OK, so after trying out numerous different Linux distros, including Mint, Lubunto, Bohdi, Debian, you name it, I probably tried it, the only distro I have gotten to work is Manjaro/xfce. Not only did the demo version work, it also installed and updated with the soundcard still working. So this can be marked as solved and I thank all those who at least gave this a read.
Edit: You don't understand the answer, or the solution? Not sure how this can be made easier to understand. Apparently, in all the different distros of linux I tired, there is a bug in the kernel or maybe in alsa, I don't know but for some reason, while sound does get output to HDMI, the sound card always reports as "Dummy Output". I can select the soundcard in alsa-mixer but that doesn't get it to work.
I read in one of the post (somewhere) regarding this problem that they were able to get sound on an Acer CB3-131-whatever with the Bay-trail CPU if they installed Manjaro/Arch. So I googled Manjaro, clicked on Manjaro/xfce link, downloaded it, installed the iso on a usb drive, ran the trial, clicked on the speaker icon in the panel and instead of dummy output, it gave me a speakers and a microphone volume level. I went to youtube, clicked on a video and Lo and behold, I had sound coming from the speakers. I didn't have to screw around with pulseaudio this or alsa-mixer that, it just worked right out of the box. So I installed it, updated it and the sound still works and comes out of the speakers, no magic required.
As I really wasn't expecting anyone to answer, due to the lack of response the previous person got who asked for help for this problem, after a day of not getting any response, I figured I was on my own, which is usually how I solve my own problems anyway. Yes it may not be ubuntu, or maybe it is, I don't care, my interest in all this was, my Chromebook reached EOL so it was a case of either use as was, with a Chromebook that might have allowed an unscrupulous person to hack an unsecure OS, throw it in the trash or get something else running on it that has security updates from time to time.
Manjaro is based on Arch, so it's not Ubuntu, but at this point I don't give a rat's behind as I only use this laptop to play silly Facebook games for an hour while I watch(?) TV, so yeah, I probably didn't even need the sound in the first place but my OCD or whatever said that sound is supposed to come from the speakers when sound is there and I was determined to make that happen. BTW, for the record, I probably would have even tried to install Windows ( now I will be banned for good ) if I didn't have such a tiny little eMMC drive (16 GB) to work with.
So take this post as you will, if you find something of use in it, good for you, if not, Meh, no worries.
