SMBIOS	 -- Version 1.06
   (C) Copyright 2000-2001 Qualitas, Inc.  All rights reserved.

This program displays all SMBIOS/DMI information within the BIOS.  The
information is organized as a series of Structures each of which is a
certain Type.  For more details, see a copy of the SMBIOS
specification "System Management BIOS Reference Specification".  When
this program was written, the latest version I know of was 2.3.1 on 16 
March 1999.  Sources for this spec include

http://www.phoenix.com/products/specs-smbios.pdf
http://www.ibm.com/products/surepath/other/smbios.html
ftp://download.intel.com/ial/wfm/smbios.pdf


Syntax
------

SMBIOS [options]

where [options] include zero or one of
	/S=d:\path\filename.ext
	  to save the current BIOS in the named file.
	/U=d:\path\filename.ext
	  to read a BIOS to analyze from the named file.
	/T=nn[,nn,...]
	  to limit display to the specified types (in decimal).
	/X
	  to omit special checks for known problem BIOSes
	/H or /?
	  to display this help message.

If there is no argument on the command line, or if the /U= option is
used to read in a BIOS, the program analyzes the BIOS for SMBIOS
and/or DMI information.

Ordinarily, the program tries to overcome certain problems (see
Problems section below).  If you want to test your BIOS without this
special handling, use the /X switch.

If you want to view only certain type structures, use the /T option as
in /T=0,16,17 to display only the listed type structures.


Untested
--------

Because the specification is large and no BIOS seems to implement
everything, some Structure Types are untested including the following:

Type 21:  Built-in Pointing Device
Type 22:  Portable Battery
Type 23:  System Reset
Type 24:  Hardware Security
Type 25:  System Power Controls
Type 26:  Voltage Probe
Type 27:  Cooling Device
Type 28:  Temperature Probe
Type 29:  Electrical Current Probe
Type 30:  Out-of-Band Remote Access
Type 33:  64-bit Memory Error Information
Type 34:  Management Device
Type 35:  Management Device Component
Type 36:  Management Device Threshold Data
Type 37:  Memory Channel
Type 38:  IPMI Device Information
Type 39:  System Power Supply


Unknown
-------

Some Types are unknown, that is, not in any documentation I've seen.
Such Types include the following:

Type 130:  ???

If you know what this type is, please tell me.


Problems
--------

As this specification is relatively new, it will take some time for
BIOS vendors to get everything correct.  In the meantime, the
information supplied by the BIOS should be taken with a grain of salt.

Some BIOSes behave differently from what I had expected.  For example,
the Memory Controller Information (Type 5) structure (which has no
strings) should be followed by a double byte of zeroes to indicate
that their are no strings.	Some BIOSes don't do this (e.g., Award
Modular BIOS v4.51PG, P6BX-A+ Ver 3.2c, 11/28/1998), so there is
special code to handle this.

Some BIOSes store strings incorrectly such that only the trailing byte
is saved which then looks like the string section for that type has
ended and the next type begins.  This messes up all subsequent types
and it's not a happy ending (Award BIOS v6.00PG, 04/21/2000).

Other BIOSes list four ISA slots when there is only one, and three PCI
slots when there are six.  Some confuse units, presenting data in
megabytes when it should be kilobytes.	Some list ending physical
addresses of memory as 255 kilobytes for a 128 MB system.


To Do
-----

* Check for conformance.
* Check for required structures.


Contact
-------

If you encounter a BIOS with any of the above Untested or Unknown
Types, or different Problems, I would appreciate it if you would send
to me the output from SMBIOS, along with a copy of the BIOS (use the
/S= command line option to save a copy of your BIOS into a file).  You
may contact me at

Bob Smith -- bsmith@sudleyplace.com

