After an entirely random error saying my phone is somehow Encrypted, I went ahead and did a factory reset which didn't help. The phone was still booting into the same screen asking me for a code to Decrypt the data. So after some "quick" reading on these forums I've decided to RUU to stock. But the file I've chosen, even though it matched my version it was a Firmware, while the phone was S-ON. The device had never been Rooted or tampered with previously.
So now the phone does not boot at all. I've tried every button combination, but nothing seems to work. If I plug in the phone to charge the orange light flashes, endlessly. Even after I've left the device to charge for 6hours, the orange light still flashes.
When I plug in the phone to my PC, all I get it seems is this new device: QHSUSB_BULK, which shows with an exclamation mark next to it. I've read similar threads for different phones where they've unbricked devices while they were in this mode, is that even possible? I can hear Windows recognizing a device was plugged in, and if I press Power+VolumeUP, it will disconnect the phone and reconnect it, at least based on the sounds Windows is playing. The screen is Black at all times.
How badly have I bricked this device and is there any hope to revive it? Thanks to everyone who chimes in on this.
arrayy said:
After an entirely random error saying my phone is somehow Encrypted, I went ahead and did a factory reset which didn't help. The phone was still booting into the same screen asking me for a code to Decrypt the data. So after some "quick" reading on these forums I've decided to RUU to stock. But the file I've chosen, even though it matched my version it was a Firmware, while the phone was S-ON.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most likely it's a soft break. So you can fix it. First of all get yourself a working usb cable. Your's maybe broken.
Your phone's data partition had been encrypted. It never boots up completely without lux password. You could've format the data partition with a custom recovery such as TWRP. Instead you tried the reflash firmware but obviously it didn't finish and failed. All you need is reflash again but doing it correct way so it can finish. Your old data is gone atm. You will have factory reset phone at the end. Before giving you any instructions, you need to answer a few questions so anyone can help.
Have you ever updated your phone to marshmallow which is android 6? If no: You can recover it with voidzero's wonderful answer titled back to stock. Follow that exactly. If yes you can't flash old versions since they are using different bootloaders. Also you will have to reflash it manually. It's long and difficult for anyone who is new. If you don't know if it was updated. Just boot into bootloader then Fastboot mode, connect usb. Then use htc's Fastboot. Run htc_fastboot getvar all command. Paste output here.
Thanks for replying, risyasin.
Yes, I did update to Android 6. The problem is I'm not able to boot into the bootloader using the Power+VolumeUP keys, or any other combination.
Instead of flashing the RUU, or maybe turning to S-OFF(I still don't know if this would've made a difference), I flashed a firmware, one that matched my version. This is the exact filename: 0PKVIM[email protected]60201_20.05_018_F_release_479349_combined_signed
I've renamed it to 0PKVIMG.zip and booted using the Power+VolumeUP keys. For whatever reason, everything went OK, no errors whatsoever. In the end it told me to press Power to reboot the phone. I've pressed Power and nothing happened since.
If anyone can help me figure this out, I'd be forever grateful.
arrayy said:
Thanks for replying, risyasin.
Yes, I did update to Android 6. The problem is I'm not able to boot into the bootloader
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is a big problem. I assume you never tried to go S-OFF (which is dangereous). While phone was S-ON. You could always boot into bootloader. That's one of the purpose of staying S-ON.
Combination is Power + Volume down. But if your phone is up & somehow can not continue to boot. eg: stuck at reading system or kernel etc. You can do a hard reset which is pressing Volume up + volume down + power for at least 15 seconds. phone will shut down. then you can try bootlader combination. Make sure it's has power on with light at screen edges you must look at carefully. After trying this if you still can not see bootloader. That's a problem beyond my experiences, so I don't have any idea to fix it.
I have never tried the firmware you have used. Maybe that firmware is not usable, broken or even dangerous.
We need to confirm that here. if anyone else tried and brick their phone with that.
Related
First off, S-off phone
So, I've been running the GPE rom posted by Joel for a while now with no issues... Today a friend wanted to see the phone, so I pulled it out of my pocket; hit power; nadda...
So I held power down for a while; got teh HTC screen; then nadda.
So we then attempted to get into recovery, power + vol down then selected recovery... Nadda, just a black screen.
