the normal program flow to handle external events or to report errors or exceptional
conditions.
- The difference between interrupts and exceptions is that interrupts are used to handle
asynchronous events external to the processor, but exceptions handle conditions detected by the
processor itself in the course of executing instructions.
There are two sources for external interrupts and two sources for exceptions:
1. Interrupts
- Mask able interrupts, which are signalled via the INTR pin.
- Non-mask able interrupts, which are signalled via the NMI (Non-Mask able Interrupt)
pin.
2. Exceptions
- Processor detected. These are further classified as faults, traps, and aborts.
- Programmed. The instructions INTO, INT and BOUND can trigger exceptions. These
instructions are often called "software interrupts", but the processor handles them as
exceptions.
37. Explain IDT in detail.
Ans - Real mode uses a 1 KB interrupt vector table and protected mode uses interrupt descriptor table
IDT to support interrupt and exceptions.
- The IDT comprises 8-byte gate descriptors for task, trap or interrupt gates.
- It has maximum 28 (256) descriptors.
- Like the GDT and LDTs, the IDT is an array of 8-byte descriptors.

Figure: Using IDTR to access IDT

- IDT is 32-bit offset points to the first instruction in the handlers code segment for trap and
interrupt gates.
38. Explain IDT Descriptors.
Ans The IDT may contain any of three kinds of descriptor:

i. Task gates
ii. Interrupt gates
iii. Trap gates
The Figure below shows the format of task gates and 80386 interrupt gates and trap gates.

Figure: 80386 IDT Gate Descriptor

39. Features of 80486
Ans - The 32-bit 80486 is the next evolutionary step up from the 80386.
- One of the most obvious feature included in a 80486 is a built in math coprocessor. This
coprocessor is essentially the same as the 80387 processor used with a 80386, but being integrated
on the chip allows it to execute math instructions about three times as fast as a 80386/387
combination.
- 80486 is an 8Kbyte code and data cache.
- To make room for the additional signals, the 80486 is packaged in a 168 pin, pin grid array package
instead of the 132 pin PGA used for the 80386.
- Operates on 25MHz, 33 MHz, 50 MHz, 60 MHz, 66 MHz or 100MHz.
- It consists of parity generator/checker unit in order to implement parity detection and generation
for memory reads and writes.
- Supports burst memory reads and writes to implement fast cache fills.
- Three mode of operation: real, protected and virtual 8086 mode.
- The 80486 microprocessor is a highly integrated device, containing well over 1.2 million transistors.
40. Explain Architecture of 80486 Processor.
Ans The architecture of the 80486DX is almost identical to the 80386. Added to the 80386 architecture inside
the 80486DX is a math coprocessor and an 8K-byte level 1 cache memory.

Figure: 80486 Architecture

BIU:
- BIU generates address, data and control signals for a bus cycle it is supported with an additional
parity detection/generation for memory reads and writes.
- During memory write operation, the 486 generates even parity bit for each byte outputs these bits.
- These bits will be stored in a separate parity memory bank.
- During read operation, stored parity bits will be read from the parity memory.
- 80486 checks the parities of data bytes read and compare them with the DP0 DP3 signals and
generates parity check error, if it occurs.
Instruction Pre-fetch Unit :
- It pre-fetches the instruction bytes in advance and holds them in a 32byte code queue.
Instruction Decoder :
- Decodes the instructions in the queue and passes the control and protection test unit.
Execution Unit:
- Executes the instruction with the help of Barrel Shifter, ALU and Register bank.
Segmentation Unit and Paging Unit :
- They are part of MMU (which manages virtual memory of system). Helpful in generation of Physical
Address.
- Work same as they work in 80386.
Floating Point Unit :
- Responsible for performing the floating point operations.
- The 80486 has a built in math co-processor . It performs the floating point operations.
- It executes math instructions 3 times faster than the 386/387 combination.

Cache Unit :
- 8KB cache
- Additional high speed cache memory provides a way of improving overall system performance.
- It Contains the recently used instructions, data or both.
- The main aim is that the microprocessor unit access code and data in the cache most of time,
instead from the main memory.
41. Explain EFLAG Register Of The 80486.
Ans The extended flag register EFLAG is illustrated in the figure below:-
Figure: EFLAG Register Of The 80486

- The only new flag bit is the AC alignment check, used to indicate that the microprocessor has
accessed a word at an odd address or a double word boundary.

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Darshan Institute of Advance Processors

Engineering & Technology UNIT-2

1. Explain 80286 architecture. OR

Figure: Architecture of Intel 80286

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Bus Unit (BU):

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4. Instruction Pointer (IP)

Figure: 80286 Register Set

Figure: 80286 Flag Register

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- 80286 is upwardly compatible with 8086 in terms of instruction set.

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Figure: Real Address Mode Address Calculation

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ii. Protected Virtual Address Mode (PVAM)

Figure: Physical Address Calculation in PVAM

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6. Explain Privilege level.

Figure: Privilege Level

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iii. Segment type

Figure: Protected Mode Addressing with Descriptor Table

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- LIDT instruction is used to Load Interrupt Descriptor table.

Figure: Processor Status Word in 80286

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- The Interrupt descriptor table can be anywhere in the physical memory.

Figure: 80286 Interface Diagram

- VCC is the system power supply connection for 10%, +5.0 V.

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activated, it uses interrupt vector 2.

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Figure: 80386 Architecture

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Figure:80386 General Purpose, Index and Pointer Register

General Purpose Register

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Figure:80386 Segment Register

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Figure:80386 Instruction Pointer and Flag Register

Figure: 80386 Flag Register

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Special 80386 Register

Figure: Control Register

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Figure: 80386 Debug Register

Linear Breakpoint Address Registers:

Figure: Debug Control Register

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Table: LENi Encoding

Table: Table: RWii Encoding

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o If either G i or Li is set then the associated breakpoint is enabled.

Figure: Debug Status Register

Figure: Test Register

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