A non-maskable interrupt (NMI) is a type of hardware interrupt (or signal to the processor) that prioritizes a certain thread or process. Unlike other types of interrupts, the non-maskable interrupt cannot be ignored through the use of interrupt masking techniques.
Common examples of non-maskable interrupt include types of internal system chipset errors, memory corruption problems, parity errors and high-level errors needing immediate attention. In a sense, a non-maskable interrupt is a way to prioritize certain signals within the operating system. Another example is the user event non-maskable interrupt, where a user presses control, alt, delete to create an immediate signal to the system when the computer is not responding. This is a good example because it illustrates a kind of “override” – rather than just following the general thread or process, the ctrl-alt-delete produces a signal that the computer must and will deal with immediately.
Share this Term
Tech moves fast! Stay ahead of the curve with Techopedia!
Join nearly 200,000 subscribers who receive actionable tech insights from Techopedia.
Latest Articles
By: Michelle Greenlee | Contributor
By: Devin Partida | Editor-in-Chief for ReHack.com
By: Leah Zitter | Contributor
By: Leah Zitter | Contributor
