Which of the following does not interrupt a running process?
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Answer: C
To determine which option does not interrupt a running process, let us analyze how each mechanism interacts with the CPU:
- A device: Hardware devices (like disk drives, keyboards, or network cards) send hardware interrupts to the CPU to signal that an I/O operation is complete or requires attention. This immediately suspends the execution of the currently running process.
- Timer: The system timer periodically generates hardware interrupts (timer interrupts). These are crucial for preemptive multitasking (time-sharing), allowing the operating system to regain control and prevent a single process from monopolizing the CPU.
- Power failure: A power failure triggers a high-priority, non-maskable hardware interrupt (NMI) so that the operating system can urgently save critical state information before the system shuts down.
- Scheduler process: The scheduler is a software component of the operating system. It does not have the hardware capability to actively interrupt a running process. Instead, the scheduler is invoked after an interrupt (such as a timer interrupt) or a system call has already transferred control of the CPU back to the operating system.
Therefore, the Scheduler process does not interrupt a running process.
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