I've been running Linux on my Acer C720 since day one and I love it, but a recent series of events has left me locked out of it. I'd love to get it running again but I cannot figure out a way back in. I'll break down a short history and recent events.
- Acquired C720 and unlocked developer mode.
- Installed several flavors of Debian, completely removing ChromeOS from the SSD, eventually settling with Arch Linux.
- After enjoying Arch for a year decide to try out Qubes.
- Something fails during Qubes installation.
- Boot into a Debian live environment from USB. Debian cannot see my SSD.
- Try a few different distros from USB, but fdisk et al. cannot see my SSD.
Now I highly doubt that Qubes broke my SSD. It was probably already faulty but my Arch install was chugging along and not using the bad sectors. This is where I think I locked myself out, I don't remember the exact order of things but I re-enabled OS verification at the boot screen, and attempted to run the ChromeOS recovery from a USB. The ChromeOS recovery also failed. I put the SSD in my desktop and confirm that it was indeed dead.
So now I have a Chromebook with OS Verification enabled and no SSD to restore ChromeOS on. Bummer. But I figured I could try some things, so I booted into recovery mode with Esc-Refresh(f3)-Power and hit Ctrl+D at the Recovery Screen, success! I was able to disable OS Verification. But this has not solved my issue...
When I boot I can press Ctrl+D to be taken to a screen that tells me Chrome OS is missing or damaged and to insert a recovery USB. If I insert a USB loaded with Linux I am told "The device you inserted does not contain Chrome OS." I have no m.2 SSD to put into the chrome book to recover it and start the process from a virgin state.
What I'd like to do at this point is use the Chromebook running my OS from a USB stick, at least until I can afford a new SSD which will not be for some time. Is there any way for me to do this?