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Structure and Function of The Expansion Bus

This document provides an overview of expansion buses and system resources. It discusses the structure and function of expansion buses, including how expansion slots connect the northbridge and southbridge. It also explains classic system resources like I/O addresses, interrupts (IRQs), and direct memory access (DMA) channels, and how expansion cards use these resources to communicate with the CPU. Modern expansion bus slots like PCI and PCI Express are also mentioned.

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Hassan Mohamed
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
47 views13 pages

Structure and Function of The Expansion Bus

This document provides an overview of expansion buses and system resources. It discusses the structure and function of expansion buses, including how expansion slots connect the northbridge and southbridge. It also explains classic system resources like I/O addresses, interrupts (IRQs), and direct memory access (DMA) channels, and how expansion cards use these resources to communicate with the CPU. Modern expansion bus slots like PCI and PCI Express are also mentioned.

Uploaded by

Hassan Mohamed
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Overview

• In this chapter, you will learn to


Expansion Bus – Identify the structure and function of the expansion
bus
Chapter 5
– Explain classic system resources
– Identify the modern expansion bus slots
– Install expansion cards properly
– Troubleshoot expansion card problems

Connections

• Expansion slots connect to both the


Northbridge and Southbridge

Structure and Function of the


Expansion Bus

System Crystal Expansion Bus Crystal

• All integrated circuits must be regulated by a clock • The expansion bus crystal is an
crystal
extension to the external data bus
• Every device soldered to the motherboard is
designed to run at the speed of the system crystal – Used to control the part of the external data bus
connected to the expansion slot
• The chipset acts as a
divider between the two
buses

1
CPU Crystals PC Bus (8-bit ISA)

• The first bus is the frontside bus that runs at • IBM XT had 8088 processor and an 8-bit
the speed of the system crystal external data bus at a top speed of
• The second bus is the expansion bus that runs 4.77MHz
at the speed of the expansion bus crystal
• IBM used an expansion bus that could
run around 7 MHz (as fast as the system
bus) called the PC bus, XT bus, or ISA
bus

AT Bus (16-bit ISA)

• The AT bus is a 16-bit bus running at a


speed of 8.33 MHz and is created by
adding a set of connections to the end
of the PC bus System Resources
• The PC/XT and AT buses are also known
as the 8-bit ISA and 16-bit ISA
respectively

System Resources Who’s Who?

• Expansion cards and the CPU need some • How does a device know that the CPU wants its
way to communicate attention?

• System resources help to define how to


communicate:
– I/O addresses
– IRQs
– DMA channels
– Memory addresses

2
I/O Mem Wire I/O Addresses

• The expansion bus consists of the external data bus • Different wire patterns used by the CPU to
and the address bus communicate with different devices inside the
• Every device on the PC connects to both PC are known as I/O addresses
• When a voltage is placed on the IO/MEM wire, only
the first 16 wires are monitored by all devices

Device Manager Viewing Resources

• Device Manager • Device Manager Î


allows you to see Click “+” next to
what resources are device Î double-
being used by your click device
devices ÎResources tab
– Alt-click My – To get to Device
ComputerÎPropertiesÎ Manager, alt-click
Hardware tab ÎDevice My Computer and
Manager button choose Properties
ÎHardware tab
ÎDevice Manager

I/O Addresses Use


Hexademimal
I/O Addresses

• Before we can talk about I/O addresses • I/O addresses are represented as 4-digit
we need to understand hexadecimal and hexadecimal values starting from 0000
binary math and ending at FFFF
– Remember that when the CPU turns on the IO/MEM
wire, it sends and I/O address using the first 16
address bus wires
For an in-depth discussion of binary – These wires either have a voltage (1) or they don’t
and hexadecimal numbering systems,
click here (0)
– We represent which wires have a voltage with an
address bus binary number with 16 digits
• 0010101110101101
• Wouldn’t it be easier to represent this long binary number
with the hexadecimal number 2BAD? That’s exactly what
computer techs do!

3
I/O Address
Rules of I/O Addresses
Terminology
• All devices must have an I/O address • When talking about I/O addresses, drop
– This is how the CPU talks to everything in the PC the leading zeros (1F0…not 01F0)
– The I/O address is either preset or must be • Every device gets a range of I/O
assigned addresses
• All devices use more than one I/O • The first I/O address is called the base
address I/O address
– CPU uses different I/O addresses for different
commands
• Put an “h” on the end of the value to
– Devices must be able to respond to the CPU with
specify hex (1F0h)
other I/O addresses • I/O addresses provide a two-way
– Hence, a range of I/O addresses is assigned communication pathway between the
• No two devices can share the same I/O peripherals and the CPU
address

Interrupts The Original 8259 Chip

• The CPU can initiate a conversation with • The 8259 chip acts as an intermediary between
any device at will all the devices and the CPU’s INT wire
• It hooks to the INT wire of the CPU on one side,
• Any device may talk to the CPU but how and has 8 other wires called the interrupt
does a device get the CPU’s attention? requests (IRQs) that extend out from the chip
• Devices use the interruption mechanism into the motherboard
to gain the attention of the CPU by
placing a voltage on a special wire called
the INT (interrupt) wire – the
CPU will stop what it is doing
and deal with the device

IRQs for the System


Timer, Keyboard, and ISA Cascaded 8259s
Slots
• Every device has an IRQ • The 8259 chips were designed to run in a
– The system timer, keyboard controller, and ISA slots cascade to provide more IRQs
are shown – IRQs 2 and 9 are the same and referred to as IRQ2/9

4
16-Bit IRQ Map The Rules of IRQs

• Every device needs an IRQ


– Joysticks do not use interrupts (there’s always an
exception!)
• No two devices can share an IRQ
– What happens if they do?
– Could two devices exist using the same interrupt?

COM and LPT Ports COM and LPT Ports

• Every peripheral needs an IRQ and I/O • COM3 and COM4 are two common port
address standards that are assigned the 3E8-3EF
• IBM created standard preset and 2E8-2EF set of I/O addresses
combinations of IRQs and I/O addresses respectively
• These preset combinations for serial • COM3 uses IRQ4 and COM4 uses IRQ3
devices and parallel devices are called
– These are the same IRQ’s used for COM1 and
COM ports and LPT ports respectively COM2
– COM1 uses IRQ 4
– How can two devices use the same IRQ…as long as
– COM2 uses IRQ 3 they never talk at the same time!
– LPT1 uses IRQ 7
– LPT2 uses IRQ 5 • LPT (Line Printer) port settings apply to
parallel connections for devices such as
printers

COM Port Assignments Physical vs. I/O Ports

I/O ports:
– A serial port is a 9 or 15-pin male DB connector,
whereas the COM port is just the I/O address and
IRQ assigned to it
– A parallel port is a 25-pin female DB connector,
whereas the LPT port is just the IRQ and an I/O
address assigned to it

5
COM Ports and LPT Direct Memory Access
Ports Today (DMA)
• IBM dictated a specific I/O address and • Direct Memory Access (DMA) is the process of
IRQ for a particular COM or LPT port accessing memory without using the CPU
• It enables the system to run background
• The IRQ can be changed as long as the applications without interrupting the CPU
device can handle it, and the software
that communicates with the device
knows about the change
• Change COM or LPT IRQs in the CMOS
setup

The 8237 Chip Cascaded 8237 Chips

• The 8237 chip is used to control DMA functions • Provides up to 7 DMA channels
• It links to the CPU via a HRQ wire • DRQ0 and DRQ4 are linked
• The chip has 4 wires, called DMA requests • DMA channels 1 thru 3 are for 8-bit transfers
(DRQs) or DMA channels, which lead to the • DMA channels 5 thru 7 are for 16-bit transfers
DRAM refresh circuitry and ISA slots • Designed for the ISA bus
• No two devices can share DRQs

DMA Assignments Bus Mastering

• Bus masters are devices that use the


DMA without accessing the 8237 or CPU
• They have a circuitry that allows them to
watch for other devices accessing the
external data bus
– No two devices can use the external data bus at
the same time
• Bus mastering is extremely popular in
hard drives
– All EIDE hard drives take advantage of bus
mastering
• Sound cards and floppy drives still use
the old DMA

6
Microchannel
Architecture (MCA )
• MCA had a 32-bit bus to match the 386
CPU’s external data bus with a speed of
12MHz
– May self
Modern Expansion Bus
configure
devices
– IBM proprietary
and expensive

Enhanced ISA (EISA ) VESA VL-Bus

• EISA (EE-sah) was a 32-bit self- • The Video Electronics Standards


configuring expansion bus that was Association (VESA) created the VESA
cheaper than the MCA local (VL) bus to solve the problems of
– Used a unique double-slot connector compatible speed and throughput
with ISA devices – Speed of 33 MHz
– Paired with an ISA slot typically
– Controlled only the functions specific to VL-bus
devices…relying
on the ISA slot
for basic control
functions

Local Bus Concept Local Bus Concept

7
PCI PCI

• Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) • Bus mastering enables the PCI devices to
provides a stronger, faster, and flexible transfer data between themselves
alternative to any other expansion bus
• Its burst mode feature enables efficient
– The flexible design enables the PCI to coexist with other
buses, and scale up in speed and throughput data transfers
– PCI devices are self-configuring
– PCI Special Interest Group (SIG) defined I/O addresses
and IRQs for most devices…using a sharable Interrupt
Channel instead of IRQs
– Fully implements DMA – allowing PCI devices to transfer
data among themselves

Accelerated Graphic
PCI Port
•One of the main reasons Intel designed the AGP was to allow the video
• Divides its chipset duties between two chips card to have a high speed connection directly to the system ram
– Northbridge (or PCI controller) performs the classic
functions and controls the PCI bus •The AGP was created in 1996
– Southbridge (PCI to ISA bridge or just PCI bridge) acts as a bus specifically designed
as an intermediary between the PCI bus and the other for high performance graphics
bus and video support

