CHAPTER 2 VR4120A
130 Preliminary User’s Manual S15543EJ1V0UM
2.5.2 Precision of exceptions
VR4120A CPU exceptions are logically precise; the instruction that causes an exception and all those that follow it
are aborted and can be re-executed after servicing the exception. When succeeding instructions are discarded,
exceptions associated with those instructions are also discarded. Exceptions are not taken in the order detected, but
in instruction fetch order.
The exception handler can determine the cause of an exception and the address. The program can be restarted
by rewriting the destination register - not automatically, however, as in the case of all the other precise exceptions
where no status change occurs.
2.5.3 Exception processing registers
This section describes the CP0 registers that are used in exception processing. Table 2-34 lists these registers,
along with their number-each register has a unique identification number that is referred to as its register number.
The CP0 registers not listed in the table are used in memory management (for details, see Section 2.4 Memory
Management System).
The exception handler examines the CP0 registers during exception processing to determine the cause of the
exception and the state of the CPU at the time the exception occurred.
The registers in Table 2-34 are used in exception processing, and are described in the sections that follow.
Table 2-34. CP0 Exception Processing Registers
Register Name Register Number
Context register 4
BadVAddr register 8
Count register 9
Compare register 11
Status register 12
Cause register 13
EPC register 14
WatchLo register 18
WatchHi register 19
XContext register 20
Parity Error registerNote 26
Cache Error registerNote 27
Error EPC register 30
Note This register is prepared to maintain
compatibility with the VR4100. This register is
not used in the
µ
PD98502 hardware.