Unless you have the same model, am I supposed to guess what hardware you have? If you do, follow the above instructions to dump your SPI image first.

I just followed the cleanup guide on your SPI dump. The resulting file is attached. Flash with command "fptw -f spi_fix.bin" followed by "fptw -greset". Once the system resets, check if everything is ok.

We can work around that error by flashing only the descriptor and me regions but before that, I think your problem is elsewhere. I see that you can dump your full SPI image with fpt -d command even though your Flash Descriptor is locked. So that means that you have enabled some BIOS option such as "ME Reflash" or an equivalent hardware jumper (maybe keyboard combination) to enable read/write access to it for servicing. If that's the case then it's normal for it to not be operational and thus in a "recovery" state. It's also normal for the MEI device and it's driver to not appear at the operating system, thus the "HECI" error you received. So first make sure you don't have any such option enabled.

So you had the "me in recovery state" error before shorting the audio pins? If yes, then download the attached files and use "fptw -f desc_fix.bin -desc" as well as "fptw -f me_fix.bin -me" followed by "fptw -greset" commands. After the reset, check if you still receive the error and if MEInfo and MEManuf report everything as being ok.

I think you mean that you have the error normally but if you short the audio pins then it goes away. The latter is normal. So, after shorting the pins (read/write access to ME), flash the two files above as I said and let me know how it goes. Obviously, no need to short again after the flashing is done and "-greset" is invoked.

Did it work properly? You don't see the "me in recovery state" error anymore, correct? I don't really understand your question but if you mean "why did my own ME dump work", then the answer is that we cleaned it and flashed it back. It had some data leftovers so to speak (section A for an explanation) which caused problems.

I don't understand the question. Use the "pinmod" only when you need it, not for regular BIOS updating from OEM or similar. You need it when you want to reflash the locked SPI regions such as Flash Descriptor, ME, GbE etc. The BIOS region is irrelevant and has it's own "protective ranges" as they are called (the error you saw before we tried -desc and -me commands). Generally, if the system now works as expected, I don't see why any more invasive actions are needed.