me_cleaner VS thinkpad-firmware-patches

Some times Intel version of Lenovo have a problem with Intel ME , check this out. LINK

Yes; there are several ways, depending heavily on the version, and ranging from most trustworthy to least trustworthy:

* By patching the ME firmware itself - see the me_cleaner project, and methods documented here: https://puri.sm/posts/deep-dive-into-intel-me-disablement/ . This is Pretty Reliable; the runtime code has been deleted from flash.

* By setting a bit in the flash configuration, assumed to be added for the US High Assurance program: https://github.com/corna/me_cleaner/wiki/HAP-AltMeDisable-bi... , https://www.ptsecurity.com/ww-en/analytics/disabling-intel-m... . This is Mostly Reliable; the mechanism has been fairly aggressively reverse engineered and was added for a program with strict requirements.

* By sending an HECI command that says "hey ME, turn off your runtime" https://review.coreboot.org/c/coreboot/+/52800 . This is Somewhat Reliable; the method is well understood and seems to work but I'm not sure someone has done a deep dive audit into whether it could be re-enabled somehow.

"...this is interesting is because POWER9 is basically the first time the public got a real view of how sophisticated the backstage cast actually is of a modern server CPU."

Not quite correct; the OpenSPARC T1 and T2 were publicly released and available by 2008.

https://www.oracle.com/servers/technologies/opensparc.html

"Large parts of this process are handled by vendor-supplied mystery firmware blobs, which may as well be boxes with “???” written in them.

The maintainers of the me_cleaner script likely have the clearest view of what is known.

https://github.com/corna/me_cleaner

Your dedicated laptop with disabled Intel ME running OpenBSD might be the gold standard choice for your hardware wallet. Main discussion here.

I consider a dedicated laptop with deactivated Intel ME running OpenBSD (maybe from USB flash) can be a much secure alternative to a proprietary hardware wallet connected to your casual multi-purpose laptop.

On a side note, if Intel has made it this hard to disable Intel ME, is the US government happy with this change? It was them who got the HAP bit part working, and I do not see any news suggesting they have another trick to disable Intel ME. Should I just assume that this still works? Has anybody here tried? And does me_cleaner still work (last updated in 2018: https://github.com/corna/me_cleaner)?

This is incorrect. Intel ME has an internal disablement mechanism: https://github.com/corna/me_cleaner/wiki/HAP-AltMeDisable-bit this is the mechanism that it used by S76 and Purism.

If you are sensitive about the Intel Management Engine, the original Core 2 Duo/Quad systems are the last where it could be fully disabled.

Anything later will forcibly shut down after 30 minutes if (at least a fragment of) Intel's closed & bug-ridden monitoring code is not present.

I ran me_cleaner on a few of these systems, and I do all my finances with them running OpenBSD (usually on q9550s).

Yes, this effort to run old hardware is worth it for me. Below are the bios images that I was able to produce:

https://github.com/corna/me_cleaner/issues/233

"skyra1n" ThinkPad Firmware Patches from digmorepaka's GitHub a list of UEFI patches for ThinkPads, these are the special sauce for adding features to our BIOS. If you have a ThinkPad 30 series device, you do not need to follow this guide for flashing skyra1n, you can flash your BIOS with the internal flashing software.

I bios unlocked and enabled the custom undervolt menu on 1.44 bios using a ch341 bios programmer. This way I set the undervolt via the bios rather than throttlestop.

-thinkpad-firmware-patches;https://github.com/digmorepaka/thinkpad-firmware-patches

Hey guys! Have any one tried this BIOS mod on latest firmware?

Here's the link to the uefi patches which are used to unlock the bios. https://github.com/digmorepaka/thinkpad-firmware-patches There's a very short and undetailed guide how to apply the patches to your bios. But just know that you need an external bios programmer like ch341a

First thing is to verify that the thunderbolt firmware is up to date and that both ports are working. Start here https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/br/en/solutions/ht508988. Then, if you want, you can buy these two and use these equipment (Ams1117 3.3v ) > aliexpress.com/item/32838236408.html with my ch341a > aliexpress.com/item/32841448145.html to make the bios mod (this will work for cards of wifi better wifi 6 and hackintosh) the patches are here (https://github.com/digmorepaka/thinkpad-firmware-patches), (it is possible to clean the intel ME) too, if you can't do it, don't risk it, ask help here in the community. I suggest backing up your bios and also the thunderbolt bios. Here is another topic from a colleague in the community and in it there is a pdf of mine where to check the cfg-lock to enable or disable.

You can try flash this bios mod to remove the whitelist. https://github.com/digmorepaka/thinkpad-firmware-patches

Pretty sure the whitelist for wifi is long gone, if not, there's always patches. Not for newbs admittedly.