Win7 IMEI ?

[RJK]

After spotting in one of Win 7's event viewer logs, that an Intel IMEI
driver (Intel Manangement Interfate Engine !), could not communicate with
some other module, I had a rummage on the web,
and found countless discussions on the subject !

This is a new "end of line" MSI CR620-643UK Laptop with Win7 home Premium in
it.
What REAL disappointment to cast an eye in its' event logs, to find that
something is not functioning properly, even though there appears to be some
IMEI functions that I'll never need !!!

So tried to online update the IMEI driver - ...."no update needed" etc.
.....uninstalled it, then Laptop appeared to hang on shut down.
....rebooted, resintalled IMEI driver from MSI driver CD.
....now it's in the middle of a Win7 SP1 download and install !!!

....does any one ever get to use a PC or Laptop nowadays for application
software, or does everyone just sit researching / updating / problem solving
the Windows platform for countless hours and hours and hours ? !!!!

My old Asus M3N78 / x2 6000 desktop with XP Home edition in it, is light
years more productive than this new Laptop !!!!

So, Win 7 is very pretty, and all the innards of the platform have been
moved around, half hidden, and made much more difficult for XP platform
users, and the "automatic problem solving, online driver update", seems only
partially functional.

anyhoooo.... does anyone know how to pin down the possibly specific IMEI
driver for this Laptop, I've hunted on MSI web-site and Intel website has
lots of IMEI drivers for desktop boards but, I can't find a driver for this
Laptop !

TIA, regards, Richard

 

[Char Jackson]

After spotting in one of Win 7's event viewer logs, that an Intel IMEI
driver (Intel Manangement Interfate Engine !), could not communicate with
some other module, I had a rummage on the web,
and found countless discussions on the subject !

<snip>

So, what problem(s) are you having, other than what you see in the
event logs?

 

[Paul]

After spotting in one of Win 7's event viewer logs, that an Intel IMEI
driver (Intel Manangement Interfate Engine !), could not communicate with
some other module, I had a rummage on the web,
and found countless discussions on the subject !

This is a new "end of line" MSI CR620-643UK Laptop with Win7 home Premium in
it.
What REAL disappointment to cast an eye in its' event logs, to find that
something is not functioning properly, even though there appears to be some
IMEI functions that I'll never need !!!

So tried to online update the IMEI driver - ...."no update needed" etc.
....uninstalled it, then Laptop appeared to hang on shut down.
...rebooted, resintalled IMEI driver from MSI driver CD.
...now it's in the middle of a Win7 SP1 download and install !!!

...does any one ever get to use a PC or Laptop nowadays for application
software, or does everyone just sit researching / updating / problem solving
the Windows platform for countless hours and hours and hours ? !!!!

My old Asus M3N78 / x2 6000 desktop with XP Home edition in it, is light
years more productive than this new Laptop !!!!

So, Win 7 is very pretty, and all the innards of the platform have been
moved around, half hidden, and made much more difficult for XP platform
users, and the "automatic problem solving, online driver update", seems only
partially functional.

anyhoooo.... does anyone know how to pin down the possibly specific IMEI
driver for this Laptop, I've hunted on MSI web-site and Intel website has
lots of IMEI drivers for desktop boards but, I can't find a driver for this
Laptop !

TIA, regards, Richard

I can find a file on the CR620 download page.

http://www.msi.com/product/nb/CR620.html#/?div=Driver&os=Win7 64

Historically (since about 2007), IMEI was used on non-business PCs
for thermal readout, fan speeds or the like. So it has something
to do with some interface of that nature.

To confuse matters, chipsets with "Q" in the name, include AMT
or Active Management Technology. That includes the ability to
leave your business laptop plugged into the Ethernet wire at the
office at night. The IT staff can wake up the computer remotely,
do backups or install software updates. In addition, if the laptop
was crashed and still connected to the network, you can also issue
a hardware RESET to start it booting again. So you never have to
walk down and work on it, because as long as the Ethernet interface
is available, packets can "burrow into" the chipset, be processed by
the tiny AMT processor inside the chipset (with its own firmware),
and the AMT can do whatever is needed to wake or boot the PC. This
is similar to the feature set of servers in the server room,
where staff can take control of them remotely. Only the concept
has spread to business laptops.

