Manual
MacBook Pro 17-inch (original, Core 2 Duo, 2.4/2.6GHz, 2008) Troubleshooting — Architecture 195
Architecture
The architecture of the 17-inch MacBook Pro is based on the Intel Core 2 Duo microprocessor and
two ICs, the North Bridge memory controller and the South Bridge I/O controller, connected to
each other by a Direct Media Interface (DMI) bus.
The North Bridge provides the bridging functionality among the processor, the memory system,
the DMI bus, and the 16-lane PCI Express bus to the graphics controller.
The South Bridge supports these components:
Ultra ATA/100 bus for the optical drive (running at UATA/66)•
A 1.5 Gbps Serial ATA (SATA) bus for the hard disk drive•
1-lane PCI Express link for the AirPort Extreme module•
SPI bus, direct memory access bus to the boot ROM•
USB 2.0 controller, which in turn supports the Bluetooth module, IR receiver, built-in iSight •
camera, built-in trackpad and keyboard, ExpressCard/34 slot, and 3 external USB 2.0 ports
Channel to the audio subsystem•
1-lane PCI Express link for the Ethernet PHY•
33 MHz, 32-bit internal PCI bus to the FireWire 400 (1394a) and FireWire 800 (1394b) OHCI •
and PHY
1-lane PCI Express link and one USB 2.0 interface for the ExpressCard 34 mm slot•
Direct Media Interface (DMI) bus•
A DMA controller internal to the South Bridge supports LPC DMA (low pin count direct memory
access). The DMA controller has registers that are xed in the lower 64 KB of I/O space. The DMA
controller is congured using registers in the PCI conguration space.
Figure 1 (see following page) provides a simplied block diagram of the North Bridge and South
Bridge ICs and the buses that connect them together.