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Intel Management Engine: Drivers, Firmware & System Tools


Intel Management Engine:
Drivers, Firmware & System Tools


Intel Management Engine Introduction: Built into many Intel-based platforms is a small, low power computer subsystem called the Intel Management Engine (Intel ME). This can perform various tasks while the system is booting, running or sleeping. It operates independently from the main CPU, BIOS & OS but can interact with them if needed. The ME is responsible for many parts of an Intel-based system. Such functionality extends, but it's not limited, to Platform Clocks Control (ICC), Thermal Monitoring, Fan Control, Power Management, Overclocking, Silicon Workaround (resolves silicon bugs which would have otherwise required a new cpu stepping), Identity Protection Technology, Rapid Start Technology, Smart Connect Technology, Sensor Hub Controller (ISHC), Active Management Technology (AMT), Small Business Advantage (SBA), Wireless Display, Protected Video/Audio Path etc. For certain advanced/corporate features (AMT, SBA etc) the ME uses an out-of-band (OOB) network interface to perform functions even when the system is powered down, the OS and/or hard drivers are non-functional etc. Thus it's essential for it to be operational in order for the platform to be working properly, no matter if the advanced/corporate features are available or not.

This is a collection of everything Intel ME related. To extract most of the files below you need to use programs which support RAR5 compression!

Disclaimer: All the software & firmware below comes only from official updates which were provided and made public by various manufacturers! The System Tools are gathered and provided with the sole purpose of helping people who are out of other viable solutions. Thus, they can be extremely helpful to those who have major problems with their systems for which their manufacturer refuses to assist due to indifference and/or system age.

A. About Intel MEI Drivers

The latest v11.6 drivers are usable with all Intel chipsets from 8-Series & up. Users of 6 & 7-series systems must use the latest v11.0 drivers. Users of 5-series & lower systems must check Section D to find the driver they need. In order to check your current installed version, use MEInfo tool as instructed below.

Notice: For Windows 7 only: Intel MEI Driver uses KMDF (WDF) 1.11, which is built-in on Windows 8 & up but not Windows 7 or earlier. Make sure you install Kernel-Mode Driver Framework (KMDF) version 1.11 before the Intel MEI Driver. Otherwise, a yellow bang will appear on Intel MEI device upon installation. Follow instructions in this link: KB2685811.

Note: To extract some of the files below you need to use programs which support RAR5 compression!

A1. Intel MEI Driver Only

These packages contain only the Intel MEI driver without any additional software or system services. They are compatible with both Consumer/1.5MB and Corporate/5MB systems. Since the software and system services are not really needed for Consumer/1.5MB systems, users of such systems should install the Drivers only (section A1). The MEI-Only Installer is the setup file from Intel which allows easy installation and adds a Control Panel entry for quick driver removal. For those who want to install the actual driver files manually via Device Manager, download the INF packages.



Note: The MEI drivers listed above are part of the complete Drivers & Software packages found at section A3. A newer Drivers & Software package has newer Software but the actual MEI driver may still be an older version. MEI-Only Installer 11.6.0.1050 includes MEI v11.6.0.1042. MEI-Only Installer v11.0.6.1194 includes MEI v11.0.5.1189 driver.

Note: The MEI-Only Installer includes the "INF for manual installation" and allows easy installation of the latter. However, since we cannot always find the latest MEI-Only Installer, it is advised to use the "INF for manual installation" in case it's version is newer.

 A2. Intel SOL "Driver" Only

This package contains only the Intel SOL "driver" without any additional software or system services. It is compatible only with 5MB/Corporate systems. If the software and system services are required in case of remote management etc, users of such systems should install the equivalent complete Drivers & Software package (section A3).



Note: The SOL "driver" listed above is part of the complete Drivers & Software packages found at section A3. A newer Drivers & Software package has newer Software but the actual SOL "driver" may still be an older version.

Note: The SOL "driver" is not really a driver but rather a placeholder INF file which assigns a correct device name at Device Manager and prevents the latter from showing the yellow exclamation mark of "No driver was found for this device". It's the SOL's equivalent of Intel Chipset INF utility.

A3. Intel MEI Drivers & Software

These packages contain the Intel MEI/SOL drivers with their respective software & system services. It's important to install the correct package depending on your Consumer/1.5MB or Corporate/5MB system.



Note: ME Drivers & Software v11.6.0.1047 includes MEI v11.6.0.1042. ME Drivers & Software v11.0.6.1194 package includes MEI v11.0.5.1189 driver.

B. About Intel ME Firmware Updates

ME Firmware is divided into two main SKUs: Consumer/1.5MB for Consumer Systems and Corporate/5MB for Corporate Systems. To understand your exact SKU, manual research on your hardware may be required first. Usually MEInfo, MEManuf and ME Analyzer (by loading your BIOS file) can help you sort most system specific details out.

Version Control Number(VCN): All ME 8 and up firmware include a VCN number like 1,2,3,4 etc. The VCN number gets incremented if there is a security fix, a significant firmware change or a new feature addition. A downgrade to a lower VCN value via FWUpdate tool is prohibited whereas an upgrade to the same or higher VCN is allowed. For example if your current firmware has a VCN of 4, you can update to another firmware with VCN >=4 but you cannot downgrade to another firmware with VCN <4.

Notice: Be careful of what firmware your download relevant to your system. First, make sure that you know what series it is (examples: Z77 --> 7-series, B150 --> 100-series). Then run MEInfo Tool and check the "FW Version" line to determine your ME firmware version (examples: 8.1.52.1496 --> v8.x, 9.1.10.1005 --> v9.1). All the firmware below correspond to a specific series which come with a specific ME firmware version (example: For 7-Series systems which come with ME firmware v8).

Warning for 8-series systems: The 8-series systems initially come with v9.0 firmware. The latter is upgradeable to v9.1 firmware (initially comes with 9-series systems) only if the OEM has updated the BIOS to be compatible as well. If your BIOS is up to date and the firmware is still v9.0 then do NOT update to v9.1 but only to latter v9.0 releases. The system won't brick but, if the BIOS is not ready, you will face BCLK, fan control and other issues after which going back to v9.0 firmware is often difficult. However, if your current 8-series system has firmware v9.1 (after a BIOS update) then you can update to the latest v9.1 firmware as provided below.

Warning for all 100/200-series systems: Make sure you choose the correct v11.x firmware SKU for your system which is based on target Platform and Feature set. There are 2 chipsets: PCH-H (Performance) and PCH-LP (Low Power). There are 4 cpu families: SKL/KBL-S, SKL/KBL-H, SKL/KBL-U and SKL/KBL-Y. The PCH-H chipset works with SKL/KBL-S & SKL/KBL-H processors and requires PCH-H (H) ME firmware. The PCH-LP chipset works with SKL/KBL-U & SKL/KBL-Y processors and requires PCH-LP (LP) ME firmware. An easy way to detect which Platform you need is to check the cpu socket specification of your motherboard. SKL/KBL-S uses LGA1151, SKL/KBL-H uses BGA1440, SKL/KBL-U uses BGA1356 and SKL/KBL-Y uses BGA1515. There are 2 ME firmware SKUs: Consumer (basic features) and Corporate (all features). So in total there are 4 ME 11.x firmware SKUs: Consumer PCH-H, Consumer PCH-LP, Corporate PCH-H and Corporate PCH-LP. Since FWUpdate v11.x tool does not have a safeguard implemented to check between PCH-H and PCH-LP ME firmware, if you flash the wrong SKU you will end up with a bricked motherboard after which a SPI chip reflash is needed.

Warning for ME 11.0 PCH-LP 100-series systems: Make sure to mind the firmware's PDM status which is distinguished between PDM, NOPDM and UKPDM (unknown). We don't know what PDM is exactly but it stands for "Power Down Mitigation" and is some sort of erratum, which is only relevant to PCH-LP systems with ME 11.0 firmware. Since PDM status cannot be detected by ME Analyzer, the values shown there are based on filenames, changelogs or user tests whenever these are available. From what has been observed, flashing from NOPDM to PDM and vice versa completes successfully in most cases. However, sometimes it can cause FWUpdate errors mid-way which can usually be solved by reflashing either immediately or after a reboot. The ME 11.0 PCH-LP archives below include only the latest firmware regardless of its PDM status. In cases where we have PDM and NOPDM variants of that latest version, both are included. After you flash any ME 11.0 PCH-LP firmware, if the archive you downloaded has a file called "Read First.txt" inside, please open a command prompt and run Intel's MEInfo tool (section C) with parameter -verbose (example: MEInfoWin -verbose) and post the result in this thread.

Note: To extract some of the files below you need to use programs which support RAR5 compression!

B1. Consumer Systems


B2. Corporate Systems


C. About Intel ME System Tools

The Intel ME System Tools are used for creating, modifying, and writing binary image files, manufacturing testing, Intel ME setting information gathering and Intel ME FW configuration and updating. These tools are not released to end-users but only to OEMs. The software below comes only from official updates which were provided and made public by various OEMs.

Flash Image Tool: Creates and configures a complete SPI image file which includes regions BIOS, Intel integrated LAN (GbE), Intel ME, Platform Descriptor Region & Flash Descriptor Region. The user can manipulate the completed SPI image via a GUI and change the various chipset parameters to match the target hardware.

Flash Programming Tool: Used to program a complete SPI image into the SPI flash device(s). FPT can program each region individually or it can program all of the regions with a single command. The user can also use FPT to perform various functions such as View the contents of the flash on the screen, Write the contents of the flash to a log file, Perform a binary file to flash comparison, Write to a specific address block, Program fixed offset variables etc.

C1. Identifying, Updating & Diagnosing Intel ME Firmware

Those who are looking to update/downgrade their firmware should use MEInfo, FWUpdate & MEManuf tools for status information, updating and functionality checking accordingly. The information & instructions below apply to these three tools only and can be found inside the full Intel ME System Tools Packages.

MEInfo Tool: Before and after you initiate a ME firmware update/downgrade, you should verify what firmware version you system is running. All needed details regarding Intel ME can be received by running a suitable diagnostic tool named MEInfo. The main purpose of the MEInfo tool is to check that the ME firmware is operating normally on the software/firmware leve by querying the ME device on it's status. Make sure it doesn't report any red errors. The yellow "GBE Region does not exist" warning is normal for systems that don't have an Intel GbE Controller, you can safely ignore it.

MEManuf Tool: Before and after you initiate a ME firmware update/downgrade, you should verify that your ME Firmware is functioning properly. This can be done firstly by using MEInfo tool which should not report any red errors while running to indicate a healthy driver/firmware. Next, a diagnostic tool called MEManuf can be used which runs certain manufacturing-line tests to ensure that the ME is working properly on the hardware level. After running the tests, it should report a green message such as "MEManuf Operation Passed".

FWUpdate Tool: In order to initiate a ME firmware update, you need to use the FWUpdate tool. The FWUpdate tool is used to upgrade or downgrade your ME Firmware version. Up until ME v7, this tool works only with Update (UPD) images. From ME v8 and onwards, FWUpdate can also work with the full ME Region images (RGN/EXTR) which are FIT/FITC and FPT compatible. It's important to note that FWUpdate does not change any ME configuration settings (DATA) which are model or even system specific.

 C2. Intel ME System Tools Full Packages

System Requirements: The installation of the MEI and AMT/LMS (Corporate/5MB) drivers is required to use some of the tools.

Note: ME System Tools v11.6 are usable with all 100/200-series systems which come with ME firmware v11.0 - v11.6. ME System Tools v11.0 are kept for backwards compatibility purposes until all relevant v11.6 bugs are resolved.

Note: To extract some of the files below you need to use programs which support RAR5 compression!


* Also for some 8-series systems which have been upgraded to ME firmware v9.1
** Also for some 6-series, C600 & X79 systems which have been upgraded to ME firmware v8

(win-raid)

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2 Comments

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Balas
Zibri delete November 25, 2017 at 8:42 AM

Intel ME System Tools v11.6
r5 link doesn't work.

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Balas
gsm delete November 25, 2017 at 8:49 AM

Please See Following Link : https://gsm-adawiya.blogspot.com/2017/11/intel-management-engine-drivers.html


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