HP ZBook Firefly 14-inch G8 - CSME corruption/Bios recover

Special Topics Intel Management Engine
1

Hello, I’m a newbie to this forum,
At first, everything was working fine; then, suddenly, when I was shutting down the notebook, it failed to shut down. The LED on the keyboard was blinking. After a reboot, I was faced with the HP Sure Start screen stating my Intel ME was corrupted and attempting to perform a recovery. When I press any keys, HP Sure Start does not show the recovery screen, and the system boots directly into Windows.

In the Device Manager, I see Intel Smart Sound Technology OED fail to start, generating error code 10 stating “W did not send FW Ready notification.” This is accompanied by failure the Windows and UEFI to detect my internal Microphone

Another thing I observe is backlit keyboard fails to light up on keypress, but when I disable it, the automatic Backlit keyboard setting the backlit works. I also notice the orange mute speaker LED (F5) does not light up when I mute Windows. The mute mic also remains off.

If anyone can assist me in performing diagnostics and repairs, I will be very grateful.

My notebook is an HP ZBook Firefly 14-inch G8 Mobile PC Workstation. My Chipset is is Intel Tiger Lake-UP3 PCH-LP.

2

Hello, have you tried the following official HP method’s (USB in this case) using same bios image version first, before last one up to date :
HP Notebook PCs - Recovering the BIOS (Basic Input Output System) | HP® Support

HP Sure start automatic recovery will not be successful if the disk has not the original and default HP factory content.

Suggest to read MSGuide and UGuide, performing offline HP UEFI Diag
HP ZBook Firefly 14 inch G8 Mobile Workstation PC - Setup and User Guides | HP® Support

A small video recover, not a Zbook model

3

Thank you @MeatWar for your kind reply.

I tried the hard reset by unplugging the AC Power, then waiting for 5 seconds. I continue by pressing the power button for 30 seconds. After the hard reset. After booting into HP Hardware Diagnostic UEFI. The mic is not detected. And the error is still there.

I tried to remove the battery and the CMOS Battery and leave it for one hour, but it didn’t remove the problem.

I performed an upgrade on the BIOS using the Softpaq provided by HP. After executing the application, I reboot the unit. I can see the BIOS is being rewritten, and no errors are produced. After the BIOS is rewritten, the unit restarts. After a boot screen display. The HP Sure Start screen appears, stating that the Intel Management Engine Firmware is corrupted and prompting me to press any key to recover. After pressing any key, I did not see a recovery screen, and instead, the unit boots into Windows.

Also, I attempted a BIOS recovery using a USB recovery drive, then I did a reboot by pressing the Win + B. This time, the unit enters a recovery mode with a blank screen, blinking LED, and much higher fan RPM, showing the recovery is indeed going on. After the recovery is done. The same HP Sure Start Screen appears, stating the Intel Management Engine Firmware is corrupted, but no recovery screen appears preceding the key press, and instead, it just boots into Windows without any recovery process.

Using HWInfo64, I can see that the Intel ME working status is indeed in recovery mode.

I have already checked the documented User Guide and Maintenance Service Guide multiple times. But none can help me to repair this problem.

As I can still enter Windows, I presume that only some portion of the BIOS is not corrupted, and I still believe it can be rewritten without having to reprogram the IC BIOS. I may presume that with the right flashing tools and a correct ROM. The BIOS will be back to normal.

Any further information and help are appreciated.

4

Then it needs a professional repair from a shop and a technician that has experience dealing with this. A full program of secondary IC, if more than one, and probably also main bios IC.

The guides on the forum, regarding reinitialization of the CSME FW probably wont be enough as HP system are baddly secure and will not allow writting on the IC(s)… so a programmer is needed.

Modifica bios da flashare con ch341 - BIOS/UEFI Modding / BIOS Modding Requests - Win-Raid Forum

[Guide] Clean Dumped Intel Engine (CS)ME/(CS)TXE Regions with Data Initialization - Special Topics / Intel Management Engine - Win-Raid Forum

1 Like
5

I currently live in a town. Professional repair is not available here. The closest professional repair for BIOS is 8 hours away by car. So, perhaps I will try to look for the right time. If a DIY repair attempt could be done, it would be much better.

I notice that there is a Intel (R) SPI (flash) Controller - A0A4. Can DIY repair attempted by utilizing that?