I then redownloaded TWRP and fastboot flash recovery recoveryname.img, it tries to push it then it'll throw an error saying: "remote: image update error"
I looked around and found a thread with full directions with an RUU.. So I tried doing that, hwoever after clearing the cache via fastboot, when I try to do fastboot oem rebootRUU nothing happens.... sometimes teh screen goes blank, sometimes not.
Anything else I can try? I'm really wondering if it isn't defective hardware... .only had it 2 weeks too...
You are sure the phone is fully charged right ?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
dottat said:
You are sure the phone is fully charged right ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i was going to say the same thing. not sure how but i sometimes pull the phone out of my pocket with the screen on... so who knows which programs could have been tapped and running if it's bumping around in your pocket.
This is one of the reasons Verizon requires locked bootloaders now on all their phones. If the phone isn't even turning on, your first step should never be to try flashing a custom recovery or RUU (?!). If the phone has no charge and dies in the process, you could potentially brick it for good.
Sorry if that came across harsh, but... honestly, try charging your phone overnight first.
wireroid said:
This is one of the reasons Verizon requires locked bootloaders now on all their phones. If the phone isn't even turning on, your first step should never be to try flashing a custom recovery or RUU (?!). If the phone has no charge and dies in the process, you could potentially brick it for good.
Sorry if that came across harsh, but... honestly, try charging your phone overnight first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Guess I should have put more details in the first post... when I got it into TWRP the first time it showed an 88% charge. I attempted to restore a backup and inside the recovery it would say it failed reading the memory and then it couldn't browse anything.
If I attempted to simply factory reset inside the recovery it would just lock up. If I tried to flash a rom via zip, it would lock up...
After a few times of rebooting it into the recovery I couldn't even click anything inside it without locking up.
it was at that point I tried to flash a different recovery and started getting the errors...
Anyways, more I researched it simply was a bad phone with defective hardware.
all good...
My XL is stuck in a boot loop that I haven't found described anywhere. It begins with the bootloader unlocked warning screen then goes to the white "Google" boot screen, but within one second the screen goes black, waits about 10 seconds and runs through that cycle again. It also randomly (it seems) does the "Writing to EX4 file" screen before the bootloader unlocked warning screen.
It will cycle through this sequence forever if it's plugged in but when not plugged in it will seemingly power off after a random number of cycles. However, powering on does not require holding down the power button - it jumps directly to the beginning of the cycle, sometimes at the bootloader unlocked screen and sometimes at the EX4 screen.
At no point does my Windows 10 PC show the phone as being attached when plugged in to USB. Also, no combination or duration of the phone's physical buttons affect this in any way.
I was following the steps in this article and had just performed the second-last line in the post, "Reboot into the installed recovery." That's when the cycle started. Prior to the step "In TWRP, install twrp.zip" everything was working correctly, though I hadn't rooted yet, of course. I didn't reboot normally in between those two steps, so I can't say which of them caused the problem.
I'm running Android Update, 7.1.2 N2G47E and had been before beginning the procedure. It came from the OTA update and had unrooted the phone from the previous version.
Any and all help will be rewarded with 137 Antique, Pre-Web Internet Points and The Thanks of a Grateful Nation™.
I would fastboot latest factory image.
Just hold vol- when a reboot comes it will go into bootloader.
piz333 said:
My XL is stuck in a boot loop that I haven't found described anywhere. It begins with the bootloader unlocked warning screen then goes to the white "Google" boot screen, but within one second the screen goes black, waits about 10 seconds and runs through that cycle again. It also randomly (it seems) does the "Writing to EX4 file" screen before the bootloader unlocked warning screen.
It will cycle through this sequence forever if it's plugged in but when not plugged in it will seemingly power off after a random number of cycles. However, powering on does not require holding down the power button - it jumps directly to the beginning of the cycle, sometimes at the bootloader unlocked screen and sometimes at the EX4 screen.
At no point does my Windows 10 PC show the phone as being attached when plugged in to USB. Also, no combination or duration of the phone's physical buttons affect this in any way.
I was following the steps in this article and had just performed the second-last line in the post, "Reboot into the installed recovery." That's when the cycle started. Prior to the step "In TWRP, install twrp.zip" everything was working correctly, though I hadn't rooted yet, of course. I didn't reboot normally in between those two steps, so I can't say which of them caused the problem.
I'm running Android Update, 7.1.2 N2G47E and had been before beginning the procedure. It came from the OTA update and had unrooted the phone from the previous version.
