I’m attempting to convert and Acer CXI3 Chromebook to a general purpose PC.
The issue I’m having it that it refuses to boot with the WP Screw removed.
When power is applied, the power button flashes purple twice quickly, then blue. Sometimes the attached monitor will flicker, then this seems to repeat in a loop.
I can force the box into recovery mode, where it prompts me to reinstall ChromeOS. I’m trying to enter developer mode by typing CTRL+D from the recovery screen, but it does not respond.
When I reinstall ChromeOS, it still refuses to boot, looping as described.
If I reinstall the WP screw, I can proceed from recovery, to deveper mode, and even load the MrChromebox utility script.
The device seems to function perfectly otherwise, so I suspect I’m doing something out of order or omitting some peculiar requirement for this specific device.
Thank you very much for al the hard work, and for the quick response.
I had to order one, but the proper PS corrected the issue, I have the firmware flashed and have loaded a couple of OSs successfully while trying things out.
Some Notes which may help others:
As above, use the proper power supply to avoid issues.
If upgrading other internal hardware, chiefly the HD (as I imagine os common), do this FIRST, and recover / reinstall the ChromeOS and make sure it’s working. THEN, go to developer mode, and remove the WP screw. I had trouble getting my box to recover with no WP screw.
You need a USB drive formatted w/ FAT32 to backup the stock firmware, I had no luck trying to backup to an SD card.
Hope this helps others, and I recommend you consider incorporating some of this into the already excellent documentation you’re providing.
I disagree here. That wastes a ton of time restoring ChromeOS to the drive, and then clearing it for developer mode. Flash the firmware, power off, swap the drive, then power on and install your OS to the new drive.
I was heeding your cautions, inching forward, and I only wanted to do the firmware flash after I was sure the hardware was “happy”, not being sure of the platform after spending hours banging my head against the wall because I was trying to power the box via USB-C.
Pivoting…
Looking for a box to use as “micro nas”. I wanna run TruNAS Scale (a platform I know), with a bunch of the “R” apps.
I’m thinkin’ the ASUS CN62, which is an i7 CPU which will apparently take 64G of RAM, has USB3.