ME is in Recovery State after flashing BIOS to v. A13 on a Dell Latitude e6520

I wanted to detail what I went through with an issue upgrading my BIOs and having Intel AMT (Active Management Technology) breaking.  I really looked high and low over Dell & Intel's forums and never saw a good solid answer to how to fix the error.  So here's my story and what worked for me.

I was setting up a new Dell Latitude e6520 and one of the first things I usually do with new computers is to make sure that the firmware is up-to-date.  My model had the A07 firmware and A13 was available for download. I installed it and rebooted. Something I've done a hundred times before. No issues, no power loss, no interruptions, just a smooth install.  However, when it rebooted, it paused for a moment and then rebooted a second time. As it was coming back up that's when I first noticed the "ME is in recovery state" message. My company doesn't use Intel's AMT on our laptops and so I had never had occasion to learn much about it. Thus began a very long week of trying to learn about AMT and how to fix the issue.  So basically what I've learned is that the Active Management Technology is "baked" into the BIOS and activates a sort of secondary cmos chip. This allows for remote administration of the system via wired or wireless networks even when the system is powered off. (Similar to UNIX's ALOM / ILOM 'integrated lights out management or Dell Server's iLO).  The articles for how to correct this tend to be all over the map. Everything from reset the CMOS to reinstall the Operating System.  DO NOT Reinstall the OS! It would be pointless and waste a lot of your time. The BIOS and the OS are neighbors. You wouldn't paint your house and expect your Neighbors house to suddenly become the same color.

You can try resetting the CMOS by removing the the back cover of the laptop (just like you would if you were changing or adding memory). You'll see a small battery (it's called a COIN CELL Battery in case you want to Google search it). Gently pick the battery up and lightly pull the "white base" at the end of the wires out of the socket.  Wait approximately five minutes. Plug it back in.  "IF", and it's a big if, this works upon reboot the system should take you to the MEBx setup page or give you an option to go into the bios. Press the keys CTL+ALT+DEL to reboot. When the Dell logo appears press CTL+p. You should now be looking at the MEBx menu. Set the Default values. Click OK. reboot.

You can also try reinstalling device drivers if you also see a yellow exclamation mark next to "Intel (R) Active Management Technology - SOL (COM4)" in Device Manager. This error will almost surely accompany the "ME is in recovery state" error.

More then likely this will not work and you'll waste a lot of time downloading, installing, uninstalling, and installing drivers again and rebooting a hundred times, so you'll need to do something a little more drastic: Downgrade Your BIOS.  For me, I attempted most of the other prescribed methods for repairing this problem and NONE of them worked. Updated my Drivers; I uninstalled and reinstalled various hardware components via Device Manager; etc. But, in the end, I had to do the one thing that is usually never recommended, install an older BIOS version.

WARNING: Anytime you change, upgrade, or re-install the Firmware on your PC you could potentially render it useless. Proceed at your own discretion. I highly suggest you read the Manufacturers BIOS upgrade process thoroughly. 

Download the A07 BIOS from DELLS website (if your using a different brand, obtain the needed BIOS from that company's support website). As for Dell, they use a self-extracting BIOS install that is more or less automagic and can be run from your Windows 7 (or XP; Vista) Desktop. Once you've downloaded the file to your desktop just double click on it. Just let it do it's thing and, when asked, click any acknowledgements that you agree that you want to proceed. (You might want to make sure you READ it before blindly just clicking Yes. (See: South Park EULA). This can take a little bit. In this case I could see that it was reinstalling the AMT firmware and it took 3 or 4 minutes and looked like it had "hung" at 100% for a while. Don't interrupted it, it's still working, just let it finish. Then the next phase started and it "upgraded" my BIOS to A07 (essentially giving me my downgrade). After completion, it rebooted a single time, the "ME is in recovery state" error was gone and the world was all roses and honey again.

What cause's the ME is in recovery state error in the first place?  As an IT professional with 13 years in the industry I can say with confidence that it is caused by corrupted firmware. There are probably hundreds of thousands of ways this can happen. Sometimes it happens during a BIOS upgrade, sometimes it could be faulty memory, or sometimes it could just be bad luck, sun spots, or Tuesday.  Once this happens the firmware will attempt to "restore" it as best it can, which usually means not at all. Thus you get "ME is in recovery state" and you will probably see the accompanying famous Yellow Exclamation Mark in the Device Manager next to "Intel (R) Active Management Technology - SOL (COM4)".  If you feel comfortable with the above process you may save yourself a lot of time.  If not, contact the store you bought it from, a certified IT professional (not your friends younger brother, DARKOBUNNY107, who lives in his mom's basement), or the Manufacturer. If your system is under warranty with Dell, you most likely will have to send your laptop back or to a certified Dell Technician for repairs. If you attempt the above and it doesn't resolve the issue, or, cringe, it gets worse, your probably out of options and you'll really be glad you got that extended warranty after all. Everyone else, well, eBay is your friend.

Happy Hunting and I hope this helps someone out. :emotion-1: