Question What is NMI? How can I utilize it? Answer NMI stands for Non-masked Interrupt. All of the regular interrupts that we normally use and refer to by number are called maskable interrupts. The processor is able to mask, or temporarily ignore, any interrupt if it needs to, in order to finish something else that it is doing. In addition, however, the PC has a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) that can be used for serious conditions that demand the processor's immediate attention. The NMI cannot be ignored by the system unless it is shut off specifically. When an NMI signal is received, the processor immediately drops whatever it was doing and attends to it. As you can imagine, this could cause havoc if used improperly. In fact, the NMI signal is normally used only for critical problem situations, such as serious hardware errors. The most common use of NMI is to signal a parity error from the memory subsystem. This error must be dealt with immediately to prevent possible data corruption. How to use it is up to the user. You'll need to write some special code or program to send an NMI signal. We have implemented this funtion inside Watchdog in some board such as P4SAA. Was this FAQ helpful? YES      NO Enter Comments Below: Note: Your comments/feedback should be limited to this FAQ only. For technical support, please send an email to support@supermicro.com.  Enter your email address below if you'd like technical support staff to reply:  Please type the Captcha (no space) 9 8 P M FAQ Stats FAQ ID Related Category / Keyword Date Posted Code 544 N/A 03/04/03 Admin     Print Answer