Intel ME Driver Code 10 - Windows 10 v1709 - Alienware 13 R3

Wondering if anyone else has come across this yet…

I know Windows 10 v1709 (Fall Creators Update) only came out last week, but after upgrading my laptop the Intel Management Engine Interface driver would refuse to start. I tried a bunch of different versions and uninstall/reinstall multiple times in device manager without any success. It also seemed to break the Intel Smart Sound Technology device too, also with a Code 10, resulting in no audio and the Realtek audio not even showing up.

The laptop already had the latest firmware of the 11.6 branch, 11.6.29.3287, but I tried flashing over-top as well with the “-allowsv” parameter. I had to do this from DOS since from Windows I couldn’t access ME without the driver working. I also tried the “fpt -greset” without any difference.

I even tried a clean install of Windows v1709 and had the same issues. I had to re-install v1703 (Creators Update) instead to get it back to normal.

Here’s the output from MEInfo from v1703:



Intel(R) MEInfo Version: 11.6.29.3287
Copyright(C) 2005 - 2017, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.




Windows OS Version : 10.0

FW Status Register1: 0x90000245
FW Status Register2: 0x06010506
FW Status Register3: 0x00000020
FW Status Register4: 0x00084000
FW Status Register5: 0x00001F01
FW Status Register6: 0x444003C9

CurrentState: Normal
ManufacturingMode: Disabled
FlashPartition: Valid
OperationalState: CM0 with UMA
InitComplete: Complete
BUPLoadState: Success
ErrorCode: No Error
ModeOfOperation: Normal
SPI Flash Log: Not Present
Phase: ROM/Preboot
ICC: Valid OEM data, ICC programmed
ME File System Corrupted: No
PhaseStatus: INIT_HARDWARE
FPF and ME Config Status: Match
FW Capabilities value is 0x31111140
Feature enablement is 0x31111140
Platform type is 0x11240321
No Intel Wireless device was found
Intel(R) ME code versions:

Table Type 101 ( 0x 65 ) found, size of 0 (0x 00 ) bytes
Table Type 218 ( 0x DA ) found, size of 247 (0x F7 ) bytes
Table Type 218 ( 0x DA ) found, size of 91 (0x 5B ) bytes
BIOS Version 1.1.8
Table Type 101 ( 0x 65 ) found, size of 0 (0x 00 ) bytes
Table Type 218 ( 0x DA ) found, size of 247 (0x F7 ) bytes
Table Type 218 ( 0x DA ) found, size of 91 (0x 5B ) bytes
Table Type 0 ( 0x 00 ) found, size of 52 (0x 34 ) bytes
Table Type 1 ( 0x 01 ) found, size of 83 (0x 53 ) bytes
Table Type 2 ( 0x 02 ) found, size of 87 (0x 57 ) bytes
Table Type 3 ( 0x 03 ) found, size of 81 (0x 51 ) bytes
Table Type 8 ( 0x 08 ) found, size of 25 (0x 19 ) bytes
Table Type 9 ( 0x 09 ) found, size of 23 (0x 17 ) bytes
Table Type 10 ( 0x 0A ) found, size of 33 (0x 21 ) bytes
Table Type 11 ( 0x 0B ) found, size of 171 (0x AB ) bytes
Table Type 12 ( 0x 0C ) found, size of 21 (0x 15 ) bytes
Table Type 22 ( 0x 16 ) found, size of 152 (0x 98 ) bytes
Table Type 32 ( 0x 20 ) found, size of 22 (0x 16 ) bytes
Table Type 26 ( 0x 1A ) found, size of 29 (0x 1D ) bytes
Table Type 28 ( 0x 1C ) found, size of 29 (0x 1D ) bytes
Table Type 27 ( 0x 1B ) found, size of 30 (0x 1E ) bytes
Table Type 29 ( 0x 1D ) found, size of 27 (0x 1B ) bytes
Table Type 39 ( 0x 27 ) found, size of 184 (0x B8 ) bytes
Table Type 41 ( 0x 29 ) found, size of 26 (0x 1A ) bytes
Table Type 16 ( 0x 10 ) found, size of 25 (0x 19 ) bytes
Table Type 17 ( 0x 11 ) found, size of 115 (0x 73 ) bytes
Table Type 19 ( 0x 13 ) found, size of 33 (0x 21 ) bytes
Table Type 7 ( 0x 07 ) found, size of 29 (0x 1D ) bytes
Table Type 4 ( 0x 04 ) found, size of 186 (0x BA ) bytes
Table Type 20 ( 0x 14 ) found, size of 37 (0x 25 ) bytes
Table Type 130 ( 0x 82 ) found, size of 22 (0x 16 ) bytes
MEBx Version 0.0.0.0000
GbE Version Unknown
Vendor ID 8086
PCH Version 31
FW Version 11.6.29.3287 H
LMS Version Not Available
MEI Driver Version 11.6.0.1032
Wireless Hardware Version Not Available
Wireless Driver Version Not Available

FW Capabilities 0x31111140

Intel(R) Capability Licensing Service - PRESENT/ENABLED
Protect Audio Video Path - PRESENT/ENABLED
Intel(R) Dynamic Application Loader - PRESENT/ENABLED
Service Advertisement & Discovery - NOT PRESENT
Intel(R) NFC Capabilities - NOT PRESENT
Intel(R) Platform Trust Technology - PRESENT/ENABLED

