Acer CB3-111 Chromebook
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Disabling the hardware write protection
- Unscrew all 12 screws on the back of the chromebook and use your finger or a spudger to remove the back, being careful not to rip the ribbon cable attached to both sides.
- Remove the big flat screw near the wireless NIC. Picture
- Verify that hardware write is disabled by typing the following commands in crosh (
Ctrl+Alt+T
)
shell sudo su flashrom --wp-disable flashrom --wp-status
- The output should include
WP: write protect is disabled
Boot into SeaBIOS
- With the white "OS verification disabled" page on the screen, hit
Ctrl+L
to boot into SeaBios.
Boot into ChromeOS
Warning: You will only be able to boot into ChromeOS if you have not formatted the internal SSD (for example, installed Arch to a USB drive)
- With the white "OS verification disabled" page on the screen, hit
Ctrl+D
to continue to boot ChromeOS.
Installation Media
Since the CB3-111 only has a 16GB (non-upgradeable) eMMC drive, it may be a good idea to install Arch Linux on a fast USB 3.0 drive rather than the internal drive. This will allow you to boot into ChromeOS as well as Arch Linux. Make sure to use a fast drive, since not just any drive will provide a comfortable experience.
Post Installation Configuration
For information on general Chromebook post installation configuration (hotkeys, power key handling ...) see the Post installation configuration on the Chromebook page.