Failed to extract shellball from chromeos-firmwareupdate

[Nima1279]

Dear MrChormebox
I have been tried to restore stock the firmware on HP Chromebook x360 14 but I can't !!!
when I try to restore the firmware it leads to Error: failed to extract firmware for SONA from this ChromeOS recovery USB
also I tried many ways to fix it such as getting the recovery firmware on your Github and changing the usb and........but they didn't work.
thanks for suggestions

[MrChromebox]

post a pic or the exact error. I can't diagnose from what you're reported, given that running the script manually here works perfectly fine

[Etm571]

Hello,

I have the same issue. Have tried:

Creating a recovery USB through Google's official browser tools

Flashed the .bin file downloaded from cros.tech(mentioned in the documentation) to a USB drive with both Rufus and Balena Etcher.

For the live linux environment I'm using the Arch Linux installer ISO flashed to another USB drive plugged in to the system. I'm not sure if Arch is supported and/or it could cause any problems...

Chromebook: Toshiba Chromebook 2 CB30 2014(SWANKY)

[MrChromebox]

@Etm571 why are you trying to go back to EOL ChromeOS on Swanky?

[Etm571]

@MrChromebox

I need to reinstall the custom firmware because I messed up the boot sequence. I can no longer boot from SD cards. I've tried to add a boot option and boot from file, but those don't appear to be working for me..

Is there another way to completely restore the custom firmware to the default?

[MrChromebox]

@Etm571 ok, but that doesn't answer my question at all. Clearing the boot sequence is as simple as using the Clear NVRAM option on the script. Reinstalling the firmware (which isn't needed and doesn't clear the boot sequence) doesn't require going back to stock. You never need to go back to stock.

[Nima1279]

@Etm571
Thanks for your suggestion
You mean I have to format the usb with Rufus then download the chrome os on Google's official tools after that Reinstalling the firmware?
can you explain it more and how can you fix this same problem?

[Etm571]

@Nima1279

You need to download the correct .bin file for your Chromebook model. Then you have to flash the .bin file with Rufus according to the docs. But that didn't solve it for me, but maybe it solves it for you:)

[Etm571]

@MrChromebox

Ok thanks! Will definitely give that a try!

[MrChromebox]

@Etm571 please don't flash the stock firmware, just clear the NVRAM and reboot.

[Nima1279]

@MrChromebox
How can we clear the NVRAM?
If I clear the NVRAM is it going back to the original chrome os?
because when I search about clear NVRAM it's like powerwash and if you install another firmware you can't switch to the original firmware by clearing the
NVRAM!!

[Etm571]

@MrChromebox

Thank you, worked perfectly!

[Etm571]

@Nima1279

The NVRAM is cleared by pressing c in the utility script. It resets the UEFI settings and has nothing to do with reverting to stock firmware unfortunately.

[MrChromebox]

@Nima1279 it's literally in the script documentation on my site:

If running UEFI Full ROM firmware, there will be an additional option to clear the NVRAM. This will delete all bootorder entries stored in NVRAM, and they will be created again on the next boot (or next time grub is updated).

it has nothing at all to do with your issue. I don't know why it's failing to extract the firmware for SONA, it works fine here when running the function locally using a NAMI recovery image.

coreboot-Google_Nami.10775.123.0.zip

[dacampsss]

I'm having this same issue while trying to go to stock, but with a kasumi (Stoney Ridge) device. I'm sure that I downloaded the right firmware from cros.tech, as adviced (and flashed it using dd). I'm running Debian testing (trixie, 13). Output is below:

 ChromeOS Device Firmware Utility Script [2025-01-05] 
 (c) Mr Chromebox <mrchromebox@gmail.com> 
*********************************************************
**     Device: Acer Chromebook 311
** Board Name: KASUMI
**   Platform: AMD StoneyRidge
**    Fw Type: Full ROM / UEFI
**     Fw Ver: MrChromebox-2408.1 (09/14/2024)
**      Fw WP: Disabled
*********************************************************
** [WP] 1) Install/Update UEFI (Full ROM) Firmware 
** [WP] 2) Restore Stock Firmware 
**      C) Clear UEFI NVRAM 
*********************************************************
Select a numeric menu option or
R to reboot  P to poweroff  Q to quit 
2

Restore Stock Firmware

Standard disclaimer: flashing the firmware has the potential to
brick your device, requiring relatively inexpensive hardware and some
technical knowledge to recover.  You have been warned.

Do you wish to continue? [y/N] y


Please select an option below for restoring the stock firmware:

1) Restore using a firmware backup on USB
2) Restore using a ChromeOS Recovery USB
Q) Quit and return to main menu

? 2

Connect a USB which contains a ChromeOS Recovery Image
and press [Enter] to continue. 

Devices available:

1) USB_DISK_2.0 (14.46 GB)

Enter the number which corresponds your ChromeOS Recovery USB: 1

Using USB device: /dev/sda

Extracting firmware from recovery USB

Failed to extract shellball from  'chromeos-firmwareupdate'

Error: failed to extract firmware for KASUMI from this ChromeOS recovery USB

Press [Enter] to return to the main menu.

lsblk output:

NAME         MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sda            8:0    1 14,5G  0 disk 
├─sda1         8:1    1  3,3M  0 part 
├─sda2         8:2    1  512M  0 part 
├─sda3         8:3    1    4G  0 part 
├─sda4         8:4    1   16M  0 part 
├─sda5         8:5    1    2M  0 part 
├─sda6         8:6    1  512B  0 part 
├─sda7         8:7    1  512B  0 part 
├─sda8         8:8    1   16M  0 part 
├─sda9         8:9    1  512B  0 part 
├─sda10        8:10   1  512B  0 part 
├─sda11        8:11   1    8M  0 part 
└─sda12        8:12   1   32M  0 part 
mmcblk1      179:0    0 29,7G  0 disk 
└─mmcblk1p1  179:1    0 29,7G  0 part /media/daxxx/3566-3031
mmcblk0      179:8    0 29,1G  0 disk 
├─mmcblk0p1  179:9    0  976M  0 part /boot/efi
└─mmcblk0p2  179:10   0 28,1G  0 part /
mmcblk0boot0 179:16   0    4M  1 disk 
mmcblk0boot1 179:24   0    4M  1 disk 
zram0        254:0    0  1,9G  0 disk [SWAP]

uname -a output:

Linux debianbook 6.6.68-chrultrabook-stoney #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Fri Dec 27 23:40:47 UTC 2024 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I can give more logs and outputs, if needed to solve this issue.
Thanks in advance!