8086 Microprocessor Questions and Answers

1 Oral Questions for 8086 Microprocessor

1. How many bit 8086 microprocessor is?
The 8086 microprocessor is a 16-bit microprocessor.

2. What is the size of data bus of 8086?

The data bus size of the 8086 is 16 bits.

3. What is the size of address bus of 8086?

The address bus size of the 8086 is 20 bits.

4. What is the max memory addressing capacity of 8086?

The maximum memory addressing capacity is 1 MB (220 bytes).

5. Which are the basic parts of 8086?

The basic parts are the Bus Interface Unit (BIU) and the Execution Unit (EU).

6. What are the functions of BIU?

The BIU handles instruction fetching, address generation, and data transfer be-
tween memory and I/O.

7. What are the functions of EU?

The EU decodes and executes instructions, performs arithmetic and logical opera-
tions, and manages registers.

8. How many pin IC 8086 is?

The 8086 is a 40-pin Integrated Circuit (IC).

9. What IC8086 is?

The 8086 is a 16-bit microprocessor IC developed by Intel.

10. What is the size of instruction queue in 8086?

The instruction queue size is 6 bytes.

11. What is the size of instruction queue in 8086?

(Repeated) The instruction queue size is 6 bytes.

12. Which are the registers present in 8086?

General-purpose registers: AX, BX, CX, DX; Pointer registers: SP, BP; Index
registers: SI, DI; Segment registers: CS, DS, SS, ES; Flag register; Instruction
Pointer (IP).

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13. What do you mean by pipelining in 8086?
Pipelining is the process of fetching, decoding, and executing instructions simulta-
neously using the BIU and EU.

14. How many 16-bit registers are available in 8086?

There are 14 16-bit registers (4 general-purpose, 2 pointer, 2 index, 4 segment, IP,
and flag register).

15. Specify addressing modes for any instruction?

For MOV AX, [BX+SI]: Addressing modes include Register, Immediate, Direct,
Register Indirect, Based, Indexed, Based-Indexed.

16. What do you mean by assembler directives?

Assembler directives are instructions to the assembler for defining data, memory
allocation, or program structure, not executed by the CPU.

17. What .model small stands for?

.MODEL SMALL indicates a memory model with one code segment and one data
segment, each up to 64 KB.

18. What is the supply requirement of 8086?

The 8086 requires a +5V DC power supply.

19. What is the relation between 8086 processor frequency & crystal fre-
quency?
The processor frequency is one-third of the crystal frequency (e.g., a 15 MHz crystal
yields a 5 MHz processor).

20. Functions of Accumulator or AX register?

AX is used for arithmetic, logical operations, and as a default operand in multipli-
cation/division instructions.

21. Functions of BX register?

BX is used as a base register for addressing and holds data for arithmetic operations.

22. Functions of CX register?

CX is used as a counter for loops, string operations, and shift/rotate instructions.

23. Functions of DX register?

DX holds data for multiplication/division, I/O port addressing, and upper 16 bits
in 32-bit operations.

24. How Physical address is generated?

Physical address = Segment register value × 16 + Offset (e.g., CS:IP or DS:SI).

25. Which are pointers present in this 8086?

Pointers are SP (Stack Pointer), BP (Base Pointer), IP (Instruction Pointer).

26. Which is by default pointer for CS/ES?

IP is the default pointer for CS; no default pointer for ES.

27. How many segments present in it?

There are four segments: Code (CS), Data (DS), Stack (SS), and Extra (ES).

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28. What is the size of each segment?
Each segment is 64 KB.

29. Basic difference between 8085 and 8086?

8085 is an 8-bit microprocessor with an 8-bit data bus and 16-bit address bus; 8086
is a 16-bit microprocessor with a 16-bit data bus and 20-bit address bus.

30. Which operations are not available in 8085?

8085 lacks pipelining, segmentation, and 16-bit arithmetic operations.

