If the Mainboard requests the RAM as ECC/Non-ECC and Buffered/Unbuffered?
Observation(s)
There is no technical manual of the laptop, it is for an old Acer Aspire KAV60 - and sadly the web does not have much information because it is old. Furthermore, take in consideration that some Mobo’s specs do not indicate more details about the RAM need it, only the basic: slots, max capacity, DDR version.
Goal
The purpose is do a check of the MOBO request, it to know and do the correct upgrade of RAM.
You’re better off consulting the manufacturer to see if ECC RAM is supported - AFAIK there is NO “ECC” for So-DIMMs (laptop format for RAM modules)…
I only have one piece of hardware that supports ECC - it’s a HP N40L Micro Server I use as a NAS - I have 16 GB of ECC (2 x 8) in it - I run TrueNAS on there… 240 pin DDR3 ECC RAM…
Most consumer grade desktop motherboards won’t even POST (Power On Self Test) with ECC RAM modules.
I think the best you can do using DMI-Decode is find out the max speed and RAM size your hardware can go to.
e.g. this will tell you if your RAM is ECC (Error Correction Type) - but I don’t think it can discover if they systemboard is ECC RAM compatible :
â•â”€x@titan ~/bin ‹main*›
╰─➤ sudo dmidecode --type 16 1 ↵
# dmidecode 3.3
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 2.8 present.
Handle 0x0010, DMI type 16, 23 bytes
Physical Memory Array
Location: System Board Or Motherboard
Use: System Memory
Error Correction Type: None
Maximum Capacity: 128 GB
Error Information Handle: 0x000F
Number Of Devices: 4
And don’t 100% rely on dmidecode output, on FreeBSD (TrueNAS) on my NAS :
x@baphomet î‚° ~ î‚° sudo dmidecode -t 16
# dmidecode 3.2
Scanning /dev/mem for entry point.
SMBIOS 2.6 present.
Handle 0x0014, DMI type 16, 15 bytes
Physical Memory Array
Location: System Board Or Motherboard
Use: System Memory
Error Correction Type: Single-bit ECC
Maximum Capacity: 8 GB
Error Information Handle: Not Provided
Number Of Devices: 2
See - that seems to indicate my maximum amount of RAM is 8 GB (which was true at the time of manufacture circa 2011) - but the proof is in the pudding and it’s definitely got 16 GB of RAM :
Hi @Manuel_Jordan,
I do not have the command you are looking for. But
But over many years, I have added / upgrade Ram to many desktops and laptops. To get the correct Ram for my PC I would perform a search on the web for my PC specification and / or a web search of what Ram was compatible for my PC.
Thanks for this link, but sadly the information provided by them is not correct. If is executed in the old notebook the dmidecode command it returns as 4GB the max capacity supported by the notebook and is not the same than the page which indicates 2GB instead. That’s why I need the commands, for the installed RAM and for the Mobo’s requirements.
But over many years, I have added / upgrade Ram to many desktops and laptops. To get the correct Ram for my PC I would perform a search on the web for my PC specification and / or a web search of what Ram was compatible for my PC.
Yes, I am doing that research too. I need the information provided by the web and Linux commands are practically the same. It do the correct upgraded. So I need confirm the MHz, DDR type, etc …
Yes, I read some issues about the dmidecode command, it is the reason because I am doing a deep research about the Mobo specs in the web and Linux command reports - they should be the same.
Yes, I learnt that ECC is mostly for Machines used as servers and buffering is little slower but is secure, and again it is for servers - even more ECC and Buffering does the RAM itself more expensive …
I have this situation for HP, 2 MacBook Pro
BTW - how was generated the dmesg.boot file? Was automatic or was executed previously other command?
