Dmidecode - Finding Out Hardware Details Without Opening The Computer Case

Dmidecode is a tool for dumping a computer’s DMI (some say SMBIOS) table contents in a human-readable format. This table contains a description of the system’s 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.

Take a look at

man dmidecode

to find out all options. The most common option is the –type switch which takes one or more of the following keywords:

bios, system, baseboard, chassis, processor, memory, cache, connector, slot

You can as well specify one or more of the following numbers:

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

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