Get premium membership and access revision papers, questions with answers as well as video lessons.
Computer Organization And Architecture 1 Question Paper
Computer Organization And Architecture 1
Course:Bachelor Of Science In Computer Science
Institution: Kenyatta University question papers
Exam Year:2011
KENYATTA UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS 2011/2012
FIRST SEMESTER EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE
SCO 104:COMPUTER ORGANIZATION AND ARCHITECTURE1
DATE:FRIDAY,16th,December,2011 TIME:8.00AM-10.00AM
INSTRUCTION:Answer question ONE and any other TWO.
Question One(compulsory)
a)With relevant examples distinguish between computer architecture and computer organization (4marks)
b)Distinguish between programed i/o and interrupt driven i/o and state how each effects the performance. (4marks)
c)Explain the performance effect of bus width to a computer system. (2marks)
d)Discuss two hard disk interface standards. (4marks)
e)If Tc=20ns,and Tm=80ns and h=0.9,then by how much is the system speeded up by using the cache memory (3marks)
f)Explain float point numbers are represented in computers(2marks)
g)Suppose that two 8-bit binary numbers have been added and the 8-bit output and the C,N and V flags are shown:11110111 and C=0,N=1,V0.Interprate the result in terms of signed integers and give the correct answers as decimal number.(3marks)
h)Briefly explain Von-Neumann architecture for computers. (4marks)
i)Explain major characteristics of PCI bus.(4marks)
Question TWO
a)Convert the decimal number 108 to octal.
b)Convert the binary fraction 0.11101to decimal
c)Explain two design elements of a bus and state their performance effect to the computer system.
d)Explain four cases which can result to generation of an interrupt during execution of a program.
e)A computer has 16MB main memory and 64KB cache. The block size is 16 bytes.Assuming a direct mapping technique is used:
i)How many cache lines does the computer have?(2marks)
ii)How many blocks does the main memory have?(2marks)
iii)Give the starting a dresses of memory blocks which are directly mapped to cache lines.(2marks)
Question Three
a)Convert octal number 321 to decimal.(2marks)
b)Convert the decimal fraction 0.34375 to binary.(2marks)
c)Explain the basic concept of RAID and its potential contribution to reliability and performance.(6marks)
d)Explain the major functions of an I/O module and with an aid of a diagram describe the basic architecture of an I/O module.(10marks)
Question Four
a)Convert the binary number 10110010 to hexadecimal.(2marks)
b)Perform the following hexadecimal additions:A5A+2F5.(2marks)
c)Discuss the DMA operation in regard to data transfer in an i/o module.(6marks)
d)Discuss software polling and bus arbitration as methods of servicing interrupts.(6marks)
e)Explain the error detection and correction in memory using parity bits technique.(4marks)
Question Five
a)Add the following signed integers -93 and 44 using the following steps:
i)Convert both integers to 8-bit 2's complement form.(2marks)
ii)Add the two 8-bit 2's complement representations from (i) and calculate the N and V flags(3marks)
iii)Use the 8-bit out put and the flags to determine the sign of the correct answer and whether the 8-bit needs to be extended to 16-bits(2marks)
iv)Convert the 2's complement representation to decimal answer.(2marks)
b)Explain two performance consideration of a Hard disk.(4marks)
c)With an aid of a diagram explain the memory hierarchy concept.(5marks)
d)Explain the concept of virtual memory.(2marks)
More Question Papers
Popular Exams
Return to Question Papers