How to see BIOS details
How to show BIOS information using dmidecode?
Run the dmidecode command to retrieve hardware information, such as BIOS details.
dmidecode --type biosMost modern hardware has USB support. Therefore most Linux kernels have modular support for USB devices as well, making it easy to plug a device and get started with it. Sometimes you may need to retrieve the details and then it is useful to know how to query the available USB devices and the details.
Show basic BIOS details
One option to retrieve hardware details, is using the dmidecode tool. By specifying the type and set this to bios, we can pull in the basics of the BIOS.
# dmidecode --type bios
# dmidecode 3.2
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 3.1.1 present.
Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 26 bytes
BIOS Information
Vendor: Intel Corp.
Version: HNKBLi70.86A.0096.2024.0910.2941
Release Date: 03/10/2021
Address: 0xF0000
Runtime Size: 64 kB
ROM Size: 16 MB
Characteristics:
PCI is supported
BIOS is upgradeable
BIOS shadowing is allowed
Boot from CD is supported
Selectable boot is supported
BIOS ROM is socketed
EDD is supported
5.25"/1.2 MB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
3.5"/720 kB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
3.5"/2.88 MB floppy services are supported (int 13h)
Print screen service is supported (int 5h)
8042 keyboard services are supported (int 9h)
Serial services are supported (int 14h)
Printer services are supported (int 17h)
ACPI is supported
USB legacy is supported
BIOS boot specification is supported
Targeted content distribution is supported
UEFI is supported
BIOS Revision: 5.6
Handle 0x003C, DMI type 13, 22 bytes
BIOS Language Information
Language Description Format: Long
Installable Languages: 1
en|US|iso8859-1
Currently Installed Language: en|US|iso8859-1
Motherboard information
To see the details about the motherboard, which may reveal more about the hardware itself, we can request the baseboard type.
# dmidecode --type baseboard
# dmidecode 3.2
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 3.1.1 present.
Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 15 bytes
Base Board Information
Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
Product Name: NUC8i7HVB
Version: J68196-602
Serial Number: BTHN000008AB
Asset Tag:
Features:
Board is a hosting board
Board is replaceable
Location In Chassis: Default string
Chassis Handle: 0x0003
Type: Motherboard
Contained Object Handles: 0
Handle 0x0028, DMI type 41, 11 bytes
Onboard Device
Reference Designation: AMD HD Graphics Device
Type: Video
Status: Enabled
Type Instance: 1
Bus Address: 0000:00:01.0
More information types
By specifying the type, we can get information about the system itself.
Valid options include:
- baseboard
- bios
- cache
- chassis
- connector
- memory
- processor
- slot
- system