I find a good deal of confusion between those two items. And
I can never seem to find a decent article on IMEI to clarify.
And finding the story on AMT was really hard. I have a PowerPoint
slide deck that does it justice, but try and find a copy of
that when you need it. Apparently, AMT is a big secret.

Since your chipset is HM55 and doesn't have a "Q" in it,
it is unlikely to do AMT, and it probably just has IMEI, for checking
temperatures or fan speeds or the like. You would need to install
the driver, followed by a reboot, followed by installing a
temperature readout utility to actually present the info
on the desktop.

http://mpcomp.co.uk/mpc.php?page=product&product=2650258

Now, if I go back to the MSI site and look in the utility section,
I can find a System Control Manager (how more useless a name
could they have chosen ?). But with the goofy buttons in the
interface, I can't begin to guess what functions that might have.

http://download2.msi.com/files/downloads/uti_exe/cr620_scm_7_nb.zip

This is not SCM, but could be a predecessor, and it does seem
to have some monitoring functions. You'd have to click the "MB"
button to get motherboard readings. I see MSI is more interested in "bling"
than anything else.

http://xtreview.com/images/system-m...temperature-software/msi-dual-core-center.jpg

Now, if "something can't communicate", then either some necessary
"service" isn't running, or you didn't have the right permissions
when some utility was launched. Something like that.

Once you get items like this sorted, they're not likely to need
additional attention later on. This is all part of tuning up
a new computer (something which should already have been done
for you by MSI!).

Paul

 

[RJK]

<snip>

So, what problem(s) are you having, other than what you see in the
event logs?

None, (no problems ....that I can detect), but, as pointed out by Paul (on
this thread), when one starts tracking/researching IMEI, LMS, HECI, AMT
etc. ..and one discovers that fan speed controllers, ACPI and goodness knows
what else seems to be interconnected with it, one is less than happy that a
negative event is being logged !!

regards, Richard

 

[RJK]

I can find a file on the CR620 download page.

http://www.msi.com/product/nb/CR620.html#/?div=Driver&os=Win7 64

Historically (since about 2007), IMEI was used on non-business PCs
for thermal readout, fan speeds or the like. So it has something
to do with some interface of that nature.

To confuse matters, chipsets with "Q" in the name, include AMT
or Active Management Technology. That includes the ability to
leave your business laptop plugged into the Ethernet wire at the
office at night. The IT staff can wake up the computer remotely,
do backups or install software updates. In addition, if the laptop
was crashed and still connected to the network, you can also issue
a hardware RESET to start it booting again. So you never have to
walk down and work on it, because as long as the Ethernet interface
is available, packets can "burrow into" the chipset, be processed by
the tiny AMT processor inside the chipset (with its own firmware),
and the AMT can do whatever is needed to wake or boot the PC. This
is similar to the feature set of servers in the server room,
where staff can take control of them remotely. Only the concept
has spread to business laptops.

I find a good deal of confusion between those two items. And
I can never seem to find a decent article on IMEI to clarify.
And finding the story on AMT was really hard. I have a PowerPoint
slide deck that does it justice, but try and find a copy of
that when you need it. Apparently, AMT is a big secret.

Since your chipset is HM55 and doesn't have a "Q" in it,
it is unlikely to do AMT, and it probably just has IMEI, for checking
temperatures or fan speeds or the like. You would need to install
the driver, followed by a reboot, followed by installing a
temperature readout utility to actually present the info
on the desktop.

http://mpcomp.co.uk/mpc.php?page=product&product=2650258

Now, if I go back to the MSI site and look in the utility section,
I can find a System Control Manager (how more useless a name
could they have chosen ?). But with the goofy buttons in the
interface, I can't begin to guess what functions that might have.

http://download2.msi.com/files/downloads/uti_exe/cr620_scm_7_nb.zip

This is not SCM, but could be a predecessor, and it does seem
to have some monitoring functions. You'd have to click the "MB"
button to get motherboard readings. I see MSI is more interested in
"bling"
than anything else.

http://xtreview.com/images/system-m...temperature-software/msi-dual-core-center.jpg

Now, if "something can't communicate", then either some necessary
"service" isn't running, or you didn't have the right permissions
when some utility was launched. Something like that.

Once you get items like this sorted, they're not likely to need
additional attention later on. This is all part of tuning up
a new computer (something which should already have been done
for you by MSI!).

Paul

HUGE thaks Paul, ...am continuing to research this issue.

regards, Richard