Can I physically see an I/O address Or an IRQ ????

Question

or are these just like data packets or electrical signals instead of actual hardwiring???

Answer 1

Well no. they are just a way for which an operating system would organise things. so no not pysically.

Answer 2

You definitely can't see I/O address lines on your mother board but there is actually something to see (well, not really on nowadays processors) for an IRQ on the motherboard. There are 2 types of IRQs:
- software : when a piece of software interrupts what's going on with the CPU
- hardware: when a piece of hardware (that's not absolutely true for modern architecture) wants to interrupt the CPU

The hardware ones are those you can actually see on a CPU. They are link to a clock on the motherboard or to a Serial controller for communication port, etc.

For modern motherboards, you'll have to use the specifications book and a good magnifying glass!

Answer 3

IRQ Lines are physical lines, I/O addresses are generated on the I/O bus of the CPU to specifically talk to I/O devices with that physical address. If you do Start>run>debug and type in d0040:0000 you'll see the I/O addresses of the serial ports and the parallel ports as Windows found them when it interrogated the physical addresses on boot up. Type q to exit debug.

Answer 4

They are dedicated circuit pathways, yes actual wiring on IC boards (mobo normally) but how would you go about reading it beyond that?