CPUs and architecture

What is the role of the watchdog timer built into microcontrollers?

  1. ADisplaying the accurate time
  2. BRaising the clock frequency
  3. CResetting the system if the program runs away and fails to clear the timer within a set time
Show answer and explanation

Answer: C. Resetting the system if the program runs away and fails to clear the timer within a set time

A watchdog timer assumes that a correctly running program clears it periodically. If the program runs away or hangs and the timer expires without being cleared, it resets the microcontroller to recover. It is a mechanism for improving equipment reliability.

  • A. Keeping time is the role of a real-time clock (RTC) and similar.
  • B. It does not raise the clock frequency.
  • C. Correct. It detects runaway and resets the system.
Practice this topic Back to topic

More CPUs and architecture questions

  1. When a program calls a subroutine (function), which area is generally used to temporarily save the return address and similar information?
  2. Which correctly lists the "three Cs" classification of cache misses?
  3. In an out-of-order CPU, which mechanism commits (retires) the results of instructions executed out of order in the program's original order?
  4. What is the main purpose of register renaming in out-of-order CPUs?
  5. In AI accelerators and similar, which architecture arranges many multiply-accumulate units in a grid and computes matrix products by passing data from one unit to the next?