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DMIDECODE(8)							  DMIDECODE(8)



NAME
       dmidecode - DMI table decoder

SYNOPSIS
       dmidecode [OPTIONS]


DESCRIPTION
       dmidecode  is a tool for dumping a computers DMI (some say SMBIOS) ta
       ble contents in a human-readable format. This table contains a descrip
       tion  of  the  systems  hardware  components,  as well as other useful
       pieces of information such as serial numbers and BIOS revision.	Thanks
       to  this  table,  you  can  retrieve this information without having to
       probe for the actual hardware.  While this is a good point in terms  of
       report  speed  and  safeness, this also makes the presented information
       possibly unreliable.

       The DMI table doesnt only describe what the system is  currently  made
       of,  it	also  can  report the possible evolutions (such as the fastest
       supported CPU or the maximal amount of memory supported).

       SMBIOS stands for System Management BIOS, while DMI stands for  Desktop
       Management  Interface. Both standards are tightly related and developed
       by the DMTF (Desktop Management Task Force).

       As you run it, dmidecode will try to locate the DMI table. If  it  suc
       ceeds, it will then parse this table and display a list of records like
       this one:

       Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 8 bytes.  Base Board Information
	       Manufacturer: Intel
	       Product Name: C440GX+
	       Version: 727281-001
	       Serial Number: INCY92700942

       Each record has:

	A handle. This is a unique identifier, which allows records to refer
	 ence  each  other.  For  example, processor records usually reference
	 cache memory records using their handles.

	A type. The SMBIOS specification defines different types of  elements
	 a  computer  can  be  made  of. In this example, the type is 2, which
	 means that the record contains "Base Board Information".

	A size. Each record has a 4-byte header (2 for the handle, 1 for  the
	 type,	1  for	the  size),  the rest is used by the record data. This
	 value doesnt take text strings into account (these are placed at the
	 end of the record), so the actual length of the record may be (and is
	 often) greater than the displayed value.

	Decoded values. The information presented of course  depends  on  the
	 type of record. Here, we learn about the boards manufacturer, model,
	 version and serial number.


OPTIONS
       -d, --dev-mem FILE
	      Read memory from device FILE (default: /dev/mem)

       -q, --quiet
	      Be less verbose. Unknown, inactive and OEM-specific entries  are
	      not  displayed.  Meta-data  and  handle  references  are hidden.
	      Mutually exclusive with --dump.

       -s, --string KEYWORD
	      Only display the value of the DMI string identified by  KEYWORD.
	      KEYWORD  must be a keyword from the following list: bios-vendor,
	      bios-version,  bios-release-date,  system-manufacturer,  system-
	      product-name, system-version, system-serial-number, system-uuid,
	      baseboard-manufacturer,  baseboard-product-name,	baseboard-ver
	      sion, baseboard-serial-number, baseboard-asset-tag, chassis-man
	      ufacturer, chassis-type, chassis-version, chassis-serial-number,
	      chassis-asset-tag,   processor-family,   processor-manufacturer,
	      processor-version,  processor-frequency.	 Each  keyword	corre
	      sponds  to a given DMI type and a given offset within this entry
	      type.  Not all strings may be meaningful or even defined on  all
	      systems.	Some  keywords may return more than one result on some
	      systems (e.g.  processor-version on a  multi-processor  system).
	      If  KEYWORD  is  not  provided or not valid, a list of all valid
	      keywords is printed and dmidecode exits  with  an  error.   This
	      option  cannot  be  used	more  than  once, and implies --quiet.
	      Mutually exclusive with --type and --dump.

       -t, --type TYPE
	      Only display the entries of type TYPE. TYPE can be either a  DMI
	      type  number,  or  a  comma-separated list of type numbers, or a
	      keyword from the following list: bios, system, baseboard,  chas
	      sis, processor, memory, cache, connector, slot. Refer to the DMI
	      TYPES section below for details.	If this option	is  used  more
	      than once, the set of displayed entries will be the union of all
	      the given types.	If TYPE is not provided or not valid,  a  list
	      of  all  valid  keywords	is printed and dmidecode exits with an
	      error.  Mutually exclusive with --string.

       -u, --dump
	      Do not decode the entries, dump their  contents  as  hexadecimal
	      instead.	 Note that this is still a text output, no binary data
	      will be thrown upon you. The strings attached to each entry  are
	      displayed  as  both hexadecimal and ASCII. This option is mainly
	      useful for  debugging.   Mutually  exclusive  with  --quiet  and
	      --string.

       -h, --help
	      Display usage information and exit

       -V, --version
	      Display the version and exit


DMI TYPES
       The SMBIOS specification defines the following DMI types:


       Type   Information
       ----------------------------------------
	  0   BIOS
	  1   System
	  2   Base Board
	  3   Chassis
	  4   Processor
	  5   Memory Controller
	  6   Memory Module
	  7   Cache
	  8   Port Connector
	  9   System Slots
	 10   On Board Devices
	 11   OEM Strings
	 12   System Configuration Options

	 13   BIOS Language
	 14   Group Associations
	 15   System Event Log
	 16   Physical Memory Array
	 17   Memory Device
	 18   32-bit Memory Error
	 19   Memory Array Mapped Address
	 20   Memory Device Mapped Address
	 21   Built-in Pointing Device
	 22   Portable Battery
	 23   System Reset
	 24   Hardware Security
	 25   System Power Controls
	 26   Voltage Probe
	 27   Cooling Device
	 28   Temperature Probe
	 29   Electrical Current Probe
	 30   Out-of-band Remote Access
	 31   Boot Integrity Services
	 32   System Boot
	 33   64-bit Memory Error
	 34   Management Device
	 35   Management Device Component
	 36   Management Device Threshold Data
	 37   Memory Channel
	 38   IPMI Device
	 39   Power Supply

       Additionally,  type 126 is used for disabled entries and type 127 is an
       end-of-table marker. Types  128	to  255  are  for  OEM-specific  data.
       dmidecode will display these entries by default, but it can only decode
       them when the vendors have contributed documentation or code for  them.

       Keywords can be used instead of type numbers with --type.  Each keyword
       is equivalent to a list of type numbers:


       Keyword	   Types
       ------------------------------
       bios	   0, 13
       system	   1, 12, 15, 23, 32
       baseboard   2, 10
       chassis	   3
       processor   4
       memory	   5, 6, 16, 17
       cache	   7
       connector   8
       slot	   9

       Keywords are matched case-insensitively. The  following	command  lines
       are equivalent:

	dmidecode --type 0 --type 13

	dmidecode --type 0,13

	dmidecode --type bios

	dmidecode --type BIOS


FILES
       /dev/mem

BUGS
       More often than not, information contained in the DMI tables is inaccu
       rate, incomplete or simply wrong.

AUTHORS
       Alan Cox, Jean Delvare

SEE ALSO
       biosdecode(8), mem(4), ownership(8), vpddecode(8)



dmidecode			 February 2007			  DMIDECODE(8)




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