AMT not activated after power resume

[TTest475]

I have gigabyte Q370M D3H GSM PLUS with Intel® ME

v12.0.22 activated in Admin Control Mode (ACM). I configured the Network as DHCP and I can access the webpage through port 16992, no matter there is OS running or in soft-off state.

HOWEVER, if I switch off the PSU and then switch on again, I cannot access the amt webpage again. More specifically, I found the interface was blinking and running at 10Mbps speed, but it didn't send out any DHCP request packet. From the network switch, the mac-address could not be learnt from the port. The amt worked again until I switch on the system again.

I know I could "solve" this problem by enabling the automatic power-on upon the resume of AC power, but I don't believe it is a smart way to do so.

I searched this problem in the Internet but I cannot find any similar case. Is this phenomenon normal for all AMT platform? Or is there any bios setting I missed so that the AMT cannot wake up after AC power loss?

Your help is highly appreciated. Thanks.

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello TTest475,

Thank you for joining the community.

One of the requirements for AMT to work is the provisioned systems must remain powered in order to be accessible when out of band. This is pretty logical though. Now the fact that AMT does not reconnect after a power outage does not seem completely normal. Have you updated the ME firmware recently since the system is acting like this? By any chance is this system connected through wifi to the network?

Will look forward for your updates

Jose A.

Intel Customer Support

[TTest475]

Hello Jose,

Thanks for your reply and input.

From my understanding, the ME firmware is updated through the BIOS update process, I have no other way to update the ME firmware separately. I have updated the BIOS to the latest factory release mainly for patching the vulnerability "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/security-center/advisory/intel-sa-00233.html". Is there any chance that the ME firmware is corrupted in the BIOS?

Furthermore, the system is connected to a wired Ethernet.

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello TTest475,

Depending on your system OEM the ME may or may not update during the same BIOS firmware update procedure. You want to check under Gigabyte support website for details.

There are chance for the ME firmware to be corrupted but it is not common. Besides AMT is working correctly other that this issue.

What you could try is to enable the wake on LAN option in BIOS so as soon as a ethernet traffic is detected your system gets energized.

Regards

Jose A.

Intel Customer Support

[TTest475]

Hello Jose,

You also pointed out another problem that the WOL function doesn't not work after the power resume. it only works again after I startup and shutdown the system.

To drill down the problem, I start suspecting either the firmware on the onboard network card (Intel I219), or the initialization procedure in BIOS after power recycle, are malfunction.

I have already filed a case to gigabyte to look into this issue. look forward to hearing their feedback.

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello TTest475,

Lets wait for their feedback. I will research a bit on this and will keep you posted.

Regards

Jose A.

Intel Customer Support

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello TTest475,

Could you please tell what version of the AMT firmware is installed on your system after the update you performed? To get this you can access MEBx during POST and get the installed version information.

Will look forward for your updates.

Regards

Jose A.

Intel Customer Support

[TTest475]

Hello Jose,

it is v12.0.22

Regards,

TTest475

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello TTest475,

We appreciate your patience with this issue. As part of the troubleshooting we would like to confirm some information:

Board model:

Gigabyte Q370M D3H GSM PLUS

ME firmware version:

v12.0.22 (latest?)

Provisioning mode:

Admin Control Mode (ACM)

Issue:

When power it off, AMT is not accessible but restarting the system will re-enable access to AMT?

Second test, if you do a graceful shutdown, is it still able to access AMT?

We will look forward to your updates.

Regards

Jose A.

Intel Customer Support

[TTest475]

May I amend the information as follows:

Board model:

Gigabyte Q370M D3H GSM PLUS

ME firmware version:

v12.0.22-build 1310 (bundled with the latest BIOS version F14)

Provisioning mode:

Admin Control Mode (ACM)

Issue:

After power recycling the whole machine (i.e. unplug the power cable and then re-plug), AMT is not accessible but restarting the system will re-enable access to AMT.

The AMT remains accessible no matter the state of the machine afterwards, (e.g. it is accessible after graceful shutdown) provided that the power is supplied uninterrupted.

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello TTest475,

We have found that the current ME firmware on your board v12.0.22 is and old firmware version. For this reason we think you might need to go back to Gigabyte to see if there is a newer one available or will be available soon for this board.

Regards

Jose A.

Intel Customer Support

[TTest475 · Accepted solution]

Finally Gigabyte provided a new version (F15C) of BIOS after 18 days of investigation. The problem of inactive AMT after power recycle disappeared after upgrading the BIOS.

Hello Jose,

Thanks for your support in this discussion thread. For your information, the ME firmware version in the new BIOS is still stick to 12.0.22.

Regards,

tawh

[Simon4]

@TTest475 did you have to do anything specific in the BIOS settings to get it working?

Even with BIOS F15c, after power is restored there is no ARP response from the AMT and it does not respond to a WoL packet.

[Simon4]

BIOS F15c adds a toggle for MSR 0xE2

16777216 2020-05-08 13:56:12 Q370MD3HGSMPLUS.F15c

1d1aa0bf6cc33cca4b4a5f6524a1568c4dec51da  Q370MD3HGSMPLUS.F15c

BIOS F15c C2 is the one that fixes the wake issue (but it also removes the "memory" option for AC loss)

16777216 2020-05-11 12:10:54 Q370MD3HGSMPLUSC2.F15c

f5810f97792ec0c31201d7e9d25645d9f1195f39  Q370MD3HGSMPLUSC2.F15c

[JoseH_Intel]

Hello TTest475,

I am glad to hear about your issue got finally resolved. Will mark this thread as resolved now. If you have further issues or questions just go ahead and create a new topic.

Regards

Jose A.

Intel Customer Support