BIOSDECODE(8) System Manager's Manual BIOSDECODE(8)

# [NAME](#NAME)

biosdecode - BIOS information decoder

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**biosdecode** \[*OPTIONS*]

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

**biosdecode** parses the BIOS memory and prints information about all structures (or entry points) it knows of. Currently known entry point types are:

- SMBIOS (System Management BIOS)  
  Use **dmidecode** for a more detailed output.
- DMI (Desktop Management Interface, a legacy version of SMBIOS)  
  Use **dmidecode** for a more detailed output.
- SYSID
- PNP (Plug and Play)
- ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface)
- BIOS32 (BIOS32 Service Directory)
- PIR (PCI IRQ Routing)
- 32OS (BIOS32 Extension, Compaq-specific)  
  See **ownership** for a Compaq ownership tag retrieval tool.
- SNY (Sony-specific, not decoded)
- VPD (Vital Product Data, IBM-specific)  
  Use **vpddecode** for a more detailed output.
- FJKEYINF (Application Panel, Fujitsu-specific)

**biosdecode** started its life as a part of **dmidecode** but as more entry point types were added, it was moved to a different program.

# [OPTIONS](#OPTIONS)

[**-d**, **--dev-mem *FILE***](#d)

Read memory from device *FILE* (default: */dev/mem*)

**--pir full**

Decode the details of the PCI IRQ routing table. Only **full** mode is supported.

[**-h**, **--help**](#h)

Display usage information and exit

[**-V**, **--version**](#V)

Display the version and exit

# [FILES](#FILES)

*/dev/mem*

# [BUGS](#BUGS)

Most of the time, **biosdecode** prints too much information (you don't really care about addresses) or not enough (because it doesn't follow pointers and has no lookup tables).

# [AUTHORS](#AUTHORS)

Alan Cox, Jean Delvare

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**dmidecode**(8)](/man/os/dmidecode/dmidecode.8), [**mem**(4)](/man/os/dmidecode/mem.4), [**ownership**(8)](/man/os/dmidecode/ownership.8), [**vpddecode**(8)](/man/os/dmidecode/vpddecode.8)

February 2007 dmidecode

---

Document: biosdecode(8) from dmidecode 3.7-r3 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://git.savannah.nongnu.org/git/dmidecode.git