Hi,
First let me say I’m not a modder and this is a new laptop. I’m not inclined to open it up to do any hardware mods. 8th gen i7.
I was installing the updates from the Lenovo site 2 days ago, and suddenly after the IME firmware update to 11.8, it wouldn’t boot. I think I might have interrupted the update. So I finally figured out that if I disable PTT in the BiOS, it will boot normally to Windows, and vice versa. With PTT enabled, I cannot boot from any device, even with legacy mode and secure boot off. I don’t even know if all this is related. It’s not something I would normally get into.
I had done the bios update 3-4 updates before the IME update. In the 2 days I’ve been trying to fix this I downgraded the bios, which had the same results. Upgraded the bios with same results. Reinstalled Windows from a recovery usb. I can’t reinstall Windows from a regular iso because it would not find any of the 3 partitions.
I tried a newer version or the IME firmware from this site, and drivers and manually running the command from an elevated command prompt to install the firmware. One of the error code was 8743 I think. I’m going from memory.
Also TPM 2.0 is in device manager but I can’t load a driver to it. I don’t see IME in device manager.
Is there anything I can do ? Can I flash the firmware from DOS? Should I rma the laptop? Should I live without IME/PTT?
Thanks, please advise me and know I’m not in the field.
You should not leave the laptop without a working CSME firmware. Since it is brand new and the problem occurred from official Lenovo updates, I suggest you contact Lenovo support and possibly RMA it if they ask you to.
thanks, for your reply. I was hoping you’d come to this thread!
I’ve been fooling around reloading BIOS (new and prior) and have loaded drivers and now see it in device manager with exclamation point. I can’t update the driver or firmware or boot with PTT still.
is there really no way to recover?
I like this laptop a lot and would like a way to keep it. it was a super black Friday deal and there is no way to exchange it. if I were able to get them to send me a replacement motherboard, would that fix it? (then I could update the driver/firmware)
What is the exact model of the laptop? How was the BIOS update process interrupted? First try removing all power (AC + battery) for 1 minute. Then boot from a DOS or EFI environment and run “MEInfo -verbose” and “MEManuf -verbose” tools. You can save the results into files using “>” such as “MEInfo -verbose > meinfo.txt”. Then compress the two text files into an archive and attach them to see the status of the CSME firmware.
Thank you!
The model is lenovo yoga 720-13IKB, 81C3.
I just got a screwdriver and opened it but I didn’t see a battery. If you can tell me where it is, I’ll pull it. In the meantime, I’ll try to run the commands you said.
Here is a picture of the inside.
As expected, the CSME firmware is corrupted, not working. This is what’s causing the other issues probably. Try running Flash Programming Tool with command “fptw -me -d me.bin”. Does it complete successfully or do you get an access error? If it does (you must be very lucky), compress and attach the resulting “me.bin” file.
I must be lucky…
I ran fptw64 since I am in a 64 bit windows, ran it from CMD with Admin privileges
thank you.
me.zip (1.34 MB)
Ha, you are indeed. Very much so. Download the attached CSME region and flash via “fptw64 -rewrite -me -f me_fix.bin” followed by “fptw64 -greset”. After the reboot, check if the problem is gone and run “MEInfo -verbose” and “MEManuf -verbose” like before to check the CSME firmware status.
me_fix.rar (1.14 MB)
I’m so excited!!
I’m not home right now but will try asap!
Thanks again!!!
Looks like my luck ran dry
Error 451: The host CPU does not have write access to the target flash area. To enable write access for this operation you must modify the descriptor settings to give host access to this region.
FPT Operation Failed.
memnufinfo.zip (2.2 KB)
Ah, you have read but not write access to the CSME firmware. Full access was too good to be true in your case as Lenovo is usually very diligent when it comes to blocking access to the CSME region for security purposes, per Intel’s official recommendation of course. The last software-only thing you can try are these steps but at step 3, execute the command “setup_var 0x3 0x01” instead. In your case, after step 3, try to flash the fixed CSME region as instructed at my previous post and hopefully you’ll not see the write access error.
I’m sorry I don’t know how to do this.
I may a flashable usb drive using Rufus and freedos. I put the efi folder in that. I tried running the command from c: and from the sub folders. I also reformatted the flash drive and just put efi folder on it. No gusto. 
You don’t need to make the USB bootable. Just copy-paste the efi folder at its root directory. Then you need to boot from it while the system starts. The process for the latter varies depending on the OEM and their BIOS interface/options. If you boot successfully, you’ll end up at an EFI Shell (command prompt). You can then execute “setup_var 0x3 0x01” and when it’s done, forcefully reboot (CTRL+ALT+DEL) or similar. If it works (it usually does but in your case I have reservations), you’ll be able to use “fptw64 -rewrite -me -f me_fix.bin” with no access error.
Looks like I’ll either have to get a replacement or refund from Lenovo. Attached are screenshots.
Thank you for your help! You are incredibly kind to help so many people on this site.
Best wishes for the holidays and new year.
Thank you for your kind words. You can get read/write access to the CSME region by shorting two pins at the audio chip while the system boots (that’s the official Intel method for field repairs) but it’s not that easy to perform due to the very small pins and such an action is also out of your comfort zone as mentioned at the first post so that’s why I haven’t mentioned it so far. I thought that you couldn’t get a refund or replacement from Lenovo. Personally I suggested that at the beginning as the system is brand new and the issue happened from their official BIOS update. For the record, Lenovo has small software tools which can quickly enable read/write access to the CSME region for servicing but they don’t leave the factory. From time to time we’ve found some of them left at BIOS updates but for specific and irrelevant, to this case, models so that’s not helpful. If RMA’ed or similar, they can certainly fix it in a few minutes on their end. It’s us who have to fight with the blockages. Anyway, if you can get a refund or an RMA, go for it.
I could try to short the pins. Are they visible in the picture I posted? I’m not sure I can get a replacement because it was a Black Friday deal and they don’t show them on the website anymore.
I have to deal with level 1 support in the philliphenes and am not sure I can communicate to them the issue for repair
You need to find the audio chip which is probably Realtek. It will have their logo on top:
I think I see it at the right side of the picture, below the long sticker. Can you make out the model? We may be able to find a pinout diagram online for it. It’s ok if we can’t though as I’ve noticed that the two pins at Realtek chips are always 1 & 5, starting from the dot. The laptop must be turned off (shut down). With some clippers, tweezers, metallic paperclip bend in shape or similar, short pins 1 & 5 and power on the system. You can stop shorting them after the BIOS, when the OS starts to load. If it works, you’ll be able to use FPT with write access to the CSME firmware region.
Regarding Lenovo, provided that we cannot solve the issue ourselves, it doesn’t matter if it was a Black Friday deal. As long as it has a valid warranty, you can certainly send it for RMA. As for the explanation, a simple “the laptop does not work properly + PTT issue etc, after the official update” will suffice. Don’t tell them that you think it didn’t properly finish because they might see it as an excuse to not help you. Again, all these are just in case we can’t get the pin shorting to work either.
I’ll try it! But we’re traveling today for the holiday. So it will be later today
Thanks!!
No problem, we have time. Check out the edit about the RMA as well. And if you can make out the model of the audio chip, even better.