Arch Linux Hardware Detection Guide

Complete beginner-friendly guide to hardware detection on Arch Linux, including identifying hardware, installing drivers, and troubleshooting hardware issues.

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Table of Contents

1. Identifying Hardware
2. PCI Devices
3. USB Devices
4. Hardware Information Tools
5. Driver Installation
6. Troubleshooting

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Identifying Hardware

List All Hardware

Check hardware:

# Install hardware detection tools
sudo pacman -S hwdetect lshw

# Detect hardware
sudo hwdetect

# Or use lshw
sudo lshw -short

CPU Information

Check CPU:

# CPU info
lscpu

# Detailed CPU
cat /proc/cpuinfo

# CPU model
grep "model name" /proc/cpuinfo

Memory Information

Check RAM:

# Memory info
free -h

# Detailed memory
cat /proc/meminfo

# Memory modules
sudo dmidecode -t memory

Disk Information

Check disks:

# List disks
lsblk

# Disk info
sudo fdisk -l

# Disk usage
df -h

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PCI Devices

List PCI Devices

Check PCI:

# List PCI devices
lspci

# Detailed info
lspci -v

# Kernel drivers
lspci -k

Graphics Cards

Check GPUs:

# Graphics cards
lspci | grep VGA

# Detailed GPU
lspci -v | grep -A 10 VGA

# NVIDIA
nvidia-smi

# AMD
glxinfo | grep "OpenGL renderer"

Network Cards

Check network:

# Network cards
lspci | grep -i network

# Or ethernet
lspci | grep -i ethernet

# Wireless
lspci | grep -i wireless

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USB Devices

List USB Devices

Check USB:

# List USB devices
lsusb

# Detailed USB
lsusb -v

# USB tree
lsusb -t

USB Device Information

Get USB info:

# USB device details
udevadm info /dev/sdb

# USB attributes
udevadm info -a -n /dev/sdb

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Hardware Information Tools

inxi

Install inxi:

# Install inxi
sudo pacman -S inxi

# Full system info
inxi -F

# Graphics info
inxi -G

# Network info
inxi -N

neofetch

Install neofetch:

# Install neofetch
sudo pacman -S neofetch

# Display system info
neofetch

hardinfo

Install hardinfo:

# Install hardinfo
sudo pacman -S hardinfo

# Launch GUI
hardinfo

dmidecode

Install dmidecode:

# Install dmidecode
sudo pacman -S dmidecode

# System info
sudo dmidecode -t system

# BIOS info
sudo dmidecode -t bios

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Driver Installation

Automatic Detection

Use chwd (CachyOS):

# If on CachyOS
chwd -a

Manual Driver Installation

Graphics drivers:

# NVIDIA
sudo pacman -S nvidia

# AMD
sudo pacman -S mesa xf86-video-amdgpu

# Intel
sudo pacman -S mesa xf86-video-intel

Network Drivers

Network drivers:

# Check loaded modules
lsmod | grep -i network

# Install drivers
sudo pacman -S network-driver-package

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Troubleshooting

Hardware Not Detected

Check kernel messages:

# Check dmesg
dmesg | grep -i error

# Check journal
journalctl -k | grep -i error

Driver Issues

Check modules:

# List loaded modules
lsmod

# Check module info
modinfo module-name

# Load module
sudo modprobe module-name

USB Issues

Troubleshoot USB:

# Check USB
lsusb

# Check kernel messages
dmesg | grep -i usb

# Check permissions
ls -l /dev/ttyUSB*

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Summary

This guide covered hardware detection, PCI/USB devices, information tools, driver installation, and troubleshooting.

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Next Steps

• Arch Linux Graphics Drivers - GPU setup
• Arch Linux Hardware Configuration - More hardware
• ArchWiki Hardware: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Hardware

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This guide is based on the ArchWiki. For the most up-to-date information, always refer to the official ArchWiki.