Not a dumb question at all. A NOP adapter is simply an adapter that you slap onto a microprocessor to force it to execute nothing but NOP (no-op) instructions. The reason you would want to do this is to force the entire system into a known state, or steady predictable behavior. Then, you can use a signature analyzer to probe points on the PCB to debug and find the source of a problem. Typically what someone will do is use a NOP adapter in a know, correctly working system, and probe a bunch of points on the PCB and record a set of signatures. Then, if the system ever fails, they can repeat the process and look for any signatures that differ from the ones recorded. If the signature on the input to an IC matches but the signature on the output didn't, chances are that IC is the problem. On Thu, Feb 5, 2009 at 3:16 PM, kevin spears <micrologix1500@yahoo.com>wrote:
This is surely a dumb question, but what is the purpose of the NOP adapter?
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