Since this device is way past its AUE date, it’s stuck on a very old version of ChromeOS. As such, I would like to replace the OS with a lightweight distro like Lubuntu and get more mileage out of the device.
I have a friend who owns a computer repair shop and his engineer cant seem to figure out how to get this done. He is saying that the bootloader of the device is locked.
I have given him the following links to help him out
According to the Supported Devices page of the Chrultrabook Docs, your system’s board is known as STOUT. It looks like STOUT is able to have the write protect switched off using a key combo.
To quote that above chromium link:
You must first remove all power from the system, both the battery and the AC plug. Then when power is re-applied you have 20 seconds to enter recovery mode with the ESC+Refresh+Power button sequence.
In this system the removal of power sources will force the Embedded Controller to restart and stay in read-only code to ensure the recovery mode is secure.
To invoke Recovery mode, you hold down the ESC and Refresh (F3) keys and poke the Power button.
To enter Dev-mode you first invoke Recovery, and at the Recovery screen press Ctrl-D (there’s no prompt - you have to know to do it). It will ask you to confirm, then reboot into dev-mode.
Dev-mode works the same as always: It will show the scary boot screen and you need to press Ctrl-D or wait 30 seconds to continue booting.
Make sure the repair person reads through that specific part.
After they’re done getting to developer mode, have them follow along with the documentation instructions from this page onwards: