I might have bricked my Chromebook and I don't understand what people are talking about

Support General Device Support
1

System Details

  • Device: Chromebook 3100 2-in-1
  • OS: ChromeOS
  • Firmware Type: UEFI Full ROM

Summary of the Issue

I’m very new to this so sorry if its an easy fix. I think I installed the UEFI full ROM Chromebox thing but after I restarted it my chromebook just displayed a black screen. I was following an instructional video and the guy doing it had the same problem and he fixed it by plugging his battery back in so I did that and it was still just a black screen. The chromebook power indicator still shows the chromebook as “on” even if its been unplugged for a long time so I’m pretty sure it’s not a hardware problem, but I’ve tried a hard reset and every other “fix” I could find so I really don’t know whats going on.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Run the utility script from the ChromeOS terminal

  2. Install UEFI Full ROM

  3. Restart the device

Expected Behavior

Its supposed to run something and boot differently (or at all) but I might have done something wrong. Thank you anyone for helping and sorry again for me being inexperienced in modding.

2

It sounds bricked, but you can probably save your device. Though I am by no means an expert. Couple of questions:

Why did you unplug the battery?

What is your board name?

How long did you wait for anything to change?

Have you got a backup version of the firmware?

Have you got logs of the script? Anything that may help with investigating what went wrong?

What commands exactly did you run?

Do you have a SuzyQ?

What I would try in the meantime:

  • Perform EC reset: Unbricking | MrChromebox.tech
  • get a SuzyQ, you can make one for cheap or buy one from e.g. fyralabs or ppl on ebay
  • follow the unbricking guide by Mr.Chrombox
3

Sorry it took so long to respond.

The video tutorial I was following said there was hardware protections against installing a new OS so I should unplug it and run it off the charging cord

I don’t know where it is so if you could tell me where to look that would be awesome

I have waited for at least 3 min cause I know it takes longer at the first start-up

Not that I know of unless its something I can download and install easy

I’m not sure how to get those and I doubt I could get them now unfortunately

If I remember right it was just “cd; curl -LOf https://mrchromebox.tech/firmware-util.sh && sudo bash firmware-util.sh” then ”Install/update UEFI (Full ROM) Firmware” and I think there was one more conformation or “safety concern” that I did

No but I wouldn’t mind buying one. I have heard you need linux to work it but I don’t know if thats true

I’ll try all the other things and get back to you. Thank you for your help and sorry for the inconvenience.

4

My apologies for taking some time to respond. I typically only have time once a day to check the forum.

If after 3mins nothing happens the machine is likely bricked.

Ideally you would have taken a backup copy of your firmware prior to flashing as a safety precaution. You can probably still recover, but having a backup copy that is known to work on hand is always good when flashing firmware, but this is for next time :slight_smile:

I would guess your boardname is probably `GRABBITER`. Again ideally you would check this beforehand or we could check backup firmware. The information is from here:

Double check this yourself! Are you sure it is a 2-in-1?

I would treat your device as bricked. Follow the instructions here:

I heavily recommend the SuzyQable/SuzyAdapter way. The cable interfaces with the security chip and enables you to reflash the firmware from the outside, the CH341 is probably more involved.

On another computer you can boot a live debian/ubuntu/ other linux distro and follow the instructions on the above link. I would recommmend to read the instructions carefully before starting. You can come back here with questions :slight_smile:

5

Thank you! It will probably take a few days for the SuzyQ adapter to arrive so I’ll let you know then how everything goes.

1 Like
6

Okay i got everything up and running until “Prepping to flash step 8 option 2” where it asks for a device-specific filename. How do I find that out? Can I do it even though my device is bricked?

7

nvm i think i got it

8

sorry I’ve run into another problem. I’m at the flashing step but I get errors whenever I try to flash

sudo flashrom -p raiden_debug_spi:target=AP -w coreboot_edk2-fleex-mrchromebox_20260517.rom.sha1 --ifd -i bios -N
flashrom v1.6.0 on Linux 7.0.0-15-generic (x86_64)
flashrom is free software, get the source code at https://flashrom.org

FISK: AP
Raiden target: 2,0
Raiden: Target SPI bridge is disabled (is WP enabled?)
Raiden: Error configuring protocol
    protocol       = 2
    status         = 0x00005
Error: Programmer initialization failed.

this is what I put in and get out

9

So several things: coreboot_edk2-fleex-mrchromebox_20260517.rom.sha1 is wrong!

You are flashing the sha1 sum! coreboot_edk2-fleex-mrchromebox_20260517.rom is correct.

Btw are you sure fleex is correct? My best guess was that your boardname is grabbiter. But the problem you are describing should not be related to that either way.

Ok it is asking you whether WP might be enabled…

Also: Unbricking/Flashing with a SuzyQable | MrChromebox.tech

My buest guess: Have a look at step 2, where it asks to disable software write protect. This write protection is stored in the flashchip. The TI50 security chip controls whether one can write to that. With the battery disconnected this should be possible.

If that is not it:

Have you disconnected the battery?

Have you activated ccd?

In essence are you sure you followed all the steps from the above link? Have you tried to follow them again?

10

PS: Sorry for taking some time to respond. Was very busy lately. I will check this forum again tomorrow.

11

Sorry this took so long I’ve been busy as well. I’ve tried to do everything again and everything you’ve suggested but now whenever I do I get “Programmer initialization failed” along with some other errors. From what I could tell this is a hardware issue but idk.

12

Can you use screen/ minicom or some other application to open the USBtty’s? Debugging | MrChromebox.tech

The CR50 has some output when it enables the spi bridge if I remember correctly. Also paste as much output as you have here!

This makes it easier to troubleshoot from a distance.

What makes you think it is a hardware failure?