1. A computer-based system for handling translation lookaside buffer (TLB) misses, the system comprising: a memory unit for storing blocks of dam, wherein each block of data is accessed via a virtual address; a TLB for storing address translation information for translating said virtual address to a physical address for each block of data in said memory unit; a hardware TLB miss handler, coupled to said TLB, adapted to hash said virtual address to form a physical address pointer into a physical page directory, and further adapted to check a hardware-visible portion of said physical page directory for a missing translation, wherein said hardware TLB miss handler comprises: hashing means for hashing said virtual address to form a first pointer by XORing the most significant bits of said virtual address with the least significant bits of said virtual address; masking means for performing a bitwise logical AND function on said first pointer and a mask register to form a second pointer, and merging means for performing a bitwise logical OR function on said second pointer and the most significant bits of a base-address register to form said physical address pointer; and a software TLB miss handler adapted to accept said physical address pointer from said hardware TLB miss handler if said hardware TLB miss handler does not locate the missing translation in the hardware-visible portion of said physical page directory, said software TLB miss handler further adapted to check the remainder of said physical page directory for the missing translation.