Questions regarding Feb 5th Factory Image - Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers

I'll begin by stating I'm not exactly a noob at anything flashing/updating/rooting whatever as I've been doing this for years, but I'm a bit confused after downloading the factory image for Pixel 2 XL, specifically the February update. This is the first time there is no flash-all.bat file, nor is there just the system.img, boot.img etc files so I could manually flash those files one by one. Just a payload.bin file which, as far as I can tell, contains all of the images.
My concern is, I completely forgot to back my files up on internal storage and messed something up. Also, I forgot to remove my PIN prior to doing this, so no access to TWRP... As such, currently no way to boot my phone and no way to back files up. While not the end of the world, I would greatly prefer not to loose my data by performing a factory reset.
I'm aware that the update file can be sideloaded via adb, but I'm also well aware of how Google included the -W command to wipe user data in the past. Because they've redone the factory image, I cannot locate any way to verify there is no -W command to wipe my data. I've verified all the regular files and saw no fastboot commands, and even opened the payload file with a hex editor and couldn't find much...
Can anyone confirm whether this will wipe my data? Or if there is another way to go about flashing the feb image without wiping user data?
I also tried searching first before posting this (as I really didn't want to expose just how nooby a mistake I made) so if this has already been discussed I apologize in advance.
EDIT: I just threw caution to the wind and updated with adb sideload update.zip. Flashed just fine, fixed my bootloop and no data wipe at all. I'll mark this down as a lesson I almost learned the hardway and go on with my life...
Mods can close.

