How to force-restart a PC with vPro technology?

3

I would like to know how to force-restart a PC that has crashed/hung and become completely non-responsive, using 2nd-generation vPro technology. Assume there is a second, fully responsive PC on the same LAN that can be accessed remotely to assist.

Specifically, I am considering purchasing a PC with an i7-2860QM CPU, which is vPro-enabled (according to Intel).

Here are two links that indicate it should be possible to force-restart a hung system with a 2nd-generation vPro-enabled CPU:

  1. Seconds 24-39 of What Is Intel vPro™ Technology?

  2. Page 17 (21 of the PDF) of Intel® vPro™ Technology: Reference Guide

However, after extensive research, I cannot find a straightforward and trustworthy source of confirmation that this will actually work as I describe, or any documentation about how to set it up. I would appreciate both a reliable confirmation, and a source of documentation.

This question is a follow-up to: Wake-on-LAN (WOL) fails after computer crashes (Windows 7 64-bit).

Dan Nissenbaum

Posted 2011-11-25T21:03:18.613

Reputation: 522

Answers

1

vPro is a collection of technologies, and among them is the remote management you are after. To fully take advantage of vPro remote management, you need not only a vPro processor, but you also need a motherboard with the Q965 or similar chipset that has Intel's AMT (Active Management Technology) - (like this Asus board)

AMT is what allows the remote management, it is effectively a second processor on the motherboard running a management app. You talk to it, and it tells the main system what to do.

Here is the wikipedia article that explains in more depth.

Paul

Posted 2011-11-25T21:03:18.613

Reputation: 52 173

Can you give a reference for the requirement that the motherboard has the Q965 chipset? I do not see this information on the Wikipedia link - also, my Lenovo X220T has a QM67 chipset, and it has a tab for AMT in the "Intel Management and Security Status" application which came installed (though I'm not sure AMT is enabled or that it's possible to do power management on this machine). – Dan Nissenbaum – 2011-11-25T23:50:54.543

That wasn't well written, Q965 is one of the AMT chipsets around, perhaps the first. I have reworded it to be less misleading. – Paul – 2011-11-26T02:08:48.420