My primary computer: Lenovo desktop Windows 11: doesn't recognize android phone at all, no matter what I do.

My primary laptop: Lenovo Windows 10: gives me a red error message every time I try to "download release" at about 1/3 of the way.

My old laptop: Asus Windows 7: Chrome crashes every time I'm about half way through the flash.

My Google Chrome laptop: I have no idea how to navigate to devices plugged into it, and there is no indication that it recognizes anything.

Can anybody help?

Assuming you have the fastboot driver installed, try different cables and ports. The only way I was able to get the browser to consistently recognize the phone, and complete all steps, was by using a usb-A to usb-C cable in a 2.0 port specifically. Both C to C and A to C in 3.0/3.1 ports did not work.

i had similar issues with my install and around 3 AM settled on using the CLI. if you have any terminal experience it would likely be a solid option, it did not give me any trouble.