8085 microprocessor questions

1. What are the various registers in 8085? - Accumulator

register, Temporary register, Instruction register, Stack
Pointer, Program Counter are the various registers in 8085 .

2. In 8085 name the 16 bit registers? - Stack pointer and

Program counter all have 16 bits.

3. What are the various flags used in 8085? - Sign flag, Zero
flag, Auxillary flag, Parity flag, Carry flag.

4. What is Stack Pointer? - Stack pointer is a special purpose

16-bit register in the Microprocessor, which holds the address
of the top of the stack.

5. What is Program counter? - Program counter holds the

address of either the first byte of the next instruction to be
fetched for execution or the address of the next byte of a multi
byte instruction, which has not been completely fetched. In
both the cases it gets incremented automatically one by one as
the instruction bytes get fetched. Also Program register keeps
the address of the next instruction.

6. Which Stack is used in 8085? - LIFO (Last In First Out) stack

is used in 8085.In this type of Stack the last stored information
can be retrieved first.

7. What happens when HLT instruction is executed in

processor? - The Micro Processor enters into Halt-State and
the buses are tri-stated.

8. What is meant by a bus? - A bus is a group of conducting

lines that carriers data, address, & control signals.

9. What is Tri-state logic? - Three Logic Levels are used and

they are High, Low, High impedance state. The high and low
are normal logic levels & high impedance state is electrical
open circuit conditions. Tri-state logic has a third line called
enable line.

10. Give an example of one address microprocessor? - 8085 is a

one address microprocessor.

11. In what way interrupts are classified in 8085? - In 8085 the

interrupts are classified as Hardware and Software interrupts.

12. What are Hardware interrupts? - TRAP, RST7.5, RST6.5,

 RST5.5, INTR.

13. What are Software interrupts? - RST0, RST1, RST2, RST3,

RST4, RST5, RST6, RST7.

14. Which interrupt has the highest priority? - TRAP has the
highest priority.

15. Name 5 different addressing modes? - Immediate, Direct,

Register, Register indirect, Implied addressing modes.

16. How many interrupts are there in 8085? - There are 12

interrupts in 8085.

17. What is clock frequency for 8085? - 3 MHz is the maximum

clock frequency for 8085.

18. What is the RST for the TRAP? - RST 4.5 is called as
TRAP.

19. In 8085 which is called as High order / Low order

Register? - Flag is called as Low order register &
Accumulator is called as High order Register.

20. What are input & output devices? - Keyboards, Floppy disk
are the examples of input devices. Printer, LED / LCD display,
CRT Monitor are the examples of output devices.

21. Can an RC circuit be used as clock source for 8085? - Yes,

it can be used, if an accurate clock frequency is not required.
Also, the component cost is low compared to LC or Crystal.

22. Why crystal is a preferred clock source? - Because of high

stability, large Q (Quality Factor) & the frequency that doesn’t
drift with aging. Crystal is used as a clock source most of the
times.

23. Which interrupt is not level-sensitive in 8085? - RST 7.5 is a

raising edge-triggering interrupt.

24. What does Quality factor mean? - The Quality factor is also
defined, as Q. So it is a number, which reflects the lossness of
a circuit. Higher the Q, the lower are the losses.

25. What are level-triggering interrupt? - RST 6.5 & RST 5.5
are level-triggering interrupts.
x86 interview questions
These interview questions test the
knowledge of x86 Intel architecture and
8086 microprocessor specifically.

1. What is a Microprocessor? -
Microprocessor is a program-
controlled device, which fetches the
instructions from memory, decodes
and executes the instructions. Most
Micro Processor are single- chip
devices.

2. Give examples for 8 / 16 / 32 bit

Microprocessor? - 8-bit Processor -
8085 / Z80 / 6800; 16-bit Processor
- 8086 / 68000 / Z8000; 32-bit
Processor - 80386 / 80486.

3. Why 8085 processor is called an 8

bit processor? - Because 8085
processor has 8 bit ALU (Arithmetic
Logic Review). Similarly 8086
processor has 16 bit ALU.

4. What is 1st / 2nd / 3rd / 4th

generation processor? - The
processor made of PMOS / NMOS /
HMOS / HCMOS technology is
called 1st / 2nd / 3rd / 4th generation
processor, and it is made up of 4 /
8 / 16 / 32 bits.

5. Define HCMOS? - High-density n-

type Complimentary Metal Oxide
Silicon field effect transistor.

6. What does microprocessor speed

depend on? - The processing speed
depends on DATA BUS WIDTH.

7. Is the address bus unidirectional?

- The address bus is unidirectional
because the address information is
always given by the Micro
Processor to address a memory
 location of an input / output devices.

8. Is the data bus is Bi-directional? -

The data bus is Bi-directional
because the same bus is used for
transfer of data between Micro
Processor and memory or input /
output devices in both the direction.

9. What is the disadvantage of

microprocessor? - It has limitations
on the size of data. Most
Microprocessor does not support
floating-point operations.

10. What is the difference between

microprocessor and
microcontroller? - In
Microprocessor more op-codes, few
bit handling instructions. But in
Microcontroller: fewer op-codes,
more bit handling Instructions, and
also it is defined as a device that
includes micro processor, memory,
& input / output signal lines on a
single chip.

