Intel Atom C2000 SOC - Do they lack Intel ME?

[Kinky Nekoboi]

Hello folks

i sadly had to replace KGPE-d16 board for my fileserver to a Supermicro 
A1SRi-C2558 because of electric pill ....

investigating a bit with intelmetool and mecleaner non of them could 
found any sign for an ME-region in this board.. so i asking myself if 
there is no ME/SPS on the intel C2000 socs, what would make them a DAMN 
SEXY platform to port coreboot too.

Here my investigations:

root@lain:~# /speedy/foo/Downloads/coreboot/util/intelmetool/intelmetool 
-m -d
ME PCI device is hidden
RCBA addr: 0xfed1c000
MEI was hidden on PCI, now unlocked
Re-hiding MEI device...done
Can't find ME PCI device

./me_cleaner/me_cleaner.py -c Supermicro_Firmware/A1SAi18_118/A1SAi18.118
Full image detected
The ME region in this image has already been disabled
The HAP bit is NOT SET
Checking the FTPR RSA signature... Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "./me_cleaner/me_cleaner.py", line 955, in <module>
     print_check_partition_signature(mef, ftpr_offset + ftpr_mn2_offset)
NameError: name 'mef' is not defined

binwalk Supermicro_Firmware/A1SAi18_118/A1SAi18.118

DECIMAL       HEXADECIMAL     DESCRIPTION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2097152       0x200000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 
131072, header size: 0, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System v2, GUID: 
8C8CE578-8A3D-4F1C-3599-896185C32DD3
2555904       0x270000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 
3932160, header size: 96, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System v2, 
GUID: 8C8CE578-8A3D-4F1C-3599-896185C32DD3
2629664       0x282020        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
4325602       0x4200E2        Copyright string: "Copyright (C) %04x 
American Megatrends, Inc. "
6488064       0x630000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 
262144, header size: 0, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System v2, GUID: 
8C8CE578-8A3D-4F1C-3599-896185C32DD3
6946816       0x6A0000        UEFI PI Firmware Volume, volume size: 
1441792, header size: 96, revision: 0, EFI Firmware File System v2, 
GUID: 8C8CE578-8A3D-4F1C-3599-896185C32DD3
6947360       0x6A0220        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
6971232       0x6A5F60        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
6981408       0x6A8720        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
6983616       0x6A8FC0        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
6985504       0x6A9720        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
6986144       0x6A99A0        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
6988896       0x6AA460        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
6991360       0x6AAE00        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
6995264       0x6ABD40        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
6997056       0x6AC440        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
6998816       0x6ACB20        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7000553       0x6AD1E9        gzip compressed data, ASCII, has header 
CRC, has original file name: "", last modified: 2104-12-22 18:41:23 
(bogus date)
7001792       0x6AD6C0        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7004576       0x6AE1A0        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7152192       0x6D2240        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7156928       0x6D34C0        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7164096       0x6D50C0        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7171040       0x6D6BE0        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7175872       0x6D7EC0        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7177536       0x6D8540        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7178688       0x6D89C0        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7182144       0x6D9740        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7188576       0x6DB060        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7203776       0x6DEBC0        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7253696       0x6EAEC0        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7263136       0x6ED3A0        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7263871       0x6ED67F        mcrypt 2.2 encrypted data, algorithm: 
blowfish-448, mode: CBC, keymode: 8bit
7270688       0x6EF120        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7272480       0x6EF820        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7279008       0x6F11A0        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7304768       0x6F7640        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7307968       0x6F82C0        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7313952       0x6F9A20        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7317152       0x6FA6A0        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7318048       0x6FAA20        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
7322016       0x6FB9A0        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)
8384152       0x7FEE98        Microsoft executable, portable (PE)

[Andrey Korolyov]

> investigating a bit with intelmetool and mecleaner non of them could
> found any sign for an ME-region in this board.. so i asking myself if
> there is no ME/SPS on the intel C2000 socs, what would make them a DAMN
> SEXY platform to port coreboot too.

I believe that the Intel FSP (firmware support package) has Coreboot
support for c2000 for many years, though it has never been upstreamed.

[Goetz Salzmann]

Hi Kinky,
> i sadly had to replace KGPE-d16 board for my fileserver to a Supermicro  
> A1SRi-C2558 because of electric pill ....
>
> investigating a bit with intelmetool and mecleaner non of them could  
> found any sign for an ME-region in this board.. so i asking myself if  
> there is no ME/SPS on the intel C2000 socs, what would make them a DAMN  
> SEXY platform to port coreboot too.

to answer your other question: yes the Intel Rangeley (C2000) is the
last/newest SoC what does not include a ME(like) subsystem.

Unfortunately the SoC has a fatal hardware bug: 
    https://www.extremetech.com/computing/244074-intel-atom-c2000-bug-killing-pr...

But this hardware bug has resurfaced on some of the later ATOMs aswell.

There is a Golden Master Image for coreboot from intel, but it's
probably not publicaly available, OTOH if you want to work on Rangely,
there should be someone on this list, that can arange for you to get
this "drop".

Another pointer:
    https://mail.coreboot.org/pipermail/coreboot/2017-March/083712.html

Cu,
    Goetz.

[Kinky Nekoboi]

Hallo Goetz,

thanks for that information.

I am aware of this bug, but i read that Intel released an PCB level 
workaround what hopefully supermicro has applied on my new bought board.

As i have only one board atm what is now in a "Production System" i am 
not able to activly test it but for interesst i would like to take a 
look on this image..

But that pure fact that eart of my storage server has still no ME inside 
makes me happy already.

Am 03.12.19 um 13:25 schrieb Goetz Salzmann:
> Hi Kinky,
> > i sadly had to replace KGPE-d16 board for my fileserver to a Supermicro
> > A1SRi-C2558 because of electric pill ....
> >
> > investigating a bit with intelmetool and mecleaner non of them could
> > found any sign for an ME-region in this board.. so i asking myself if
> > there is no ME/SPS on the intel C2000 socs, what would make them a DAMN
> > SEXY platform to port coreboot too.
>
> to answer your other question: yes the Intel Rangeley (C2000) is the
> last/newest SoC what does not include a ME(like) subsystem.
>
> Unfortunately the SoC has a fatal hardware bug:
>      https://www.extremetech.com/computing/244074-intel-atom-c2000-bug-killing-pr...
>
> But this hardware bug has resurfaced on some of the later ATOMs aswell.
>
> There is a Golden Master Image for coreboot from intel, but it's
> probably not publicaly available, OTOH if you want to work on Rangely,
> there should be someone on this list, that can arange for you to get
> this "drop".
>
> Another pointer:
>      https://mail.coreboot.org/pipermail/coreboot/2017-March/083712.html
>
> Cu,
>      Goetz.
>
> coreboot mailing list -- [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe send an email to [e-mail]

[Matt B]

Hi,

I have heard an unverified rumour that Atom substitutes the ME for an ARM
microcontroller running Trustzone.
If this is the case however, it's possible it's only for bringup, in which
case it's not too much different from the inaccessible micrcontrollers
already present in most x86 silicon.
(eg superio chips with their own baked-in firmware)

It's something worth looking into, but probably not even on the same scale
as the ME.

At the same time, a micro-itx board like this one would be FANTASTIC for a
NAS device, as many NAS-oriented cases with built-in bays are
micro-itx-only.
If such a board existed in coreboot with ECC support (not available in my
AM1I-A) a year ago, my own NAS build would have been quite a bit different.

Sincerely,
    -Matt

On Tue, Dec 3, 2019 at 10:32 AM Kinky Nekoboi 
wrote:
> Hallo Goetz,
>
> thanks for that information.
>
> I am aware of this bug, but i read that Intel released an PCB level
> workaround what hopefully supermicro has applied on my new bought board.
>
> As i have only one board atm what is now in a "Production System" i am
> not able to activly test it but for interesst i would like to take a
> look on this image..
>
> But that pure fact that eart of my storage server has still no ME inside
> makes me happy already.
>
> Am 03.12.19 um 13:25 schrieb Goetz Salzmann:
> > Hi Kinky,
> > > i sadly had to replace KGPE-d16 board for my fileserver to a Supermicro
> > > A1SRi-C2558 because of electric pill ....
> > >
> > > investigating a bit with intelmetool and mecleaner non of them could
> > > found any sign for an ME-region in this board.. so i asking myself if
> > > there is no ME/SPS on the intel C2000 socs, what would make them a DAMN
> > > SEXY platform to port coreboot too.
> >
> > to answer your other question: yes the Intel Rangeley (C2000) is the
> > last/newest SoC what does not include a ME(like) subsystem.
> >
> > Unfortunately the SoC has a fatal hardware bug:
>
> https://www.extremetech.com/computing/244074-intel-atom-c2000-bug-killing-pr...
> > But this hardware bug has resurfaced on some of the later ATOMs aswell.
> >
> > There is a Golden Master Image for coreboot from intel, but it's
> > probably not publicaly available, OTOH if you want to work on Rangely,
> > there should be someone on this list, that can arange for you to get
> > this "drop".
> >
> > Another pointer:
> >      https://mail.coreboot.org/pipermail/coreboot/2017-March/083712.html
> >
> > Cu,
> >      Goetz.
> >
> > coreboot mailing list -- [e-mail]
> > To unsubscribe send an email to [e-mail]
>
> coreboot mailing list -- [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe send an email to [e-mail]