I found this forum while investigating for a corrupted ME on HP Prodesk 600 G2 which causes post errors “(A7) Me FW Downgrade - Request MeSpilock Failed” and delayed boot.
As i was reading some topics like here, i came to conclusion that ME firmware is corrupted, as ME Info did not found ME and ME update says “Unknown or unsupported platform” even via EFI Shell update.
I successfully did a SPI dump via Raspberry (the FDO jumper was not working due to bad design, the system beign unable to post in FDO mode as some other user reported in the forum here.
My dump can be processed in ME Analyser which shows the following.
╔═══════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ME Analyzer v1.307.0 r366 ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════╝
╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ dump_prodesk600g2.bin (1/1) ║
╟─────────────────────────────────┬───────────────╢
║ Family │ CSE ME ║
╟─────────────────────────────────┼───────────────╢
║ Version │ 11.0.0.1205 ║
╟─────────────────────────────────┼───────────────╢
║ Release │ Production ║
╟─────────────────────────────────┼───────────────╢
║ Type │ Extracted ║
╟─────────────────────────────────┼───────────────╢
║ SKU │ Corporate H ║
╟─────────────────────────────────┼───────────────╢
║ Chipset │ SPT-H D ║
╟─────────────────────────────────┼───────────────╢
║ TCB Security Version Number │ 1 ║
╟─────────────────────────────────┼───────────────╢
║ Version Control Number │ 12 ║
╟─────────────────────────────────┼───────────────╢
║ Production Ready │ Yes ║
╟─────────────────────────────────┼───────────────╢
║ Workstation Support │ No ║
╟─────────────────────────────────┼───────────────╢
║ OEM Configuration │ No ║
╟─────────────────────────────────┼───────────────╢
║ Date │ 2016-01-20 ║
╟─────────────────────────────────┼───────────────╢
║ File System State │ Initialized ║
╟─────────────────────────────────┼───────────────╢
║ Size │ 0x603000 ║
╟─────────────────────────────────┼───────────────╢
║ Flash Image Tool │ 11.0.0.1205 ║
╚═════════════════════════════════╧═══════════════╝
As i followed the guide, i did download the exact same RGN ME Firmware and the corresponding CSME System tools V11.
Now i’m stuck on the D4 step 6 because FIT won’t open my dump and shows error 10, i think because of corruption.
On this topic the user came in the same problem and someone provided some extracted SPI and then used UEFItoolsNE to replace the corrupted part.
Can someone help me with this ? I don’t really know what kind of image i need and where to find it.
I’m used to computer tech but those SPI / BIOS flashing / ME things are new to me.
I also have to thanks @plutomaniac for those guides which brings this really advanced operations accessible to normal techy peoples, this is a unique and really huge work.
Edit : added links and attached dump now that i’m free from new user forum limitations.
Hello, new users until the forum system gives him more credentials, can post shared links for private files on their preferred sharing service, Mega, Onedrive, Dropbox etc…
You can work in FIT with the entire SPI dump or only ME regionas its still v11, seems the error is opening the full image so try the ME region.
EDIT: The extraction with UEFItoolNE is fine, but the data blocks are much shorther than 11.0.18.1002_COR_H_D_PRD_RGN, top and wnd are ok, i would say corruption in mid.
Here’s a ProDesk 600 G2 ME Region v11.0.0.1191 from the 2.51 (N22) bios version. Region_ME_ME_region.rar (3.3 MB)
I tried extracting ME region with UEFItoolsNE and push it to FIT but no success, i get some more error, including error 10.
I did change the file extension from .rgn to .bin because FIT won’t take .rgn.
Here’s the log :
===============================================================================
Intel (R) Flash Image Tool. Version: 11.8.86.3877
Copyright (c) 2013 - 2021, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.
5/15/2025 - 7:12:52
===============================================================================
Using vsccommn.bin with timestamp 23:24:04 12/15/2020 GMT
Command Line: C:\Users\xxxx\Downloads\CSME System Tools v11 r46\Flash Image Tool\WIN32\fit.exe
Log file written to fit.log
Loading C:\Users\xxxx\Documents\HpIntelMe\0-Original\Region_ME_ME_region.bin
Loading XML file: Intel (R) LP Series Chipset
Error 48: [XmlProcessor] Unable to open config file. Intel (R) LP Series Chipset
Error 5: [XmlProcessor] Failed to process configuration file.
Error 1: Error Initializing Fit.
Error 10: Failed to open with processed commands.
Unable to open file: C:\Users\xxxx\Documents\HpIntelMe\0-Original\Region_ME_ME_region.bin. Reverting to default configuration.
Loading defaults.
Error 1: Error Initializing Fit.
Error 9: Failed to open new image.
FIT failed to load default configuration and cannot recover.
Are there some other ways to extract ME region for FIT ?
As i said i can’t unlock FD so i can’t use FPT to get the region only.
The only reading i managed to get is with external reading (Raspberry PI way).
BTW i edited my first post to upload the dump i made now that i’m trusted user
Ok, now that i swaped ME region with the one you provided, FIT agrees to open the file.
Should i put back my own MFS as exlpained in this topic ?
I don’t really know the consequences of replacing the DATA part or even what is the MFS subpart. I just saw that @plutomaniac said the data part should be the one from the original computer we work on because it can differ between computers even in the same model line.
I did it the clean way, restoring the original MFS and completing the clean guide from plutomaniac.
Now i got rid of POST problems and i have good reading of ME version from the intel verification tool.
One weird thing is when in plug or unplug the SSD, the system won’t boot, doing 5 red light flashing and beep, followed by 2 white ones. Workaround is pushing the clear CMOS button.
I have another question : what do you guys think about ME cleaner ? It is believed that ME can work as a spyware and may provide vulnerabilities/backdoors, and so it should be disabled by using the HAP. I’ve read that it is a requirement for NSA’s computers.
I would be interested if you guys have any opinion about this.
Glad you made it…
Now about ME cleaner and similar, the forum doesn’t support external tools or tools with the purpose of deactivate the CSME Engine FW.
The subject is old and several notes/code was presented you may read several pov about this but in general here, we just care into the stability and performace/tweaks of systems as shipped.
That issue regarding the SSD has to do with TPM/Bitlocker credentials and disk data encryption, if not mistaken thats the issue of that linked HP user forum, that has drained CMOS, this will load factory defaults keys and other security related.
A proper user defenitive (stored) or default bios settings, with a clean OS installation is recommended.
I understand that there is no support in external tool or underground modifications.
I gave it a try anyway, because i wasn’t able to update CSME in regular manufacturer update via windows, which looks like a security concern.
So i did set the HAP bit without touching the ME system further more and it’s working like a charm.
I think i’m done with this and i hope this topic will be useful for other peoples.
For the SSD relative stuff, as i received the computer just before and discovered the CSME problem, i already did a fresh windows install without any secure boot, bitlocker or system encryption so i don’t believe this was the issue.
Anyway i will install the definitive OS later and the SSD will stay in place until it dies, so this should be a non concern.
We dont see HP notes expliciting this in all their releases but as some has them, we always disable SBoot, Bios Guard and BLocker, thats the rule for avoiding firmware issues, of course they fail as much as users when it comes from WU, the same notes can also be read in other OEMs as Lenovo/Dell.
Some systems we have to override the setup/oem_id FW manual update using FWUpdLcl64 or unlock/HAP, if we want to run the latest version avaiable on the web, the same was done to my 600 G2 DM to the (11.8.97.4739)
thanks to you ! 