Any and all help will be rewarded with 137 Antique, Pre-Web Internet Points and The Thanks of a Grateful Nation™.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you were coming from the April 2017 update to the May 2017 OTA update. The May update included a new bootloader which performs additional verification on the boot image. I suspect that when you installed TWRP and rebooted, the May bootloader detects the changes TWRP installation made to your boot image and aborts the boot process resulting in your bootloop. Additional detail and information can be found in the linked thread and solution should be towards the end of the thread. You have a few options I think (assuming you can get into fastboot/recovery mode) - you can temporarily resolve by reverting back to the April 2017 bootloader which does not have the additional boot verification procedure or you can follow the steps to flash Chainfire's VerifiedBootSigner.zip if you prefer to get fully on the May update (including the May bootloader). Details are in the thread below. Good luck!
https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-xl/how-to/images-t3599709
piz333 said:
My XL is stuck in a boot loop that I haven't found described anywhere. It begins with the bootloader unlocked warning screen then goes to the white "Google" boot screen, but within one second the screen goes black, waits about 10 seconds and runs through that cycle again. It also randomly (it seems) does the "Writing to EX4 file" screen before the bootloader unlocked warning screen.
It will cycle through this sequence forever if it's plugged in but when not plugged in it will seemingly power off after a random number of cycles. However, powering on does not require holding down the power button - it jumps directly to the beginning of the cycle, sometimes at the bootloader unlocked screen and sometimes at the EX4 screen.
At no point does my Windows 10 PC show the phone as being attached when plugged in to USB. Also, no combination or duration of the phone's physical buttons affect this in any way.
I was following the steps in this article and had just performed the second-last line in the post, "Reboot into the installed recovery." That's when the cycle started. Prior to the step "In TWRP, install twrp.zip" everything was working correctly, though I hadn't rooted yet, of course. I didn't reboot normally in between those two steps, so I can't say which of them caused the problem.
I'm running Android Update, 7.1.2 N2G47E and had been before beginning the procedure. It came from the OTA update and had unrooted the phone from the previous version.
Any and all help will be rewarded with 137 Antique, Pre-Web Internet Points and The Thanks of a Grateful Nation™.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just started with me today too.
I cannot get into recovery or boot loader
rebooting using the hard button just brings up this Dump to EXT4 and then into the ROM that is havnig a ish ton of force closes.
My plan is to back up some stuff I need to copy off the phone and then start factory reset from within settings.
EDIT:
I was rooted running stock
All i did was run a backup in TWRP
issues started after reooting.
Once i factory reset and re Root i will see if I can restore backup, maybe
sb1893 said:
Sounds like you were coming from the April 2017 update to the May 2017 OTA update. The May update included a new bootloader which performs additional verification on the boot image. I suspect that when you installed TWRP and rebooted, the May bootloader detects the changes TWRP installation made to your boot image and aborts the boot process resulting in your bootloop. Additional detail and information can be found in the linked thread and solution should be towards the end of the thread. You have a few options I think (assuming you can get into fastboot/recovery mode) - you can temporarily resolve by reverting back to the April 2017 bootloader which does not have the additional boot verification procedure or you can follow the steps to flash Chainfire's VerifiedBootSigner.zip if you prefer to get fully on the May update (including the May bootloader). Details are in the thread below. Good luck!
https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-xl/how-to/images-t3599709
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had forgotten that after I booted normally just before installing TWRP, the May OTA happened to arrive and I went ahead and installed it. Then the problem started after I installed TWRP. I used @mikaole's advice and got into bootloader (can't believe I hadn't done that, given all the button combinations I'd tried).
I re-flashed the April update and now the behavior is exactly the same except that the white Google boot screen lasts about 5 seconds and after a few boot tries I land on the "No command" screen. That sits for about a minute and boots again, landing again on "No command." Power+vol-up gets me to recovery mode but all I can do is go to bootloader or get back to "No command." I tried a factory reset, same result. I tried re-flashing April again, same result. Now I think I have the May bootloader with all else April.
I ran this:
Code:
fastboot set_active a
because I noticed that flashing the bootloader was always going to b. After flashing the bootloader again and seeing it go to a, the phone boots normally. I'm going to let the May update happen and wait to root again until after that.
One thing, I don't think the link you provided is the one you intended - there's none of the info you said would be there.