Related

[Q] Fastboot.exe Crash Nexus 7 2013

I have not had a lot of experience with SDK tools like adb and fastboot, but I have used them to Root my Nexus 7 (2013) with no problems. But now I am not able to update my Nexus from Kit kat 4.4.2. I have had no problems updateing before, and have not had problems rooting after updating. But when I try to update via the OTA update, it fails every time. I had the TWRP Recovery, and had no problems updating. When this update failed I tried useing the ClockworkMod recovory, but the update also failed. I tried to manually update useing the downloaded razor-ktu841.zip, and the platform tools fastboot. If I run the flash-all.bat, it will write the bootloader, and then restart the bootloader. After that Fastboot.exe crashes. I used Fastboot to flash the stock recovery for my device, and that worked flawlessly. But again, both the OTA update and updating manually failed. If I try to just update useing "fastboot -w update image-razor-ktu84l.zip" Fastboot.exe also crashes. I would leave my Nexus on 4.4.2, but I am having occasional issues with the touch screen, and frequent problems with the Gyroscope and Accelerometer that I hope will be fixed by updating. They will just stop working, and only a restart fixes them. I am compleatly stock as far as roms go. I stuck with stock android. I also believe I have the stock kernel as well, seeing as how I never touched it. I would rather not factory reset my tablet, because I have a lot of stuff on it. That would be a last resort for me.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Aremisalive said:
I have not had a lot of experience with SDK tools like adb and fastboot, but I have used them to Root my Nexus 7 (2013) with no problems. But now I am not able to update my Nexus from Kit kat 4.4.2. I have had no problems updateing before, and have not had problems rooting after updating. But when I try to update via the OTA update, it fails every time. I had the TWRP Recovery, and had no problems updating. When this update failed I tried useing the ClockworkMod recovory, but the update also failed. I tried to manually update useing the downloaded razor-ktu841.zip, and the platform tools fastboot. If I run the flash-all.bat, it will write the bootloader, and then restart the bootloader. After that Fastboot.exe crashes. I used Fastboot to flash the stock recovery for my device, and that worked flawlessly. But again, both the OTA update and updating manually failed. If I try to just update useing "fastboot -w update image-razor-ktu84l.zip" Fastboot.exe also crashes. I would leave my Nexus on 4.4.2, but I am having occasional issues with the touch screen, and frequent problems with the Gyroscope and Accelerometer that I hope will be fixed by updating. They will just stop working, and only a restart fixes them. I am compleatly stock as far as roms go. I stuck with stock android. I also believe I have the stock kernel as well, seeing as how I never touched it. I would rather not factory reset my tablet, because I have a lot of stuff on it. That would be a last resort for me.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't actually find a KTU841 zip on the Google Devs page, also stock images from said source are typically not .zip files, they are .tgz images. (https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images). The reason you can't OTA update is because you rooted your device, once unlocked and rooted you need to sideload updates manually, a small price you pay for wanting that bit more.
To me it sounds as if a factory reset may be your best option in this case, that is certainly what I would do at this juncture. You can still connect your device to your computer and back up all your stuff before you wipe it though.
Aremisalive said:
I have not had a lot of experience with SDK tools like adb and fastboot, but I have used them to Root my Nexus 7 (2013) with no problems. But now I am not able to update my Nexus from Kit kat 4.4.2. I have had no problems updateing before, and have not had problems rooting after updating. But when I try to update via the OTA update, it fails every time. I had the TWRP Recovery, and had no problems updating. When this update failed I tried useing the ClockworkMod recovory, but the update also failed. I tried to manually update useing the downloaded razor-ktu841.zip, and the platform tools fastboot. If I run the flash-all.bat, it will write the bootloader, and then restart the bootloader. After that Fastboot.exe crashes. I used Fastboot to flash the stock recovery for my device, and that worked flawlessly. But again, both the OTA update and updating manually failed. If I try to just update useing "fastboot -w update image-razor-ktu84l.zip" Fastboot.exe also crashes. I would leave my Nexus on 4.4.2, but I am having occasional issues with the touch screen, and frequent problems with the Gyroscope and Accelerometer that I hope will be fixed by updating. They will just stop working, and only a restart fixes them. I am compleatly stock as far as roms go. I stuck with stock android. I also believe I have the stock kernel as well, seeing as how I never touched it. I would rather not factory reset my tablet, because I have a lot of stuff on it. That would be a last resort for me.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you need to reinstall/update the SDK. You're missing a .dll or something. I know I have in the past deleted more than what I should have when cleaning out the platform tools folder after flashing images. If you run the flash-all.bat it will COMPLETELY wipe your device including whatever is in storage. You can modify the flash-all.bat with a text editor and then be able to use it without it doing a complete wipe. Open the flash-all.bat with notepad (I use editpad lite) and remove the -w from the text. Removing the -w will keep the flash-all.bat from flashing the userdata.img which is inside the image zip which is what wipes the device. The flash-all.bat will flash the stock recovery so any custom recovery will have to be reflashed if you use the bat file. Personally... after fixing your sdk install I would pull the boot.img and system.img from inside the image zip and put those in your platform tools folder so that you can fastboot flash them. Download a custom recovery (I use TWRP) and rename it to something shorter, put it inside your platform tools folder so that you can fastboot flash it also. Download the supersu installable zip and put it in your device storage. The bootloader image does not need to be flashed because it has not changed from 4.4.2 to 4.4.4.
