So, I'm having a major issue with my Pixel XL that just started today. I really really really don't want to factory reset the thing, but I'm out of Google attempts to fix, except all the fancy pants developer stuff that is outside my wheel house. Anyone out there got mad skills and might be able to help me? Google Tech support was trash. They ran me through less troubleshooting then I'd tried from Google searches before giving up and saying factory rest was the only avenue. HELP ME!
http://makerblock.com/2018/07/solve...in-a-boot-loop-after-update-and-full-storage/ This is 100% me and I haven't tried (or read through all) of the linked solutions in that forum doing that now. I'm tech savvy, but I'm a network guy, not software, so this is scary.
What exactly are you seeing on your screen? Can you upload a pic? How can you factory reset if you are stuck on a black screen? Never had a Pixel, but I used to mod and install custom ROMs on previous devices. Fastboot and ADB is a piece of cake, nothing to worry about.
Pretty much just like this. Apparently this has been a problem since Pie, but I'd not run into it until today. Got an OS update days to a week ago. Have installed nothing new, about 6 apps did update today around maybe 2pm. I was in the middle of a group text at 2:50p when it died. So I suspect it was an app update, but I can't get into it in any way to fix that. I can get into the boot loader and recovery mode like all the fixes suggest, and I've tried everything short of the factory reset that they all end in. Now I can sometimes get it to boot to the main lock screen and if I leave it alone there and don't unlock it, it seems fine, but if I unlock it will freeze 10-60 secs later and crash. Then back into the loop mode, or it will boot to the lock screen, same results if I unlock it. That article I linked above it my last chance to avoid the factory reset I think. I've never attempted anything like what they are discussing in the article, but it does seem to be my last chance before I commit to the dreaded factory reset.
I had something like this happen to me with an old Moto Razr HD. Screen just got stuck at startup, thought I was super fvcked. Luckily, I found a tool that allowed me to factory reset, and unbricked my phone. Have you tried installing a previous factory image? (i.e., tried to downgrade) I find those Techno Bill instructions... confusing. Not sure why. Here are instructions from XDA: https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-xl/how-to/guide-how-to-unlock-root-flash-pixel-xl-t3507886 and Google: https://developers.google.com/android/images I think both of these are better, but whatever. XDA is a life saver BTW if you haven't heard of it. I suggest very strongly reading through the forum there.
There is no option to do this, at least not from the native non-l33t-hax0r menus. Is that something you can do from Fastboot and ADB? If you're just talking about choosing an older OS when I try to side-load, then I haven't gotten that far, but was considering trying to find an image that is pre-Dec as everything was fine prior to that semi-recent update and then today's normal app updates.
Check out the google link I posted. Scroll to the bottom and find the Pixel XL (Marlin) section. You can download every OS update that has been pushed out in the phone's life.
Yep. Doing my homework now while i work on getting my personal PC loaded with the tools needed for this venture. I'm excited. What's not to be excited about. I stopped doing this sort of thing shorty after Win XP was no longer the new hotness. My OS skills as Russ-T.
Yeah, I had no idea what I was doing either when I first started tinkering. XDA is a great resource. Tons of helpful tutorials and mods for all phones. Each phone gets its own forum, sorta like the Big Soccer of phone forums. I also like their instructions, incredible detailed, and tell you what you should be seeing every step of the way, and not just the instructions themselves. I'd just say read through all the XDA instructions of that thread I linked, and go through it step by step. Read everything twice before you do it, and confirm everything. Hard to brick your phone these days, but still possible. The XDA method allows an installation of a previous OS, while preserving user data. Looks like a lot of people are having this issue with the recent update Google pushed out. I'm so done with Google at this point. All their software is half-baked as fvck, and they seem more interested in gathering your data than making stuff that works and having an actual strategy when it comes to Android and Google apps. I've had Android phones my whole life (HTC, Moto, Sony, and now Samsung), but I'm switching to iPhone very soon. My laptop was so sluggish the past few months, couldn't figure it out. Turns out, it was google, Chrome specifically. Lots of times my CPU usage was at 100% for extended periods of time. My laptop literally felt like it was on dial-up, at all times, online or off. I uninstalled Chrome and installed Firefox, now my laptop is like brand new. Not one single CPU usage issue in months, when I used to experience them multiple times EVERY DAY. Google has just lost their way IMO, everything is about data, data, and more data, customer be damned if our data gathering wrecks your user experience. But I digress....
Yeah. I went Google Pixel trying to get away from Verizon and their bloatware and spyware, and that was just before Google really started to show their hand as you stated above. Otherwise I had been really happy with my phone (data harvesting withstanding, but I had most of that fairly under control, or at least as much as one is able while still having a smartphone.