This has been very helpful. You and @mikaole got me through this. Thanks!
piz333 said:
I had forgotten that after I booted normally just before installing TWRP, the May OTA happened to arrive and I went ahead and installed it. Then the problem started after I installed TWRP. I used @mikaole's advice and got into bootloader (can't believe I hadn't done that, given all the button combinations I'd tried).
I re-flashed the April update and now the behavior is exactly the same except that the white Google boot screen lasts about 5 seconds and after a few boot tries I land on the "No command" screen. That sits for about a minute and boots again, landing again on "No command." Power+vol-up gets me to recovery mode but all I can do is go to bootloader or get back to "No command." I tried a factory reset, same result. I tried re-flashing April again, same result. Now I think I have the May bootloader with all else April. How do I revert the bootloader?
Also, I don't think the link you provided is the one you intended - there's none of the info you said would be there.
This has been very helpful so far. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They flashing all the parts of the image manually. Something like this happened to a buddy of mine and using the flash all wouldn't fix. He couldn't get the device to boot until he did all the images manually.
piz333 said:
I had forgotten that after I booted normally just before installing TWRP, the May OTA happened to arrive and I went ahead and installed it. Then the problem started after I installed TWRP. I used @mikaole's advice and got into bootloader (can't believe I hadn't done that, given all the button combinations I'd tried).
I re-flashed the April update and now the behavior is exactly the same except that the white Google boot screen lasts about 5 seconds and after a few boot tries I land on the "No command" screen. That sits for about a minute and boots again, landing again on "No command." Power+vol-up gets me to recovery mode but all I can do is go to bootloader or get back to "No command." I tried a factory reset, same result. I tried re-flashing April again, same result. Now I think I have the May bootloader with all else April.
I ran this:
Code:
fastboot set_active a
because I noticed that flashing the bootloader was always going to b. After flashing the bootloader again and seeing it go to a, the phone boots normally. I'm going to let the May update happen and wait to root again until after that.
One thing, I don't think the link you provided is the one you intended - there's none of the info you said would be there.
This has been very helpful. You and @mikaole got me through this. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you got it working. I checked and I did link the thread I intended to. Starting at post #57 onward from that thread has the information on how to update to the May update and leverage Chainfire's VerifiedBootSigner.zip.
Thx,
S
Pixel bootloop
Hey guys, this is the only thread thqt i found here on XDA about pixel and pixel XL bootloop issue.
I'm about to buy a used Pixel 1st gen phone for really great deal, because it is in this bootloop. As the owner sad, it was on the Oreo upgrade. I'm wondering if its possible to fix it... What you guys say?
Thanks!!
rosendomurilo said:
Hey guys, this is the only thread thqt i found here on XDA about pixel and pixel XL bootloop issue.
I'm about to buy a used Pixel 1st gen phone for really great deal, because it is in this bootloop. As the owner sad, it was on the Oreo upgrade. I'm wondering if its possible to fix it... What you guys say?
Thanks!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that depends. If the owner unlock the bootloader and then relocked it it could have screwed it up depending on what he was doing with it at the time resulting in a bootloop that cannot be fixed because it's hard brick now. I say can't be fixed only because the only way to get it fixed as far as I know is to contact someone here on the forums I'm not exactly sure who it is but they do fix hard bricked pixels for money. If I were you I would try and figure out if that's the case before buying it.
Phalanx7621 said:
Well that depends. If the owner unlock the bootloader and then relocked it it could have screwed it up depending on what he was doing with it at the time resulting in a bootloop that cannot be fixed because it's hard brick now. I say can't be fixed only because the only way to get it fixed as far as I know is to contact someone here on the forums I'm not exactly sure who it is but they do fix hard bricked pixels for money. If I were you I would try and figure out if that's the case before buying it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that's my biggest fear right now... He sad he never had done anything like root or custom rom, he just had done a system update and the phone never boot correctly again.
I have a little bit of knowledge in android, i was thinking if just putting a custom rom it wouldn't solve, because i had other devices that i had put in bootloop and i was able to fix it just putting a custom rom...
rosendomurilo said:
Yes, that's my biggest fear right now... He sad he never had done anything like root or custom rom, he just had done a system update and the phone never boot correctly again.
I have a little bit of knowledge in android, i was thinking if just putting a custom rom it wouldn't solve, because i had other devices that i had put in bootloop and i was able to fix it just putting a custom rom...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you get to recovery ?
