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

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 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

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 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!

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 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

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 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

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 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

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 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

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 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

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 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
[Link]

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

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 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

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 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

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 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

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 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

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