Dear Win-Raid Forum Members,

I'm creating this thread in the hope you could help me solving IntelME-related issue which affected my ASUS notebook recently. I asked ASUS Technical Support for the help more than 3 weeks ago and I haven't received (literally) any technical help so far and I'm really concerned that waiting for their further support will lead to nowhere... All analysis so far I've made on my own, but please note I'm pretty new to IME stuff.

I've searched these forums and found some ME corruption related threads, but I think my case is different. I've read the guidelines from the sticky threads but I'm not yet sure if I should (or could) already apply these steps in my case. My issue happened after using official ASUS ME updater (no BIOS/FW modding from my side so far) so maybe there's no need to move into this "advanced" stuff yet?

My notebook is:
ASUS ROG GL552VW-DM351T
i7-6700HQ CPU @ 2.60GHz, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD
Windows 10 Home 64-bit (currently version 10.0.17134)
BIOS 300 (latest - updated a couple months ago)

How the issue occurred:

I haven't had any problems with my notebook until I've run ASUS ME Firmware / Driver Update tool (MEUpdate_D0_H_V2.0.0.4.exe) downloaded from official ASUS site https://www.asus.com/News/q5R9EixxfAqo1anZ and updated ME FW / driver. During the update, notebook was plugged to a power source, battery was nearly 100% and nothing extraordinary happened. The tool claimed the update has been made successfully and recommended to reboot the computer. I followed the recommendation and allowed application to reboot. After reboot, my issue has started occurring.

General symptoms:

• It takes 5 to 15 seconds to display ASUS boot screen/logo which is much longer than before and then notebook gets stuck at ASUS boot/POST screen (once I've tried waiting 2 hours and nothing happened),
• It won't boot OS from any device (HDD/USB/DVD),
• I cannot enter neither BIOS Setup (F2), nor Boot menu (ESC),
• It seems I can only enter ASUSTek Easy Flash Utility via Ctrl+Home for BIOS re-flash from USB pendrive,
• Boot-freeze issue can be temporarily solved by powering on notebook while shorting two points of JRST2001 "Clear CMOS" jumper on motherboard - after that notebook reboots and then can boot/reboot normally (and I can also enter BIOS setup/Boot menu) until next power off with unplugging power supply.

• Intel(R) Management Engine Interface became hidden and disabled in Device Manager - not 100% sure now but I think it had error code 45 "This hardware device is not connected to the computer". After my attempt to reinstall MEI driver, MEI device now completely disappeared from Device Manager,
• OS cannot wake up from sleep mode - I need to press and hold power button and restart,
• Laptop wouldn't actually power off on OS shutdown, i.e. power button light stays on until I manually press and hold power button.

• re-flash BIOS via ASUS Easy Flash (Ctrl+Home) with same version (300),
• downgrade BIOS to previous version (218),
• upgrade BIOS again to latest version (300),
• three above combined with clearing CMOS and reset to default setting in BIOS - in various order,
• uninstall/force install Intel ME components in Windows - this installs several components but cannot bring Intel Management Engine Interface device back to Device Manager - I even cannot add the device and driver by manually selecting INF file,
• attempt to dump & re-flash ME FW with Intel tools via Windows (FPTW64, FWUpdLcl64 with admin privileges) but cannot do this due to errors being reported by tools (more details below),
• attempt to dump & re-flash ME FW with Intel tools via Hiren's BootCD and FreeDOS Boot CD - same erros even from DOS tools so it's not only due to missing MEI driver,
• FPT -GRESET <- besides prompt notebook reboot I haven't observed any behavior change.

METool.exe (this is actually FWUpdLcl64.exe)
MEFW.bin
SetupME.exe
IntelMEFWVer.dll
mup.xml
MEInfoWin64.exe
Idrvdll32e.dll
ISHLib64.dll
Pmxdll32e.dll

METool.exe -Y -F MEFW.bin >> "FWUpdLcl64_F_<datetime>.log"
SetupME.exe -s -overwrite -report "SetupME_<datetime>.log"

[2018/09/19 18:09:52] MEUpdate V2.0.0.4(H) tool start.
[2018/09/19 18:09:53] Current ME FW version: 0.0.0.0
[2018/09/19 18:09:53] Find no MEI device!
[2018/09/19 18:09:53] UI show "Your ME Firmware/Driver version is the latest."
[2018/09/19 18:09:57] MEUpdate V2.0.0.4(H) tool end.

.\SetupME.exe -overwrite -preinst

Intel (R) Firmware Update Utility Version: 11.8.50.3399

Error 8743: Unknown or Unsupported Platform
Cannot locate hardware platform identification
This program cannot be run on the current platform.

Intel(R) MEInfo Version: 11.8.50.3399

Error 86: Communication error between application and Intel(R) ME module (FWU client)

Error 81: Internal error (Could not determine FW features information)

.\MEInfoWin64.exe -fwsts

@plutomaniac
Thank you for your prompt answer and help. I've done some research for my laptop and it seems I have to proceed with either E1 or E6. I will get back to you once I have made an progress on this.

On E6, ME Re-Flash in BIOS can be changed via grub boot at variable >> Me FW Image Re-Flash, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0x3C3
Default is disabled in your BIOS (0x0) set to 0x1 to enable

However, these BIOS do not contain ME images I came here and wrote out long post to help you with ME Re-Flash and edited BIOS, before I remembered that, and checked to see and no ME in this BIOS.
So I don't think ME Re-Flash enabled will help, due to this is used during BIOS flash with the built in flasher, as far as I know that is only time the setting matters.
I don't think this unlocks ME in the FD, so you can't use this option change to flash ME via FPT, nor by BIOS update since the image does not contain ME region.

But! If you can get a full BIOS dump via AFU, or Asus software tools, that may be able to be edited (to fix ME region) and then enable ME Re-Flash and use FPT to program me region only from that BIOS image.
If you can get a 8MB BIOS dump from AFU then open in UEFITool and see if ME region is shown in top area, or drop on ME Analyzer and see if ME present or not, if you can get dump with ME then we may be able to fix this way.

Thanks, sounds like that is all that's needed then, boot to grub, change variable and then reflash with fixed ME

@plutomaniac
@Lost_N_BIOS
Thank you very much for your hints. I've decided to try E6 first and followed the guidelines. I've double-checked the variable offset with IFR Extractor LS and could see the same offset Lost_N_BIOS has mentioned:

0x149B5 	VarStore: VarStoreId: 0x1 [EC87D643-EBA4-4BB5-A1E5-3F3E36B20DA9], Size: 0xD55, Name: Setup {24 1C 43 D6 87 EC A4 EB B5 4B A1 E5 3F 3E 36 B2 0D A9 01 00 55 0D 53 65 74 75 70 00}

...

0x17EF5 	Form: Firmware Update Configuration, FormId: 0x276E {01 86 6E 27 EF 02}
0x17EFB 		Gray Out If {19 82}
0x17EFD 			QuestionId: 0x8E5 equals value 0x1 {12 06 E5 08 01 00}
0x17F03 			One Of: Me FW Image Re-Flash, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0x3C3, VarStore: 0x1, QuestionId: 0x9F, Size: 1, Min: 0x0, Max 0x1, Step: 0x0 {05 91 F1 02 F2 02 9F 00 01 00 C3 03 10 10 00 01 00}
0x17F14 				One Of Option: Disabled, Value (8 bit): 0x0 (default) {09 07 04 00 30 00 00}
0x17F1B 				One Of Option: Enabled, Value (8 bit): 0x1 {09 07 03 00 00 00 01}
0x17F22 			End One Of {29 02}
0x17F24 			Suppress If {0A 82}
0x17F26 				QuestionId: 0x934 equals value 0x3 {12 86 34 09 03 00}
0x17F2C 					Not {17 02}
0x17F2E 				End {29 02}
0x17F30 				One Of: Local FW Update, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0x3C4, VarStore: 0x1, QuestionId: 0xA0, Size: 1, Min: 0x0, Max 0x1, Step: 0x0 {05 91 F3 02 F4 02 A0 00 01 00 C4 03 10 10 00 01 00}
0x17F41 					One Of Option: Disabled, Value (8 bit): 0x0 {09 07 04 00 00 00 00}
0x17F48 					One Of Option: Enabled, Value (8 bit): 0x1 (default) {09 07 03 00 30 00 01}
0x17F4F 				End One Of {29 02}
0x17F51 			End If {29 02}
0x17F53 		End If {29 02}
0x17F55 	End Form {29 02}

> setup_var 0x3C3 0x01

> .\FPTW64.exe -BIOS -d bios.bin

Intel (R) Flash Programming Tool. Version:  11.8.55.3510
Copyright (c) 2007 - 2017, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.

Reading HSFSTS register... Flash Descriptor: Valid

        --- Flash Devices Found ---
        MX25L6473E      ID:0xC22017     Size: 8192KB (65536Kb)


- Reading Flash [0x0800000]  6016KB of  6016KB - 100 percent complete.
Writing flash contents to file "bios.bin"...