11. What is meant by LATCH? -

Latch is a D- type flip-flop used as a
temporary storage device controlled
by a timing signal, which can store 0
or 1. The primary function of a
Latch is data storage. It is used in
output devices such as LED, to hold
the data for display.

12. Why does microprocessor contain

ROM chips? - Microprocessor
contain ROM chip because it
contain instructions to execute data.

13. What is the difference between

primary & secondary storage
device? - In primary storage device
the storage capacity is limited. It has
a volatile memory. In secondary
storage device the storage capacity
 is larger. It is a nonvolatile memory.
Primary devices are: RAM / ROM.
Secondary devices are: Floppy disc /
Hard disk.

14. Difference between static and

dynamic RAM? - Static RAM: No
refreshing, 6 to 8 MOS transistors
are required to form one memory
cell, Information stored as voltage
level in a flip flop. Dynamic RAM:
Refreshed periodically, 3 to 4
transistors are required to form one
memory cell, Information is stored
as a charge in the gate to substrate
capacitance.

15. What is interrupt? - Interrupt is a

signal send by external device to the
processor so as to request the
processor to perform a particular
work.

16. What is cache memory? - Cache

memory is a small high-speed
memory. It is used for temporary
storage of data & information
between the main memory and the
CPU (center processing unit). The
cache memory is only in RAM.

17. What is called “Scratch pad of

computer”? - Cache Memory is
scratch pad of computer.

18. Which transistor is used in each

cell of EPROM? - Floating –gate
Avalanche Injection MOS
(FAMOS) transistor is used in each
cell of EPROM.

19. Differentiate between RAM and

ROM? - RAM: Read / Write
memory, High Speed, Volatile
Memory. ROM: Read only memory,
Low Speed, Non Voliate Memory.
 20. What is a compiler? - Compiler is
used to translate the high-level
language program into machine
code at a time. It doesn’t require
special instruction to store in a
memory, it stores automatically. The
Execution time is less compared to
Interpreter.

21. Which processor structure is

pipelined? - All x86 processors
have pipelined structure.

22. What is flag? - Flag is a flip-flop

used to store the information about
the status of a processor and the
status of the instruction executed
most recently

23. What is stack? - Stack is a portion

of RAM used for saving the content
of Program Counter and general
purpose registers.

24. Can ROM be used as stack? -

ROM cannot be used as stack
because it is not possible to write to
ROM.

25. What is NV-RAM? - Nonvolatile

Read Write Memory, also called
Flash memory. It is also know as
shadow RAM.

Intel interview questions

1. The following questions are used

for screening the candidates
during the first interview. The
questions apply mostly to fresh
college grads pursuing an
engineering career at Intel.
1. Have you studied buses?
What types?

2. Have you studied pipelining?

 List the 5 stages of a 5 stage
pipeline. Assuming 1 clock
per stage, what is the latency
of an instruction in a 5 stage
machine? What is the
throughput of this machine ?

3. How many bit combinations

are there in a byte?

4. For a single computer

processor computer system,
what is the purpose of a
processor cache and describe
its operation?

5. Explain the operation

considering a two processor
computer system with a
cache for each processor.

6. What are the main issues

associated with
multiprocessor caches and
how might you solve them?

7. Explain the difference

between write through and
write back cache.

8. Are you familiar with the

term MESI?

9. Are you familiar with the

term snooping?

10. Describe a finite state

machine that will detect
three consecutive coin tosses
(of one coin) that results in
heads.

11. In what cases do you need to

double clock a signal before
presenting it to a
synchronous state machine?

12. You have a driver that drives

 a long signal & connects to
an input device. At the input
device there is either
overshoot, undershoot or
signal threshold violations,
what can be done to correct
this problem?

13. What are the total number of

lines written by you in C/C+
+? What is the most
complicated/valuable
program written in C/C++?

14. What compiler was used?

15. What is the difference

between = and == in C?

16. Are you familiar with VHDL

and/or Verilog?

17. What types of CMOS

memories have you
designed? What were their
size? Speed?

18. What work have you done

on full chip Clock and Power
distribution? What process
technology and budgets were
used?

19. What types of I/O have you

designed? What were their
size? Speed? Configuration?
Voltage requirements?

20. Process technology? What

package was used and how
did you model the
package/system? What
parasitic effects were
considered?

21. What types of high speed

CMOS circuits have you
 designed?

22. What transistor level design

tools are you proficient
with? What types of designs
were they used on?

23. What products have you

designed which have entered
high volume production?

24. What was your role in the

silicon evaluation/product
ramp? What tools did you
use?

25. If not into production, how

far did you follow the design
and why did not you see it
into production?

A+ and basic PC questions

1. What are the basic expansion card
types?ISA and PCI, ISA can be
used only on XT, AT and ATX
boards. The industry now considers
ISA obsolete.

2. How do you clear CMOS

password? Since CMOS is a special
chip with its own battery, the best
way to clear out a CMOS chip is to
disconnect it from its power supply.

3. Where does the Real mode on the

CPU come from? The original
8086, which only had 1 MB of
memory. This megabyte is split into
low memory for IRQ tables,
application memory and high
memory.

4. Where does CPU Enhanced mode

originate from? Intel’s 80386 was
the first 32-bit processor, and since
the company had to backward-
support the 8086. All the modern
 Intel-based processors run in the
Enhanced mode, capable of
switching between Real mode (just
like the real 8086) and Protected
mode, which is the current mode of
operation.

5. Name the processor lines of two

major manufacturers? High-end:
Intel - Pentium (II, III, 4), AMD -
Athlon. Low-end: Intel - Celeron,
AMD - Duron. 64-bit: Intel -
Itanium 2, AMD - Opteron.

6. What’s the difference between L1

and L2 cache? Level 1 cache is
internal to the chip, L2 is external.

7. What’s the speed and device

maximum specs for Firewire?
IEEE 1394 (Firewire) supports the
maximum of 63 connected devices
with speeds up to 400 Mbps.

8. Where’s MBR located on the

disk? Main Boot Record is located
in sector 0, track 0, head 0, cylinder
0 of the primary active partition.

9. What’s the maximum hard drive

size for FAT16-based Windows
system? 2 GB.

10. How many logical drives is it

possible to fit onto a physical
disk? Maximum of 24 logical
drives. The extended partition can
only have 23 logical drives.

11. WHat are * and ? when using

them for wildcards in Windows? *
- any characters, arbitrary amoung, ?
- single character.

12. How does the browser know to go

to a certain IP address when you
enter a domain like google.com? It
searches through local DNS cache,
 if nothing is there, it queries the
ISP’s DNS server.

Telecommunications interview questions

A well-known telecommunications company uses this pop quiz for

oral and written examinations of applicants for engineering positions.

1. A 2MB PCM(pulse code modulation) has…

a) 32 channels
b) 30 voice channels & 1 signaling channel.
c) 31 voice channels & 1 signaling channel.
d) 32 channels out of which 30 voice channels, 1 signaling channel, &
1 synchronization channel.

Ans: c

2. Time taken for 1 satellite hop in voice communication is…

a) 1/2 second
b) 1 seconds
c) 4 seconds
d) 2 seconds

Ans: (a)

3. Max number of satellite hops allowed in voice communication

is:

a) only one
b) more han one
c) two hops
d) four hops

Ans: ©

4. What is the maximal decimal number that can be

accommodated in a byte?

a) 128
b) 256
c) 255
d) 512
Ans: ©

5. Conditional results after execution of an instruction in a micro

processor is stored in…

a) register
b) accumulator
c) flag register
d) flag register part of PSW(Program Status Word)

Ans: (d)

6. Frequency at which VOICE is sampled is…

a) 4 KHz
b) 8 KHz
c) 16 KHz
d) 64 KHz

Ans: (a)

7. Line of sight is…

a) Straight Line
b) Parabolic
c) Tx & Rx should be visible to each other
d) none of the above

Ans: ©

8. Purpose of PC(Program Counter) in a MicroProcessor is…

a) To store address of TOS(Top Of Stack)

b) To store address of next instruction to be executed.
c) count the number of instructions.
d) to store base address of the stack.

Ans: (b)

9. What action is taken when the processor under execution is

interrupted by a non-maskable interrupt?

a) Processor serves the interrupt request after completing the

execution of the current instruction.
b) Processor serves the interrupt request after completing the current
task.
c) Processor serves the interrupt request immediately.
d) Processor serving the interrupt request depends upon the priority of
the current task under execution.

Ans: (a)

10. The status of the Kernel is…

a) task
b) process
c) not defined.
d) none of the above.

Ans: (b)

11. What is the nominal voltage required in subscriber loop

connected to local exchange?

a) +48 volts
b) -48 volts
c) 230 volts
d) 110 volts

12. To send a data packet using datagram , connection will be

established…

a) before data transmission.

b) connection is not established before data transmission.
c) no connection is required.
d) none of the above.

Ans: ©

13. Word alignment is…

a) aligning the address to the next word boundary of the machine.

b) aligning to an even boundary.
c) aligning to a word boundary.
d) none of the above.

Ans: (a)

14. When a C function call is made, the order in which parameters

passed to the function are pushed into the stack is…

a) left to right
b) right to left
c) bigger variables are moved first than the smaller variales.
d) smaller variables are moved first than the bigger ones.
e) none of the above.

Ans: (b)

15. What is the type of signaling used between two exchanges?

a) inband
b) common channel signaling
c) any of the above
d) none of the above.

Ans: (a)

16. Buffering is…

a) the process of temporarily storing the data to allow for small

variation in device speeds
b) a method to reduce cross talks
c) storage of data within transmitting medium until the receiver is
ready to receive.
d) a method to reduce routing overhead.

Ans: (a)

17. Memory allocation of variables declared in a program is…

a) allocated in RAM.
b) allocated in ROM.
c) allocated on stack.
d) assigned to registers.

Ans: ©

18. A software that allows a personal computer to pretend as a

computer terminal is …

a) terminal adapter
b) bulletin board
c) modem
d) terminal emulation

Ans: (d)