CPU''s debug port can be accessed for validation, test and debug on Intel-based circuit boards
Richardson, TX (Sept. 22, 2009) - With ASSET® InterTech''s new LGA1366 interposer, design, test and field repair engineers are able to access the debug port on the Intel® Xeon® Processor 5500 Series and Core(TM) i7 processors, which are based on Intel''s new Nehalem microarchitecture, after the processors have been placed on a circuit board. ASSET (www.asset-intertech.com) is the leading supplier of open tools for embedded instrumentation.
Cost and size considerations often cause many circuit board manufacturers to either remove the circuitry required to access the processor''s debug port or to remove the connectors on the circuit board which would link to this circuitry. ASSET''s interposers and top-side adapters overcome this problem for the purposes of the more cost-effective non-intrusive board test technologies such as processor-controlled test (PCT) on ASSET''s ScanWorks platform for embedded instrumentation. In addition to providing a lower cost-of-test, non-intrusive board test (NBT) also offers improved test coverage over the older intrusive test technologies such as in-circuit test (ICT).
ASSET''s LGA1366 interposer provides a direct interface between the CPU on an assembled circuit board and PCT on the ScanWorks® platform. The non-intrusive PCT test technology can apply tests, diagnostics and debug routines to the entire circuit board through the Intel® processor without placing physical probes anywhere on the board. Unlike intrusive test technologies like ICT, which require expensive bed-of-nails fixtures for testing circuit boards, PCT on ScanWorks is a non-intrusive technology that relies on software. It tests the electrical integrity of a board and applies functional tests at processor speeds through the CPU''s debug port.