Management Engine Firmware - ISpillMyDrink/UEFI-Repair-Guide GitHub Wiki
As the Management Engine is one of the first things to run on any given Intel system and many problems can be related to it, we will cover the process of "cleaning" its firmware first.
Typical problems that can arise when the ME firmware has become corrupted include:
- System powers on to some extent, but doesn't POST.
- System powers on but POST takes up to a few minutes.
- System works normally but powers off after exactly 30 minutes (more on this later).
- On Apple devices, the system may power on normally but the system kernel panics during boot.
- Fans spin at 100% at all times independent of temperature or load.
Problems with the Management Engine can in rare occasions be caused by hardware problems, such as an asserted "SPI Descriptor Security Override" strap (pulled up HDA_SDO on some PCHs).
The ME Region in any given Intel image is split up into several partitions, the specifics of which change with the given version of ME present on the system. For simplicity's sake we'll leave it at this general distinction: There are code partitions which are static, only changed when updating the ME firmware through manufacturer updates, and data partitions which the ME writes to and reads from during normal operation.
As code partitions are generally considered read-only they can usually only become corrupted due to failed firmware upgrades or failing flash components. The data partitions on the other hand are written to regularly, increasing the likelihood of a failure that renders the data corrupt.
When "cleaning" the ME firmware, we use a stock Intel ME firmware image of appropriate version, replace its OEM configuration with the one extracted from our image, and use the resulting ME firmware to replace our original one.
Other reasons to "clean" the ME firmware include:
- Using dumped firmware images from another machine
- PCH replacement
Integrated Firmware Image (IFWI)
On some TXE platforms the default Intel layout has been replaced with the Integrated Firmware Image (IFWI).