Re:Neutralize ME Firmware on SandyBridge and IvyBridge Platf...
by corna on Monday November 28, 2016 @06:07PM
(#13059233)
Check Federico's reply here https://www.coreboot.org/pipermail/coreboot/2016-November/08...
tl;dr: power cycle (power off and then turn on, not just reboot) your PC after the ME neutralization.
Re:Neutralize ME Firmware on SandyBridge and IvyBridge Platf...
by kuschku on Monday November 28, 2016 @05:01PM
(#13058801)
It seems to be that the ME takes exclusive control of the NIC, and controls it.
After a reboot, the NIC starts without the ME ever taking control of it, so it works.
Re:Neutralize ME Firmware on SandyBridge and IvyBridge Platf...
by resonanttoe on Monday November 28, 2016 @04:06PM
(#13058420)
Apologies this is interpretation not actual experience, so grains of salt.
It's not strictly clear to me, but reading through what they're doing, the ME isn't re-engaged or its unclear how it recovers itself.
Unless the ME is operating with a recovery binary somewhere that isn't covered by Nicola's neutralizer and the subsequent flashing, I don't think it comes back in to normal operation.
Re:Neutralize ME Firmware on SandyBridge and IvyBridge Platf...
by mmastrac on Monday November 28, 2016 @03:51PM
(#13058305)
This was confusing to me as well. I'm parsing this as the NIC doesn't work after a cold boot, but does after a warm boot.
Why would the NIC only break once after the ME is neutralized? The system is started from a fully powered-off state after the ME firmware is updated. Maybe the NIC has some sort of non-volatile state that gets updated when the ME fails to initialize, and then the NIC starts working again. That's the most complex explanation so I thought it unlikely, but I'm happy to hear more from someone who has actually neutralized their ME.