Intel(R) AMT State Disabled
TLS Disabled
Last ME reset reason Firmware reset
Local FWUpdate Enabled
BIOS Config Lock Enabled
GbE Config Lock Enabled
Get flash master region access status…done
Host Read Access to ME Disabled
Host Write Access to ME Disabled
Get EC region access status…done
Host Read Access to EC Disabled
Host Write Access to EC Disabled
Protected Range Register Base #0 0x0
Protected Range Register Limit #0 0x0
Protected Range Register Base #1 0x0
Protected Range Register Limit #1 0x0
Protected Range Register Base #2 0x0
Protected Range Register Limit #2 0x0
Protected Range Register Base #3 0x0
Protected Range Register Limit #3 0x0
Protected Range Register Base #4 0x0
Protected Range Register Limit #4 0x0
SPI Flash ID 1 EF4018
SPI Flash ID 2 Unknown
BIOS boot State Post Boot
OEM ID 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
Capability Licensing Service Enabled
OEM Tag 0x00000000
Slot 1 Board Manufacturer 0x00000000
Slot 2 System Assembler 0x00000000
Slot 3 Reserved 0x00000000
M3 Autotest Disabled
C-link Status Disabled
Independent Firmware Recovery Disabled
EPID Group ID 0xFD3

Retrieving Variable “LSPCON Port Configuration”
LSPCON Ports None

Retrieving Variable “eDP Port Configuration”
5K Ports None
OEM Public Key Hash FPF ABEBC4307D5450DD7A66969A7F6A0EA9F470CEDEC6A1FB3011D8603D8459C9F8

Retrieving Variable “OEM Public Key Hash”
OEM Public Key Hash ME ABEBC4307D5450DD7A66969A7F6A0EA9F470CEDEC6A1FB3011D8603D8459C9F8
ACM SVN FPF 0x0
KM SVN FPF 0x0
BSMM SVN FPF 0x0
GuC Encryption Key FPF 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Retrieving Variable “GuC Encryption Key”
GuC Encryption Key ME 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

FPF ME
— –
Force Boot Guard ACM Enabled
Retrieving Variable “Force Boot Guard ACM Enabled”
Enabled
Protect BIOS Environment Enabled
Retrieving Variable “Protect BIOS Environment Enabled”
Enabled
CPU Debugging Enabled
Retrieving Variable “CPU Debugging”
Enabled
BSP Initialization Enabled
Retrieving Variable “BSP Initialization”
Enabled
Measured Boot Enabled
Retrieving Variable “Measured Boot Enabled”
Enabled
Verified Boot Enabled
Retrieving Variable “Verified Boot Enabled”
Enabled
Key Manifest ID 0x1
Retrieving Variable “Key Manifest ID”
0x1
Enforcement Policy 0x3
Retrieving Variable “Error Enforcement Policy”
0x3
PTT Enabled
Retrieving Variable “Intel(R) PTT Supported”
Enabled
PTT Lockout Override Counter 0x0
EK Revoke State Not Revoked
PTT RTC Clear Detection FPF 0x0




And MEManuf:


Intel(R) MEManuf Version: 11.6.29.3287
Copyright(C) 2005 - 2017, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.


Windows OS Version : 10.0

FW Status Register1: 0x90000245
FW Status Register2: 0x06F60506
FW Status Register3: 0x00000020
FW Status Register4: 0x00084000
FW Status Register5: 0x00001F01
FW Status Register6: 0x444003C9

CurrentState: Normal
ManufacturingMode: Disabled
FlashPartition: Valid
OperationalState: CM0 with UMA
InitComplete: Complete
BUPLoadState: Success
ErrorCode: No Error
ModeOfOperation: Normal
SPI Flash Log: Not Present
Phase: ROM/Preboot
ICC: Valid OEM data, ICC programmed
ME File System Corrupted: No
PhaseStatus: AFTER_SRAM_INIT
FPF and ME Config Status: Match

FW Capabilities value is 0x31111140
Feature enablement is 0x31111140
Platform type is 0x11240321
No Intel Wireless device was found
Feature enablement is 0x31111140
ME initialization state valid
ME operation mode valid
Current operation state valid
ME error state valid
OEM ICC data valid and programmed correctly
MFS is not corrupted
PCH SKU Emulation is correct
FPF and ME Config values matched

Request Intel(R) ME BIST status command… done

Get Intel(R) ME test data command… done

Get Intel(R) ME test data command… done
Total of 10 Intel(R) ME test result retrieved


Policy Kernel - Boot Guard : Self Test - Passed
Policy Kernel - Embedded Controller : Power source type - Passed
MCA - MCA Tests : Blob - Passed
MCA - MCA Tests : MCA Manuf - Passed
SMBus - SMBus : Read byte - Passed
VDM - General : VDM engine - Passed
PAVP - General : Verify Edp and Lspcon Configurations - Passed
PAVP - General : Set Lspcon Port - Passed
PAVP - General : Set Edp Port - Passed
Policy Kernel - ME Configuration : PROC_MISSING - Passed

Clear Intel(R) ME test data command… done




MEManuf Operation Passed



I think everything looks OK? Am I stuck for now until Dell/Intel release a new BIOS/firmware to support this new version of Windows 10?

If anyone is having the same issue and happens to be using BitLocker with GPOs (MS Baselines), it ended up being this setting causing it:

Computer -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> BitLocker Drive Encryption -> Disable new DMA devices when this computer is locked. The baseline has this set to "Enabled", so I had to set it to "Disabled".