Acer C720 i3 Chromebook Continued Work (SUCESS-ish)

[VioletDragon]

Do you mind helping us out by explaining how to enable the MEI or if you don't have a lot of time, pointing us in the right direction to learn how?
This is the key to making this all work but I kept hitting a dead end when researching how to do it.
Intermittent kernel panics, buggy graphics, and boot issues are caused by the Intel Management Engine Interface being hidden. The machine HAS the device inside, it is just hidden. We need to enable it but since there is no GUI that a typical AMI or similar BIOS has, I just don't know how to get in and make any changes.

Thanks!

MEI Controller is always present no matter what unless there's a hardware problem.

 

[squirrelzone]

I understand it's present, but I believe it is disabled in the BIOS in the case of Chromebooks. I don't know how people are enabling it. I know MattDevo did a custom SeaBIOS for the c720 with the MEI enabled but he pulled it for some reason.
Various threads about this machine and there are posts in each about the MEI:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/acer-c720-ml-laptop-a-work-in-progress.122423/
and
http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/acer-c720-i3.139135/

I think this is because there is usually a licensing fee for an OS to use that feature on the Intel chips, but to keep costs down Google decided to make ChromeOS work without it.

 

[VioletDragon]

I understand it's present, but I believe it is disabled in the BIOS in the case of Chromebooks. I don't know how people are enabling it. I know MattDevo did a custom SeaBIOS for the c720 with the MEI enabled but he pulled it for some reason.
Various threads about this machine and there are posts in each about the MEI:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/acer-c720-ml-laptop-a-work-in-progress.122423/
and
http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/acer-c720-i3.139135/

I think this is because there is usually a licensing fee for an OS to use that feature on the Intel chips, but to keep costs down Google decided to make ChromeOS work without it.

I've never known a laptop to have a option to disable the MEI Controller in the bios.

 

[RehabMan]

I've never known a laptop to have a option to disable the MEI Controller in the bios.

No BIOS option for it. Chromebooks are not PCs... and the firmware for them is special purpose, therefore it does strange things, like disable hardware Google doesn't need.

 

[squirrelzone]

No BIOS option for it. Chromebooks are not PCs... and the firmware for them is special purpose, therefore it does strange things, like disable hardware Google doesn't need.

+1 to that. Definitely not a typical PC.
So I'm hoping coolstarorg can tell us how to patch it to make the MEI visible to the system.

 

[coolstarorg]

Whoops, didn't see this thread until now, but here's an overview on how to set the whole thing up: https://www.******.com/r/chrultrabo...e_install_os_x_10115_el_capitan_on_acer_c720/

 

[gfoury]

Whoops, didn't see this thread until now, but here's an overview on how to set the whole thing up: https://www.******.com/r/chrultrabo...e_install_os_x_10115_el_capitan_on_acer_c720/

Thanks for adding that--I forgot I should spread the news here after your guide worked so well for me!