Memory Dump Complete
FPT Operation Successful.

0x17EF5 	Form: Firmware Update Configuration, FormId: 0x276E {01 86 6E 27 EF 02}
0x17EFB 		Gray Out If {19 82}
0x17EFD 			QuestionId: 0x8E5 equals value 0x1 {12 06 E5 08 01 00}
0x17F03 			One Of: Me FW Image Re-Flash, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0x3C3, VarStore: 0x1, QuestionId: 0x9F, Size: 1, Min: 0x0, Max 0x1, Step: 0x0 {05 91 F1 02 F2 02 9F 00 01 00 C3 03 10 10 00 01 00}
0x17F14 				One Of Option: Disabled, Value (8 bit): 0x0 (default) {09 07 04 00 30 00 00}
0x17F1B 				One Of Option: Enabled, Value (8 bit): 0x1 {09 07 03 00 00 00 01}
0x17F22 			End One Of {29 02}
0x17F24 			Suppress If {0A 82}
0x17F26 				QuestionId: 0x934 equals value 0x3 {12 86 34 09 03 00}
0x17F2C 					Not {17 02}
0x17F2E 				End {29 02}
0x17F30 				One Of: Local FW Update, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0x3C4, VarStore: 0x1, QuestionId: 0xA0, Size: 1, Min: 0x0, Max 0x1, Step: 0x0 {05 91 F3 02 F4 02 A0 00 01 00 C4 03 10 10 00 01 00}
0x17F41 					One Of Option: Disabled, Value (8 bit): 0x0 {09 07 04 00 00 00 00}
0x17F48 					One Of Option: Enabled, Value (8 bit): 0x1 (default) {09 07 03 00 30 00 01}
0x17F4F 				End One Of {29 02}
0x17F51 			End If {29 02}
0x17F53 		End If {29 02}
0x17F55 	End Form {29 02}

successfully obtained "Setup" variable from VSS (got 3413 (0xd55) bytes).
....
successfully obtained "Setup" variable from VSS (got 6 (0x6) bytes).

0x17E79 			One Of: ME State, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName): 0x3D2, VarStore: 0x1, QuestionId: 0x9B, Size: 1, Min: 0x0, Max 0x1, Step: 0x0 {05 91 D8 02 D9 02 9B 00 01 00 D2 03 10 10 00 01 00}
0x17E8A 				One Of Option: Disabled, Value (8 bit): 0x0 {09 07 04 00 00 00 00}
0x17E91 				One Of Option: Enabled, Value (8 bit): 0x1 (default) {09 07 03 00 30 00 01}
0x17E98 			End One Of {29 02}

> setup_var 0x3C3 0x01
> setup_var 0x3D2 0x00

I think changing ME state to disable will disable ME, but best to let plutomaniac answer that one.

On the setup_Var, try this instead >> setup_var 0x3C3 0x1 (not 0x01)

Also, this may not work from Linux grub, I am not sure? Boot to normal bootx64.efi grub from BIOS (boot to EFI Shell, you may need to hover this option and rename the file according to what it says on hover)
What you are doing may be the same, I am not sure, but just in case try this instead.
Put in root of USB, remove any others >> https://www.sendspace.com/file/s8l5jr

May also need to be done this way I described here, depends on the board/BIOS
[Help needed] Hidden Advanced menu Bios HP Z1 J52_0274.BIN (2)

Yes, it's not going to work until you get normal output from grub after change, 6 bytes returned instead of 3000something means there is an issue, not applied correctly etc.
ie second one is due to error after your first input change. So yes, it's going to always be 00 after reboot, either due to error and that is how this works too (Only stays disabled until after next reboot - ie make this change, save and boot then flash ME, without any reboots between)
However, I don't see how you can flash ME without a full BIOS dump, fixed ME, then use FPT. Because your current ME is corrupted, so you cannot use FW Update tool, and your BIOS from Asus does not contain ME, so without a dump containing ME I don't see a way to flash ME otherwise.
That is why I said we need to get a full BIOS dump from your system.

Maybe plutomaniac knows how you can flash ME without being able to use FW Update tool (due to corruption/error) and stock BIOS image does not contain ME? Only way I know of is using FPT with a BIOS containing ME, which is why my first goal was getting the dumped BIOS.