31. What is the difference between min mode and max mode of 8086?
Min mode is for single-processor systems; Max mode supports multiprocessing with
external bus controllers.

32. What is the difference between near and far procedure?

Near procedure is within the same segment (2-byte offset); Far procedure is in a
different segment (4-byte segment:offset).

33. What is the difference between Macro and procedure?

A macro is a sequence of instructions expanded at assembly time; a procedure is a
reusable subroutine called at runtime.

34. What is the difference between instructions RET & IRET?

RET returns from a procedure; IRET returns from an interrupt, restoring flags and
CS:IP.

35. What is the difference between instructions MUL & IMUL?

MUL performs unsigned multiplication; IMUL performs signed multiplication.

36. What is the difference between instructions DIV & IDIV?

DIV performs unsigned division; IDIV performs signed division.

37. What is difference between shifts and rotate instructions?

Shift instructions move bits left/right, filling with zeros/sign bits; Rotate instruc-
tions cycle bits, wrapping around.

38. Which are strings related instructions?

String instructions: MOVS, CMPS, SCAS, LODS, STOS.

39. Which are addressing modes and their examples in 8086?

Examples: Register (MOV AX, BX), Immediate (MOV AX, 1234h), Direct (MOV
AX, [5000h]), Register Indirect (MOV AX, [BX]), Based (MOV AX, [BX+4]), In-
dexed (MOV AX, [SI+4]), Based-Indexed (MOV AX, [BX+SI]).

40. What does u mean by directives?

Directives are assembler commands for defining data, segments, or program struc-
ture (e.g., .MODEL, DB).

41. What does u mean by Prefix?

A prefix is an instruction modifier, like segment override (e.g., CS:), REP, or LOCK.

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42. What ’.model small’ means?
(Repeated) .MODEL SMALL specifies one code and one data segment, each up to
64 KB.

43. Difference between small, medium, tiny, huge?

Tiny: Single segment for code/data (<64 KB); Small: One code, one data segment
(64 KB each); Medium: Multiple code, one data segment; Huge: Multiple code/data
segments, no size limit.

44. What is dd, dw, db?

DB (Define Byte): 1 byte; DW (Define Word): 2 bytes; DD (Define Doubleword):
4 bytes.

45. Interrupts in 8086 and there function.

Interrupts: Hardware (e.g., NMI, INTR) trigger external events; Software (e.g.,
INT 21h) for system calls; Functions include I/O, timer, and exception handling.

46. What is the function of 01 h of Int 21 h?

Reads a character from standard input with echo.

47. What is the function of 02 h of Int 21 h?

Displays a character to standard output.

48. What is the function of 09 h of Int 21 h?

Displays a string terminated by ‘$’ to standard output.

49. What is the function of 04 h of Int 21 h?

Outputs a character to standard output (similar to 02h).

50. What is the function of 4ch of Int 21 h?

Terminates a program, returning control to DOS.

51. What is the reset address of 8086?

The reset address is FFFF0h (CS=FFFFh, IP=0000h).

52. What is the size of flag register in 8086? Explain all.

The flag register is 16 bits. Flags: CF (Carry), PF (Parity), AF (Auxiliary Carry),
ZF (Zero), SF (Sign), TF (Trap), IF (Interrupt), DF (Direction), OF (Overflow).

53. What is the difference between 08H and 01H functions of INT 21H?
01h reads a character with echo; 08h reads a character without echo.

54. Which is faster- Reading word size data whose starting address is at even
or at odd address of memory in 8086?
Even-addressed word data is faster due to single-cycle access; odd-addressed re-
quires two cycles.

55. Which are the default segment base:offset pairs?

CS:IP (code), DS:SI/BX (data), SS:SP (stack), ES:DI (string destination).

56. Can we use SP as offset address holder with CS?

No, SP is typically used with SS for stack operations, not CS.

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57. Which are the base registers in 8086?
Base registers: BX, BP.

58. Which is the index registers in 8086?

Index registers: SI, DI.

