On Thursday, 26 March 2026 at 8:15 PM, Preston Maness <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 3/25/26 3:42 AM, Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming wrote: > > I had bought refurbished/second hand/used Edxis Chromebook model LI9 with > > Intel Celeron N3450 processor, 4 GB RAM, 32 GB eMMC, Windows 11 Pro and > > Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013 for SGD$85 at Siglap MRT station > > exit 2 > > TEL line on 24 Mar 2026 Tuesday at about 7.15 pm in the evening. > > > > The Edxis Chromebook has MrChromebox-2512.2 01/25/2026 UEFI firmware, which > > allows users to install operating systems other than ChromeOS, like Linux > > and Windows. At the top of the BIOS screen, it says "CTL Chromebook NL7/NL7T > > (Blacktip)". > > Looking through the MrChromebox organization on Github, it seems that > sound issues are a recurrent problem: > > https://github.com/MrChromebox/firmware/issues/334 > > >this isn't a system firmware issue, it's a complex mix of > kernel/driver/alsa/dsp firmware. I'm not aware of any way to get audio > working on SKL/KBL devices under Linux when using a recent kernel > > This indicates that at least some permutations of device and software > are not compatible with MrChromebox. The first thing I would do is > figure out if MrChromebox is actually supported for your particular device. > > https://docs.mrchromebox.tech/docs/supported-devices.html > > In particular, there is this notice: > > >Your device's board name is what determines if it's supported or not > -- not the make, model, CPU, or anything else. The only thing that > matters is the name, so use that when determining support in the table > below (or for anything else really). > > You can find the board name by looking at the HWID: > > >The board name is listed at the bottom of both the Recovery Mode and > Developer Mode screens -- it's the first part of the hardware ID (HWID), > before any spaces or hyphens. > > You mention that the device you bought has a N3450 processor. That > processor is part of the Apollolake family of Intel processors. There > are some Edxis products listed as supported under the Apollolake family. > However, given the disclaimer, that alone doesn't mean that the device > you have is supported. > > However, supposing it is supported, then there *might* be some helpful > guidance found in the Linux Mint forums: > > https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?p=2282933#chromebooks > > >If you have an Apollo Lake Chromebook (such as product name Babytiger > / ASUS CX1500CN Chromebook), the instructions in the following Reddit > post by MrChromebox has worked for a number of people HOWTO: Audio on > Apollolake devices under Linux. > > The reddit post: > > https://www.reddit.com/r/chrultrabook/comments/uc0b6i/howto_audio_on_apollolake_devices_under_linux/ > > has details, presumably from the developer of MrChromebox, that might > get sound working, assuming that your particular board is in fact > otherwise supported by MrChromebox. There is a list of instructions in > that Reddit thread. > > There is also mention in that thread of more recent tricks for getting > sound working with something called Chrultrabook. Apparently a > chrultrabook is "a modified Chromebook designed to run Windows, Linux, > or even macOS by utilizing MrChromebox coreboot firmware and custom > CoolStar drivers." > > Given that you mentioned CoolStar drivers in a later reply, this area > might also be fruitful for searching for answers. There is a "fixing > audio" section of its install guide: > > https://docs.chrultrabook.com/docs/installing/installing-linux.html#fixing-audio > > Which mentions a script for fixing or setting up audio. > > Finally, from your more recent reply, > > >I have tried everything suggested by ChatGPT and Google AI but > everything I have tried fails. > > This is going to complicate things considerably. Running random commands > that a stochastic parrot generated is a surefire way to mess up your > system. I strongly recommend starting from scratch if possible by first > re-installing Debian and then > > 1. Trying to follow the instructions about fixing audio in the > aforementioned chrultrabook.com URL. If that works, great. If not, > 2. Try following the instructions in the reddit thread (a cursory glance > at the python script from chrultrabook *appears* to show that it > automatically tries what these instructions do during the course of its > execution, so... might not be all that helpful if the chrultrabook > script fails). > > Best of luck. > > -- > In Solidarity, > Preston Maness > 512-955-1048 > https://keyoxide.org/79895B2E0F87503F1DDE80B649765D7F0DDD9BD5 > > Dear Preston, Thank you for your reply and detailed research. I have tried the reddit guide. It doesn't work. No audio. I have also tried the WeirdTreeThing's chromebook-linux-audio python script. Please see below. root@debian:~/chromebook-linux-audio# ./setup-audio --force-avs-install Detecting platform Detected Intel Apollolake WARNING: Your device has max98357a and can cause permanent damage to your speakers if you set the volume too loud! Type "I understand the risk of permanently damaging my speakers" in all caps to continue: I UNDERSTAND THE RISK OF PERMANENTLY DAMAGING MY SPEAKERS Enabling AVS driver Installing UCM configuration Cloning into '/tmp/alsa-ucm-conf-cros'... remote: Enumerating objects: 117, done. remote: Counting objects: 100% (117/117), done. remote: Compressing objects: 100% (80/80), done. remote: Total 117 (delta 35), reused 96 (delta 30), pack-reused 0 (from 0) Receiving objects: 100% (117/117), 20.81 KiB | 6.94 MiB/s, done. Resolving deltas: 100% (35/35), done. Checking kernel config for 6.19.6+deb13-amd64 Detecting codecs Found max98357a Found da7219 Warning: Kernel is missing module 'SND_SOC_INTEL_AVS_MACH_MAX98357A', audio may not work. Increasing alsa headroom (fixes instability) Initializing sound card Audio setup finished! Reboot to complete setup. If you still have any issues post-reboot, report them to https://github.com/WeirdTreeThing/chromebook-linux-audio If this script has been helpful for you and you would like to support the work I do, consider donating to https://paypal.me/weirdtreething First of all, for the max98357a audio chip, increasing the volume too loud may permanently damage and blow the internal speakers of the Edxis Chromebook. Secondly, I don't have the SND_SOC_INTEL_AVS_MACH_MAX98357A kernel module on my Debian 13.4.0 with Linux Kernel 6.19.6. Recompiling the Linux kernel from source to include the SND_SOC_INTEL_AVS_MACH_MAX98357A kernel module is too tedious, troublesome, too much work and time consuming. And there is no guarantee of success, that is, getting the audio to work on my Edxis Chromebook model LI9 with Debian 13.4.0 KDE Plasma. I can already playback high quality 4K videos on VLC media player smoothly and playback YouTube videos on Google Chrome web browser smoothly, albeit with no audio. Right now I am thinking of buying a super cheap USB Audio (Digital) speakers without any 3.5 mm audio jack (USB Type A). I will also probably buy a cheap USB Type A to USB Type C converter for SGD$3. I think this is the best solution for now. If I want to get internal audio working, I will probably have to revert to Windows 11 Pro with CoolStar audio drivers. Even if I try out all the few thousand Linux distros in the world, I will still not be able to get the audio on my Edxis Chromebook to work. Thank you for your in-depth guidance. Regards, Mr. Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming Extremely Democratic People's Republic of Singapore 26 Mar 2026 Thursday 11.25 pm Singapore Time
