Hello there,

I've got an Asus Z97-A that didn't start at all. So I got the schematics and (almost) repaired it (I replaced a chip). It worked, I installed Windows etc... but few days later it broke again - sometimes it started, then it went off again, sometimes it didn't start at all (like in the beginning).
I poked a little bit here and there and finally unsoldered the replaced chip again. The fault was bad soldering. So I took a new chip and soldered it back on. Now it constantly functioned.

Now, the internal graphics do not work anymore. And I have no Intel ME Interface in Windows / at all.
Intel ME was working since I had a device in the device manager that is now faded out (view all devices).

In the BIOS I read Intel ME 0.0.0.0 (typical error for a non-working Intel ME)
I read a lot of stuff in this forum and through Google.
I re-flashed the chip (via programmer and via FTK & tools).
I found out which pins to short to get write access (I experienced Error 26 AFAIR).

I think the ME image is fine. I have the output of DOS\mestate.bat (FTK v9) which is:

CurrentState: 			Init
ManufacturingMode: 		Disabled
FlashPartition: 		Valid
OperationalState: 		Transitioning
InitComplete: 			Initializing
BUPLoadState: 			Success
ErrorCode: 			No Error
ModeOfOperation: 		Normal
Phase: 				ROM/Preboot
ICC: 				No valid OEM data, ICC not programmed
ME File System Corrupted: 	No
PhaseStatus: 			UNKNOWN
 

Any ideas?


//Edit:
Tools I have: CH341A, TL866II Plus, hot-air, soldering irons, USB sticks + SSDs, etc

Hello plutomaniac,

I extracted the ME region and used "fpt.exe -rewrite -me -f me_rgn.bin" (with unlocked FD / I'm using a USB stick with FreeDOS created with Rufus) and "fpt.exe -greset". I use fpt.exe from ME System Tools v9.1. I tried with and without "-rewrite". Still the same behavior.

More ideas?

Hello plutomaniac,

I re-flashed the entire image again, didn't work.
I also used me_cleaner to at least get a different state with "meinfo.exe -FWSTS" but no success (me_cleaner -S -O mod.bin orig.bin ---> fpt -f mod.bin).

I'm sure I shorted something with my tweezers, whereas the voltages are all correct around the chip I replaced. Damn...

Hello plutomaniac,

okay, I re-flashed a clean image again (fpt.exe -rewrite -f bios.bin), rebooted and the output of "meinfo.exe -verbose" und "memanuf -verbose" is attached as file.

Hello plutomaniac,

I replaced the RT8065ZQW that is located near the PCH. I found that one defective on an ASRock B75 Pro3 also that is working fine again.

Hello plutomaniac,

unfortunately no change after doing as advised. I think something in the PCH is toast.

Thanks for your help - I learned new stuff :-)