Chromebox CXI3(DT.Z0UEH.002) Fails to boot ish or display output just doesn't seem to work,12 boxes.

roodavis · February 11

Well, so far it has been hit or miss for me on reformatting the SSD as a solution.

I have reformatted the SSD and then successfully restored the latest ChromeOS on three devices. I have three others that act like they are restoring, get to the screen that states that the restore is complete and instructs me to remove the restore media and the device will restart and complete the process. Then I am back to square one, no video. On occasion the screen will flash “Critical updates are being installed, do not restart or disconnect the power…”, then the device reboots several times on it’s own. Sometimes it finishes the restore. I re-enroll the device, then check for available updates. It updates and restarts, sometimes all is good and sometimes … aww poop, back to square one.

Sometimes a power cycle completes the process. Sometimes I rinse and repeat. All I can think about is the famous quote: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results".

MHi · February 14

Greetings from France and a quick update and maybe an easy "half of a fix". I am under ChromeOS 132.0.6834.206 with an HDMI to VGA screen and still had big issues with my ACER CXi3. Here is what I did the "very dummy" way :

Shutdown chromebox and display
Change display for another one (I choose a small HDMI screen I had)
Restart chromebox with new display
Shutdown chromebox and new display (curiously shutdown works fine now, don't ask me why)
Unplug power cord from chromebox and OLD display, wait a couple of seconds then replug both (not sure if this is finally necessary but does not harm and I do not remember when I unplugged both last time…)
Restart chromebox with OLD display

What changed for me afterwards (once again, don't ask me why, it is a "dummy" fix) :

Chromebox shutdown works fine again till now, no random restarts anymore
Power on works most of the time great, sometimes I have to wait around 1 minute (3 restarts) but at least not 8 restarts anymore
I still have the standby mode issue where the chromebox restarts instead of waking up (I have installed an extension that keeps the chromebox awake all time)

Nevertheless, my CXi3 chromebox is now much more "as before". Good news! Hope this may help you guys as it did for me. Let me know your thoughts. Good Luck!

MHi · February 14

Even more weird and curious : I now also have much fewer Bluetooth issues.

MHi · February 16

Problems came back with new update 132.0.6834.208… 😭

billsey · February 16

These models seem just to have issues with OS updates…

roodavis · February 19

@MHi My experience is very similar to yours. Every time I have what I think is a solution, an update or restart gets me right back to square one. My biggest problem in all of this is my 200+ ChromeBoxes (183 Acer CXI3s and 17 ViewSonic NMP760 currently deployed 15-20 in reserve or on my workbench) are all used in classrooms with a mix of 65"/75" InFocus and ViewSonic ViewBoards. My workbench monitor is a 19" display with VGA/DVI-D connected with a DVI-D to HDMI converter. Generally speaking things just work, until ChromeOS v129 started killing the CXI3s. The most consistent "fix" the past few weeks has been reformatting the SSD and recovering the ChromeOS. Unfortunately the success rate is less than 50% and I average two to three new failures each day. ALL devices are at or above v132, but still dropping like flies.

So far I have had zero issues with the ViewSonic NMP760's and unless our vendor has a different recommendation, I will be recommending them as replacements for the 180+ deployed CXI3s. I have heard of similar issues with HP ChromeBoxes.

roodavis · February 19

One thing I have recently noticed, but not sure how to check deeper. The firmware version does not seem to update until after about 8-10 restarts. I think they should all be at Google_Fizz.10139.232.0. But some show as Google_Fizz.10139.172.0. A couple show "FirmwareFileEmpty".

When in recovery mode I also see:

"read-only firmware id: Google_Fizz.10139.153.0"

"active firmware id: Google_Fizz.10139.232"

So, color me confused.

Axxo · February 20

This should hard shutdown. Step 2: Unplug the power and HDMI from the affected Chromebox. Step 3: take HDMI cord from the working Chromebox that is currently running and active on the other monitor and plug it into the affected Chromebox's monitor. Wait for the screen to wake up and show the display.

MHi · February 22

Hi all. I am now under firmware Google_Fizz.10139.247.0 and Chrome OS 133.0.6943.132. Problems seem to have vanished, the same way they occured. :-) I have done several reboots to test : no issue anymore but not sure if this situation will last, let's cross fingers!

Zappnin · February 23

SOLUTION to Chromebox CXI3 failure to boot ish or display output thread.

I had the same problems and identical symptoms as itemized by the original post and several of the following comments. I have an Acer Chromebox CXI3-158GKM with Intel i5 64GB SSD and 8GB DDR4 RAM. I tried everything, everything, everything including new RAM, power supply, you name it. I was really giving up (several times over weeks) and was finally going to consign it into the great e-waste dump in the sky. Then reading this thread about the very many Chromeboxes with the same symptoms I decided it just could not be that they all decided to go bad at the same time and in the same way. It had to be something in common. So with great patience and trickery I finally got it to reboot and immediately went to update the OS. It updated from version 131.0.6778.241 to 133.0.6943.132 and like freaking magic it worked!

I put it through the paces restart, shut down several times over days and it is like new! Knock on wood and fingers crossed, I think Google figured out what was happening and fixed it. Thank you.

roodavis · March 5

I wish I could report this issue resolved. I have been through all of the suggested fixes from here and some other similar forums. I am still hit or miss on permanent fixes. My latest attempt is to remove the SSD, reformat, then reinstall the ChromeOS. I have several that have successfully updated to v132 LTS and continued to work as expected. Then I have just as many or more that have been back on my bench more than once. My next step is to move the affected devices into a different OU and let them update to the latest OS instead of keeping them at v132. A little hesitant update or change any of the working devices.