This is topic DOS Commands \ or System Info in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 02-13-2002, 11:07 AM:
What's the easiest way to find out what type of hardware you have in a computer??There used to be DOS command that showed you all of the hardware stats on your machine, but I can't rember what it is, or if it will work with a newer machine (win95/98/2k).
I'm looking for information like, type of HD, type of ram, video cards, processors, etc. The System Properties in control panel doesn't have all of the info I need.
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Barry Floyd
Floyd Entertainment Group
Nashville, Tennessee
(Drive-In Theatre - Start-Up)
Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 02-13-2002, 11:21 AM:
I don't recall any DOS commands, but this is an excellent utility.Computer Profiler by Karen Kenworthy
It is freeware, and should tell you just about everything you will ever need to know about your machine. Her programs are very well written and are reliable.
Link is http://www.karenware.com/powertools/powertools.asp
You will need a Visual Basic runtime program that is available on the download page.
Posted by Jerry Chase (Member # 660) on 02-13-2002, 11:50 AM:
The command in DOS is MSD.The information you want should be in your bios setup. Look at the screen when you machine first starts-up to see how to access it.
Posted by Ron Lacheur (Member # 1126) on 02-13-2002, 01:29 PM:
MSD hasn't been included in Windows ( or DOS ) for a long time. The last I saw of it was on the Original OEM release of Windows 95.
Posted by Wes Hughes (Member # 981) on 02-13-2002, 03:05 PM:
There is a free utility on the website www.crucial.com called Belarc Advisor. It tells you about your mainboard, bios, ram, all peripherals, all installed software with registration numbers.
Posted by Dave Macaulay (Member # 813) on 02-13-2002, 03:39 PM:
When you power up the system, the first thing on screen (the monitor must be awake) should be some info on your video card. Aftermarket ones almost all identify themselves on powerup.
You should see the BIOS boot info next. You might get a list of the processor type and speed. You should get a list of the hard drive info as well. Modern drives should adtually say the brand and model - but if that's not in System Information the BIOS is probably not getting it. Remember the HDD size is a bit iffy because the BIOS will use 1024 as 1K while HDD makers use 1000, so a "20GB" disk will have a somewhat smaller number for its size.
"Name Brand" systems generally hide all this stuff, so you have to do a little bit more digging.
Intel has a processor identifier utility at http://support.intel.com/support/processors/tools/frequencyid/
and there is a utility called Sisoft Sandra at http://www.sisoftware.demon.co.uk/sandra/
that lists a lot of info about the system as well as being able to benchmark it. Sandra should definitely indicate processor type, memory installed, and video type. I think it will show drive size, and I'm pretty sure it shows the HDD interface specs too.
Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-13-2002, 06:52 PM:
Start button> Settings> Control Panel> System Icon
Posted by Brian Hogan (Member # 940) on 02-13-2002, 08:08 PM:
http://www.startdisk.com/Web2/ubd/ubd.htm get the ultimate boot disk from the above site. has some keen diagnostic and benchmark tests you can run in dos from a floppy to get bios info, video info, processor speed and much, much more!
Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 02-14-2002, 09:00 AM:
Thanks guys,MSD didn't work for this machine, but the "Belarc Advisor" program gave us everything we needed.
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Barry Floyd
Floyd Entertainment Group
Nashville, Tennessee
(Drive-In Theatre - Start-Up)