59. What do you mean by segment override prefix?

A segment override prefix (e.g., DS:, ES:) specifies a non-default segment for mem-
ory access.

60. Whether micro reduces memory requirements?

Macros increase code size (inline expansion) but can simplify programming, not
directly reducing memory.

61. What do you mean by macro?

A macro is a named sequence of instructions expanded by the assembler at assembly
time.

62. What is diff between macro and procedure?

(Repeated) Macro is inline, expanded at assembly; Procedure is a subroutine, called
at runtime.

63. Types of procedure?

Near (same segment) and Far (different segment).

64. What TASM is?

TASM (Turbo Assembler) is an assembler for generating machine code from 8086
assembly programs.

65. What TLINK is?

TLINK (Turbo Linker) is a linker that combines object files into an executable.

66. What TD is?

TD (Turbo Debugger) is a debugging tool for analyzing and stepping through 8086
programs.

67. What do u mean by assembler?

An assembler translates assembly language code into machine code.

68. What do u mean by linker?

A linker combines object files into a single executable program.

69. What do u mean by loader?

A loader loads an executable into memory for execution.

70. What do u mean by compiler?

A compiler translates high-level language code into machine or assembly code.

71. What do u mean by emulator?

An emulator mimics the behavior of one system (e.g., 8086) on another platform.

72. Stack related instruction?

PUSH, POP, PUSHF, POPF.

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73. stack 100 means?
STACK 100 reserves 100h (256 bytes) for the stack segment.

74. What do you mean by ‘20 dup (0)’ ?

Defines 20 bytes initialized to 0 (Duplicate 0, 20 times).

75. Which flags of 8086 are not present in 8085?

Flags not in 8085: OF (Overflow), DF (Direction), TF (Trap), IF (Interrupt).

76. What is the size of flag register?

(Repeated) The flag register is 16 bits.

77. Can you perform 32 bit operation with 8086? How?

Yes, using DX:AX pair (e.g., for multiplication/division results).

78. Whether 8086 is compatible with Pentium processor?

Yes, Pentium is backward-compatible with 8086 in real mode.

79. What is 8087? How it is different from 8086?

The 8087 is a floating-point coprocessor; 8086 is a general-purpose microprocessor
without floating-point support.

80. While accepting no. from user why u need to subtract 30H from that?
To convert ASCII digits (30h–39h) to their binary value (0–9).

81. While displaying no. from user why u need to add 30H to that?
To convert binary digits (0–9) to ASCII (30h–39h) for display.

82. What are ASCII codes for nos. 0 to F ?

0–9: 30h–39h; A–F: 41h–46h.

83. How does U differentiate between positive and negative numbers?

The sign bit (MSB) is 0 for positive, 1 for negative in two’s complement.

84. What is range for these numbers?

16-bit signed: -32,768 to +32,767; unsigned: 0 to 65,535.

85. Which no. representation system you have used?

Two’s complement for signed numbers; binary for unsigned.

86. What is LEA?

LEA (Load Effective Address) loads the address of a memory operand into a regis-
ter.

87. What is @data indicates in instruction- MOV ax, @data?

@data is a directive representing the starting address of the data segment.

88. What is maximum size of the instruction in 8086?

The maximum instruction size is 6 bytes.

89. Why we indicate FF as OFF in program?

FFh is written as 0FFh to avoid confusion with the label FF.

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 90. What is MUL BX and DIV BX? Where result goes?
MUL BX: AX × BX, result in DX:AX; DIV BX: DX:AX ÷ BX, quotient in AX,
remainder in DX.

91. Where queue is present?

The instruction queue is in the BIU.

92. What is the advantage of using internal registers?

Faster access, reduced memory access time, and efficient data manipulation.

93. What is SI, DI and their functions?

SI (Source Index): Points to source in string operations; DI (Destination Index):
Points to destination.

94. Which are the pointers used in 8086 and their functions?
SP: Stack operations; BP: Base for stack addressing; IP: Next instruction address.