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash recovery twrp.img
Use the buttons on device to boot into recovery. Install the super su zip. Then go to advanced wipe, wipe cache and dalvik. Reboot system. "IF" you run into any problems after updating you can do a factory reset from inside TWRP and it will not wipe your storage. Of course, doing a factory reset from your devices Settings/Backup & reset will wipe everything.
purephysics said:
I can't actually find a KTU841 zip on the Google Devs page, also stock images from said source are typically not .zip files, they are .tgz images. (https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images). The reason you can't OTA update is because you rooted your device, once unlocked and rooted you need to sideload updates manually, a small price you pay for wanting that bit more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The OP was correct. If you unzip the tgz far enough you will see:
bootloader-flo-flo-04.02.img
flash-all.bat
flash-all.sh
flash-base.sh
image-razor-ktu84l.zip
Inside image-razor-ktu84l.zip you will see the rest of the images:
android-info.txt
boot.img
cache.img
recovery.img
system.img
userdata.img
Being rooted will not prevent you from being able to download and use an OTA like you can if not rooted. It's what you do after you are rooted that will make an OTA fail, a lot of the time even if you sideload it. Custom kernels, ANY mods to system files can and usually will throw an unexpected contents error or some other kind of error. The smaller the OTA is the more likely it will work, I wouldn't count on it but it is possible. If there are no modified files that the OTA is trying to update the OTA could work. Fact is, a couple of the KitKat updates were VERY small and I was able to get the OTA to work just fine (without sideloading) and I use a custom kernel, recovery, hosts file, media_profiles.xml, fonts, bootanimation and ui/audio sounds. I almost always fastboot flash the needed images separately but for grins tried those two small OTA's. Rarely do I even bother with an OTA.
Works!
wantabe said:
Sounds like you need to reinstall/update the SDK. You're missing a .dll or something. I know I have in the past deleted more than what I should have when cleaning out the platform tools folder after flashing images. If you run the flash-all.bat it will COMPLETELY wipe your device including whatever is in storage. You can modify the flash-all.bat with a text editor and then be able to use it without it doing a complete wipe. Open the flash-all.bat with notepad (I use editpad lite) and remove the -w from the text. Removing the -w will keep the flash-all.bat from flashing the userdata.img which is inside the image zip which is what wipes the device. The flash-all.bat will flash the stock recovery so any custom recovery will have to be reflashed if you use the bat file. Personally... after fixing your sdk install I would pull the boot.img and system.img from inside the image zip and put those in your platform tools folder so that you can fastboot flash them. Download a custom recovery (I use TWRP) and rename it to something shorter, put it inside your platform tools folder so that you can fastboot flash it also. Download the supersu installable zip and put it in your device storage. The bootloader image does not need to be flashed because it has not changed from 4.4.2 to 4.4.4.
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash recovery twrp.img
Use the buttons on device to boot into recovery. Install the super su zip. Then go to advanced wipe, wipe cache and dalvik. Reboot system. "IF" you run into any problems after updating you can do a factory reset from inside TWRP and it will not wipe your storage. Of course, doing a factory reset from your devices Settings/Backup & reset will wipe everything.
The OP was correct. If you unzip the tgz far enough you will see:
bootloader-flo-flo-04.02.img
flash-all.bat
flash-all.sh
flash-base.sh
image-razor-ktu84l.zip
Inside image-razor-ktu84l.zip you will see the rest of the images:
android-info.txt
boot.img
cache.img
recovery.img
system.img
userdata.img
Being rooted will not prevent you from being able to download and use an OTA like you can if not rooted. It's what you do after you are rooted that will make an OTA fail, a lot of the time even if you sideload it. Custom kernels, ANY mods to system files can and usually will throw an unexpected contents error or some other kind of error. The smaller the OTA is the more likely it will work, I wouldn't count on it but it is possible. If there are no modified files that the OTA is trying to update the OTA could work. Fact is, a couple of the KitKat updates were VERY small and I was able to get the OTA to work just fine (without sideloading) and I use a custom kernel, recovery, hosts file, media_profiles.xml, fonts, bootanimation and ui/audio sounds. I almost always fastboot flash the needed images separately but for grins tried those two small OTA's. Rarely do I even bother with an OTA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your help, after re-downloading the SDK, and image (just to be safe) I was able to flash the boot, system, and recovery with no problems. It upgraded me to 4.4.3! I then was able to do an OTA update to 4.4.4 and then rooted it by installing the SuperSU installable zip with TWRP with no problems. Thank you very much!

