Locked out of phone - Sim PUK failed - Cant factory reset

Protonuser

Failed Sim Pin too many times, rather than remove sim first I did a factory reset. GrapheneOS installer will flashes for a millisecond followed by a black lock screen and an arrow in the bottom left corner.
Swiping just brings me to a black screen, not the usual Graphene startup installer

Protonuser

Pretty much esim that is locked completely causes graphene to be unable to go through the start up / welcome set up

de0u

Protonuser Which release of GrapheneOS on which device?

Protonuser

de0u

Should have been latest version on a pixel 8. Anything you can recommend trying, or is this as good as gone :(
When the start up page pops up for a second i can quickly press next but then it does the same thing and goes to a complete black page with the back arrow, and nothing I press will do anything

de0u

Protonuser Anything you can recommend trying, or is this as good as gone :(

I am not an eSIM user, nor a SIM-lock user. The combination of eSIM and SIM lock seems dangerous to me.

I think the regular login screen has a slider to disable a locked eSIM. Maybe some other screen could have that added, such as the setup wizard? If so, it might be possible to rescue the device by sideloading an OTA image with a fix.

You might try filing an issue on GitHub. If possible, include screen shots. Definitely include a detailed description of the situation (device model, steps taken to get it stuck).

Skyway

Protonuser pixel 8 supports HDMI over USB C I wonder if that would be of any help ?

de0u

Protonuser I see that an issue has been filed. That looks like enough to get things started. Please watch for mail in case a developer asks for further information.

de0u

Protonuser Does it seem like the setup wizard crashes exactly when you press "Next", or does it crash if you just let it sit for a while? Do you think there would be value in attaching a brief video of it crashing? (I realize that there might not be.)

N1b

If Pixel OS does allow to disable the eSIM from lockscreen, you could for now flash Pixel OS, deactivate it, then flash GOS again. It's bad that you ran into this, but hopefully it's a workaround to unbrick your device.

de0u

N1b If Pixel OS does allow to disable the eSIM from lockscreen, you could for now flash Pixel OS, deactivate it, then flash GOS again.

Only if OEM unlock happens to be on...

Protonuser

de0u So most of the time the startup wizard wont even show.
If it does flash for half a second, it dissapears, regardless of if I press next or not.
So no way to actually get anywhere currently.

And sadly OEM unlock is turned off

de0u

Protonuser So most of the time the startup wizard wont even show.
If it does flash for half a second, it dissapears, regardless of if I press next or not.

Maybe clarify that in the GitHub issue?

Protonuser

Tried to sideload update, successful but still same issue as original

de0u

Protonuser I suspect the device may be stuck for an indefinite time. In theory either Google or GrapheneOS could change the behavior when a locked-out eSIM is observed at boot or by the setup wizard, but that might not happen.

Or perhaps a repair shop might have a way to wipe the eSIM chip (if it is a standalone chip).