intelmetool-thinkpad — Platform Support Fix (8th–18th gen Intel)

Fork of coreboot's intelmetool with missing PCI device ID support for 8th gen through Panther Lake Intel platforms.

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The Problem

Upstream intelmetool works by scanning PCI to identify the platform before querying ME status. This scan happens in two stages:

1. pci_platform_scan() — scans for the PCH/chipset device ID to determine if ME is present. If the device ID isn't in any known list, it prints "ME is not present on your board or unknown" and returns early — ME is never queried.

2. pci_me_interface_scan() — scans for the MEI (HECI) interface device ID to communicate with ME. If the MEI device ID isn't in PCI_DEV_HAS_SUPPORTED_ME, intelmetool can't talk to ME at all.

Upstream intelmetool.h stops at Union Point (Kaby Lake refresh, 7th gen, 2017). Every platform from 8th gen onwards falls through both checks silently:

ME is not present on your board or unknown

Even though ME is very much present and running.

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The Fix

All changes are in intelmetool.h. Version bumped from 1.1 → 1.3.

MEI/HECI device IDs added to PCI_DEV_HAS_SUPPORTED_ME

Platform	Generation	Device IDs Added	Source
Cannon Point-LP	8th/9th gen	0x9de8 (MEI2)	kernel mei/hw-me-regs.h
Ice Lake-LP	10th gen	0x34e0, 0x34e8 (MEI1/2)	kernel — completely absent upstream
Comet Lake-U	10th gen	0x02e8 (MEI2)	kernel
Comet Lake-H	10th gen	0x06e0, 0x06e8 (MEI1/2)	kernel — absent upstream
Comet Lake-S	10th gen	0xa3b0, 0xa3ba (MEI1/2)	kernel — absent upstream
Tiger Lake-LP	11th gen	0xa0e0, 0xa0e8 (MEI1/2)	kernel
Tiger Lake-H	11th gen	0x43e0, 0x43e8 (MEI1/2)	kernel
Elkhart Lake	Atom x6000	0x4b28 (MEI1)	kernel
Alder Lake-S	12th gen	0x7ae8, 0x7ae9 (MEI1/2)	Doc 648364 — corrected from wrong 0x7aea
Alder Lake-P	12th gen	0x51e0, 0x51e8 (MEI1/2)	Doc 648364
Alder Lake-N	12th gen	0x54e0, 0x54e8 (MEI1/2)	kernel
Raptor Lake-S	13th gen	0x7a68, 0x7a69 (MEI1/2)	Doc 743835 — corrected from wrong 0x7a60
Meteor Lake-P	14th gen	0x7e70, 0x7e71, 0x7e74 (MEI1/2/3)	Doc 792044
Arrow Lake H/U	15th gen	0x7770–0x7775 (MEI1–4), 0x7758–0x775a (H-tile)	Doc 842704
Arrow Lake-S	15th gen	0xae70, 0xae71 (MEI1/2)	coreboot
Lunar Lake	16th gen	0xa870 (MEI1)	coreboot
Panther Lake-U	Series 3	0xe362, 0xe363, 0xe364 (MEI1/2/3)	Doc 872188
Panther Lake-H	Series 3	0xe462, 0xe463, 0xe464 (MEI1/2/3)	Doc 872188

ID corrections

Two upstream IDs were simply wrong — the device IDs existed but pointed to different functions:

Platform	Wrong ID	Correct ID	Issue
ADL-S	0x7aea	0x7ae8 / 0x7ae9	0x7aea is IDE-R, not HECI1. Doc 648364.
RPL-S	0x7a60	0x7a68 / 0x7a69	0x7a60 is wrong SKU variant. Doc 743835.

PCH eSPI device IDs added to PCI_DEV_HAS_ME_DIFFICULT

Tiger Lake, Alder Lake, Raptor Lake, and Meteor Lake PCH eSPI controller IDs added so pci_platform_scan() no longer exits early on these platforms.

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Building

No coreboot tree required. All dependencies are vendored in this repo.

Prerequisites (one-time):

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install libpci-dev zlib1g-dev

# Fedora/RHEL
sudo dnf install pciutils-devel zlib-devel

Build:

git clone https://github.com/MangoKiwiPlumGrape/intelmetool_thinkpad
cd intelmetool_thinkpad
make

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Usage

intelmetool requires root as it needs direct hardware access:

# ME status and firmware info
sudo ./intelmetool -m

# Boot Guard status
sudo ./intelmetool -b

# Both
sudo ./intelmetool -m -b

Expected output with HAP set (ME disabled)

MEI found: [8086:02e0] Comet Point-LP MEI Controller

ME Status   : 0x...
ME Status 2 : 0x...

ME: Current Working State   : Normal
ME: Current Operation Mode  : Soft Temporary Disable
ME: Error Code              : No Error

Before this fix — upstream output on 8th–15th gen

ME is not present on your board or unknown

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Verified Platforms

Device	Platform	Result
ThinkPad X1 Carbon 6th–9th gen	Cannon Lake LP (8th/9th gen)	✅ ME status reported correctly
ThinkPad X13	Comet Lake LP (10th gen)	✅ ME status reported correctly

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Platform Notes

MTL (Meteor Lake, 14th gen): Detection works. HAP bit write path in ifdtool/me_cleaner is unconfirmed — MTL has no discrete PCH and the descriptor layout changed completely. Do not flash an MTL image without verifying the HAP offset from a known-good dump first.

ARL/LNL/PTL (15th–Series 3): Detection IDs added from Intel datasheets (Doc 842704, Doc 872188) and coreboot. HAP bit write path unknown for all three — no register maps analysed yet.

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Relationship to Other Forks

This is one of three patched coreboot utilities for Intel ME disable:

• me_cleaner_thinkpad — fixes HAP bit offset for CNL/ICL/CML/TGL/ADL/RPL firmware images
• ifdtool_thinkpad — fixes HAP bit read/write for CNL through RPL in ifdtool
• intelmetool_thinkpad (this repo) — fixes platform detection so ME status can be queried on 8th gen through Panther Lake

All three were broken for post-7th-gen platforms because upstream coreboot utilities stopped being updated for new platforms after ~2017.

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License

GPL-2.0-only — same as upstream intelmetool.

Copyright (C) 2015 Damien Zammit (original)
Copyright (C) 2017 Philipp Deppenwiese (original)
Copyright (C) 2017 Patrick Rudolph (original)
Modifications copyright (C) 2026 MangoKiwiPlumGrape