Computer Hardware Terms, Glossary and Dictionary

Interrupt Request Line (IRQ) is conductor lines on the internal bus over which devices such as a port or disk controller can send interrupt signals to the microprocessor. When you add a new device to a PC, you sometimes need to set its IRQ number by setting a DIP switch. This specifies which interrupt line the device may use. IRQ conflicts used to be a common problem when adding expansion boards, but the Plug-and-Play specification has removed this headache in most cases.

Related Terms

IRQ: Interrupt Request Line