title: How to completely suspend the processor?
body: <p>I'm writing a small bootloader for an x86 based PC. The problem is that the CPU is somehow still active after executing these instructions:</p>
  
  <pre><code>sti
  hlt
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><strong>sti</strong> is supposed to disable interrupts for the next instruction<br>
  <strong>hlt</strong> is supposed to completely halt the processor</p>
  
  <p>Since they're used together, I assumed they would just 'freeze' the computer. But when I assemble it and mount it in VirtualBox as a floppy image, my CPU jumps to 100%.</p>
  
  <p>What am I doing wrong?</p>