Phalanx7621 said:
Can you get to recovery ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not with the phone right now, I'm going to buy it next week... Correct if I am wrong, but if i can get to recovery or bootloader i can fix it, right?
I think he had tried to unlock the bootloader but without experience had bricked...
rosendomurilo said:
I'm not with the phone right now, I'm going to buy it next week... Correct if I am wrong, but if i can get to recovery or bootloader i can fix it, right?
I think he had tried to unlock the bootloader but without experience had bricked...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah if you can get into recovery you can side load things. And if you can get to the boot loader screen you're fine.
Phalanx7621 said:
Yeah if you can get into recovery you can side load things. And if you can get to the boot loader screen you're fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perfect! Just as I expected... Probably i will do an youtube guide if it works... Thanks bro!
Hoping for some help or alternatives to fix my fiancee's Pixel XL. Last night the phone just kept flashing the 'G' logo on for 10 seconds, off for 10 seconds. She said the phone was close to dying before it happened, and I imagine it probably ended up draining the battery afterwards with the constant bootloop. Plugged it in all night but the charging screen didn't come up and would just stay in the bootloop. I could get it into the boot loader (power button and volume down), but it wouldn't go into recovery mode and instead would go right back to the boot loop.
So I tried a battery pack to charge it and it still didn't show charging, but I was able to get it into recovery mode eventually, but still boot loop afterwards. At one point, after leaving it on boot loader menu while attempting to charge, it eventually just tried to start itself and made its way to the second Google splash screen after the main G logo. Looked like it froze there though and I couldn't get it to that point again.
On my way to work this morning I tried plugging it into my car's USB port after powering off from the boot loader, and this time I kept flashing that it was charging (looked like it was 3/4 charged but not sure how accurate that is). So I got into recovery again and tried 3 factory resets consecutively. Still bootloop after attempting a startup afterwards. There was a similar issue a couple weeks ago where it looked like it was stuck in a bootloop, but it turned out the phone actually was dead that time and the charger wasn't working. Once we switched chargers it booted right up.
Any other suggestions or possibilities? I don't have much troubleshooting experience otherwise. Phone is fully stock, Google Fi. Any other info I can provide please let me know!
well, i'm not sure if it makes a difference, but now for some reason i can't get into recovery mode again. just goes into the boot loop. It also goes into the boot loop as soon as I plug the phone in to charge.
cgibsong002 said:
well, i'm not sure if it makes a difference, but now for some reason i can't get into recovery mode again. just goes into the boot loop. It also goes into the boot loop as soon as I plug the phone in to charge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume you can't get into the bootloader using power and volume down buttons?
I have always been about to get into the boot loader. Actually i can get into recovery again as well. Seems if i let it sit for a while it'll go to recovery again. Maybe heat related.
My OG Pixel did the same thing to me one morning. I tried everything to revive my pixel but nothing worked. I did some digging and it turns out there is an issue with the storage on the phone. It's just a old fancy paper weight.
cgibsong002 said:
I have always been about to get into the boot loader. Actually i can get into recovery again as well. Seems if i let it sit for a while it'll go to recovery again. Maybe heat related.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you can get into recovery, have you tried to sideload a full ota.zip (not an update)?
mozhno said:
If you can get into recovery, have you tried to sideload a full ota.zip (not an update)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't. I see that Google has all the ota's on their site. Is there a specific one that i might want to try? The same one? Go back a few? Will i even be able to sideload if my phone is fully stock?
Edit: sideload adb successfully but no change. I loaded the 6-5 ota which was what i already had.
cgibsong002 said:
I haven't. I see that Google has all the ota's on their site. Is there a specific one that i might want to try? The same one? Go back a few? Will i even be able to sideload if my phone is fully stock?
Edit: sideload adb successfully but no change. I loaded the 6-5 ota which was what i already had.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds as if it's time to just try stuff and see what sticks. Regarding using an ota, it works if you are stock, and I sideload it even if I have installed majisk or installed another kernel. It typically works for me with fewer chances of blowing things up than flashing a stock image. Regarding what to try next, you may have already gone into recovery to check the install function to see if your storage still appears and try to flash anything that worked in the past; if you have a backup in twrp you could try to restore it; you could wipe cache and dahlvik; or even sideload an earlier ota version that worked. Since the 6-5 ota did not work nothing really jumps out to me as obvious. One final caveat, I once had to reboot a sideloaded ota a second time before my pixel booted properly. If I think of something else I'll post again.