Nexus 5x data recovery

Dear XDA, I could really use your help.
I have a stock LG Nexus 5x (bullhead/7.1.1) which recently started to fail to boot properly as it never loads past the coloured animations on startup and often stops. This sounds like it may be the boot-loop problem.
I have not rooted the phone, unlocked the boot-loader or flashed any recoveries. I have not enabled USB debugging and can't now because it won't boot.
I am looking at my options to recover the data from this phone.
I can get to the fastboot screen (where the fastboot command line tools see the device, but adb does not). I can proceed to the recovery screen and have tried clearing the cache with no luck.
I am considering trying:
Booting a fastboot recovery image
(eg fastboot boot recovery TWRP.img)
Applying a rescue OTA image
Will these methods void the phones warranty?
Will these methods even work (given the bootloader is locked)?
Can the images be recovery images like TWRP or does it have to be some stock/non-custom image?
Does the rescue OTA require adb/usb-debugging to be operational?
Will the data on the phone still be intact using these methods?
As I am cautiously working may way through this to firstly recover my data, secondly recover my phone., any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry to hear that! I'm assuming your files weren't backed up to Google drive.
I don't know a way to recover your data! If you flash a OTA image, it might help fix your phone boot up problem and it will preserve your phone data.
This sucks because the phone is encrypted by default (did you use to enter a password in the middle of phone booting up and the it would continue booting after your password was accepted? If yes, encryption is on). So flashing TWRP won't mean you can see your data.
And it also has USB debugging disabled by default, which means you probably can't mount the internal memory through ADB.
So I would flash a full OTA image before anything else and keep my fingers crossed. Don't flash a full factory image because it will wipe the data and continue!!!
https://developers.google.com/android/ota
Sent from my Nexus 5X using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Commodore 64 said:
Sorry to hear that! I'm assuming your files weren't backed up to Google drive.
I don't know a way to recover your data! If you flash a OTA image, it might help fix your phone boot up problem and it will preserve your phone data.
This sucks because the phone is encrypted by default (did you use to enter a password in the middle of phone booting up and the it would continue booting after your password was accepted? If yes, encryption is on). So flashing TWRP won't mean you can see your data.
And it also has USB debugging disabled by default, which means you probably can't mount the internal memory through ADB.
So I would flash a full OTA image before anything else and keep my fingers crossed. Don't flash a full factory image because it will wipe the data and continue!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately I had not set-up any syncing/backup process on the phone. In the future I will.
Although I don't recall what encryption settings were originally configured, I didn't have to enter a password in the middle of boot, and was only prompted to swipe in. So I think it wasn't encrypted.
So I attempted to sideload an OTA image via:
adb sideload bullhead-ota-n4f26i-06953aec.zip
then rebooted, however the phone still does not successfully boot any further. I must have really broken this one!
Are there any data recovery methods if a factory reset is applied? if I take it in to a repair agent under-warranty, do they typically wipe your data anyway?
Also, do I need to remove this OTA image if I am to return it for repair under warranty?
In a futile/desperate attempt to try to further recover my data, I have attempted to load my Nexus 5X into the stock recovery mode, then experimented with adb when using the 'apply update from adb' option. This exposed a subset of adb commands which appeared to work (eg adb devices, adb sideload etc). I was hoping to be able to run adb shell or adb pull remote local and recover some data... however I only encountered errors.
./adb shell
error: closed
./adb pull /storage/emulated/ /backup
adb: error: connect failed: closed
I assume this is expected (due to the stock recovery adb limitations, but thought it was worth a shot). I am considering exploring the fastboot options (eg fastboot boot recovery recovery.img) I suspect these are also likely to fail/wipe data. Has anyone got any suggestions/ideas or am I just wasting my time?
This just happened to me yesterday, and I got the single file I needed off the phone today. I fought with the thing for hours yesterday. First you have to clear the cache and sideload a new bullhead zip file (as documented elsewhere). That isn't all, though. After several tries, I noticed that I got farther along in the boot if I let the phone sit for a while. So, on the theory that there's a loose solder connection somewhere and/or heat buildup, I put the phone in the freezer for a few hours (not my idea; found it on reddit). This worked, but only if I also tapped the back of the phone with my knuckle before booting. As I said, success today and I'm all smiles. I hope this helps someone else.
The phone, by the way, is bricked as far as I can tell. And my backups are going to be a lot more comprehensive from here on.

