Lenovo is still using faulty Sandy Bridge chipsets in ThinkPads

[popej]

Hello,

I have recently bought ThinkPad Edge E320. It is a new notebook, most probably manufactured September 2011. I have found that it is using chipset HM65 B2, which was recalled half year ago by Intel.

E320 has 3 SATA interfaces. SATA III port 0 is HDD, port 1 is external eSATA and this leaves 4 faulty SATA II ports for mSATA interface. Here is a picture from Gigabyte diagnostic program with external eSATA drive connected:

I can't test the faulty ports, fortunately I haven't bought mSATA SSD yet.

Anyway, I'm quite surprised, that Lenove still have buggy chipsets.

[Maliha Community Moderator]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Please have a look at this KB:- http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/W-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/B2-stepping-QM67-chips-incorrectly-reported-by...

[popej]

Thanks for your information. This was very interesting.

I have read this page before and found that Edge E320 is not supported by Intel AMT. When running current version of MEInfoWin.exe I get following information:

Intel(R) MEInfo Version: 7.1.14.1107
Copyright(C) 2005 - 2011, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.

PMXUtil: Error during PMX Call: PMxDrv!MAPPHYS - Bad Input Parameters 
GBE Region does not exist.
Intel(R) ME code versions:

BIOS Version:                           8NET27WW (1.11 )
MEBx Version:                           0.0.0.0
Gbe Version:                            Unknown
VendorID:                               8086
PCH Version:                            4
FW Version:                             7.1.10.1065
UNS Version:                            7.1.10.1065
LMS Version:                            7.1.10.1065
MEI Driver Version:                     7.0.0.1144
Wireless Hardware Version:              1.5.68
Wireless Driver Version:                14.1.1.3

FW Capabilities:                        17833056

    Intel(R) Anti-Theft Technology - PRESENT/ENABLED
    Intel(R) Capability Licensing Service - PRESENT/ENABLED
    Protect Audio Video Path - PRESENT/ENABLED
    Intel(R) ME Dynamic Application Loader - PRESENT/ENABLED

CPU Upgrade State:                      Upgrade Capable
Cryptography Support:                   Disabled
Last ME reset reason:                   Power up
Local FWUpdate:                         Enabled
BIOS and GbE Config Lock:               Unknown
Host Read Access to ME:                 Disabled
Host Write Access to ME:                Disabled
SPI Flash ID #1:                        EF4016
SPI Flash ID VSCC #1:                   20052005
SPI Flash BIOS VSCC:                    20052005
BIOS boot State:                        Pre Boot
OEM Id:                                 00000406-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
OEM Tag:                                0x00000000

Looks like this tool doesn't work correctly and there is no reliable info what value "PCH Version: 4" really mean. Accidentaly this value is equal to revision, that can be read in Device Manager, which is revision of B2 stepping.

Edition:

I have downloaded the same version of MEInfoWin.exe as in your link about QM67 chipset. The only difference is that now I get "PCH Version: 600005". So maybe this is revision B3? Could I expect any explanation from Lenovo?

[Maliha Community Moderator]

If it says 60005 then that means yours is a B3 stepping system. Further, as explained in the KB, lenovo hasn't shipped any ThinkPad system with faulty B2 stepping chip, so rest assured yours is not B2 stepping.

"Lenovo has not shipped B2 Sandy Bridge silicon on production ThinkPad systems. The ID being referenced returns the Intel CRID -- Compatibility Revision ID -- of the chip, not the actual chipset revision. This is a feature implemented by Intel and Lenovo on recent ThinkPad notebooks which, in order to maintain image stability required by many Large Enterprise customers, hides a chip revision change from the Operating System, such as Microsoft Windows to keep it from re-installing device drivers when it detects a revision ID change. This is a web page which describes Intel Stable Image Platform Program --http://www.intel.com/itcenter/topics/refresh/sipp.htm "

[popej]

Thanks for explanation, but it still leaves some doubt, since HM65 chipset has no AMT support.

[Maliha Community Moderator]

Can you tell us your E320's 7 character product number? It looks like 1298-3SG and can be looked up from the back sticker. Just wondering, did you try this version of AMT from the support page, it says it is meant for Edge E320:- http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?DocID=DS013707

[popej]

I appreciate your help. I have sent 2 emails to Lenovo Poland over a week ago and still have no replay.

My Edge E320 is 1298-5WG.

Your last link leads to IMEI driver, this is different package then AMT.  My notebook came with exactly this version of the driver already preinstalled. You can see it in previous output form MEInfo: "MEI Driver Version: 7.0.0.1144".

I have reinstalled it, but can't see any change.

[JameZ]

@popej,

Read the first post from harrisb.

Apprently the tool was reporting wrong PCH version. The B3 update should be PCH version 4.

I will update the KB.

//JameZ