What Intel MEI etc?

[rmilyard]

Hey guys I am pretty new to using Intel chipsets and the MEI stuff etc.

I am not sure how this all try together so I thought I would ask is there a resource that will teach me how this all works?

Also for best performance and stability what MEI and Bios etc should I be using? How do I check what I have and if need to flash it how do I do this?


MB is RIVE with i7 3960x and boot in 2 Corsair Force GT 120gb in Raid 0.

[Hatross]

MEI is one component of Intel's VPRO remote access technology. I'm a bit
surprised that it's unexpectedly showing up in what I presume is a consumer
computer; it's an extra-cost item (last time I talked to our account team we
were told that they paid Intel $25 for each system shipped with the
feature). Unless you plan to put the box in a remote location where it can't
be accessed if (when) it gets hung it's probably not that much use to you.

You don't say what make and model of computer is involved. Look at the BIOS
setup options; assuming that you don't want it you might be able to disable
the feature there (and thus get rid of the yellow bang in Device Manager).

Joe Morris

it's basically invasion of privacy... unless you are using the technology.

[Hatross]

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JoeBlow Oct 20, 2009 3:09 PM

How can I disable vPro backdoor technology? This is an interesting feature, but it compromises my computer's security and opens the door to the NSA and computer hackers. Is there any way to disable this on a Gigabyte motherboard?

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DG.Rooven Community Member
DG.Rooven Oct 28, 2009 3:00 PM (in response to JoeBlow )

Hi there,



On Intel desktop boards, in the bios there is a option where you can disable Intel AMT which in turn will turn off the vpro feature on the board. However since you are having a gigabyte motherboard, I would suggest that you contact the motherboard manufacturer to check with them how this can be disabled on your motherboard. The reason is that the bios settings may be different from theat of intle boards, hence making it difficult here to guide you exctly where to find those option in the bios.



Gigabyte Forum



Hope this will be useful to you.



Cheers

[HiVizMan]

Unless you are using software that needs the MEI drivers there is no need to install it.

[Nodens]

I've posted about this quite a few times but here's one more.

Intel Management Engine is NOT the same thing as AMT/VPro. IME comes in 2 parts.

Part 1) Firmware. This is contained in one of the regions of the SPI flash chip (The chip that holds the BIOS/UEFI) and deals with several things related to the PCH. From several chipset features like PAVP, Anti-Theft, AMT/VPro to thermal and clocking stuff etc etc. Think of it like the PCH's firmware.

Part 2) The Driver pack. This contains several drivers that enable features supported by the MEI on each chipset plus other things like the ability to overclock certain things from within the operating system.

Like HiVizMan said in case you don't need those features you can stay without loading the driver package.

The firmware part is always there and it's impossible for any of these Intel chipsets to function without it.

The X79 platform does not support AMT/VPro at ALL and all chipsets that do, have an option to disable it in BIOS/UEFI.

Intel ME is NOT AMT/VPro.

AMT/VPro is a feature that is managed by IME ONLY on chipsets that actually support it!

The quoted text in post #3 is absolutely wrong.

[rmilyard]

Nodens wrote:
I've posted about this quite a few times but here's one more.

Intel Management Engine is NOT the same thing as AMT/VPro. IME comes in 2 parts.

Part 1) Firmware. This is contained in one of the regions of the SPI flash chip (The chip that holds the BIOS/UEFI) and deals with several things related to the PCH. From several chipset features like PAVP, Anti-Theft, AMT/VPro to thermal and clocking stuff etc etc. Think of it like the PCH's firmware.

Part 2) The Driver pack. This contains several drivers that enable features supported by the MEI on each chipset plus other things like the ability to overclock certain things from within the operating system.

Like HiVizMan said in case you don't need those features you can stay without loading the driver package.

The firmware part is always there and it's impossible for any of these Intel chipsets to function without it.

The X79 platform does not support AMT/VPro at ALL and all chipsets that do, have an option to disable it in BIOS/UEFI.

Intel ME is NOT AMT/VPro.

AMT/VPro is a feature that is managed by IME ONLY on chipsets that actually support it!

The quoted text in post #3 is absolutely wrong.

So updating the firmware is important? If so how do I go about checking and upgrading it?

[Hatross]

Nodens wrote:
I've posted about this quite a few times but here's one more.

