Hi i upgraded Intel ME FW but then on downgrade got cought by VCN.
I did this thing [Guide] Unlock Intel Flash Descriptor Read/Write Access Permissions for SPI Servicing
It has succesfully created spi.bin dump means my FD is unlocked?
Then i went back to guide and tried to flash my ME with Intel Flash Programming Tool and got the error “Error 167: Protected Range Registers are currently set by BIOS, preventing flash access.”
What i do wrong?
my bios if neededbios
It depends on what actions were taken from the guide and made before to the system.
You took actions to gain access, granting you the possibility of reading only, if not edited and flashed/programmed as so, after reboot the system is back to original state (FD locked again).
You do not provide detailed info on the actions taken and what method used, so we can’t guess what’s wrong with your attempts.
I suggest reading back the guide with a bit more attention.
No changes were made before, i just updated firmware than wanted to go back.
1.First what i did is checked my locked/unlocked FD by the guide.
2.After tried to flash Intel Me with FPT got 167 error
3.Went to this guide did what it says and still this error, although even in this guide i had only “variable” locks in my bios they are not locked to me as i understand, but i disabled them anyway via “grub” from flashdrive.
For now i don’t understand what to do, maybe modify bios and flash it but i don’t know what to change and where.
I modded bios and now it shows all read YES and all write NO, do i need to flash this bios and why all write says NO here?
Ok i just fill all the numbers even zeroes in 000000080 and 000000090 sections in HEX editor with “FF” and now it shows ALL read and write YES. Is that right?
You say you’re trying to downgrade ME but having Protected Range Registers errors would possibly indicate that you flash the bios region, too, possibly a complete firmware image.
No versions given, commands used not given either.
Did you try to use Asus USB flashback option?
I use everything guide says to flash ME via FPT. I use “fptw64 -f me.bin” and getting this 167 error
I don’t have this feature USB flash back
Post a link to / attach me.bin you used for this command
Your me.bin is an update binary! You have to use an ME region for flashing it via fpt! Writing an update binary as a region would brick your machine.
The command you used would write the file me.bin as a complete firmware, not a ME region thus beginning at 0x0 and overwriting the Descriptor region. This would brick your machine second time.
The correct command for flashing a ME region (if you had had one) with fptw64 would be fptw64 -ME -f me_region.bin
The manual says your board has USB flashback:
I’m sorry, but you don’t understand what you’re doing and you’re trying really hard to brick your machine.
Take very good care of the dump you got via fptw64 -d spi.bin since you’re gonna need it for recovery if you continue this way.
Big thanks for answer.
“The command you used would write the file me.bin as a complete firmware, not a ME region thus beginning at 0x0 and overwriting the Descriptor region. This would brick your machine second time.”
But i don’t understand anyway how do i downgrade ME to the old one then? If i simply take old ME(which is not ME just an update) for my system and go to the FPT for downgrade “make my system bricked”
Asus Crashfree Bios 3 as i understand runs when your system can’t load and it activating automaticaly
Can i use this ME which provided and flash it with programmer?
You can flash a ME region with the correct syntax and binary. You can for example extract as is a ME region from an Asus update file as shown:
Save this file as ME_region.bin and use the command fptw64 -ME -f ME_region.bin
But this will possibly give you an error since ME region is still write protected at least in Flash Descriptor.
No, can be used anytime afaik.
No! As written and shown in HxD it has another structure and is an update binary, not a region. In addition wrong size!
Be careful - the only warnig fpt gives is a size warning! Otherwise it writes everything you give to it at any place you command it to!
@molando , how did you update your ME, and why do you now want to downgrade it?
This board has an easy to use ME firmware UpdateTool. If you have a good stitched ME firmware, you could do essentially the same thing (manually) in CSME System Tools v15.0 r15 > FWUpdate > WIN64 > FWUpdLcl64 -f stichedfirmware.bin
IOW, you wouldn’t mess with FPT; you’d use the FWUpdate tool. There should be no Protected Range Registers at play.
@lfb6 , is there any reason that the FWUpdate tool wouldn’t allow for a downgrade?
As written long ago…
(The TO didn’t tell us why he thinks he needs to downgrade and from which version to which version)
OK. I’ve never considered downgrading.
This shows when i try to flash me_region
How would I answer that?
I don’t know if you extracted the ME region properly and if you have a proper backup / dump.
Extracted As is from Uefitool
If you want me to check you can attach it. Theoretically it should be OK if done properly from the correct firmware.
Check that you have a good dump done with fptw64 -d spi.bin
If you have a fTPM enabled it’s reset. For a bitlocker encrypted drive you’d need to suspend ecnryption first or otherwise have the recovery key accessible!
And if you flash you should cold restart the ME with fptw64 -greset
No write access…
As written, haven’t seen your bios dump, but ME-region is write protected in Flash Descriptor for almost every machine.
So this time you probably had the right commands and files but still no write access to this region…
I’d try Asus Crashfree Bios 3, won’t hurt much, but might need some fiddling with USB sticks and formatting, correct renaming of the file and correct USB port, and it might update the bios region but forget to write the ME region, too.