I took it to ubreakifix and they told me that this is indeed a known issue with pixel xl's that they all suffered from a faulty motherboard and that is indeed the cause here. Said he thought there was actually a class action about it so I'll have to look into it. Really pisses me off that Google repeatedly told me it's not a known issue when their authorized repair center says it is.
Anyway i have a warranty with Upsie that I'm hoping to get this replaced with. We'll see.
cgibsong002 said:
I took it to ubreakifix and they told me that this is indeed a known issue with pixel xl's that they all suffered from a faulty motherboard and that is indeed the cause here. Said he thought there was actually a class action about it so I'll have to look into it. Really pisses me off that Google repeatedly told me it's not a known issue when their authorized repair center says it is.
Anyway i have a warranty with Upsie that I'm hoping to get this replaced with. We'll see.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck
I'm assuming you tried booting into twrp recovery, going to reboot, and picked slot A ( or B if already in A) to reboot to and then rebooted system? A lot of the times simply switching slots from recovery and then rebooting is the fix. At least for me.
手机早期经历的情况得说明一下。root没有?Twrp是谁的?
Also, for anyone else having this issue, try rebooting into the bootloader. Connect to PC, and try fastboot --set-active=a
If this doesn't work, try booting back into your recovery image using fastboot boot *whatever you named your TWRP recovery image* and then flashing your twrp.zip again in recovery, and when rebooting if you're in slot B choose slot A in recovery to boot into.
Also keep in mind in Windows 10, it uses Powershell, so commands have to be typed in .\fastboot not just fastboot or it won't take it.
A week ago, all of a sudden, my Pixel decided to freeze and become unresponsive. To make a long story short, it only goes to the Google logo screen and will not go into bootloader or recovery mode. Took it to a repair shop and they said it needed to be sent back to Google (it's three years old so long past its warranty) which would cost a fortune. They said it is soft bricked.
I'm looking into things and since my phone is already useless, I surely can't make it any worse. (fingers crossed.)
I'm wondering if anyone has any tips on how to get my phone back up and running whilst also keeping all of the data on my phone. I'm not keen on wiping the data as it has important information on it. Is it possible to unbrick a Pixel XL without factory resetting it?
Does anyone have a simpletons guide on how to do it? I've looked at numerous guides and they are either long winded or far too complicated for me. I'm not familiar with downloading a file to unzip it or extracting it. Although, I am very much willing to learn given my circumstances.
If anyone can provide any information, I would be very grateful!
i think if anything at this point, you need to assume none of your data can be saved. if you send it to google for them to fix, no data will be kept most likely, nor if you find any solution to do yourself. what happens if on the google screen you hold down power and voldown until it turns off and then keep holding them down?
It goes into fastboot with the android guy on it's back and it gives me the "restart bootloader", "recovery mode", "barcodes", etc, options. None of which the phone can enter apart from the barcodes and the powering off option. :crying:
HanaTruly said:
A week ago, all of a sudden, my Pixel decided to freeze and become unresponsive. To make a long story short, it only goes to the Google logo screen and will not go into bootloader or recovery mode. Took it to a repair shop and they said it needed to be sent back to Google (it's three years old so long past its warranty) which would cost a fortune. They said it is soft bricked.
I'm looking into things and since my phone is already useless, I surely can't make it any worse. (fingers crossed.)
I'm wondering if anyone has any tips on how to get my phone back up and running whilst also keeping all of the data on my phone. I'm not keen on wiping the data as it has important information on it. Is it possible to unbrick a Pixel XL without factory resetting it?
Does anyone have a simpletons guide on how to do it? I've looked at numerous guides and they are either long winded or far too complicated for me. I'm not familiar with downloading a file to unzip it or extracting it. Although, I am very much willing to learn given my circumstances.
If anyone can provide any information, I would be very grateful!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same exact problem. Started Nov. 14. Talked to google asked me to take it to uBreakiFix. They ran diagnostics and said they can't fix it.
My phone used to boot up randomly but would freeze after 2-3 mins and crash again into a bootloop. Now it's stuck on white "google" screen and can't get into recovery or any other modes.