Intel Management Engine is NOT the same thing as AMT/VPro. IME comes in 2 parts.

Part 1) Firmware. This is contained in one of the regions of the SPI flash chip (The chip that holds the BIOS/UEFI) and deals with several things related to the PCH. From several chipset features like PAVP, Anti-Theft, AMT/VPro to thermal and clocking stuff etc etc. Think of it like the PCH's firmware.

Part 2) The Driver pack. This contains several drivers that enable features supported by the MEI on each chipset plus other things like the ability to overclock certain things from within the operating system.

Like HiVizMan said in case you don't need those features you can stay without loading the driver package.

The firmware part is always there and it's impossible for any of these Intel chipsets to function without it.

The X79 platform does not support AMT/VPro at ALL and all chipsets that do, have an option to disable it in BIOS/UEFI.

Intel ME is NOT AMT/VPro.

AMT/VPro is a feature that is managed by IME ONLY on chipsets that actually support it!

The quoted text in post #3 is absolutely wrong.

"IPT" is a component of vPro, you can read about that directly on Intel's site with the links I've posted in the other thread.

"Dynamic Application Loader" loads the IPT at every reboot...

"MEI" is the software which manages and implements this and many other features of vPro which do have more features on I believe Q55 chipset.

If X79 does not have vPro ability on the chipset as you had said in the other thread , then where does this comment come from?

This contains several drivers that enable features supported by the MEI on each chipset

this is obviously AMT software... LGA 2011's have vPro on the chip itself (just like the memory controller) and if we don't have the full featured AMT set then why do we need a component of it running on our systems?

did you have a look at the distribution on the bottom of the page in the first link I posted in my last comment?

[Nodens]

Hatross wrote:
"IPT" is a component of vPro, you can read about that directly on Intel's site with the links I've posted in the other thread.

IPT is utilized by VPro but it's not directly a component of it. IPT is software solution that is supported by the CHIPSET and all it does is generate random passwords/keys from a seed in a way that they are more secure than pseudorandom generation that depends on entropy data pools.

"Dynamic Application Loader" loads the IPT at every reboot...

Dynamic Application Loader has nothing to do with IPT.

"MEI" is the software which manages and implements this and many other features of vPro which do have more features on I believe Q55 chipset.

NO! THe Intel Management Engine is what I explained above. AMT/VPro is only a CHIPSET feature that if supported by a specific chipset then it is managed by ME like ANY OTHER CHIPSET feature.

If X79 does not have vPro ability on the chipset as you had said in the other thread , then where does this comment come from?

It does not have AMT/VPro. Period.

this is obviously AMT software... LGA 2011's have vPro on the chip itself (just like the memory controller) and if we don't have the full featured AMT set then why do we need a component of it running on our systems?

There is absolutely nothing on the chip. These are all CHIPSET features. Support on the CPU comes in the form of things like accelerated AES for encryption.

did you have a look at the distribution on the bottom of the page in the first link I posted in my last comment?

I can see nothing weird at those links. But I don't have to read anything as I actually know what these things are and how they work. I'm not doing guesswork here, I'm telling you what is the reality of things.

[Hatross]

it was different installing MEI on Win7x64 than it was on Win8x64...

on win7 the computer automatically rebooted and then continued the installation of the Identity Protection Technology (which I do not feel I need) and the simple pci communications device was integrated into the device manager.

I have "Life Lock" so I am not interested in Intel's identity protection, so I wonder what it does? what's it doing there? is it needed somehow for the Suite package from Asus?

when my new memory comes I'll probably do another Win8 install and it will be left out... even though I already uninstalled the MEI package I see no difference in benchmarks or stability in AIDA64.

the port that is even uses is quite secretive, seems people all around the web are trying to identify that port address.

[Hatross]

Nodens wrote:
There is absolutely nothing on the chip.

I may have been looking at the i7 3820QM processor... I'll look into it.

it still doesn't address the question of why "jhi_service.exe" is needed to be there in the first place on our non AMT boards.

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/250146,intels-identity-protection-technology-to-keep-your-games-s...

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7617288/how-can-i-write-an-application-which-utilizes-intel-ipt-h...

What IPT does is use the CPU itself as the authenticator. It is an opt-in technology that allows you to tie your physical PC to an online login for supported websites.