[Matt Devo]

Hi everybody,
First off, thanks for the effort Matt
Unfortunately I hit a wall. I followed the steps to install OpenELEC in a dual boot config with chromeOS but I am stuck at booting from hard disk...
I ran the script three or four times but to no avail.
I tried installing OE manually but when I did it only showed the entire ssd as target for the install and I did not want to wipe my ChromeOS installation.
Any advice for me please?
Thanks

well, I thought I had fixed this, but apparently not. I can't explain why some people are having issues and not others. I'll need someone who is still experiencing the issue to walk thru a few things with me so we can get to the bottom of this.

installing OE "manually" only allows you to use the entire drive, as that's what it's intended for. It also won't work unless you flash my updated firmware since the stock firmware is buggy and incompatible with the version of the bootloader (syslinux) that OE uses

Oh, and one more thing, assuming that it won't work or I won't like it, how do you go back to leaving the whole 16gb to the ChromeOS install? Thanks

Use the google recovery media tool as per the Factory Reset option in the wiki

[teki4u]

Matt I have a question, can we install and run OpenElec from a USB stick, like some people do with raspi or nuc's?

[gixie]

Hi Veronica,
You can run it off USB and you can install it as well, but it will use the whole ssd.

---

@matt,
So what can I do? Tell me if I can help in any way to find the problem...

[amcmoe]

I'm stuck at the "Booting from Hard Disk..." screen as well after having run the script several times without any luck. I'll help with the troubleshooting if let me know what you need me to do.

[Matt Devo]

I'm stuck at the "Booting from Hard Disk..." screen as well after having run the script several times without any luck. I'll help with the troubleshooting if let me know what you need me to do.

When did you first run the script? If it wasn't late yesterday (5/30) with v2.6, then you need to do a factory reset as per the wiki, then install again with the current version. I have confirmation now from 3 people that this fixed the issue for them.

---

Matt I have a question, can we install and run OpenElec from a USB stick, like some people do with raspi or nuc's?

edit: you can, with two USB sticks, one for the installer, and the other to be installed to. You can do this on any PC/Mac. If you're running my Coreboot firmware, everything will work out of the box. If you're using the stock firmware + updated legacy BIOS/SeaBIOS, you'll need to manually downgrade the bootloader (syslinux) from v 6.0.2 to v5.10. You can either download syslinux and manually install it to the USB stick via the command line, or use a tool like BootICE that will do it for you. But that's kinda outside of the scope of this script

[amcmoe]

I actually did it this morning (5/31) and got stuck at the Booting from Hard Disk screen. I'll do a factory reset and give it another try.

[Matt Devo]

I actually did it this morning (5/31) and got stuck at the Booting from Hard Disk screen. I'll do a factory reset and give it another try.

Then it sounds like you have a different problem unfortunately. Hit me up on Google chat/hangouts and I'll see what I can do

[gixie]

Guys, if you manage to get it to work, I want to know as well...thanks

[amcmoe]

@matt, thanks for offering to help, I appreciate it. I actually got it to work last night. I'm not sure if this had anything to do with it, but when I originally ran the script, I did it as a "Guest" on ChromeOS and it ended up not working even after several tries. I noticed ChromeOS showed zero bytes free and also wouldn't let me create the recovery media if I was signed in as a Guest but would work fine if I signed into my Google account. On the second try, I signed into my Google account, made the recovery media, and did a factory reset/recovery, then I signed into my Google account instead of as a Guest to run the script it worked flawlessly. I have no idea if that was actually the cause of it, or if something glitched on the first try but doing it that way + the factory reset did the trick.

[Matt Devo]

@matt, thanks for offering to help, I appreciate it. I actually got it to work last night. I'm not sure if this had anything to do with it, but when I originally ran the script, I did it as a "Guest" on ChromeOS and it ended up not working even after several tries. I noticed ChromeOS showed zero bytes free and also wouldn't let me create the recovery media if I was signed in as a Guest but would work fine if I signed into my Google account. On the second try, I signed into my Google account, made the recovery media, and did a factory reset/recovery, then I signed into my Google account instead of as a Guest to run the script it worked flawlessly. I have no idea if that was actually the cause of it, or if something glitched on the first try but doing it that way + the factory reset did the trick.

the first step of the instructions explicitly says *not* to log into ChromeOS; looks like I'll need to make this part more clear.

[gixie]

Hi all
I got it to work. Did a factory reset, ran the script twice WITHOUT even logging into ChromeOS once and...it worked.
Thanks Matt for the hard work.

