I am trying to flash the firmware of my Asus C223N. As per the sticker and the mrChromebox website, it is based on the BABYMEGA board and has a CR50.
Sadly, it does not have a battery. Inserting any of my batteries (I have two, one OEM and one aftermarket) causes the machine to not boot, but it does not reset when I insert it while the system is on. The system works fine on the charger, and it does not bother me.
Weirdly enough, I cannot enable developer mode. It seems the CR50 does not like it. The system has been in developer mode before, but no changes to the CR50 were ever made. The machine has not been opened during that time, it was only opened once the battery gave out, and now that I am trying to get into dev mode.
Pressing keys on the recovery screen works. The tab menu shows I got to the menu via the recovery button (the key combination, which is true) and I can even change the language.
Pressing ctrl+d however, shows no response. An simple external USB keyboard shows the same: tab an arrow keys work, ctrl+d does not.
What can I do to make this system boot into an alternate OS?
Edit: Before one asks, I do not have a SuzyQ cable. I will only make one if it is necessary, as I do not have a breakout board to make one with. Replacing the battery also costs more than the system is worth, so that is also not a viable option. I am not opposed to breaking one of the batteries, as they are useless to me, and if that lets me spoof the battery charger, it is worth it to me. Thanks in advance to all the helpful people on this forum.
How would one flash via CR50? Could you give a link to the relevant page? I have edited the post, but i’ll repeat, I don’t own a SuzyQ cable and would like to avoid it if possible. The device still works fine in chromeOS, just does not want to enter dev mode. What do you think is bricked, the BMC, the CR50, or something else? Thanks in advance.
I have no idea what’s going on with your device. The standard procedure is to put the device in developer mode before removing the battery to disable WP. Some (most) devices can’t transition to developer mode without a working battery.
Regardless, you have two options: flash the board with a SuzyQ cable, or flash it with a USB programmer.
I initially read your response wrong. I guess I have to make a SuzyQ cable anyway. The ‘Unbricking’ article assumes the device is already in dev mode, can the steps also be performed on a separate machine? I only have an M1 macbook air, and a very old desktop running Debian 13. I do not own more chromebooks. There does exist a device override in device-db.sh, namely [“BABYMEGA*”]=“Asus Chromebook C223NA|APL|coral||”.
The unbricking steps make no assumption about what state the device is in. developer mode is irrelevant. since you are flashing the firmware directly. The only reason to put the device into developer mode is to flash the firmware from the device itself. when unbricking, you need another device running Linux to flash the brick device. if you’re using a suzyq, it can also now be done from WSL as well