BIOS Issue on HP ZBook firefly 14inch Mobile Workstation

[xstarlogic]

I need help with my notebook,

On June 29th, I performed a BIOS update based on HP's recommendation.

On May 1st, after using my notebook, I performed a normal shutdown. I notice that the unit does not enter full shutdown, and instead, the LED continues to blink. After waiting for a few minutes, I decided to perform a hard restart.

After rebooting, the screen shows the HP Sure Start Screen stating that the Intel Management Engine was corrupted and needs to be recovered. I press Enter, and the recovery screen shows up. After the recovery attempt, there was a brief error message stating that the recovery was not entirely successful.

The unit was able to boot and enter Windows normally, I tried to re-update the BIOS. The update was successful with no error. After the computer reboot, the HP Sure Start screen appears, stating the Intel Management Engine had been corrupted and requesting Recovery. After I press Enter. This time, I do not see any recovery screen and just boot into Windows.

What I notice inside Windows:

• The backlit keyboard is not responding to my keypress. Yes, it can light up when I press Fn+F9, which enables me to change mode. But after the keyboard lights up for a few seconds and then it goes off and does not respond to any key press.
• The Microphone is no longer working. I do notice in the Device Manager, Intel Smart Sound Technology OED, appears with a warning "This device cannot start. (Code 10). FW did not send FW Ready notification."
• - Windows boots much slower than usual. The boot screen always blinks once before Windows Boot.

I also tried recovering the BIOS by making a BIOS recovery on the USB Flash drive and forcing the unit into cold boot (Turn off the Unit, then pull the power. Next, I press the power button for 30 seconds, then plug in the power. Then, press Win+B while pressing the power button for 3 seconds. After that, I see the power LED blinking, indicating the recovery process is going on. After the unit boot, HP Sure Start appeared and stated that the Intel Management Engine is corrupted and needs to be recovered. Pressing Enter will make the unit restart and start to load Windows instead of the recovery screen.

I did try to clear the CMOS by removing the battery and the CMOS battery, but nothing happened. Only an error message stating Date and Time Error, and requires me to set the correct date and time.

I did try to reset the BIOS to factory settings. After booting, the same thing happened, stating that the Intel Management Engine is corrupted, but I see no recovery screen, and the unit just boots into Windows.

Using HW info 64 indicates that my Intel ME is working in recovery mode. As in some posts stating that while in Recovery Mode, the BIOS only utilizes one core, but here I can see 8 cores on Task Manager.

Does anyone here know how to help with this? I'll be very grateful.