Figuring out the hardware
I have acquire a Dell Inspirion 4100 made in about 2001. The Win2K install was corrupted, so I wiped it off the HD and installed LInux. Things work well, but the video seems generic. Is there a way to determine which video card is installed without opening the case? TIA John
On Monday 09 January 2006 19:35, John Gilger wrote:
I have acquire a Dell Inspirion 4100 made in about 2001. The Win2K install was corrupted, so I wiped it off the HD and installed LInux.
Things work well, but the video seems generic. Is there a way to determine which video card is installed without opening the case?
TIA
John
Hi John, If you go to Dell's website and do a driver search based on the model of the workstation you should be able to determine which video cards shipped with the system (many times Dell will use one or more card for a given model). That at least would narrow down your search. If you have the service tag (usually on a sticker located either on the back or side of the system case) you can call Dell and have them pull up the system build and possibly get the exact model installed. Hope this helps. Jesse
On Tuesday 10 January 2006 00:35, John Gilger wrote:
I have acquire a Dell Inspirion 4100 made in about 2001. The Win2K install was corrupted, so I wiped it off the HD and installed LInux.
Things work well, but the video seems generic. Is there a way to determine which video card is installed without opening the case?
TIA
John
Break out a console and try the command "lspci" which you will need to run as root, probably. This lists your key hardware (literally, "list pci"). Look for a line beginning VGA compatible controller or Display controller. Alternatively use the command "dmesg" and search it for references to video hardware. "dmseg | grep AGP" may cut down on the amount of verbiage that scrolls past. For example, here it yields: agpgart: AGP aperture is 128M @ 0xf0000000 [fglrx] Kernel AGP support doesn't provide agplock functionality. [fglrx] AGP detected, AgpState = 0x1f00421b (hardware caps of chipset) which tells me that the video is an ATI card as it is using the fglrx stuff. Then you can Google for more precise specs if things are still a bit murky, or try posting them here. Works for me on SuSE 10, anyway. :) Fish
On Monday, January 09, 2006 @ 7:20 PM, Mark Crean wrote:
On Tuesday 10 January 2006 00:35, John Gilger wrote:
I have acquire a Dell Inspirion 4100 made in about 2001. The Win2K install was corrupted, so I wiped it off the HD and installed LInux.
Things work well, but the video seems generic. Is there a way to determine which video card is installed without opening the case?
TIA
John
Break out a console and try the command "lspci" which you will need to run as root, probably. This lists your key hardware (literally, "list pci"). Look for a line beginning VGA compatible controller or Display controller. Alternatively use the command "dmesg" and search it for references to video
hardware. "dmseg | grep AGP" may cut down on the amount of verbiage that scrolls past. For example, here it yields:
agpgart: AGP aperture is 128M @ 0xf0000000 [fglrx] Kernel AGP support doesn't provide agplock functionality. [fglrx] AGP detected, AgpState = 0x1f00421b (hardware caps of chipset)
which tells me that the video is an ATI card as it is using the fglrx stuff.
Then you can Google for more precise specs if things are still a bit murky, or try posting them here. Works for me on SuSE 10, anyway.
:)
Fish
How about (under KDE) -- Control Center Yast2 Modules Hardware Graphics Card and Monitor Greg Wallace
How about (under KDE) --
Control Center Yast2 Modules Hardware Graphics Card and Monitor
Another powerful tool is to use Yast-->Hardware-->Hardware Information. Let it scan your hardware and then you have a solid foundation to work from; That is if your not comfortable at the command line. JD
participants (5)
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Greg Wallace -
JD. Brown -
Jesse L. Purdom -
John Gilger -
Mark Crean