Hello,
[Edit: Before the meat and potatoes of this post, can someone suggest a well-constructed (SOIC test clip) and something that does a similar job on the onboard audio chips (48 pins, only two needed) on eBay or maybe Amazon? Quality before cost!
Currently, I am working on an older system with a problem. The board is made by Gigabyte, model H55M-S2V v1.3 (all revisions use the same BIOSes). The system is seldom used. Around two months ago I blew the dust off of it and started to fix it up. One of the upgrades was a Q-Flash from F1 or F2 to the latest factory BIOS, F3.
Around that time it began to hang after attempting to sleep or power off. It appears to complete the (Windows 7/10) shut down or sleep procedure then the fans remain on. It cannot be powered without a hard reset. It is unclear exactly when this occurred. It may be a BIOS issue. The O. S. drive has been replaced and a new installation exhibits the same behavior. The system POSTs incredibly slow after the recent improvements, in the realm of 15+ seconds before video begins to show the POST initializing and it beeps (once). Pressing the reset button at any time has a delay that can be ten seconds before the system reacts. These problems are dwarfed by the inability to S3/5 or power off. The software will sleep or exit Windows and the video signal ends. The fans continue spinning and it will not resume.
A limited number of reports on the internet link this model motherboard to the same problem. The issue is unfamiliar and it may be coincidence. There is hope this (the number of occurrences) and it not previously being present are signs it may be correctable without junking the board. It is now using a new Antec Earthwatts PSU, new RAM, a stress-tested and stable CPU, a new SSD, a new wifi adapter and a new discrete graphics adapter (required for 1st-gen i7 chips) without resolution. That is what has been attempted.
What remained was checking for configuration oddities. The first thing that stands out is the project I am currently tackling on a larger scale (for systems I use daily), ME firmware upgrades. The (manufacturer driver downloads page) offers the standard (mb_driver_intel_me.exe). If that implies some form of management engine, ‘Ignition’ or one of the 6.x flavors of 1.5 or 5.0MB should exist. Running ME Analyzer yields no result and HWiNFO has no listing for it. The two MEInfoWin results (nearly empty) are below.
Does the presence of M. E. in the Device Manager with a yellow bang, the driver on the site (to a lesser degree) and lack of data from the MEA/MEInfoWin tools imply it should be present or a problem? The mainboard identifies something and Win10 x64 CU has installed a driver. Attempting to install the included version six driver fails, with ‘Driver Signature Enforcement’ disabled (if that mattered). The driver remains yellow-banged.
MEInfo and other utilities have not been attempted in DOS (necessary?). It is understood a hex editor and/or Intel Flash Programming Tool should reveal or dispel the hope ME exists and could be culpable, if not in the system in a BIOS image(?). Finally, (previous) experience troubleshooting a dual-BIOS system when the main was corrupted (no POST unless power was held for off->on->off to start from the recovery chip) gave a small amount of insight into ME audio chip pin-shorting workaround (detailed) (here). I am prepared to purchase a decent SPI programmer if it’s necessary.
Full disclosure, the system as an SM961 (AHCI) M.2 drive and the computer has an M.2<->PCI-E adapter with a UEFI emulator to boot it. It is Tianocore, not Clover, on a flash drive. Windows 10 was installed and left in Sysprep with the intention of a (hopefully perfect) recovery image (ala this). The power/sleep hang is present if booted from the HDD without UEFI. The system has been powered for a few weeks and is stable with the drive/emulator.
RELEVANT INFORMATION:
Windows Update displays: [ Intel - Other hardware - Intel(R) Management Engine Interface - Error 0x8024ce0a ]
DevMgr MEI driver cannot be manually installed. After uninstallation or with the mb driver: [ This device cannot start. (Code 10)
A device which does not exist was specified.
]
Event Viewer contains a complimenting Event 3, HECIx64: [ Intel(R) Management Engine Interface driver has failed to perform handshake with the Firmware. ]
ME Tools 6.x Ignition (from the main ME thread) MEInfoWin Result: [
PMXUtil: Error during PMX Call: PMxDrv!MAPPHYS - Bad Input Parameters (Repeated every line 200+ times)
Error 9258: Communication error between application and Intel(R) ME module (FW Update client)
Error 9259: Internal error (Could not determine FW features information)
]
ME Tools 6.x 1.5/5.0 (from the main ME thread) MEInfoWin Result: [
C:\Temp\Intel ME System Tools v6 r2\MEInfo\Windows>meinfowin
Intel(R) MEInfo Version: 6.2.60.3535
Copyright(C) 2005 - 2011, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.
PMXUtil: Error during PMX Call: PMxDrv!MAPPHYS - Bad Input Parameters
Error 9258: Communication error between application and Intel(R) ME module (FW Update client)
Error 9259: Internal error (Could not determine FW features information)
]
Intel FPT from IGN or 1.5/5 both output the following and crash then cease to function “Error 284:” … “administrator priveledge account” [sic] after the -list switch until restart:
[
Intel (R) Flash Programming Tool. Version: 6.0.40.1214
Copyright (c) 2007-2010, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.
