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Can Intel ME be disabled in motherboard manufacturing process?

salair54
By salair54
in CPUs, Motherboards, and Memory
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Go to solution Solved by LloydLynx,

Some of Dell's business computers supposedly come with it disabled. Optiplex, Latitude, Precision, etc. You'll know because there'll be an "ME disabled" sticker inside the case. Intel has been making it harder to disable the ME every generation by creating a reliance on it so the computer will power off or not even boot. 

 

https://libreboot.org/freedom-status.html#libreboot-does-not-distribute-intel-me-images

 

This is a rabbit hole I'd be happy to lead you down. Gotta make a list of everything you need a computer for and then work on migrating away from everything that can't be done on a freedom respecting machine like a Libreboot Thinkpad. You'd be suprised how invasive modern tech is, even from 5 years ago. 

Posted

For the past couple of days I've been wondering...

Say you have a motherboard factory. You design the motherboard and write the BIOS for it yourself. The chipset is still made by [whoever makes chipsets for Intel], but the PCB design and manufacturing process is completely in-house (as much as is possible with Intel mobos).

Is it (at least theoretically) possible to disable the Intel Management Engine somewhere in the process?

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23 minutes ago, salair54 said:

For the past couple of days I've been wondering...

Say you have a motherboard factory. You design the motherboard and write the BIOS for it yourself. The chipset is still made by [whoever makes chipsets for Intel], but the PCB design and manufacturing process is completely in-house (as much as is possible with Intel mobos).

Is it (at least theoretically) possible to disable the Intel Management Engine somewhere in the process?

Only Intel can answer that question. In theory yes why not.

CPU: Ryzen 5800X3D | Motherboard: Gigabyte B550 Elite V2 | RAM: G.Skill Aegis 2x16gb 3200 @3600mhz | PSU: EVGA SuperNova 750 G3 | Monitor: LG 27GL850-B , Samsung C27HG70 | 
GPU: Red Devil RX 7900XT | Sound: Odac + Fiio E09K | Case: Fractal Design R6 TG Blackout |Storage: MP510 960gb and 860 Evo 500gb | Cooling: CPU: Noctua NH-D15 with one fan

FS in Denmark/EU:

Asus Dual GTX 1060 3GB. Used maximum 4 months total. Looks like new. Card never opened. Give me a price. 

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AFAIK some intel ME-enabled mainboards have option for disable it on bios.

Not English-speaking person, sorry, I'll make mistakes. If you're kind, maybe you'll be able to understand.

If you're really kind, you'll nicely point that out so I will learn more about write in good English.  🙂

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I don't think so. Intel ME is more like a driver for the CPU, the motherboard has no say on this matter. The CPU asks for it, so your motherboard has to have it.

CPU: i7-2600K 4751MHz 1.44V (software) --> 1.47V at the back of the socket Motherboard: Asrock Z77 Extreme4 (BCLK: 103.3MHz) CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 RAM: Adata XPG 2x8GB DDR3 (XMP: 2133MHz 10-11-11-30 CR2, custom: 2203MHz 10-11-10-26 CR1 tRFC:230 tREFI:14000) GPU: Asus GTX 1070 Dual (Super Jetstream vbios, +70(2025-2088MHz)/+400(8.8Gbps)) SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB (main boot drive), Transcend SSD370 128GB PSU: Seasonic X-660 80+ Gold Case: Antec P110 Silent, 5 intakes 1 exhaust Monitor: AOC G2460PF 1080p 144Hz (150Hz max w/ DP, 121Hz max w/ HDMI) TN panel Keyboard: Logitech G610 Orion (Cherry MX Blue) with SteelSeries Apex M260 keycaps Mouse: BenQ Zowie FK1

 

Model: HP Omen 17 17-an110ca CPU: i7-8750H (0.125V core & cache, 50mV SA undervolt) GPU: GTX 1060 6GB Mobile (+80/+450, 1650MHz~1750MHz 0.78V~0.85V) RAM: 8+8GB DDR4-2400 18-17-17-39 2T Storage: HP EX920 1TB PCIe x4 M.2 SSD + Crucial MX500 1TB 2.5" SATA SSD, 128GB Toshiba PCIe x2 M.2 SSD (KBG30ZMV128G) gone cooking externally, 1TB Seagate 7200RPM 2.5" HDD (ST1000LM049-2GH172) left outside Monitor: 1080p 126Hz IPS G-sync

 

Desktop benching:

Cinebench R15 Single thread:168 Multi-thread: 833 

SuperPi (v1.5 from Techpowerup, PI value output) 16K: 0.100s 1M: 8.255s 32M: 7m 45.93s

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  • Solution

Some of Dell's business computers supposedly come with it disabled. Optiplex, Latitude, Precision, etc. You'll know because there'll be an "ME disabled" sticker inside the case. Intel has been making it harder to disable the ME every generation by creating a reliance on it so the computer will power off or not even boot. 

 

https://libreboot.org/freedom-status.html#libreboot-does-not-distribute-intel-me-images

 

This is a rabbit hole I'd be happy to lead you down. Gotta make a list of everything you need a computer for and then work on migrating away from everything that can't be done on a freedom respecting machine like a Libreboot Thinkpad. You'd be suprised how invasive modern tech is, even from 5 years ago. 

lumpy chunks

 

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