95. What is a type of queue in 8086?

It is a FIFO (First-In, First-Out) instruction queue.

96. What is minimum mode of 8086?

(Repeated) Min mode is for single-processor systems with direct pin control.

97. What is maximum mode of 8086?

(Repeated) Max mode supports multiprocessing with external bus controllers.

98. Which are string instructions?

(Repeated) MOVS, CMPS, SCAS, LODS, STOS.

99. In string operations which is by default string source pointer?

SI (Source Index).

100. In string operations which is by default string destination pointer?

DI (Destination Index).

2 Programs
1. What do you mean by assembler?
(Repeated) An assembler translates assembly language into machine code.

2. What do you mean by linker?

(Repeated) A linker combines object files into an executable.

3. What do you mean by debugger?

A debugger allows stepping through code to find and fix errors (e.g., TD).

4. What do you mean by compiler?

(Repeated) A compiler translates high-level code into machine or assembly code.

5. What do you mean by locator?

A locator assigns physical addresses to program segments during linking.

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 6. What do you mean by emulator?
(Repeated) An emulator mimics one system’s behavior on another.

7. When divide overflow error occurs?

When the quotient exceeds the register size (e.g., AX for 16-bit division).

8. What startup stands for?

.STARTUP is a directive to initialize the program (sets DS, SS, and stack).

9. Explain the logic of array addition program.

Loop through array elements, add corresponding elements using ADD/ADC, store
results in a new array.

10. Explain the logic of finding out negative nos. from an array of signed
nos.
Loop through the array, check the sign bit (MSB); if 1, increment a counter or store
the number.

11. Explain the logic of code conversion (BCD to hex and hex to BCD)
program.
BCD to Hex: Divide by 10, multiply units by 1, tens by 10, add. Hex to BCD:
Divide by 10, store remainder (units), quotient (tens).

12. Explain the logic of multiplication (by successive addition and shift and
add method) program.
Successive addition: Add multiplicand repeatedly (multiplier times). Shift and add:
Shift multiplicand left, add based on multiplier bits.

13. Explain the logic of non overlap and overlap block transfer program.
Non-overlap: Copy block from source to destination (different memory). Overlap:
Handle copying when source/destination overlap, using temporary buffer or reverse
copy.

14. Explain the logic of string related programs.

Use MOVS/CMPS/SCAS with SI/DI, set DF for direction, REP for repetition,
process strings byte/word-wise.

15. Which assembler directives are used with near procedure?

PROC, ENDP, NEAR.

16. Which assembler directives are used with far procedure?

PROC, ENDP, FAR.

3 Interrupts
1. What do you mean by interrupt?
An interrupt is a signal that pauses the CPU to handle an event (hardware/software).

2. Which are the hardware and software interrupts in 8086?

Hardware: NMI, INTR; Software: INT n (e.g., INT 21h).

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 3. Mention the priority of interrupts in 8086.
Highest to lowest: NMI, INTR, INT n, Single-step, Divide error.

4. What is int1, int2, int3?

INT1: Single-step; INT2: NMI; INT3: Breakpoint interrupt.

5. What do you mean by NMI interrupt?

Non-Maskable Interrupt (NMI) is a high-priority hardware interrupt that cannot
be disabled.

6. What do you mean by IVT in 8086?

Interrupt Vector Table (IVT) maps interrupt types to handler addresses.

7. What is the size of IVT?

The IVT is 1 KB (256 vectors × 4 bytes).

8. Where IVT is located?

IVT is located at 0000:0000h to 0000:03FFh.

9. Which steps 8086 follows to handle any interrupt?

Save flags, CS:IP; Clear IF/TF; Fetch vector from IVT; Jump to handler; IRET to
restore.

4 Interfacing
1. What are the types of interfacing?
Memory interfacing (connecting RAM/ROM) and I/O interfacing (connecting pe-
ripherals like keyboards, displays).