ITPEC FE Morning April 2023 Question 12

Source exam: ITPEC FE Morning April 2023Topic: Computer Systems & Hardware

ITPEC FE Morning April 2023 — Question 12 of 80

Internal vs External Interrupts — classify interrupt by its source.

Internal interrupt (синоним: exception, trap) — generated by the CPU itself during instruction execution.

  • Examples: divide-by-zero, overflow, invalid opcode, page fault
  • Key trait: caused by the currently running program

External interrupt — generated by hardware outside the CPU.

  • I/O interrupt — device controller signals I/O completion
  • Machine check interrupt — power failure, memory parity error
  • Timer interrupt — hardware timer expires

Why not others:
- (a) Power failure — machine check (external hardware event)

- (c) I/O completion — I/O interrupt (external signal from device)

- (d) Memory parity error — machine check (external hardware error)

Key rule: If the CPU detects the problem while executing an instruction, it is internal. If a signal arrives from outside the CPU, it is external.

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