[Matt Devo]

Hi all
I got it to work. Did a factory reset, ran the script twice WITHOUT even logging into ChromeOS once and...it worked.
Thanks Matt for the hard work.

Glad to hear that we seem to have a solution that works for everyone now

[levendis]

The script worked beautifully - thank you for all your amazing work, Matt! Are you accepting donations?

Question for everyone here: I’m now trying to decide what physical remote to get for this. (The apps are nice, but not as quick or intuitive for play/pause, menu navigation, etc.) I would love to use my Boxee box remote, because of its ease of use + keyboard, but can’t find any USB receivers for it. So what’s the next best thing? I have it narrowed down to:

1. Flirc with my TV remote or older Sony universal remote (versatile, but needs to be line-of-sight and has some reported issues with the Chromebox)

2. A Sony PS3 bluetooth remote (no need for a USB receiver, but maybe connectivity issues?)

3. A Microsoft MCE remote + receiver

Any strong recommendations for one of these over the others? Is bluetooth better than IR? I’ve searched other threads, but am looking for a recommendation particular to the chromebox, which doesn’t have built-in IR. Harmony remotes seem nice, but much more expensive than I'm looking to spend right now.

EDIT: The XBox One Media Remote seems like what I'm looking for - small and simple, but enough buttons for XBMC. Is a Flirc the best way to use that with the Chromebox? Are there any better remotes like that?

[rukusx7]

This is my setup.

I've used Matt's script to install the coreboot firmware.
Make a Linux Mint 17 live USB elsewhere.
I followed this guide to optimize my install of Linux Mint for SSD.
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/ssd
Install Linux Mint 17 as from live usb.
Apply your SSD tweaks
I then added this ppa for updated linux drivers.
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates and then, sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
I then Followed this guide to update to the latest stable 3.14.* kernel, which has optimizations for Intel Haswell.
http://www.yourownlinux.com/2014/06/how-...linux.html
I also followed this guide that allows you to change the governor from "performance" to "powersave" (and optionally thermald
http://www.webupd8.org/2014/04/prevent-y...ating.html
Install XBMC
Make a new user for your computer called xbmc. Set him to login automatically at boot into the XBMC session. reboot. Should boot into XBMC in under 20 secs.

You now have a fully functioning Linux computer that also acts as an XBMC appliance. Should note that for smooth 1080p playback, video decoding must be set to SOFTWARE uner xbmc video playback.. Shaders can be hardware or whatever you wish. To enable wifi, exit xbmc to login to your desktop and in network options, you can change settings to allow any user to connect to your protected wifi networks. To make a note, Setting powersave as governor will still ramp up to full frequency as required, and will keep your box cool when idling, Just how your cellphone works. To update the coreboot firmware, I put ChromiumOS on a USB stick and did my work from there.

I'm not much of a guide writing person, so I hope this helps.

Good luck and enjoy!

[MrCrispy]

This is my setup.

I've used Matt's script to install the coreboot firmware.
Make a Linux Mint 17 live USB elsewhere.
I followed this guide to optimize my install of Linux Mint for SSD.
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/ssd
Install Linux Mint 17 as from live usb.
Apply your SSD tweaks
I then added this ppa for updated linux drivers.
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates and then, sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
I then Followed this guide to update to the latest stable 3.14.* kernel, which has optimizations for Intel Haswell.
http://www.yourownlinux.com/2014/06/how-...linux.html
I also followed this guide that allows you to change the governor from "performance" to "powersave" (and optionally thermald
http://www.webupd8.org/2014/04/prevent-y...ating.html
Install XBMC
Make a new user for your computer called xbmc. Set him to login automatically at boot into the XBMC session. reboot. Should boot into XBMC in under 20 secs.

You now have a fully functioning Linux computer that also acts as an XBMC appliance. Should note that for smooth 1080p playback, video decoding must be set to SOFTWARE uner xbmc video playback.. Shaders can be hardware or whatever you wish. To enable wifi, exit xbmc to login to your desktop and in network options, you can change settings to allow any user to connect to your protected wifi networks. To make a note, Setting powersave as governor will still ramp up to full frequency as required, and will keep your box cool when idling, Just how your cellphone works. To update the coreboot firmware, I put ChromiumOS on a USB stick and did my work from there.

I'm not much of a guide writing person, so I hope this helps.

Good luck and enjoy!

Thanks, lot of helpful info in there. As someone not too familiar with Linux this does seem a bit daunting. Are there any benefits to running a full Linux distro vs OpenElec if I don't plan to use the box as a pc? Also I don't understand why video decoding has to be software, isn't the whole point to use the gpu for all decoding?