Update: This guide is now outdated, please head over to ROM Download for sections 4-5
I figured I’d make a guide since it took me so long to figure this out. Please note that doing this will void your warranty, and I am not responsible if you manage to brick your device. If I accidentally excluded any steps, PLEASE let me know.
Optional Step: Backup ChromeOS##
For this step you are going to need either a USB stick or an SD card that is at least 4 GB. Insert your flash drive and type Chrome://imageburner in your browser. It should take to a page that says “Create Recovery Media”. It should detect the flash drive you have plugged in. Press the “OK” button under “USB Memory Stick Detected”. This will wipe your flash drive clean, and place a recovery image on it in case you ever want to reinstall ChromeOS.
Step 1: Enable Developer Mode
Please don’t hit space bar !
Step 2: Disable write protection (Warning: This will void your warranty!!)
To disable write protection, you are going to have to take off the bottom panel. You will need a small Phillips head screwdriver. Unscrew every screw that you see on the bottom of the laptop. Next you will have to remove the bottom panel. It’s a little difficult to remove the first time, and you may have to use a small flat head screw driver to loosen it up a bit. Once you remove the panel, you’ll find the motherboard underneath. The screw you need to remove is the largest screw on the motherboard, located near the center of the bottom of the motherboard. Underneath it you’ll see raised metal tabs. If if you don’t see that, then you’ve removed the wrong screw. After placing the bottom panel back on, start up your computer.
To check if you have write protection disabled, open up crosh with CTRL + ALT + T. Type shell. Now enter the following command : **sudo flashrom --wp-status **
If you successfully disabled write protection, then it’ll say something along the lines of Write-protection: Disabled.
Step 3: Enabling Legacy and USB Boot
This step is pretty simple. In that same shell that you just opened type the following commands:
sudo crossystem dev_boot_legacy=1
sudo crossystem dev_boot_usb=1
This will allow you to boot from a USB drive and will allow for legacy booting.
Step 4: Acquire necessary files [old]
Link Down, please see top of page
Step 5: Flash Bios [old]
This is the dangerous part. Still got that shell open? type the following command:
**cd ~/Downloads/ **
That will take you to the directory that the custom bios file is in. After that you’ll want to type the command below to flash the bios:
sudo flashrom -w -i RW_LEGACY:seabios-auron-240415.cbfs
It’ll take a few seconds, but it should eventually say something along the lines of flash or firmware update successful. If you’ve survived this, then you are in the home stretch.
Step 6: Make SeaBios default
Just type the following command in the shell prompt:
sudo /usr/share/vboot/bin/set_gbb_flags.sh 0x489
Step 7: Prepare Linux USB Drive
You need another computer for this part. Download your distro of choice, and use either Rufus (Windows) or DD on Linux to prepare it.
Step 8: Boot USB and install
At the boot menu press escape, and then press 2. This will make the Chromebook boot off of your USB drive. If it says something like unable to load glx, then just type help and then enter. You should be booted into Linux now. Either install the Linux distro alongside ChromeOS, or completely wipe your disk clean and make Linux your only OS. Your choice.
Step 9: Reboot and relax
It’ll take a few seconds, but it should eventually boot you into whatever Linux distro you installed. Now sit back and relax while staring at linux on that gorgeous 1080p display.