Forum - Intel Management Engine » Intel management engine problems

Win-Raid Forum (Drivers - Firmware - Modding) � Special Topics � Intel Management Engine � Intel management engine problems

Topic settings

Print view

Jump to forum

General & Forum related Topics News / Announcements Forum-related Questions & Suggestions Off Topic Important Drivers (AHCI/RAID, NVMe, USB etc.) General: Storage Drivers (AHCI/RAID, NVMe and USB) Specific: Intel AHCI/RAID Drivers Specific: NVIDIA nForce Chipset Drivers (incl. AHCI/RAID) Specific: NVMe Drivers Other Drivers System Performance RAID Performance AHCI/NVMe Performance Solid State Drives BIOS Modding BIOS Modding Guides and Problems BIOS modules (PCI ROM, EFI and others) BIOS Modding Requests Reports: BIOS Modding Results Offers: Already modded special BIOSes Special Topics Intel Management Engine CPU Microcodes NVMe Support for old Systems Other Tools (not BIOS modding related) Interesting PC Hardware & Software OS related Topics Windows 11 Windows 8-10/Server 2012-2019 Windows 7/Vista/Server 2008 Windows XP/2000/Server 2003 DOS/Windows 3.X/9X/ME - Retro Gaming Other Operating Systems

#1 | Intel management engine problems datum

Thu Nov 17, 2016 10:23 am (Last edited: Thu Nov 17, 2016 11:05 am)

Hi,

I have an Asus z9pa-u8 workstation board in which I wanted to integrate the nvme driver.

So, I had to use afudos /GAN , because every other tool refused to work (security locked).
I did a backup (/O) first , added the nvme driver, and flashed back using /GAN.

Now in windows, I don't see the intel management in device manager, nor do any tools work to question the me.
Use of fptw64 always gives Error 284: Fail to load driver PCI access for Windows, and I run it as Admin with UAC disabled (win10x64).
Use of meinfo gives me the same Fail to load driver PCI access for Windows error.
Use of meinfo for Dos gives me an error about not able to communicate with ME.
None of the me tools seem to work.

If I use MMtool on the afudos dump, I get a warning the ME region is empty (because it can't dump the me region?)

If I use ME Analyzer on the original Asus bios file , I get

Firmware: Intel SPS
Version: 02.01.07.231.1
Release: Production
Type: Region
Mode: Dual OPR
Date: 10/05/2013

Already tried to flash back the original Asus bios, but no ME engine is visible in device manager.
In the bios setup screen though there is a ME section which shows status etc , and this looks like the ME is ok without error.

Any idea how to progress?

Thanks!

reply

#2 | RE: Intel management engine problems datum

Thu Nov 17, 2016 3:34 pm

Attach the dump from afudos which almost certainly does not include the SPS region as it should be protected. The /GAN was only relevant (whenever it worked at all) for BIOS, not Flash Descriptor or SPS. You have SPS, not ME so you cannot use the ME tools which use the ME driver, something not available at SPS. We don't have SPS2 tools but try with the attached SPS3 tools just in case they work.

plutomaniac has attached files to this post

SPS3.rar

reply

#3 | RE: Intel management engine problems datum

Thu Nov 17, 2016 4:05 pm (Last edited: Thu Nov 17, 2016 4:45 pm)

Thank you for the reply.

Tried the tools, but only spsinfo kind of runs with following output:

Intel(R) spsInfo Version: 1.1.32.34
Copyright(C) 2005 - 2014, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.

FW Status Register 1: 0x000F0345
CurrentState (3:0): Normal (5)
ManufacturingMode (4): Disabled (0)
FlashPartition (5): Valid (0)
OperationalState (8:6): M0 with no UMA (5)
InitComplete (9): Complete (1)
BUPLoadState (10): Success (0)
FwUpdateInProgress (11): No (0)
ErrorCode (15:12): No Error (0)
ModeOfOperation (19:16): Server Platform Services (15)

FW Status Register 2: 0xB9004301
BiosControlBootMode (0): Performance (1)
MfsFailure (6): No Mfs failure (0)
WarmReset (7): No warm reset request (0)
TargetImageBoot (12): Success (0)
Heartbeat (15:13): 2
ExtendedStatusData (27:16): 2304
Phase (30:28): POLICY (3)
EndOfPOST (31): Received (1)

Server Platform Service firmware is detected on the system.
ERROR while version reading...

The other tools give the same error (Fail to load driver (PCI access for Windows)).

I uploaded the dump from afuwin afuwin dump.

Thanks again!

reply

#4 | RE: Intel management engine problems datum

Thu Nov 17, 2016 6:00 pm (Last edited: Thu Nov 17, 2016 6:02 pm)

Yes, as expected. The Engine region is empty because it cannot be dumped with the rest of the SPI image while it's locked from read/write access (locked Intel Flash Descriptor).

Now, you have a workstation motherboard so it has a jumper which allows disabling the Engine protection for servicing. By reading the manual, the jumper is called ME_RCVR1 and needs to be set in order to dump and/or reflash the SPS firmware. Once that jumper is set, you should be able to dump a full SPI image (FD+GbE+PDR+SPS+BIOS).

However, you may not need to set the jumper or deal with the SPS firmware. If it was working before (no Engine error) and since you cannot modify it (read/write) currently, you shouldn't have been able to somehow corrupt it in the first place. It may need a SPS reset only. Normally that is done with "SPSFpt -greset" but if you cannot get it to work (have you tried DOS/EFI ?) then you can do the same manually by removing all power (cord + batteries) for 1 minute or so. If the problem is a stuck SPS then you don't need to do anything else.

Generally, your goal is to insert an NVME module so for that you don't need to dump the whole SPI chip, just the BIOS region. Nothing else. Modify that and flash it back. Now, if for some reason the SPS does not work, you will need to reflash it's SPI region firmware. Test if you can do that with AFU after setting the jumper. Drop the file to ME Analyzer and check if it reports the SPS firmware. If yes, the jumper does work for reflashing the SPS region firmware, at which point ask for further instructions.

reply

#5 | RE: Intel management engine problems datum

Fri Nov 18, 2016 8:30 am

Cool, it works! Good find that switch.
Now I was able to dump the spi completely with afudos and spsfpt.
And as you said when I analyze the dump with ME Analyzer, I see it detects the ME firmware now (so I have a complete dump it seems).
Also spsinfo now gave me a complete report (previous it was only partial).

Spsfpt says it does not know -greset, so that dit not work.

But I am thinking everything works fine as it is, so maybe I should just stop here?
I still am not seeing a intel management engine in my device manager (but maybe that is the way it is with this SPS instead of ME?)

I attached the full dump.

Thanks for al the explanation and help so far!

full dump

reply

#6 | RE: Intel management engine problems datum

Fri Nov 18, 2016 3:10 pm

Yes, if it works fine then you don't have to do anything else. Set the jumper back to default locked position. SPS does not expose a communication device to the OS like ME,TXE. There is a device at Device Manager but does not require drivers and is thus covered by Intel Chipset INF utility or Windows Update.

reply

ERROR: Allenville API Error: status=131. var=IccLockMask � � Chinese fanless PC ME region corrupt

Please enter a reason for warning.