[Matt Devo]

Matt, I'm just wondering...does the coreboot firmware have some sort of code restricting windows 7 from being installed? I'm looking at finding a stop-gap solution for the box until Intel devs get something out. I am getting far too many issues with crashing* and video freezes.

*Incidentally, what I once assumed was a hard crash is actually dropping out to the console (ctrl-alt-f2) and a ctrl-alt-f1 will pull openelec back up...still this is a very strange issue that I don't see anyone else reporting.

Anyway, while I appreciate the currently available setup...I'm left wondering why (seemingly) nobody is working toward a functional windows installation. Is it even probable in your opinion? With so many driver issues under linux it seems like a logical progression.

Windows 7 will likely never work due to firmware/BIOS requirements (ie, workarounds) that are not implemented in Coreboot. Windows 8 works fine, but does not output multi-channel (on the celeron model) audio over HDMI due to a driver limitation.

[jsp1]

Matt, I'm just wondering...does the coreboot firmware have some sort of code restricting windows 7 from being installed? I'm looking at finding a stop-gap solution for the box until Intel devs get something out. I am getting far too many issues with crashing* and video freezes.

*Incidentally, what I once assumed was a hard crash is actually dropping out to the console (ctrl-alt-f2) and a ctrl-alt-f1 will pull openelec back up...still this is a very strange issue that I don't see anyone else reporting.

Anyway, while I appreciate the currently available setup...I'm left wondering why (seemingly) nobody is working toward a functional windows installation. Is it even probable in your opinion? With so many driver issues under linux it seems like a logical progression.

Windows 7 will likely never work due to firmware/BIOS requirements (ie, workarounds) that are not implemented in Coreboot. Windows 8 works fine, but does not output multi-channel (on the celeron model) audio over HDMI due to a driver limitation.

Thank you for clarification. So, does it support multi-channel audio over hdmi on the i3?

[Matt Devo]

Thank you for clarification. So, does it support multi-channel audio over hdmi on the i3?

That's what has been reported, on the Gigabyte Brix as well. Don't have a HDMI receiver here to test

[jsp1]

Interesting. I wonder if the graphics driver would be an issue with xbmc run under crouton. Has anyone tried that out, care to report? I know I'm off topic so that will be my last post on the subject.

[daruler557]

Hello Matt,

I followed the instructions and everything seemed to work until I was trying to load Openelec from USB. It starts up and I hit ESC to enter the boot menu, then I select the USB drive and hit enter. The monitor then goes to inactive and turns off, leaving the chromebox running, but not doing anything.

Do you have any idea what I am doing wrong?

Chromebox M004U

sounds like there's an issue with your USB installation media. Can you try using another USB stick? Just download the latest OpenELEC, extract, and run their create installstick utility. For best results, make sure your USB device has a single FAT32 partition on it.

OE download: http://openelec.tv/get-openelec/download...load/8/353

Thanks Matt. I tried it again when I got home from work and it worked fine (hdmi). I was trying it with one of my extra monitors at work (displayport) and I think there was some issue with the cable/connection because when I tried it with HDMI it worked perfectly.

Thanks again!

---

Hello Matt,

I followed the instructions and everything seemed to work until I was trying to load Openelec from USB. It starts up and I hit ESC to enter the boot menu, then I select the USB drive and hit enter. The monitor then goes to inactive and turns off, leaving the chromebox running, but not doing anything.

Do you have any idea what I am doing wrong?

Chromebox M004U

sounds like there's an issue with your USB installation media. Can you try using another USB stick? Just download the latest OpenELEC, extract, and run their create installstick utility. For best results, make sure your USB device has a single FAT32 partition on it.

OE download: http://openelec.tv/get-openelec/download...load/8/353

Thanks Matt. I tried it again when I got home from work and it worked fine (hdmi). I was trying it with one of my extra monitors at work (displayport) and I think there was some issue with the cable/connection because when I tried it with HDMI it worked perfectly.

Thanks again!

[HTeePeeSee]

Matt, I followed the instructions I thought to the letter a few weeks ago, installing the standalone firmware followed by Openelec and then Ubuntu. For some reason XBMC will not output HDMI audio using any driver.

I thought maybe I would revert back to stock and try to load XBMC from there, but I can't.

When I boot now, my system appears to hang at a black screen for quite a while, but then proceeds to load up Ubuntu.

I can't for the life of me get it to stop booting and recognize a USB stick in the drive. Any advice on what I could do from within Ubuntu or otherwise to get back to stock?

I would mostly prefer to run OpenElec but again, no HDMI audio makes this useless for XBMC duties for me.

Thanks much for your great work and help.

[trick420]

Matt, I followed the instructions I thought to the letter a few weeks ago, installing the standalone firmware followed by Openelec and then Ubuntu. For some reason XBMC will not output HDMI audio using any driver.

I thought maybe I would revert back to stock and try to load XBMC from there, but I can't.

When I boot now, my system appears to hang at a black screen for quite a while, but then proceeds to load up Ubuntu.

I can't for the life of me get it to stop booting and recognize a USB stick in the drive. Any advice on what I could do from within Ubuntu?

Thanks much for your great work and help.

If you can't get it to offer the boot selection menu, then you likely have a bum USB drive. I had one that wouldn't be recognized and had a similar problem. I would suggest first going and getting a new drive and trying that.

Also, it would be worth your time to buy an inexpensive Displayport to HDMI cable - early on I had an issue where the BIOS menu would output to the Displayport but the GUI would output to the HDMI port. Matt has long since fixed this, but if you have some strange case going on here it may help you to recover.

