Trying to update possible corrupt ME firmware (HP Compaq 6200 Pro SFF)

[ehw2]

Hello,

I'm currently experiencing issues with the network adapter on a HP Compaq 6200 Pro SFF. I was able to pin point that the issue is caused by possible corrupt ME firmware. Upon booting into the BIOS, I noticed that the computer will no longer identify the ME firmware version or type (it's listed as blank). I figured that I would need to reflash the firmware with a newer version, as it was possibly still using what it came with when it was manufactured. I updated the BIOS to the latest version, and it did not fix the issue. I tried to use "Intel Corporate Management Engine (ME) Firmware" (sp80103.exe) package, but it error'd out after about a minute and said that it "Cannot locate ME device driver". I attempted to use a bootable usb drive and DOS, and it gave me the same error. I noticed in the readme for the package that the "Intel Management Engine Components Driver" needs to be installed, but I'm not sure if it is or how to install it since it's not listed under the driver page for the computer.

Can anyone help? 🙂

[mdklassen]

Within your BIOS SETUP, it is possible to completely "disable" the IME (Intel Management Engine) support.

You may have done it, or a BIOS update may have done it.

Unless your computer is a member of a centrally-managed corporate computer network, you don't need to have IME enabled.

What issues with the network adapter are you experiencing?

[ehw2]

I work for a school district and was managing a computer lab of about 30 computers the other day and noticed that two of the computers were not able to connect to the network when booting into Windows 7 x64. We use PXE boot for launching into our imaging system (FOG), which does work. When turning the two computers on, I noticed that the Link LED light on the NIC port was solid green, while the Activity light wasn't on. The computers that did work had both lights on when the computers are turned on right away. All the computers are the same model and use the same base image. I determined that the cables, ports, and network configurations were not the problem. I booted both machines up and compared the device properties for the network adapter with one that was working against one that wasn't and there were no deviations (even the power management settings were identical). I also tried removing the CMOS battery, reseating RAM, and "cold booting" the computer by disconnecting it from power for about a minute and plugging it back in. I reinstalled the driver from both HP and Intel, and while you could still disable/reenable the device in Device Manager, the problem still occurs everytime you reboot/go to sleep/shut down. There are also no services that are running that cause this issue either (I heard the Bonjour service from Adobe CS3 causes very similar problems). 

When an affected computer boots into Windows, the network adapter gives an error code of 10 in the device manager (the device doesn't start up). However, if you disable the device and enable it, the device works and you can connect to our network. If you put the computer to sleep, the network adapters revert back to giving error code 10 and stop working until you disable and reenable the device again. 

If I recall (I'm away from the computer at the moment until tomorrow), there is a setting to "unconfigure amt/me" under the Advanced tab within BIOS (under AMT Configuration I think) on the machines that work. But "AMT Configuration" doesn't appear on the affected machines, possibly because the BIOS reports no ME Management Mode. But other than that, that's all that seems to control ME.