Nilkong said:
I have the same exact problem. Started Nov. 14. Talked to google asked me to take it to uBreakiFix. They ran diagnostics and said they can't fix it.
My phone used to boot up randomly but would freeze after 2-3 mins and crash again into a bootloop. Now it's stuck on white "google" screen and can't get into recovery or any other modes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
by boot up randomly do you mean it would randomly reboot or turn on while it was off?
sudoxd said:
by boot up randomly do you mean it would randomly reboot or turn on while it was off?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean it would boot successfully and take me to lock screen where I can use the phone for few minutes until it freezes again.
Currently I am connected to computer with adb shell open and have phone on the screen where I can see options to select 'barcode' 'recovery mode' 'power off'. The screen shows baseband version, CPU, UFS, DRAM, "Device is locked".
Adb is recognizing the devices (I can't unlock because I had the option to "OEM unlock" turned off in settings). But when I try selecting 'recovery mode' its back to 'Google' screen and stuck there.
Nilkong said:
I mean it would boot successfully and take me to lock screen where I can use the phone for few minutes until it freezes again.
Currently I am connected to computer with adb shell open and have phone on the screen where I can see options to select 'barcode' 'recovery mode' 'power off'. The screen shows baseband version, CPU, UFS, DRAM, "Device is locked".
Adb is recognizing the devices (I can't unlock because I had the option to "OEM unlock" turned off in settings). But when I try selecting 'recovery mode' its back to 'Google' screen and stuck there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try sideloading the latest OTA and see what happens, this doesnt require an unlocked bootloader, just adb sideload.
sudoxd said:
try sideloading the latest OTA and see what happens, this doesnt require an unlocked bootloader, just adb sideload.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I flashed the new version of OTA from google's site. And it looks like it's booting up. Will report back if it crashes or continues to hold up.
Thanks!
EDIT: It's back to boot looping. It was at the "G" screen with white loading bar underneath. It froze there and went back to bootloop. Looks like there might be no avail.
Similar issue here. I gave up on it a month ago, but I figured it can't hurt to ask around. FWIW, there seem to be a lot of similar reports on Google's Pixel support forum.
Anyway, during the 2nd year of owning my Pixel XL (got it in Septempter 2017), I started experiencing slowdowns and random reboots more frequently, but never any bootloops until after receiving Android 10. After receiving Android 10, the random reboots seemed to be happening more frequently. I also experienced a weird issue where the phone would spontaneously exit out of the Google app (reached by left edge swipe from home screen) consistently within a few seconds of entering it.
Eventually, after another increasingly common random freeze, the phone rebooted and got stuck in a bootloop. Initially, chances were high that I would be able to complete the boot process after a few attempts, but inevitably, it would freeze and start bootlooping again. During the handful of successful boot attempts, I was able to backup some photos, and more importantly, enable OEM bootloader unlock in the developer options. After several more failed attempts to boot successfully, I did a total reflash of the latest factory image as of September 2019, after which I was able to get partially through the new phone setup process before crashing. For each subsequent attempt, the crash would happen earlier and earlier in the setup process until it wouldn't get further than the 'G' logo before rebooting. When the October 2019 factory image became available, I tried flashing that as well, but no luck.
On one hand, considering that the failures got progressively worse over time, it seems that this is fundamental hardware failure in the SOC, motherboard, RAM, etc. On the other hand, there seems to have been so many recent reports of this, especially after the Android 10 update, that I wonder whether or not it is software issue. Or could it be some combination of both, where the Android 10 update is pushing the hardware in new ways that is more likely to exacerbate an underlying hardware flaw?
Should I try re-flashing with Android 9 instead? At this point, it is a total brick...
sudoxd said:
try sideloading the latest OTA and see what happens, this doesnt require an unlocked bootloader, just adb sideload.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would this be possible to do with a phone that doesnt turn on but the computer does see it as a qualcom device?
ckidmcd said:
Would this be possible to do with a phone that doesnt turn on but the computer does see it as a qualcom device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Needs to boot to any recovery, custom or not, to sideload an ota
sudoxd said:
Needs to boot to any recovery, custom or not, to sideload an ota
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do I have any options to pull the data from the device since it does see a qualcomm device when plugged into a computer?
ckidmcd said:
Do I have any options to pull the data from the device since it does see a qualcomm device when plugged into a computer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
does fastboot see your phone at all if you type `fastboot devices`
I know flashing roms are easy. But it might be difficult for newcomers like me. I have always a question in mind what'll happen if my phone shut down due to low battery in fastboot/recovery. If I format the OS before shutdown, is it possible to charge the phone offline without no OS then continue flashing roms?