•AGP is a high speed


connection and runs at a
base frequency of 66 MHZ
which is double that of a
standard PCI

•AGP is based on PCI, but it contains additions and


enhancements and is physically, electronically, and logically
independent of the PCI

PCI-X

• PCI-X is a huge advancement to PCI


– Fully backward compatible
– Uses the same connectors, so it will accept
standard PCI cards
PCI-X and PCI-Express
– 32-bit and the more common 64-bit versions
– Much faster with four speed grades
• PCI-X 66
• PCI-X 133
• PCI-X 266
• PCI-X 533
– Parallel interface like PCI

8
PCI-Express

• More revolutionary than evolutionary


– Serial interface
– Not hardware compatible
– Software compatible Installing Expansion Cards
– Flexible, scalable, native hot swap/hot plug capable
– Very fast at 2.0 Gbps for each lane between the
controller and the device
• May use up to 32 lanes for a maximum bandwidth of 128
Gbps

Steps to Installing
Expansion Cards
Step 1: Knowledge

1. Knowledge 1. Learn about the device by reading the


2. Physical installation documentation
– Do you have device drivers for your operating
3. Assigning resources to the card
system (with Windows 98 and later you usually
4. Device drivers do)
5. Verify – Does the device work with your operating system?
– Check the Hardware Compatibility List for
Windows 2000 or XP
• Devices on this list have been certified by Microsoft to
work with Windows
• The Windows installation CD contains the HCL, or you may
get the latest version on Microsoft’s web site at
www.microsoft.com

Step 2: Physical Step 3: Assigning


Installation Resources
2. Install the card 3. Every expansion card must have system
– Hold the card on its edges – don’t touch resources assigned to it
connectors or the components on the card – Every PCI motherboard and card can use Plug and
– Insert at the proper angle Play
– Use the connection screw • Some of the later ISA cards were Plug and Play-capable
which helps to ground the • But sometimes Plug and Play doesn’t work properly, so
every good tech needs to know how to troubleshoot it
card
– Use proper ESD procedures

9
PnP (Plug and Play) PnP Requirements

• PnP consists of a series of standards 1. PnP BIOS


designed to enable self-configuration of – All Pentium and later computers have a PnP BIOS
devices 2. PnP Operating System
• Devices that do not support PnP are – Windows 95 or later
called legacy devices 3. PnP device
– No one makes non-PnP devices anymore

Legacy Devices in the


PnP BIOS
CMOS

System resources refers to I/O addresses, IRQs, and DMA used

Legacy Devices have


How PnP Works
Jumpers
• Initially PnP devices remain quiet while the
BIOS determines resources required by legacy
devices

10
How PnP Works How PnP Works

• A legacy device list is created to reserve those • Next the PnP BIOS checks with the PnP devices
system resources to see which system resources are options for
each device

How PnP Works Step 4: Device Drivers

• The PnP BIOS then assigns system resources 4. All devices require BIOS, which for
based on that information expansion cards is almost always a
device driver
– Devices will come with device drivers on the
installation CD
– It is recommended that you get the latest drivers
from the manufacturer’s web site
– To update the device drivers you may need to
uninstall the current driver first
– Windows XP has a feature to rollback your system
to the previous driver just in case the new driver
you installed does not work

Updating the Driver Driver Rollback

• Alt-click on the • Alt-click the


device in Device device in Device
Manager and Manager and
choose Update choose Properties,
Driver… then the Driver
– Choose Uninstall to tab
remove the current
driver

11
Step 5: Verify

5. Check the
device
properties in
Device Troubleshooting Expansion Cards
Manager to
verify it is
working
properly

Device Manager
Device Manager
Symbols
• Check for the device in Device Manager • Black ! on a yellow circle
– Alt-click My ComputerÎProperties ÎHardware tab – Device is missing, Windows doesn’t recognize it, or
ÎDevice Manager a device driver problem – device may still work
– If the device does not show up in Device Manager • Red X
• Run the Add/Remove Hardware Wizard in Control Panel
– Disabled device – system resource conflict or
• If it still doesn’t show up, the device is damaged or it is a
legacy device whose system resources are not configured
damaged device – will not work
properly • Blue I on a white background
– System resources were configured manually
• Green ?
– Windows does not have the correct driver but has
successfully installed a compatible driver

Rules for Device Device Manager Sorted


Installation by IRQ
Installing legacy devices:
1. Run the Device Manager to determine the
available resources for the system
2. Configure the device to use the resources
• You may need to set jumpers, flip switches, or run a
special setup program
3. Run the Add/Remove Hardware Wizard to inform
Windows of the legacy device

12
Changing the Legacy Setup Software
Resources Program

• The Resources tab of


the device Properties
sheet show which
resources Windows has
assigned
• You may use the
automatic settings, or
uncheck the box and
click Change Settings to
manually specify
settings to use

13

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