How to apply Apollo Lake PMC hotfix

[icecrackers]

Hi Intel Community,

We are currently debugging a boot issue in some of our boards and there is this Apollo Lake PMC Hotfix which may fix it and we want to apply it on our boards. 

What we saw in the software kit is only a .bin file.

We have no knowledge in developing the BIOS or firmware for the SoC.

Is there a direct method to apply this to the SoC? (via Windows or UEFI utility?)

Or is this something that should be integrated to the BIOS?

Hoping someone could enlighten us.

Thank you very much.

[Alberto_R_Intel]

icecrackers, Thank you for posting in the Intel® Communities Support.

In order for us to provide the most accurate assistance on this topic, we just wanted to confirm a few details about your system:

What is the model of the Intel® Processor?

What is the model of the motherboard?

Is this a new computer?

Was it working fine before?

When did the issue start?

Did you make any recent hardware/software changes?

Which Windows* version are you using?

Does the problem happen at home or in the work environment?

Any questions, please let me know.

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[icecrackers]

Hi Alberto, 

Thanks for your reply.

Please see our response below.

What is the model of the Intel® Processor? FH8066802979703 SR2Z5 Apollo Lake Pentium N4200

What is the model of the motherboard? Custom design

Is this a new computer? Yes

Was it working fine before? Some batches work fine, the faulty samples boot successfully only when the SoC is heated

When did the issue start? Random faulty samples started around 2017~2018

Did you make any recent hardware/software changes? No

Which Windows* version are you using? Windows 10

Does the problem happen at home or in the work environment? Issue was caught during testing in manufacturing

We tried to apply the hotfix from here  Apollo Lake PMC Hotfix using an EFI utility but we could only get an "SPI protocol not found" error.

Is there a correct way to apply the .bin firmware hotfix?

Thank you very much.

[Alberto_R_Intel]

Hi icecrackers, You are very welcome, thank you very much for providing that information.

In reference to your question, and for us to be able to provide the most accurate technical support on this subject, we will do further research on this matter, as soon as I get any updates I will post all the details on this thread.

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Alberto_R_Intel]

Hello icecrackers, I just received an update on this matter.

After reviewing the case, since you are designing, we determined that in order to get the most accurate technical assistance on this topic, the best thing to do will be to visit, sign it and submit your inquiry in our Intel® Developer Zone website, where you will receiver further peer to peer assistance on this matter:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/forms/idz/simple-registration.html

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[icecrackers]

Hi Albert,

Thank you so much for your help!

[Alberto_R_Intel]

Hi icecrackers, You are very welcome, thank you very much for your response.

Any other inquiries, do not hesitate to contact us again.

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician