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0 pointscraftyguy7y ago0 comments

They aren't 'necessary'. You can completely disable the ME and have a usable system. Maybe you are confusing it with the PCH?

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4 comments · 2 top-level

monocasa7y ago· 2 in thread

Check out what the ME disable stuff does. It just removes some of the binaries from the thing's uKernel that are the non boot services. The ME is required for system bringup.

> However, while Intel ME can't be turned off completely, it is still possible to modify its firmware up to a point where Intel ME is active only during the boot process, effectively disabling it during the normal operation, which is what me_cleaner tries to accomplish.

https://github.com/corna/me_cleaner

EDIT: Also, the ME is inside the PCH, so I'm not really sure why you're making a distinction there.

kodablah7y ago

> The ME is required for system bringup

Because Intel makes it required, or is it technically required?

monocasa7y ago

My understanding is that it's what controls power sequencing, QPI bringup, and RAM bringup, so the main cores can't come up without it or something like it.

Just like the similar cores you see in pretty much every ARM SoC.

flacks7y ago

Can't completely disable ME. There are still essential modules that we have no idea what they're doing.

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