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Q71486: Structure of Interrupt Vector Table

Article: Q71486
Product(s): Microsoft Disk Operating System
Version(s): MS-DOS:1.x,2.x,3.x,4.x,5.x,6.0,6.2,6.21,6.22
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): 
Last Modified: 17-DEC-2000

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system versions 1.x, 2.11, 3.1, 3.2, 3.21, 3.3, 3.3a, 4.0, 4.01, 5.0, 5.0a, 6.0, 6.2, 6.21, 6.22 
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SUMMARY
=======

The bottom 1K (1024 bytes) of system memory is devoted to the storage of
interrupt vectors. An interrupt vector is a 4-byte value of the form
offset:segment, which represents the address of a routine to be called when the
CPU receives an interrupt. Some vectors do not point to executable code, but
rather to a data structure of some sort. For example, the vector for interrupt
1Eh points to an 11-byte disk base table containing information on floppy
drives. The interrupt vector table is a feature of the Intel 80x86/8088 family
of microprocessors.

MORE INFORMATION
================

Because each interrupt is a 4-byte value, the maximum number of vectors that can
be stored in the interrupt vector table is 256. Each vector is located at
segment:offset address: 0000:(int #)*4. Thus, the vector for int 24h (critical
error) is located at address 0000:0090.

For example, a partial hex dump of the interrupt vector table shows:

  0000:0090    22 03 A1 2A .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

The location that will be jumped to on int 24h is 2AA1:0322.

Programming Considerations
--------------------------

While you can establish your own interrupt handlers by replacing the appropriate
vector with the address of your handler routine, this approach is not advisable.
A program can be interrupted before changing all four bytes of a vector, thus
causing erroneous, possibly catastrophic, operation should the interrupt be
issued. For this reason, and to ensure compatibility with future releases of
MS-DOS, interrupt vectors should accessed using int 21h functions 25h (set
interrupt vector) and 35h (get interrupt vector).

REFERENCES
==========

"DOS Programmer's Reference" by Terry Dettmann, QUE Corporation

"Advanced MS-DOS Programming" by Ray Duncan, Microsoft Press

"The New Peter Norton Guide to the PC and PS/2," Microsoft Press

Additional query words: 6.22 1.0 1.00 1.25 2.0 2.00 2.01 2.11 3.0 3.00 3.1 3.10 3.2 3.20 3.3 3.30 3.3a 3.30a 4.0 4.00 4.01 4.01a 5.00 5.00a 6.00 6.20

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Keywords          :  
Technology        : kbMSDOSSearch kbMSDOS321 kbMSDOS400 kbMSDOS1xSearch kbMSDOS320 kbMSDOS330a kbMSDOS621 kbMSDOS622 kbMSDOS620 kbMSDOS600 kbMSDOS310 kbMSDOS500 kbMSDOS330 kbMSDOS401 kbMSDOS500a kbMSDOS211
Version           : MS-DOS:1.x,2.x,3.x,4.x,5.x,6.0,6.2,6.21,6.22

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