Really need help, google flash gone bad

At first I tried to update my existing TWRP (3.2.1-0) to the 3.2.1-2 variant. It flashed ok, but then the phone would only boot to TWRP (reason for upgrade is that 3.2.1-0 would hang). I was attempting initially to put myself on the path to a "custom rom". When this failed, I manually flashed the latest google firmware from their page and it still will not do anything other than fastboot mode. No recovery, no firmware load. When I try to do the flash-all.bat method now, all I get after it loads the archive contents is "error: Cannot generate image for userdata. Guess I got a $1000 brick at this point?? Image from the PC screen included.
See if this thread helps.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/pi...ory-image-flashing-fails-t3715350/post7649698
I am going to have to find another way to look at that thread. My ipad is getting directed to some HTC desire article about and orange and black theme.
I have tried so far very unsuccessfully to wipe everything by booting to twrp via fastboot method. Then I used the dueces script to reflash everything completely (both partitions). No matter whether I flash complete stock or flash magisk and verizon radio files, it just hangs on the white google screen now and that is as far as I have gotten. Left it at home in this mode hoping it will clear.
JoeNeckbone said:
See if this thread helps.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/pi...ory-image-flashing-fails-t3715350/post7649698
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That link is bad. Three devices are going to an htc desire theming page.
remove the -w from the update line in flash-all.
I have got the same problem since yesterday and search for a solution.
ctradio said:
That link is bad. Three devices are going to an htc desire theming page.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure what happened with link, https://forum.xda-developers.com/pi...ry-image-flashing-fails-t3715350/post74751631
new adb dont help for me. I cannot flash slot a and change to b and got the error message that no slot is supported.
Still need help? Have you tried Skipsoft? Sure its not been updated but it might beable to help ..
Where fastboot flashing failed for me one time it got me out of a hole....
Otherwise i can try and remote and help... BTW its not finding the userdata file in the fastboot side... Something isnt right hence why it cant create the userdata file...
I try to boot with skipsoft to temp twrp but stuck on boot.img loading. the flashed twrp stuck on twrp logo and before I have changed from slot b to a inside twrp i can boot. now I cannot flash inside fast boot or delete anything.
Have you guys tried Deuces Bootloop Recovery & Flashing Script? I'd imagine you'd run into the same issues as the script runs a lot of the same fastboot commands...but it has worked wonders for many other users so......
I also might try re-downloading the factory image and comparing the Checksums to make sure you have a whole exact download just in case that's getting in the way of properly generating the userdata image. I'd also suggest making sure you have more than 4GB of space on your C drive; I was getting similar messages about not finding or not generating system images because they couldn't be fully extracted (temporarily) because I didn't have sufficient temp space on my C drive.
But I had encountered this issue before. It was either userdata or system_other partition. I did attempt to fastboot erase and fastboot format those partitions and other tweaks; even messed with changing the size of the partition (you might have better luck). What I seemed to conclude is that I was flashing the wrong month's Full Factory image; i.e. I was manually flashing system_other image from February when the whole phone was still on January. But I believe what I ended up doing was flashing a Full Factory image with the "-w" intact; therefore, if you still have access, you should copybackcup (via TWRP or adb pull) your internal storage (/sdcard and-or /data/media) and simply flash a Full Factory image with wipe option enabled...
Just some thoughts and suggestions...hope this helps...
I figured it out finally. Even though my ADB/Fastboot tools were a later creation date than the ones posted online, the ones online worked great. Even used the dueces script to ensure the junk is gone. Thanks all! Hate pesky gotchas like that!!

Stuck in boot loop - need magisk_patched file Pixel 2 XL (QQ3A.200805.001, Aug 2020)

Dear XDA-Developers, after installing August 2020 update for my Pixel 2 XL and possibly applying incorrect Magisk bootloader version, my phone doesn't boot anymore and is constantly stuck in bootscreen animation.
What I have tried so far to no result:
