Corrupted phone in recovery state; PC refuses to recognize that it's connected

GammaRailgun

hiiiiii chat
(first post here, sorry if it's a little messy and confusing i'm kind of inexperienced with making support requests and REALLY frazzled from having this error + unrelated irl stuff)

so. i have a google pixel 8a, with grapheneOS loaded. as one does
it ran out of battery this morning, and i've had it plugged in. it started into a bootloop once i managed to get it charged enough to use; not abnormal, this has happened before
what IS abnormal is that it gave me a "Your device is corrupt and cannot be trusted" error, and stopped even getting to the home screen
i've since managed to get it into recovery mode in the hopes of either pulling files off it or sideloading a different version of the OS or whatever. (not really sure what the actual solution would be; i want my files off the device right now so i have a layer of redundancy but everyone else seems to be sideloading the OS and i've gotten word it might not even be possible to pull files offboard in recovery mode)

HOWEVER.
i can't even think about approaching any of those solutions right now because my PC completely refuses to recognize that the phone is plugged in.
i have no idea why it refuses to recognize the 8a.
i'm running linux mint 22.2. the laptop is an old lenovo legion y530; i can dive more into specific hardware specs if they're relevant

any thoughts?

raccoondad

GammaRailgun i've gotten word it might not even be possible to pull files offboard in recovery mode

You can't

What exactly are you testing to see if the computer is detecting your phone? are you actually checking what the kernel detects w/ lsusb or?

What cable are you using?

GammaRailgun

raccoondad What exactly are you testing to see if the computer is detecting your phone? are you actually checking what the kernel detects w/ lsusb or?

yeah i was checking with lsusb. doesn't show up

raccoondad What cable are you using?

the one that came with the phone (USB-C to USB-C). it's worked flawlessly up to right now. i think i have another cable that i can try but i would be surprised if that was the issue
... although on second thought maybe if i try the USB-C to regular USB one i have. hmmm

(incidentally, i have since powered off the phone)

GammaRailgun

different cable, + a reboot from powered off into recovery. still doesn't show up in lsusb (with sudo and -v)

raccoondad

GammaRailgun do you have the phone in sideload mode? It won't connect otherwise, it only starts the adb sideload served once you select it in the menu.

Should show right in the recovery screen, sideloading updates should be in GOS docs.

GammaRailgun

raccoondad your timing is really funny because i just got that same advice off the discord and am going to do it now

GammaRailgun

OKAY SO UPDATE. A THING HAPPENED.

i got the idea to attempt to start the sideload process from my phone and see if my PC would pick it up. (i installed ADB, but it didn't work at first)
IT DID SOMETHING.
i was presented with a status update on my PC saying:
Unable to mount Pixel 8a
Unable to open MTP device "001,009"
which means it's not a hardware issue; the PC is physically capable of recognizing the Pixel, it just isn't in a state to be recognized.

going to attempt to sideload now

GammaRailgun

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE:

ITS WORKING !!!!!!!!!!!!
sideloaded 2025110801 and it successfully booted!

marking issue closed now
edit: if i can even do that...