Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

My first attempt looked good at first and then failed in the end. I was able to set it to Developer Mode with the ESC, REFRESH key and POWER. Then CTRL+D plus ENTER to confirm. It rebooted and gave me this message

Your system last booted in Developer Mode.
Returning to Normal (Verified) Mode...
Upon completion, the system will reboot

then it rebooted back to ChromeOS

jp734 wrote: Tue Mar 11, 2025 9:13 pm

I was able to set it to Developer Mode with the ESC, REFRESH key and POWER. Then CTRL+D plus ENTER to confirm.

Next you should get a message about "OS verification off". Press CTRL+D.
Wait several minutes for restart > clock in upper left corner.
Press Ctrl+D > launches ChromeOS in developer mode.

If that doesn't happen, the machine may be locked down somehow and won't switch to Developer Mode.

Did you remove the jumper or screw on the motherboard of the chromebook?

The instructions are written on this page
https://docs.mrchromebox.tech/docs/supp ... ce-listing
________________________________________________

don570 wrote: Tue Mar 11, 2025 9:50 pm

Did you remove the jumper or screw on the motherboard of the chromebook?

The instructions are written on this page
https://docs.mrchromebox.tech/docs/supp ... ce-listing
________________________________________________

If this is an Apollolake machine, it doesn't have the jumper screw - it uses the battery method.

As a general rule, you should get into Developer Mode first, then remove the Write Protect.

@rcrsn51 - I did see the "OS Verification Off" before doing CTRL+D and hit ENTER to confirm. I did not see a clock on the upper left corner, It just went straight to booting ChromeOS.

I'm willing to give it another go. I doubt the result will be different though as I tried it twice already. I'll press CTRL+D anyways and see what happens

[EDIT] Pressing and holding CTRL+D as it boots DIDN'T WORK. It cleared the personal data and I'm now back like it's my time using/setting it up.

@jp734

You should not have to disable the write protect to do a basic RW-Legacy install

Here is what has worked on my CB's

-enable developer mode, press and hold: Esc + Refresh + power button
-When the Chrome OS is missing or damaged message shows up, press and hold: Ctrl + D
-Wait for reboot

-login as guest
-open a terminal, press: ctrl + alt + t
-type: shell
-press: enter

To download and run the script from the terminal/shell type:
cd; curl -LO mrchromebox.tech/firmware-util.sh && sudo bash firmware-util.sh
-press: enter

Note in -LO it is a capital "o"

wizard

@wizard

before loggin in as guest, should I this this message:

Your system last booted in Developer Mode.
Returning to Normal (Verified) Mode...
Upon completion, the system will reboot

because I see this every time it reboots after enabling developer mode

@jp734

Are you HOLDING ctrl + d while waiting for reboot?

wizard

I wasn't at first but after reading rcrsn51 post, I did and I got the message. I'll try to open the case and see if there is a cmos battery I can remove and see what happens

@jp734

No cmos bat, just disconnect the main battery, press and hold the power button for about 30 sec and then run from ac adapter to do procedure.

wizard

@jp734

Try this:

Have the Puppy USB stick plugged in before you boot.

When you get into developer mode.
Get the developer mode screen that gives warning "OS verification is off"
(Gives 30 seconds to give command or boots into Chrome OS).

Press keys ctrl-L

Press ESC (escape key) for boot menu.

Changes to the selection screen to choose which device to boot from.
USB is selected to boot Puppy on a USB flash drive.
Now booted to a running Puppy.

Note:
In developer mode pressing ctrl-D tells the computer to boot Chrome OS.

wizard wrote: Wed Mar 12, 2025 1:46 am

@jp734

No cmos bat, just disconnect the main battery, press and hold the power button for about 30 sec and then run from ac adapter to do procedure.

wizard

this is going to be an issue coz this hand me down chromebook did not come with the 45W PD.

bigpup wrote: Wed Mar 12, 2025 1:47 am

@jp734

Try this:

Have the Puppy USB stick plugged in before you boot.......

When you get into developer mode.
Get the developer mode screen that gives warning "OS verification is off"
(Gives 30 seconds to give command or boots into Chrome OS).

Press keys ctrl-L

Press ESC (escape key) for boot menu.

Changes to the selection screen to choose which device to boot from.
USB is selected to boot Puppy on a USB flash drive.
Now booted to a running Puppy.

Note:
In developer mode pressing ctrl-D tells the computer to boot Chrome OS.

Will do @bigpup. JP will be reporting back later on tonight

@jp734

this is going to be an issue coz this hand me down chromebook did not come with the 45W PD.

