hp z240 error (a7) Me FW Downgrade - Request MeSpiLock failed, firmware is 1.80

[rbstest]

Hello.  I have an HP z240.  recently it has been showing an error after intel me firmware and bios updated.  the error is after initial boot, but before the operating system boots.  the error is on its own window after bios splash, and the error is "(a7) Me FW Downgrade - Request MeSpiLock failed".  it sits at this screen for a minute, then the os boots normally (of which i am lucky, as i see a lot of others who cannot boot at all).  i have downgraded bios, no effect.  i have also attempted to run intel ME firmware (figured check that also, as its a firmware issue) and firmware FAILS stating it "cannot run" because it cant detect the chipset.  the intel me SOFTWARE (which is requested as a "see if this fixes it", also errors out - this gives the error in the logs as:  "e win32 exception occurred!!", then "error code 0x4e24 (20004)", then it states "error in device matching".   i cannot get rid of the message, i cannot verify the firmware, and i believe it started after updating the firmware to sp106067.   Please advise, as i am now very concerned that this should not happen (we have 20 of these, is this something that will be happening to ALL of them?).

[rbstest]

added information.  just tried 11.8.70.3626 instead of 11.8.79.3722, and got the same error in a dos window -

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me firmware updating tool 1.4

error 8743v: unknown or unsupported platform.

cannot locate hardware platform identification

this program cannot be run on the current platform.

please confirm you have the latest me software (cant install), intel me is enabled, you are running w admin, and try again. 

if you are still having issues, call support

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