6

Are you talking now on chipset/device drivers level now…!!!
Stay put sir if you care for the asset…if you want to “play” with it, go ahead…it wont pass from a “death” sytem anyway.
That’s its from me, nothing more to add, good luck.

7

If it is that serious, as you say, perhaps I would go with the current Recovery working state and some disabled hardware. I’ll wait until I have the perfect time to get a professional to repair it.

Anyway, thank you so much for your insight.

Since I have made a BIOS dump, is there a proper link where I can start learning about the BIOS structure? I wish to analyze which region in my BIOS is corrupted. I’ve been reading a lot from this forum and some Intel Documentation, and I’m getting lost. Any recommendation?

8

Crash course… sorry there’s no such thing, experience, years, reading, learning, skill, patientence, time…lots of time consuming…ask your wife first what she thinks of it… :smiling_imp: :joy:
Many resources on the forum to digest, feel free to “devoure them”, Cheers.

9

:thinking: My wife is a house architect, not a system architect. So she will just leave me to sleep.

I’ll give a brief explanation of what I wish to do, okay? I dump my BIOS with fptw64.exe, I get a *.bin size of 32,678KB file.

I want to know which offset is the BIOS, which offset is the EC, and so forth.

I use this notebook for engineering calculations and simulations, and I do not wish to use this notebook as a test bed. Although I am a mechanical engineer, I love coding. I don’t do mechanical stuff only, but I also love the world of coding. I reverse anything technical, including mechanical, electrical, Instruments, PLCs, because this is the only way I can learn and discover something.

I also use this Notebook for meetings and to complete my office assignments. I prefer not to use a notebook provided by my company, as lots of policies tend to curb my passion for learning everything.

I’ll be grateful if someone can point me to a resource that is able provide an ample explanation on the 32,768 KB of bin file that I just got from dumping my BIOS.

10

Its not the same for every system or bios version/vendor, also differs Intel vs AMD platform.
An Intel platform like yours, may have a system board with several ICs in witch the whole firmware is slipted according the flash/vscc of the OEM or it can all be in just one IC, plus an extra vbios IC if the system uses a dedicated GPU.
Private 3rd party tools like UEFItool, MEAnalyzer can give you such info on bios regions, vscc/header/size/offset and an HEX editor of your choice is always handy.

A schematic/boardview of the system mb also usefull.

A Zbook Power 15 example, expanded regions dump, not HP bios files, you wont see them like this.

image
image991×641 34.7 KB

Good luck

11

Awesome and thank you, @MeatWar !

This is what I am looking for, the right tool to see.
Currently, I use HxD as my Hex editor. I’ll start digging right away.

I’ll post again if I have something to ask.

12

MEAnalyzer gave me some insight, I would like to highlight:

  • CSE ME Version is 15.0.50.2633, but I don’t understand why the Flash Image Tool is 15.0.23.1706. I don’t have a clue why this happens.
  • There is a message: Warning: Data in Engine/Graphics region padding, possible data corruption! I’m still wondering what this message means technically.

In a file system, file corruption, as far as I know, means the file is damaged, thus, the system cannot read the content. Or the system assigns the same storage unit to more than two files. Do BIOS have the same concept or a different meaning? Or otherwise there the BIOS has data in a place where there shouldn’t be any data (padding).

13

Version of Intel FIT used at factory mode to build, it’s OK.

Warning: Data in Engine/Graphics region padding, possible data corruption!

Normal, on incomplete full firmware/partial CSME region.

Do BIOS have the same concept or a different meaning?

Dont like to repeat myself…was already stated.

14

Hello @MeatWar ,

Recently, I went to a repairman to get my BIOS flashed. After flashing the BIOS, the symptoms persist. Yes, he was able to reflash and downgrade the BIOS. But I see some of the firmware, including CSME firmware, was not downgraded. I suspect the firmware is stored in another IC.

At a glance, I see 2 Winbond IC

  • W25Q256JV
  • W25Q80DV

I do not think this is a dual BIOS as it has a size difference of 256MB and 8MB. I guess 256MB is the main BIOS and 8MB is for the firmware.

Would you mind to share some knowledge on these or give me any point, to where should I read more on these feature?

15

He should know that…right???
2 ICs, should be one on each side of the board and next time him me, that you want also to downgrade ME FW