??? how are you keeping it charged?

wizard

Thanks to everyone for all the amazing work! I'm still struggling with an old Toshiba. It's not ARM, but it is a Toshiba. I have high hopes for Puppy on Chromebooks; people around here throw 'em away like Christmas cards. They hard reset easily, but then they're still Chromebooks that insist on an account, and Google makes me grind my teeth. If I learn anything you haven't covered, I'll post the details.

@eric52

You'll find these three sites useful.

The original and sometimes a little convoluted: https://docs.mrchromebox.tech/

Newer and easier to follow than mrchromebox: https://docs.chrultrabook.com/

Good for finding RW-Legacy for models mrchromebox no longer supports:
https://chromebook.bitejia.tech:8443/

wizard

wizard wrote: Wed Mar 12, 2025 8:40 pm

@jp734

this is going to be an issue coz this hand me down chromebook did not come with the 45W PD.

??? how are you keeping it charged?

wizard

@wizard - We just acquired this chromebook a couple of days ago and so far I've been using the battery and haven't tried charging it yet. Since you asked, I tried the one I have for work which is a Dell and it is working (charging right now "orange light") BUT when I tried powering it up without the battery connected and making sure everything else is connectes back, it wouldn't. What I noticed was a white blinking charging light 11X, then 1X, then 4X and back to 11X. Does this mean I would have to buy a genuine HP chromebook PD to get this to Developer mode?

@jp734

Mixing chargers can cause problems, if you want to continue using and experimenting would be advised to get the correct charger. Doesn't have to be "genuine", just needs to be rated for HP.

Go through the test here and post what you find.
https://docs.chrultrabook.com/docs/firm ... info.html

wizard

My Hp ChromeBook will use any power supply that is for HP laptops.

The issue is more about what the plug end of the cable (that plugs into the laptop) is shaped and what part of the plug provides the input power.

If you have a thrift shop that has stuff for sale people donate.

Usually they will have a big box of power supplies for different laptop computers, cell phones, tablets, etc.............

One marked for HP laptops should work.

These are usually very low price. Much less than a new one.

@bigpup @wizard - I went ahead and bought an adapter, brand new for $8.00 (not expensive as I thought), rated for this chromebook and should arrive tomorrow. Figured I'd wait for it to arrive before doing anything else. Will keep you posted. Thanks

@jp734 : Here is a video of a machine switching to developer mode. Note the LONG wait with the spinner in the middle of the screen and the timer in the top left corner. Have you ever seen this screen when you did the switch?

After this finally completes, the machine will reboot. Press Ctrl+D. You are now in developer mode.

@rcrsn51 - No I did not see anything like that. After I confirmed I want Developer Mode it rebooted and gave this message:

Your system last booted in Developer Mode.
Returning to Normal (Verified) Mode...
Upon completion, the system will reboot

and that's it. I'm beginning to think you are correct and this is locked. But I am not able to power it up yet without the battery connected. Tried it with a Dell PD which was a fail so will see tomorrow if I will get a different result once I receive the HP rated PD. Crossing fingers

@bigpup @wizard @rcrsn51

Good day fellas. Power adapter came in, hit CTRL, REFRESH + POWER using the adapter without the battery connected and it gave me what I think is the final blow to this attempt. Error message on top left of screen read:

Developer mode is disabled on this device by system policy
for more information, see http://dev.chromium.org/chromium-os/fwmp

read only firmware id: Google_Snappy.9042.195.0
active firmware id: Google_Snappy.9042.253.0
TPM state: v=1 failed tries=0 max_tries=200

on the middle of the screen:

OS verification is OFF
Press ENTER to confirm you wish to turn OS verification on
You system will reboot and local data will be cleared

I hit enter and got this:

Chrome OS is missing or damaged
Please remove all connected devices and start recovery

I think I got that last message because the battery was not connected. As soon as I connected the battery, everything is back to normal. I'm going to visit the site mentioned above but I'm not getting my hopes high on this one anymore. If something can be disabled, it means it can also be enabled but a user id and password are most likely needed to do it which I don't have.

When you get this:

OS verification is OFF
Press ENTER to confirm you wish to turn OS verification on
You system will reboot and local data will be cleared

DO NOT PRESS ENTER!!!!
You do not want OS verification on
It needs to stay off!!!

At this point you want to do this:

Press keys ctrl-L

Press ESC (escape key) for boot menu.

Changes to the selection screen to choose which device to boot from.
USB is selected to boot Puppy on a USB flash drive.
Now booted to a running Puppy.

Note:
Puppy is not ChromeOS.
OS verification off allows a different OS, other than ChromeOS, to boot the computer.