"however many of the links are dead or the tools linked dont work (for bios A25). i also do not have access to Windows on this machine. using BIOS A16 is not an option for me. i am on A25, any other BIOS version make my system unbootable.
any AMI bios wizards able to help me out here?"
That article looks ok, but maybe the ME FW image on latest bios requires more recent tools that you can get here:
Intel (Converged Security) Management Engine: Drivers, Firmware and Tools (2-15) - Special Topics / Intel Management Engine - Win-Raid Forum