Platform: Intel(R) H55 Express Chipset Revision: B3
Reading HSFSTS register… Flash Descriptor: Valid
— Flash Devices Found —
MX25L6405D ID:0xC22017 Size: 8192KB (65536Kb)
MX25L8005 ID:0xC22014 Size: 1024KB (8192Kb)
]
The fovs switch functions:
[
fptw -fovs
Intel (R) Flash Programming Tool. Version: 6.0.40.1214
Copyright (c) 2007-2010, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.
Platform: Intel(R) H55 Express Chipset Revision: B3
Reading HSFSTS register… Flash Descriptor: Valid
— Flash Devices Found —
MX25L6405D ID:0xC22017 Size: 8192KB (65536Kb)
MX25L8005 ID:0xC22014 Size: 1024KB (8192Kb)
Id FOVId Name
---------------------------------------
1 0x0003 MEBxPassword
2 0x0004 MEPwrFeatureLock
3 0x0005 DefPwrPackage
4 0x0007 FWUpdOverrideQualifier
5 0x0008 FWUpdOverrideCounter
6 0x0009 PasswordFlag
7 0x000a OEMSkuRule
8 0x000b FeatureShipState
29 0x000c MEDebug
31 0x000d HMSKUOverride
9 0x2001 PID
10 0x2002 PPS
11 0x2006 FullTestCounter
12 0x2008 MEIdleTimeout
13 0x2009 RemoteConfigEnable
14 0x200b Hash1
15 0x200c Hash2
16 0x200d Hash3
17 0x200e PasswordPolicy
18 0x200f RPATEnablerID
19 0x2010 RPATEnablerName
21 0x2014 KVMSettings
22 0x2015 RPATHWButton
23 0x2016 ProvPeriod
24 0x2017 USBrSettings
25 0x5001 UnlockMTP
27 0x6001 ATpFPOPHard
28 0x6002 ATpFPOPSoft
30 0x7001 IPTShipState
Null Null GlobalLocked
---------------------------------------
Total: 30 FOVs are supported.
FPT Operation Passed
]
Lately I have researched and finally tried my hand at modding BIOSes/Firmware. Last weekend I successfully added VBIOS, Microcode, Intel/Realtek OROMs and the NVME driver into a B75 board. For the 7-series 'board the ME upgrade was not completed due to time constraints. I have yet to master it. If you can provide some pointers/resources about upgrading the ME firmware in the H55 system or the B75 update file (I have several of these boards), separately, it would be appreciated (and/or I will begin a new thread).
If I have forgotten something, am overcomplicating this or made a bad assumption please accept my apologies. I would like to believe I am experienced with computers. At the same time, I know I have only touched the surface of the basic input output system or unified extensible firmware interface. I spent my spare time for the last month attempting to accomplish what was initially believed to be a simple task, installing an NVME 960 EVO into a Skylake Lenovo system, with the AMI NVME driver listed in the firmware, only to find I might have more fun drawing blood from a stone ((ideas?) :-). Thank you kindly in advance.
------
Took a few days off of this problem this week as work threw 12-hour days. Here is where I am currently trying to piece things together. Per Win-RAID:
"Never flash RGN firmware to the Engine region without first configuring them for your specific system (EXTR) via Intel’s Flash Image Tool. The use of any software (Intel’s Flash Programming Tool, AMI’s AFU, Flashrom etc) or hardware (programmer) firmware flasher, which directly deals with the Engine region of the SPI/BIOS chip, requires prior configuration of ME RGN to EXTR firmware."
A goal of M. E. replacement on this system and some BIOSes/firmwares for other systems used is a current priority. If the above is understood, something is necessary to alter ME image files and they are made to match motherboard models (or individual boards?).
@Fernando Relevant to the Intel ME sticky? Last night I believe I discovered what may be the source of the original issue. I often check systems with HWiNFO to verify BIOS or ME versions and things such as SMART sensors. I was flashing an HP 6-series system that received the vulnerability patch. Admittedly a bit lazy with it, the Windows flasher was used, the installation is new and stable. After the completion of the ME update, reboot was suggested and completed. The same firmware version was present. It was flashed again with the same lack of outcome. The third or so time the system was updated (this happened over several days with a few sparse notes) everything transpired in the same order. That time it took, the firmware versions went from 8.1.41.x->8.1.7x.x.
The only differences from failure to success were not first checking the version in HWiNFO and ensuring the MEI software was active (opened from the Start Menu, it is not set to start with Windows). The MEI software open shouldn’t make a difference. The software was opened, then the ‘install driver’ and ‘uninstall driver’ activated in succession, followed by immediately closing it. The flash failed. I believe HWiNFO’s driver interferes with firmware flashes. Firmware updates appear they must be completed without having loaded the HWiNFO driver into memory at any time since startup.
This is rampant speculation. I have little to work with and the music server too has an odd power issue (it wakes without USB randomly and the BIOS was flashed to a UEFI version that cannot be undone a few months ago). If anyone want to play hand holding my sweaty palms are ready and willing.
Corhsin
P. S. I assembled this every other night over a week and tried to maintain readability. Apologies for the wall of text.
TL;DR How to add the latest ME firmware to an H55M-S2V? How to a custom BIOS, e. g. B75M-D3H? Any ideas how to help flash a Lenovo 100-series for NVME support (see link → BIOS-Mods)?
EDIT by Fernando: Thread title and post length shortened