Unknown images: ASUS P5K-E WiFi (ICH9R, from 2007)

Hi everyone,

The libreboot docs claim that "...the ME is present on all Intel desktop, mobile (laptop), and server systems since mid 2006."

This board, ASUS P5K-E WiFi, is from 2007 so it should probably have it. The CPU is Intel Core 2 DUO E8400.

The file read from the SIP8 chip appears to be an encrypted/compressed file, so I had to use mmtool v3.26 to extract the uncompressed BIOS (named as "sip8_original.bin" below).

Here's its ifdtool output:

./ifdtool -d sip8_original.bin
ICH Revision: 100 series Sunrise Point
FLMAP0:    0x661775f9
  NR:      6
  FRBA:    0x170
  NC:      2
  FCBA:    0xf90
FLMAP1:    0x67c0b70f
  ISL:     0x67
  FPSBA:   0xc00
  NM:      3
  FMBA:    0xf0
FLMAP2:    0x87892666
  PSL:     0x8926
  FMSBA:   0x660
FLUMAP1:   0x00000000
  Intel ME VSCC Table Length (VTL):        0
  Intel ME VSCC Table Base Address (VTBA): 0x000000

ME VSCC table:

OEM Section:
00: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
10: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
20: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
30: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Found Region Section
FLREG0:    0x00000000
  Flash Region 0 (Flash Descriptor): 00000000 - 00000fff 
FLREG1:    0x00040100
  Flash Region 1 (BIOS): 00100000 - 00004fff (unused)
FLREG2:    0x54534f50
  Flash Region 2 (Intel ME): 00f50000 - 00453fff (unused)
FLREG3:    0x53435f32
  Flash Region 3 (GbE): 00f32000 - 00343fff (unused)
FLREG4:    0x01004745
  Flash Region 4 (Platform Data): 00745000 - 00100fff (unused)

Found Component Section
FLCOMP     0x00000000
  Dual Output Fast Read Support:       not supported
  Read ID/Read Status Clock Frequency: 20MHz
  Write/Erase Clock Frequency:         20MHz
  Fast Read Clock Frequency:           20MHz
  Fast Read Support:                   not supported
  Read Clock Frequency:                20MHz
  Component 2 Density:                 512KB
  Component 1 Density:                 512KB
FLILL      0x00000000
  Invalid Instruction 3: 0x00
  Invalid Instruction 2: 0x00
  Invalid Instruction 1: 0x00
  Invalid Instruction 0: 0x00
FLPB       0x00000000
  Flash Partition Boundary Address: 0x000000

Found PCH Strap Section
PCHSTRP0:  0x00000000
PCHSTRP1:  0x00000000
PCHSTRP2:  0x00000000
PCHSTRP3:  0x00000000
PCHSTRP4:  0x00000000
PCHSTRP5:  0x00000000
PCHSTRP6:  0x00000000
PCHSTRP7:  0x00000000
PCHSTRP8:  0x00000000
PCHSTRP9:  0x00000000
PCHSTRP10: 0x00000000
PCHSTRP11: 0x00000000
PCHSTRP12: 0x00000000
PCHSTRP13: 0x00000000
PCHSTRP14: 0x00000000
PCHSTRP15: 0x00000000
PCHSTRP16: 0x00000000
PCHSTRP17: 0x00000000
AltMeDisable bit is not set

Found Master Section
FLMSTR1:   0x0000eff0 (Host CPU/BIOS)
  Platform Data Region Write Access: disabled
  GbE Region Write Access:           disabled
  Intel ME Region Write Access:      disabled
  Host CPU/BIOS Region Write Access: disabled
  Flash Descriptor Write Access:     disabled
  Platform Data Region Read Access:  disabled
  GbE Region Read Access:            disabled
  Intel ME Region Read Access:       disabled
  Host CPU/BIOS Region Read Access:  disabled
  Flash Descriptor Read Access:      disabled
  Requester ID:                      0xeff0

FLMSTR2:   0x000a8900 (Intel ME)
  Platform Data Region Write Access: disabled
  GbE Region Write Access:           disabled
  Intel ME Region Write Access:      disabled
  Host CPU/BIOS Region Write Access: disabled
  Flash Descriptor Write Access:     disabled
  Platform Data Region Read Access:  disabled
  GbE Region Read Access:            enabled
  Intel ME Region Read Access:       disabled
  Host CPU/BIOS Region Read Access:  enabled
  Flash Descriptor Read Access:      disabled
  Requester ID:                      0x8900

FLMSTR3:   0x800002c0 (GbE)
  Platform Data Region Write Access: disabled
  GbE Region Write Access:           disabled
  Intel ME Region Write Access:      disabled
  Host CPU/BIOS Region Write Access: disabled
  Flash Descriptor Write Access:     disabled
  Platform Data Region Read Access:  disabled
  GbE Region Read Access:            disabled
  Intel ME Region Read Access:       disabled
  Host CPU/BIOS Region Read Access:  disabled
  Flash Descriptor Read Access:      disabled
  Requester ID:                      0x02c0

Found Processor Strap Section
????:      0x06720000
????:      0x66f800b4
????:      0xb4f9c35e
????:      0xe8f8eb87
????:      0x00000392
????:      0x5666f1eb
????:      0xff01be66
????:      0x75fe8566

In order to make sure, I also downloaded the official "BIOS" file, and extracted its own uncompressed file. diff shows that this file from official website (after extraction) is the same as the one read from SIP8 (after extraction); The ifdtool outputs of the 2 files are also the same.

But, me_cleaner can't recognize it, here's me_cleaner output:

$ python me_cleaner.py -c sip8_extract.bin
Unknown image

Also trying the one from ASUS website:

$ python me_cleaner.py -c factory_extract.bin
Unknown image

Fired up the motherboard and used intelmetool:

$ sudo intelmetool
Not sure if ME hardware is present because you have a `82801IR (ICH9R) LPC Interface Controller`, but it is possible to disable it if you do, continuing...
RCBA at 0xfed1c000
MEI not hidden on PCI, checking if visible
MEI device not found, huh?
exiting

During flashing I found this interesting part on the motherboard: ASUS P5K-E WiFi Intel Management

Judged from the photo where there are 2 bright dots at the 1 and 2 positions, does it mean, if we trust ASUS (we probably shouldn't but let's pretend we do for now), the board is currently at the "1-2 Diable Me" configuration?

All in all, does this motherboard have ME enabled?

If so, how to remove it using me_cleaner or other tools?

Thank you very much!

corna / me_cleaner

Unknown images: ASUS P5K-E WiFi (ICH9R, from 2007) #273