AMT questions

[BNack]

I am trying to verify AMT operation on a System Host Board (single board computer that plugs into a "passive" backplane) and have questions I am hoping you can all answer. I am not an IT person so some of this may seem simple to you all.

First, I verifiied that I can go into Windows Device Manager, disable the network ports on the AMT system and still connect to the system via Commander. But that brings up a question. What part of the hardware has to be operating for there to be a connection? I know you need 5VSB (S5) but can I connect if the ethernet controller isn't working? What about the ethernet controller EEPROM? Can I still connect if the EEPROM is somehow corrupted or blown away and I have no MAC address? What if the connection from the physical port to the ethernet controller is not working or the connection from the ethernet controller to the Southbridge/ICH/PCH? I'm just trying to understand what needs to be working at a minimum for AMT to work.

Second, I can't remote boot to the BIOS When I try to run this command from Commander it comes back with the following error: "Call SendRemoteControl returned error: FAILED_WEB_CALL. BIOS setup not supported. Is this an issue with the computer BIOS or the MEBX BIOS?

Third, I can't seem to use IDE-R to remote boot to an .iso image greater than 720MB so I can't boot to a DVD image (Windows 7). Also, when I boot to a CD image less than 720MB (Windows XP), the install stops responding right after all the drivers are installed...before it gets to the F8 to agree to the license screen? I assume I don't have something setup right but I'm not sure what that is?

Last (for now ), I want to be able to do BIOS updates and so want to be able to reflash the computer's BIOS remotely. How do I do that? The BIOS image is greater than 2.88MB? Is there a way to push the BIOS and flash utility to memory and run them somehow from there?

I am sorry for all the questions. Normally, I would expect this discovery of AMT and how it works would be in the hands of an IT professional. I am just a engineer test technician and am struggling to understand this all.

I won't even attempt to ask questions related to monitoring voltages, fan speeds, etc...this appears to require programming skills that I don't have. Not sure what I am going to do there.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[idata]

Who makes the System Host Board? Is this for an embedded application like an ATM or signage?

Here is a reply from one of our engineers:

Hi AltPackFan,

AMT executes from within the PCH. There are a few requirements for AMT functionality:

• The PCH needs power (Sx states work (S5/S4/S3). Older versions of AMT will have power options in MEBx to determine if available in Sx that may need to be configured.
• There needs to be memory in channel 0 (if there is no memory AMT has enough internal memory to generate an alert, but that's about it)
• The ethernet controller eeprom data is stored on the SPI flash device along with AMT FW and BIOS.
• The ethernet portion must not be corrupt. Any issues with the physical network hardware would prevent AMT from working
• Boot to BIOS needs to be supported by the BIOS. Even if the BIOS doesn't support boot to BIOS, you can potentially still remotely boot the machine and press the BIOS hotkey (F1/F2/F10/ESC/DEL etc) using a serial over lan terminal and still enter the BIOS.

You should be able to boot large ISO images without issue. Make sure you've downloaded the latest copy of AMT commander. Last time I checked we could boot images over 4GB in size. A faster method would be to boot a WinPE image that would connect to a network share and install the OS from there.

For BIOS updates a DOS ISO image should allow for larger sizes. There is a reference design that may help here: /docs/DOC-5945 http://communities.intel.com/docs/DOC-5945

Thanks

[BNack]

Hi Steve,

We make the System Host Board. http://www.trentontechnology.com/products/single-board-computers/picmg-13 http://www.trentontechnology.com/products/single-board-computers/picmg-13

More questions. Sorry.

Boot to BIOS has to be supported by what BIOS? The ME BIOS or the computer BIOS? I would think it would be the ME BIOS, correct.

I was able to boot to and install an IDE-R of an .iso of Windows XP64. I was also able to boot and install an IDE-R DVD of Windows 7. But trying to install an .iso of Windows 7 failed. It appeared from the error message that something in the install process was looking for a physical DVD. Any ideas?

Thanks for the link for the floppy information. I will see what I can find out.

APF

[BNack]

Hi Steve,

One other question. The link you gave me to the DOS .iso image doc stated there was a download available but I couldn't find a place to initiate a download. What browser and version were you using?

Thanks!

APF

[idata]

Sorry about that link! I'm having the same problem with the link in IE 8. I've sent an email to our network support team to investigate the issue.

[BNack]

Hi Steve,

The link is now working. I was able to download the files and create a boot .iso that was large enough to contain our BIOS rom files and flash utility. Thanks!

Next, I have to work out why Windows 7 - and now Red Hat 6.1 - hang during install from an .iso. I welcome any ideas.

APF