Can't Launch VT2 console from login screen

Support
1

I’m trying to install linux on an older chromebook that has reached end of life. The HWID starts with CELES. For some reason I cannot launch the VT2 console from the login screen. I don’t see an F2 key on the chromebook keyboard, but I tried as others suggested and pressed Ctrl+Alt+Left Arrow and repeated with Right Arrow, Refresh and every key on the keyboard. I also tried this with both the left and right set of Ctrl+Alt. I even attached another keyboard to the Chromebook hoping that a dedicated F2 key might help but it did not. Is there something else I can try/do to trigger the VT2 console? Could this be a result of me removing the write protect screw (which I did while attempting to follow another set of instructions.)

Any help would be appreciated, thanks. I really hate to see a useful piece of hardware be wasted like this.

2

Have you enabled Developer Mode?

Since the latest version of ChromeOS on celes is <117 you can just run the script from crosh shell, no VT2 console necessary.

Please carefully read https://docs.mrchromebox.tech, the authoritative source for everything you need to know about flashing firmware.

3

Dammit. I am so sorry. For some reason I was conflating turning off write-protect with enabling developer mode. I’ve done that now and was able to launch the shell. Thank you for your kind help.

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