Shit. https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-xl/help/bootloop-t3877418 Still reading and learning, but I'm about to start drinking and forgetting. I'll go through this tomorrow, but if these guys in that thread can't find a fix, I'm screwed. They are dealing with the same issue from the same update. Just seems mine took a few extra days to manifest.
Have u yelled at Google support yet? I just did that before Thanksgiving with my pixel 2. Get it to a point where they will warranty replace. I recommend yelling a lot since it's their update that boned you. Then u can mail it in or take it to a you break we fix. Only shitty part about mailing in is they require you to be at home to sign for the package. Really annoying.
I talked to Support earlier, when I was looking for support. Since it was via chat since I had no phone, I couldn't yell. But after he did literally nothing special, and didn't even walk me through half the shit I'd already tried from Googling the problem (though the XDA site is better info than I had found) and they wanted to jump right to wipe your life away. I told him that we'd not even come close to exhausting possibilities and I was not wiping the phone yet. He said, well we have done everything and that's the last option. I called him a liar and disconnected. (My favorite part of the conversation and the moment I knew I was pissing up a rope was when he asked me if we got disconnected what's my number so he can call me back. THE PHONE IS BROKEN DUMBASS, let me get in the DeLorean and install a Land line for you to call). I did just fire off an angry email to the follow email he sent with the instructions to wipe, "since we were disconnected". I linked that thread and "yelled" a bit and asked how Google was going to fix this or how were they going to compensate me for their ******** up. I am not a Apple person at all (intuitive my ass) but I might join @Kyle Crew in his revolt. I'm sure I'll get no response. Tomorrow, I will find a way to call Support and boy oh boy will I yell and demand they make me whole.
Honestly though, doesn't Google use the same fast boot and ADB methods as modders and XDA folk? I'm pretty sure they do, just a fancier version. At best, all they do is wipe, at worst, just give you a new phone because it's not like you'll ever know the difference. Yeah, come join the revolt bro, I'm so done with Google. I'm still using Google services for the moment, just because it's easier with an Android phone. Once I switch though, I'm ditching all Google apps and services from my life. Bunch of half-baked horseshit. Sucks to hear you didn't find a fix yet.
That sounds similar to my experience. Just skip the initial drone and demand a manger or supervisor. You'll have to bitch a little to get them to relent. The supervisor was not a drone and was helpful.
Probably. I'm still in the grief stage. Acceptance is not yet in my vocabulary. So, yes too soon in actuality. However, I'm certainly one to dish it, and I can in fact take it, because if it's funny, it's never really too soon. But thank you @Kyle Crew for your assistance. Even if it only leads to a sad eventual reality and not a fix. You were my lighthouse in my fog of anxiety. Anxiety which (potential over sharing alert) I had a moment of clarity last night as to why, in the world of cloud backups etc. wiping the data and starting over seems so catastrophic to me. I live in my head, and have a shit memory for the minutia of life and lack discipline-- which martial arts training was supposed to help fix, but ultimately did not. So, my phone is a grand collection of reminders and notes and popups and things spread across multiple apps and such that in the end cannot really be backed up because it's not one thing. My phone is my digital mom, do this, clean than, don't forget to breathe. So yeah, the amount of things I have to recreate and REMEMBER to recreate is, to misuse a phrase, MASSIVE. And I know the only way I'm going to remember to remake that reminder to renew my driver's license in two years will be after the nice police officer hands me the ticket. Or take my allergy medicine every morning, or well everything. The original Palm II was my first digital mom; for me utter reliance on my 'phone' predates it being a phone and all the modern trappings why others are now addicted too... I have some of that too, but I'm anti social media so it's mostly my ADD crutch is gone. To say I feel like I'm flying without a net right now, is the kind of nervous sick I'm feeling. You, and @CrewSchmack were a lifeline to sanity yesterday. Thanks. So, now I'm thinking if I can't reload the OS to the data, can I move the data off the phone to reload on to a fixed/wiped/new phone? More XDA spelunking for me. Google get fukt.
And because I think some of you following my drama might enjoy this... So, as I noted above I sent this pointless but cathartic reply last night to the canned automaton response they are required to follow up with: To which he dutifully responded: My follow-up: Can't wait to see what horseshit PR spin he's going to have to try to craft to respond to that. Poor dude, he should really just take the badkid points and not respond, cuz I've no idea what I'm supposed to be doing with my life right now without my phone telling me, so as far as I'm concerned I have all the time in the world to keep ********ing with him until I am sufficiently armed with information, and get up the energy to engage in that Supervisor phone call @CrewSchmack correctly suggested.