BIOS lock controls your ability to write to BIOS region, nothing to do with ME region, it's locked in FD which is why you want to do the FD unlock methods. What you can do, is do the E1 pinmod, unlock FD, dump the FD with FPTw -desc -d fd.bin and unlock it, then write it back to BIOS with FPTw -desc -fd.bin
Then you can use FPT to dump your entire BIOS, then we can fix ME, and you can reflash it all with FPT.

@Lost_N_BIOS
I'm booting to bootx64.efi from Setup_EFI_Shell.rar attached to plutomaniac's guide and strictly followed steps from E6. So I think it's more or less the same as the approach you've described.

Setting 0x1 instead of 0x01 has same effect so it's not the case. When I enter setup_var command twice in one session, I can see the value is changed for the variable-of-interest, i.e. the one with size of 3413 (0xd55) bytes. Hence I still think I can just ignore the error for the second variable (the small one - 6 bytes). Moreover, I've found grub-mod-setup_var script which seems to confirm my understanding.

To sum up, I think I can set variable value correctly in GRUB/bootx64.efi but it's value is not preserved after force reboot needed to exit GRUB (or could I somehow boot to Windows from GRUB without reboot? or run FPT tool from GRUB shell?). According to plutomaniac's guide I understand this unfortunately sometimes takes place (different behavior for different OEM/ODM) so I think I have two options in theory:

• check if changing "Me FW Image Re-Flash" variable together with some other variable (e.g. "ME State") would trigger a different behavior - as some users claim that might be the case,
• already switch to E1 "pinmod" approach since unlocking ME would be insufficient to solve the issue anyway - as you mentioned, I will need full BIOS/SPI dump which I don't have.

Hello @BartoszB! I think that your issue with changing the "Me FW Image Re-Flash" variable value is very similar to mine.
I was able to eventually change it in my system using @plutomaniac advice, and then reflash the ME region using 'FPT -me -f fixed_dump.bin' (other previously locked regions will still be locked).

I suggest your carefully read my thread Asus X510UQR Power On\Off Issues - Probably Intel ME Related at least from message #6 to message #9.

Good luck!

@plutomaniac
@v0yAgEr
Thank you very much for your input. @v0yAgEr Also, I'm happy to read you've solved your problem!

So I've tried the following:

• GRUB efi shell -> change value + force reboot (press and hold power button),
• AMISetupWriter efi shell -> change value + force reboot (press and hold power button),
• AMISetupWriter efi shell -> change value + exit + boot Win10 + wait until it get asleep + cannot wake up hence force reboot (press and hold power button).

 .\FPTW64.exe -me -d me.bin

> .\FPTW64.exe -desc -d desc.bin

Intel (R) Flash Programming Tool. Version:  11.8.55.3510
Copyright (c) 2007 - 2017, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.

Reading HSFSTS register... Flash Descriptor: Valid

        --- Flash Devices Found ---
        MX25L6473E      ID:0xC22017     Size: 8192KB (65536Kb)


- Reading Flash [0x0001000]     4KB of     4KB - 100 percent complete.
Writing flash contents to file "desc.bin"...

Memory Dump Complete
FPT Operation Successful.

GbE Region does not exist.
...
PDR Region does not exist.
...
EMBEDDED CONTROLLER Region does not exist.

Full size: 1000h (4096)
ME region offset:   1000h
BIOS region offset: 220000h
Region access settings:
BIOS: 00Bh 00Ah ME: 00Dh 00Ch
GbE:  008h 008h EC: 020h 020h
BIOS access table:
      Read  Write
Desc  Yes   No  
BIOS  Yes   Yes
ME    No    No  
GbE   Yes   Yes 
PDR   No    No  
EC    No    No  
Flash chips in VSCC table:
1F4700h
EF4018h
EF4017h
EF6017h
C22017h

Probably only read access to FD, unless its accidently unlocked or you did the pinmod. Edit, now I see you last spoiler, sorry missed it, yes as suspected, likely you cannot write to the FD

See if you can write back to the FD >> FPTW64.exe -desc -f desc.bin
https://www.sendspace.com/file/38c5v9
https://nofile.io/f/4TcqAMgD4Te/desc.bin

If you get error, do the pinmod, then flash that FD back in there, then it's all unlocked and you can do whatever you want.

Not all BIOS have GbE or PDR, so that is normal.

Just short update. I gave up. I haven't opened the notebook to try E1. I've decided to RMA it since ASUS is so kind to help solving my particular issue for free even thought it's 3 months past warranty.

Thank you everybody for your kind help. I've learned much on these topics. This thread can be closed.