Accessing bios information (windows)

#11 08-28-2008, 09:11 AM

On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 06:56:53 GMT, Frank Kotler <spamtrap@crayne.org>
wrote:

>Dirk Wolfgang Glomp wrote:
>> Am Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:13:17 +0100 schrieb Sean Farrow:
>>
>>> Hi:
>>> I need to get hold of the bios date/serial number.
>>
>> How can i find the adress of those serial number?
>
>Dunno about "serial number". We can get bios date and version. I recall
>a "privacy flap" about "serial numbers"... IIRC they compromised by
>making access to the serial number "off" by default. I have no idea how
>to get it, if any...
That was the P-III processor serial number, I think.

<snip>
--
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BCET Basic Compiler Page: http://www.arargh.com/basic/index.html

To reply by email, remove the extra stuff from the reply address.

#12 08-28-2008, 01:28 PM

"Dirk Wolfgang Glomp" <spamtrap@crayne.org> wrote in message
news:1owavutbin4km$.r8lg40n7jb38.dlg@40tude.net...
> Am Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:27:40 -0700 schrieb Benjamin David Lunt:
>
>> "Sean Farrow" <spamtrap@crayne.org> wrote in message
>> news:48b5a74f$0$26074$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk...
>>> Hi:
>>> I need to get hold of the bios date/serial number. I don't have a 16-bit
>>> asm compiler if that's what I need.
>>> Any help apreciated.
>>> Sean.
>>
>> I don't know that any specific BIOS has a serial number, and if
>> it did, it definitely would not be the same for all BIOS brands.
>>
>> However, you can get the date and version of most BIOS's.
>>
>> Here is some C code for most IBM compatible BIOS's:
>> http://www.frontiernet.net/~fys/romver.htm
>
> http://www.frontiernet.net/~fys/undoc.htm
>
> The BIOS Name is at F000:FF59h. It has an unknown length but is in an
> ASCIIZ string.
>
> The BIOS Date is at F000:FFF5h. It is 8 bytes long and has the form of:
> MM/DD/YY. There is a NULL byte after it if you want to use it as an ASCIIZ
> string.
>
> The BIOS Time is at F000:FFE0h. It is 8 bytes long and has the form of:
> HH/MM/SS. There is a NULL byte after it if you want to use it as an ASCIIZ
> string.
>
> Here is a small snippet of code to print them:
>
> ; assemble with NBASM
>
> .model tiny
> .code
> org 100h ; COM files start at 100h
> start: mov dx,offset NNstr ; print the NameNumber message
> ....
> ...
>
> Dirk

Sometimes I forget what I have on my own pages. :-) Maybe
it is about time I go through all my stuff and update a
few things.

Thanks for the reminder, Dirk.

Ben

#13 08-29-2008, 08:20 PM

Benjamin David Lunt wrote:
>
> I don't know that any specific BIOS has a serial number, and if
> it did, it definitely would not be the same for all BIOS brands.
>
> However, you can get the date and version of most BIOS's.
>

For modern BIOSes, this information is most readily found in the DMI
(SMBios) tables. Most modern OSes have a way to access those.

-hpa

#14 08-29-2008, 11:08 PM

Dirk Wolfgang Glomp <spamtrap@crayne.org> wrote:
>
>http://www.frontiernet.net/~fys/undoc.htm
>
>The BIOS Name is at F000:FF59h. It has an unknown length but is in an
>ASCIIZ string.
>
>The BIOS Date is at F000:FFF5h. It is 8 bytes long and has the form of:
>MM/DD/YY. There is a NULL byte after it if you want to use it as an ASCIIZ
>string.
>
>The BIOS Time is at F000:FFE0h. It is 8 bytes long and has the form of:
>HH/MM/SS. There is a NULL byte after it if you want to use it as an ASCIIZ
>string.

This may be true for some specific brand of BIOS, but it is certainly not
true globally. As just one example, the date is present in the BIOS in the
Dell laptop on which I am typing this, but the other two are not.
--
Tim Roberts, timr@probo.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

#15 08-29-2008, 11:37 PM

"Tim Roberts" <spamtrap@crayne.org> wrote in message
news:89ehb4lvtmi4eiu50pit9ra08tqgqm70l3@4ax.com...
> Dirk Wolfgang Glomp <spamtrap@crayne.org> wrote:
>>
>>http://www.frontiernet.net/~fys/undoc.htm
>>
>>The BIOS Name is at F000:FF59h. It has an unknown length but is in an
>>ASCIIZ string.
>>
>>The BIOS Date is at F000:FFF5h. It is 8 bytes long and has the form of:
>>MM/DD/YY. There is a NULL byte after it if you want to use it as an ASCIIZ
>>string.
>>
>>The BIOS Time is at F000:FFE0h. It is 8 bytes long and has the form of:
>>HH/MM/SS. There is a NULL byte after it if you want to use it as an ASCIIZ
>>string.
>
> This may be true for some specific brand of BIOS, but it is certainly not
> true globally. As just one example, the date is present in the BIOS in
> the
> Dell laptop on which I am typing this, but the other two are not.

You are absolutely right, and I have noted it on the page.

Thanks,
Ben

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