Hi All,
I had repurposed an old Z87E ITX and a 4771 cpu as an ESXi box.
Having no issues for months, after a reboot the system started with the 30 min timer issue.
Attempted bios flashes and with 2.50 and 2.70beta from ASRock with no resolution.
Can the tools be run within a Windows VM without any issue?
Thanks in advance.
Run “MEInfo -verbose” or “MEInfo -fwsts” to verify the status of the ME. Try “fptw -greset” via Flash Programming Tool. You cannot use a VM but you can of course run the DOS or EFI variants of the tools.
Thanks for the reply Plutomaniac.
Here are the results.
Also attempted the fptw -greset.
What would be the next course of action?
Your system uses ME 9.1 firmware, not 10.0, so you must use the equivalent tools. The firmware is corrupted so you need to re-flash the entire SPI image (not just BIOS region) via a programmer or Flash Programming Tool (provided that you have read/write access to the ME region of the SPI chip as explained at [Guide] Unlock Intel Flash Descriptor Read/Write Access Permissions for SPI Servicing). It is possible that ASRock’s in-BIOS InstantFlash can re-write the entire SPI chip so try that first. Otherwise, to use the latest SPI/BIOS image from ASRock with a programmer or FPT, make sure you remove the AMI Capsule first via UEFITool (“Extract as is…” the “Intel image” under “AMI Aptio Capsule”).
Thanks Plutomaniac.
V9.1 returns the same.
FD seems to be locked. Error 26 Host CPU.
Unfortunately I havent access to a hw programmer, so I am looking at other avenues, also quite new to this, enjoying the learning process.
When writing the bios using ASRocks Instantflash there is a warning stating do not power off during intel me update, Does this mean that the SPI is being written to at this time?
UEFI Tool also shows there are entries for ME FW within the 2.70 rom, but they also seem to be references to the UI?
This motherboard has a socketed/removable SPI/BIOS chip so I suggest you buy a cheap 5$ CH341A programmer to have at hand just in case. If InstantFlash does not repair the ME firmware then it does not touch its region at the SPI chip but possibly the BIOS region only. In that case, you’ll either have to use a programmer (very easy in your case) or follow [Guide] Unlock Intel Flash Descriptor Read/Write Access Permissions for SPI Servicing in case you’re able to disable the FD in order to repair the firmware. As for the last question, I do not understand it.
Thanks for the advice.
The socketed BIOS has been a nice surprise, decided to go the replacement chip route due to the possibility of the chip it self possibly being faulty.
Thanks for your help also learnt quite a bit from your stickies.
Don’t forget - https://www.ebay.com/itm/123167465408
Those legs are very easily bent and destroyed beyond recognition if you are not extremely careful or used to popping them out without a tool