##Following things happened with me.
I was in MIUI 12.5. I installed Pixel Recovery to flash PE12 via adb sideload. Then I cleared all data/cache. When I tried to update the rom by sideload, it didn't work. I wanted to search the internet and as it would take time, I tried to turn the phone off. I couldn't even shut the phone to save battery. Whenever I pressed power button, instead of shutting down, it always took me to the bootloader menu. Thats when I thought about this question.
that question is so out of the box, i doubt anyone can give you an answer with proof
but yes, i believe it is possible to charge even without OS and no, i dont have any proof to back this up
That's why you need to charge phone first at least until 50% up before flashing any rom.. otherwise if still happen phone shutdown while flashing, yes you still can recover as long your phone bootloader still at unlocked stats also phone still can go into fastboot
If it shuts down when in fastboot/recovery because the battery is empty, you simply charge it and reboot, that should cause no harm. Shutting down while flashing a ROM however is a totally different story. You might get lucky and be able to boot the phone back into fastboot/recovery or you could end up with a paperweight.
jadephyre said:
If it shuts down when in fastboot/recovery because the battery is empty, you simply charge it and reboot, that should cause no harm. Shutting down while flashing a ROM however is a totally different story. You might get lucky and be able to boot the phone back into fastboot/recovery or you could end up with a paperweight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did shutdown the phone within fastboot to cancel flash all and lock....then booted in forced fastboot end flashed with flash all to not lock the bootloader....and had no prob....! I think those partitions are protected against those scenarios....
Following things happened with me.
I was in MIUI 12.5. I installed Pixel Recovery to flash PE12 via adb sideload. Then I cleared all data/cache. When I tried to update the rom by sideload, it didn't work. I wanted to search the internet and as it would take time, I tried to turn the phone off. I couldn't even shut the phone to save battery. Whenever I pressed power button, instead of shutting down, it always took me to the bootloader menu. Thats when I thought about this question.
Addymore said:
I did shutdown the phone within fastboot to cancel flash all and lock....then booted in forced fastboot end flashed with flash all to not lock the bootloader....and had no prob....! I think those partitions are protected against those scenarios....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. NO NO NO and NO.
You were lucky. This can totally brick your phone. Critical partitions are being modified in the Flashing-process.
There is no protection.
If your phone shuts down during the Flashing-process, your phone can get bricked (black screen) and you can't even boot Fastboot & Recovery anymore. I know this. I have experience.
You must ensure that you have enough Battery (I recommend 75% Battery at least), that the USB connection is stable (will not disconnect randomly), and that your PC won't crash/shut down.
IF IT HAPPENS, that the Flashing-process errors out, DON'T REBOOT THE PHONE. If you do so, you won't be able to enter Fastboot anymore. You must stay in Fastboot. Just reconnect USB, and try again to Flash. Just don't reboot the phone.
Sorry for fear-mongering, but this is definitely dangerous and not to be taken lightly.
dreamytom said:
No. NO NO NO and NO.
You were lucky. This can totally brick your phone. Critical partitions are being modified in the Flashing-process.
There is no protection.
If your phone shuts down during the Flashing-process, your phone can get bricked (black screen) and you can't even boot Fastboot & Recovery anymore. I know this. I have experience.
You must ensure that you have enough Battery (I recommend 75% Battery at least), that the USB connection is stable (will not disconnect randomly), and that your PC won't crash/shut down.
IF IT HAPPENS, that the Flashing-process errors out, DON'T REBOOT THE PHONE. If you do so, you won't be able to enter Fastboot anymore. You must stay in Fastboot. Just reconnect USB, and try again to Flash. Just don't reboot the phone.
Sorry for fear-mongering, but this is definitely dangerous and not to be taken lightly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it is because I forced fastboot mode after few seconds of starting flashing....by the way I was avoid the flash and lock option that I selected by error while I wanted flash and clean...
I think, there is no ptoblem, fastboot Mode is Read Only Memory, no one can write/edit this think.
No matter you abort the flashing prosses , or the device loss power from battery, didn't affect the fastboot sector/bios on PC
*IMO