- Re-flashing both May 2020 (previous working version) and August 2020 without -w flag to preserve my data that I would ideally like to recover.
- Side-loading May 2020 and August 2020 OTA versions through TWRP
- Creating and booting from Magisk-core only image as per guide called "How to Create & Boot from a Magisk Core-Only Image to Fix a Bootloop Without Custom Recovery" (since I cannot post links in here).
While unpacking and repacking Magisk-core image I noticed that "BOARD_OS_PATCH_LEVEL 2020-05" indicating that I might have had the wrong version applied to it.
So looks like my only hope is finding magisk_patched.img file for August 2020 Pixel 2 XL (image-taimen-qq3a.200805.001) and trying to patch it to disable Magisk upon startup. Would anybody be so kind to post one here?
I have also tried to make data backup using TWRP, but it fails mounting /data partition and shows that it's 0 Mb.
Any other ideas to how to save the phone without wiping all the data would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you all very much for whatever suggestions you might have to help me!
hencrow said:
So looks like my only hope is finding magisk_patched.img file for August 2020 Pixel 2 XL (image-taimen-qq3a.200805.001) and trying to patch it to disable Magisk upon startup. Would anybody be so kind to post one here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Magisk doesn't touch the bootloader, only modifying the boot image. Given your description of the issue, I don't believe Magisk to be the culprit here. Based upon personal experience, flashing a stock image using flash-all.bat, whether the -w flag is present or absent, totally removes Magisk as the stock boot image overwrites the modified version created by Magisk.
It's clear though that you have an issue, but how much of it is brought about by misconceptions and incorrect knowledge is unknown and at this point irrelevant. So what do you do now? Try backing up your data using the instructions here. But be prepared for the very real possibility that you have already lost all your data, and only a stock ROM install with the -w flag present will restore the device to working order.
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
So what do you do now? Try backing up your data using the instructions URL. But be prepared for the very real possibility that you have already lost all your data, and only a stock ROM install with the -w flag present will restore the device to working order.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for getting back. I'm a little confused how can adb backup can work though if the only thing I can boot into is TWRP and even it fails to decrypt /data partition (it just shows "Could not mount /data and unable to find crypto footer" upon startup).
And with my very limited Android debugging experience wondering if things are really that hopeless that it's not possible to simply copy and decrypt user data partition or there aren't even any logs from failed Android boot attempts that can be looked at to at least diagnose the issue.
hencrow said:
Thanks for getting back. I'm a little confused how can adb backup can work though if the only thing I can boot into is TWRP and even it fails to decrypt /data partition (it just shows "Could not mount /data and unable to find crypto footer" upon startup).
And with my very limited Android debugging experience wondering if things are really that hopeless that it's not possible to simply copy and decrypt user data partition or there aren't even any logs from failed Android boot attempts that can be looked at to at least diagnose the issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It may not work, and in fact it probably won't, especially if TWRP can't mount the data partition. That's why I said you should be prepared for the very real possibility that you have lost all your data. As for getting logs to diagnose the issue, the only certain way to get a catlog is to record the logcat from the device on your PC as you boot it, via USB Debugging. Something that likely will not be of much help now, given what you have tried doing to resolve the issue.
At this point, in your position I would simply cut my losses and install a factory image and let it wipe the data. Once you are back up and running, you want to get into the habit of backing up app data. There are many apps that can do this, but regardless of the app used, backing up the app data to internal storage or to a location like Mega or Dropbox will make life easier if you ever encounter this again.
An update if anybody is wondering what happened - flashing Android 11 Beta 3 brought the phone back to life with all the data intact. All versions of Android 10 haven't even reached the booting stage where adbd was started and showed no logs.

