Linux: How to find out what type of RAM is installed?

[bystander]

I just got a Linux system with Hardy Heron installed. How can I find out what type of RAM I need without opening the box so I can upgrade? I know it has 512mb right now, but I'm not sure how many sockets and what the max is...

Feel free to move to another forum if I'm at the wrong place - not sure if I should post here or elsewhere. Thanks!

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Type "dmesg" in the command window.

 

[bystander]

Thanks - I just tried that, but I don't think it says what type of RAM is installed...

 

[Nothinman]

You might be able to get the type from 'dmidecode' but that depends on the hardware and BIOS.

 

[exar333]

Does CpuZ run on linux? If so, it will provide the slot information, memory manufacturer, and speed information. Pretty handy.

 

[bystander]

dmidecode returned Permission denied...

 

[Nothinman]

So run it as root...

 

[QuixoticOne]

DMIDECODE doesn't provide as much information as CPU-Z does for me.
If it doesn't work for you you could always try running a DOS or Windows based memory probe utility in a virtual machine or via WINE and see if that works.

Theses packages contain a tool that may solve your query:
yum install i2c-tools i2c-tools-eepromer
/usr/bin/decode-dimms.pl
http://ornellas.apanela.com/dokuwiki/pub:spd

Interestingly, though dmidecode does seem to claim that my DIMMS are mapped at non-overlapping addresses which is interesting since I thought the BIOS set them up to be bank interleaved and with an additional layer of interleaving on that (dual dual channel). Maybe the kernel actually changes that back to non interleaved mapping though that would not seem optimum for performance if true:

Handle 0x001A, DMI type 20, 19 bytes
Memory Device Mapped Address
Starting Address: 0x00000000000
Ending Address: 0x0007FFFFFFF
Range Size: 2 GB
Physical Device Handle: 0x0015
Memory Array Mapped Address Handle: 0x0019
Partition Row Position: 1

Handle 0x001B, DMI type 20, 19 bytes
Memory Device Mapped Address
Starting Address: 0x00080000000
Ending Address: 0x000FFFFFFFF
Range Size: 2 GB
Physical Device Handle: 0x0016
Memory Array Mapped Address Handle: 0x0019
Partition Row Position: 1

Handle 0x001C, DMI type 20, 19 bytes
Memory Device Mapped Address
Starting Address: 0x00100000000
Ending Address: 0x0017FFFFFFF
Range Size: 2 GB
Physical Device Handle: 0x0017
Memory Array Mapped Address Handle: 0x0019
Partition Row Position: 1

Handle 0x001D, DMI type 20, 19 bytes
Memory Device Mapped Address
Starting Address: 0x00180000000
Ending Address: 0x001FFFFFFFF
Range Size: 2 GB
Physical Device Handle: 0x0018
Memory Array Mapped Address Handle: 0x0019
Partition Row Position: 1