Jeff

[HTeePeeSee]

Matt, I followed the instructions I thought to the letter a few weeks ago, installing the standalone firmware followed by Openelec and then Ubuntu. For some reason XBMC will not output HDMI audio using any driver.

I thought maybe I would revert back to stock and try to load XBMC from there, but I can't.

When I boot now, my system appears to hang at a black screen for quite a while, but then proceeds to load up Ubuntu.

I can't for the life of me get it to stop booting and recognize a USB stick in the drive. Any advice on what I could do from within Ubuntu?

Thanks much for your great work and help.

If you can't get it to offer the boot selection menu, then you likely have a bum USB drive. I had one that wouldn't be recognized and had a similar problem. I would suggest first going and getting a new drive and trying that.

Also, it would be worth your time to buy an inexpensive Displayport to HDMI cable - early on I had an issue where the BIOS menu would output to the Displayport but the GUI would output to the HDMI port. Matt has long since fixed this, but if you have some strange case going on here it may help you to recover.

Jeff

Thanks, Jeff.

Actually, I just realized I could run Matt's script in Ubuntu terminal since it does in fact boot up. I tried to update coreboot using option 5 and get the following error message:

3Tfu5W: line 212: flashrom: command not found
An error occurred flashing the coreboot firmware, DO NOT REBOOT!

Did I goof? Should I in fact not reboot?

[Matt Devo]

Actually, I just realized I could run Matt's script in Ubuntu terminal since it does in fact boot up. I tried to update coreboot using option 5 and get the following error message:

3Tfu5W: line 212: flashrom: command not found
An error occurred flashing the coreboot firmware, DO NOT REBOOT!

Did I goof? Should I in fact not reboot?

since your system doesn't have the necessary flashrom executable, nothing was written to the firmware chip, so everything is fine.

You need to run the script from either ChromeOS or ChromiumOS in order to update the firmware.

[HTeePeeSee]

Actually, I just realized I could run Matt's script in Ubuntu terminal since it does in fact boot up. I tried to update coreboot using option 5 and get the following error message:

3Tfu5W: line 212: flashrom: command not found
An error occurred flashing the coreboot firmware, DO NOT REBOOT!

Did I goof? Should I in fact not reboot?

since your system doesn't have the necessary flashrom executable, nothing was written to the firmware chip, so everything is fine.

You need to run the script from either ChromeOS or ChromiumOS in order to update the firmware.

OK. How can I reload when my USB stick isn't getting recognized? Should I just keep trying different sticks? I've tried three so far I believe.

When I reboot, I see nothing but a black screen until Ubuntu loads, whether USB sticks are inserted or not.

[Matt Devo]

OK. How can I reload when my USB stick isn't getting recognized? Should I just keep trying different sticks? I've tried three so far I believe.

When I reboot, I see nothing but a black screen until Ubuntu loads, whether USB sticks are inserted or not.

how do you know if it's getting recognized or not if you can't see the boot menu? USB hasn't been the default boot for a little while now.

if you're not seeing the boot menu, you need to hit ESC, then 2 before Ubuntu loads to boot from USB. I'd hit ESC then 2 repeatedly until you get the timing correct

[HTeePeeSee]

OK. How can I reload when my USB stick isn't getting recognized? Should I just keep trying different sticks? I've tried three so far I believe.

When I reboot, I see nothing but a black screen until Ubuntu loads, whether USB sticks are inserted or not.

how do you know if it's getting recognized or not if you can't see the boot menu? USB hasn't been the default boot for a little while now.

if you're not seeing the boot menu, you need to hit ESC, then 2 before Ubuntu loads to boot from USB. I'd hit ESC then 2 repeatedly until you get the timing correct

I keep trying that, doesn't seem to be working. This is going to sound silly, but do you know about how many seconds after power-on I should hit Esc, and then 2?

I ordered a DisplayPort to HDMI cable from Monoprice so maybe that will at least let me see a boot menu, but not today.

Thanks again Matt.

Edit: Jackpot! I got it to work this time. I had been mashing Esc then 2, and repeating Esc. Esc then 2, 2, 2, 2, did it.

Chromium OS booting up!

[Matt Devo]

Edit: Jackpot! I got it to work this time. I had been mashing Esc then 2, and repeating Esc. Esc then 2, 2, 2, 2, did it.

Chromium OS booting up!

so now just download/run the script and install as before

[tarataqa]

seems like about 20% (number pulled straight from my butt) of people run into this issue with the OpenELEC dual boot option, and I've been unable to determine the cause. For almost all of them, performing a factory reset as described in section 1.3 of the wiki, followed by a full re-install of OpenELEC, seems to fix the issue. I have no idea what's different the 2nd time, or why a reset clears up the issue.

Seems like I'm one of the "20%". Guess that'll all have to wait till tomorrow now.

so just do a factory reset and try again

I was one of the 20% too! Thanks for the advice and this awesome script. Worked like a charm. Now smoothly playing full 1080p blurays with DTS-MA on the celeron with Openelec. Never goes over 20% CPU.
It sure beats my old Asus ION.

[HTeePeeSee]

Edit: Jackpot! I got it to work this time. I had been mashing Esc then 2, and repeating Esc. Esc then 2, 2, 2, 2, did it.

Chromium OS booting up!

so now just download/run the script and install as before

Working on it, thanks Matt. I hit Ctrl-Alt-F2 to get to the command prompt while ChromiumOS is loading, but when I try to login I get:

localhost login:

When I type "chronos" and enter it asks for password, I hit enter, and get

Login Incorrect

Any ideas?

Edit: Google to the rescue. Apparently for the build of Chromium OS I downloaded, the username is 'chronos' and password is 'password'

Off I go again...