Embodiments are provided in which a method and apparatus for accessing a
special mode register of a memory device are described. A command to
access the special mode register is detected. The command is executed by
driving data from the special mode register onto a data bus. The command
self-terminates by placing the data bus in a high impedance state. One or
more unused address bits may specify one of a plurality of special mode
registers to be accessed by the command. The command to access the
special mode register may be incapable of changing one or more bits in a
mode register.