"Your device is corrupt. It can't be trusted and may not work properly." Pixel 2 XL

I'm about 4 hours of reading in on this matter, and I still don't have a proper answer. I've run through countless threads with similar titles, and found some helpful tidbits, but nothing the resolves or fully explains what is going on here.
I just made the jump from Android 9.0.0 (latest) rooted to Android 10.0.0 (latest.) Here were my steps:
Download the latest Platform Tools & unzip
Download the latest Android 10.0.0 Factory image for Pixel 2 XL & unzip into the platform tools folder
Download the latest USB drivers & install
Hook up my phone to the computer (Windows 10) and verify that ADB & Fastboot are working properly via command prompt
Execute the flash-all.bat (left the -w flag in so that it wiped my data) -- it appeared to be only flashing the one slot except for a couple mentions of the other slot's system towards the end of the commands
The phone booted just fine and I went through and installed TWRP and Magisk 23 and so on
Here's where I encountered the error:
As I was rebooting out of TWRP, I realized I'd never used the "Slot A" or "Slot B" buttons, so I picked one, and it started rebooting the phone. The normal screen with the yellow text about phone being unlocked came up, then switched to the white background with the 'G' as expected. The expected next step would've been the 'G' spinning into a circle for a second, and then going to the homescreen, but instead what happened was the screen went black, and then a screen that said "Your device is corrupt. It can't be trusted and may not work properly." showed. It looked similar to the one when the phone first boots with the yellow text about the bootloader, but this text was red. I attempted to use the power button to bypass it, and when I did, it switched the the normal yellow-text-about-bootloader screen, and then switched to the 'G' with the white background again, but there it stayed, just frozen.
I was still able to boot to bootloader by using the power + down button, and could then boot to the stock recovery, but that was it. After a bit of reading, I discovered the following command:
fastboot set_active a
or
fastboot set_active b
and also fastboot getvar all
The set_active command chooses which Slot is being used, and the getvar command shows all the fastboot variables, one of which shows the "current_slot." Once I set the other Slot to be the active one and rebooted, the phone booted normally. Buuut, now I'm concerned that someone is screwed up with my phone, and it's going to fail at some point when I don't have my computer handy, so I went back to work trying to resolve the error when I booted out of the one slot.
Here's what I've tried:
Run the flash-all.bat file in one slot, let the phone reboot, boot to bootloader, switch slots, reboot to bootloader, flash-all.bat in the other slot.
Same as above, but without the -w flag.
Manually flash the bootloader, radio and image zip on both slots
Install the TWRP while booted into the adb-loaded TWRP img (this seems to write to both slots based on the output)
Install and uninstall Magisk both via recovery and via the patched stock boot image.
After every single attempt, the one slot would work just fine, and the other slot would exhibit the behavior I mentioned. Depending on which Slot is flashed first, the Slot that fails to boot properly does change (ie. it's not always Slot A or Slot B that fails.)
Untested methods:
Screwing with dm-verity -- I saw one thread that gave a few fastboot commands to disable dm-verity, and a couple people reporting success with it. After searching around and doing a bit of reading on dm-verity, I still don't understand what it does, whether disabling it would have any negative repercussions, and whether disabling it would fix the issue legitimately, or just kinda mute it.
Using Deuce's bootloop recovery tool -- again, I don't really know what that thing is running, it hasn't been maintained in quite some time as far as I can tell, and there are several threads indicating that it runs a bunch of haphazard stuff that could cause more problems. Some reports indicated it worked for them, but I'm concerned about what else it might be doing that may negatively affect things down the road.
Re-locking the bootloader -- I saw this one mentioned several times, but I also saw several people warning that you could brick your phone if you do it wrong. I also saw one or two folks who seemed like they couldn't get back to being unlocked after re-locking. I don't want to screw with this option given those risks.
Can anyone give me any more tips on how to resolve this? I'm pretty sure that the Pixels are supposed to run equally well from both slots, so I'd really like to get the matter resolved so I don't have to worry about what would happen if my phone moved me over to the other Slot for some reason. Any insight and explanations are appreciated!
People say that you cannot install both TWRP and magisk (I haven't tried it myself). So start again with a flash-all, and then, instead of installing TWRP, run it using fastboot boot whenever you need it.
The OP needs to flash a factory image first or the corruption message will never disappear. While he's at it he should make the jump to Android 11...latest radios and all that. If he doesn't want to lose data he can edit flash-all.bat in the factory image and remove the -w flag in that batch file.
From there he can flash anything he wants. If he plans on rooting however he cannot install TWRP, only boot it using ADB. The combination of Magisk and TWRP causes a bootloop.
runekock said:
People say that you cannot install both TWRP and magisk (I haven't tried it myself). So start again with a flash-all, and then, instead of installing TWRP, run it using fastboot boot whenever you need it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem presents with even the stock boot image though.
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
The OP needs to flash a factory image first or the corruption message will never disappear. While he's at it he should make the jump to Android 11...latest radios and all that. If he doesn't want to lose data he can edit flash-all.bat in the factory image and remove the -w flag in that batch file.
From there he can flash anything he wants. If he plans on rooting however he cannot install TWRP, only boot it using ADB. The combination of Magisk and TWRP causes a bootloop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Understood on the magisk / twrp thing, but regarding the factory image, that is exactly what I was going. The problem presents even after doing that. That's why it's so puzzling.
Edit: it's admittedly a very long post, but if you look at the section that's numbered, you'll see I'm grabbing the latest factory image for Android 10 and flashing it. Then in the section labeled "Here's What I've Tried" (aka my attempts to troubleshoot) the very first thing I did was flash the factory image (including the wipe) to both Slots and then trying to boot from one slot and then from the other.
Grab an Android 11 package and don't remove the -w flag when installing. The corruption may be persisting because user storage isn't being wiped.
The factory image - NOT OTA - is the only way to fix this short of sending the device to Google for service.
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
Grab an Android 11 package and don't remove the -w flag when installing. The corruption may be persisting because user storage isn't being wiped.
The factory image - NOT OTA - is the only way to fix this short of sending the device to Google for service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would it be any different when I wipe with Android 10 or Android 11? I flashed the latest Android 10 factory image to the phone *with* the -w flag as mentioned in my "here's what I tried" section. I even went so far as to force the phone to Slot A with the "set_active" command, and then set_active Slot B and flashed the factory image (not the OTA) again. After doing that, the one slot will boot just fine while the other gives the error. If I change it up and flash Slot B first and then Slot A the same thing occurs, just in reverse (the slot that booted before throws the error while the slot that threw the error before now boots.)
My initial post explains why I recommended an Android 11 ROM (updated radio). Any of them will of course work, but that's beside the point. Try using ADB to format the partitions and see if that resolves the issue. Otherwise contact Google, as I can't think of anything else that would be blocking you.
I had this same issue and Flashing Android 11 on both partitions (without removing the -w command) resolved it.
I first booted into Recovery Menu and wiped both slots. Then downloaded the factory image (not ota) and flashed each slot separately wiping the device after each flash in recovery menu. it's the only way to fix this just like user @Strephon Alkhalikoi
If that doesn't resolve it then you have an issue that's more serious and will require a repair of some sort (not necessarily hardware).

Categories

Resources