Data may be corrupted... No way to go?

yazomie

Hi,
My Pixel 6a has been stuck for days now on "Cannot load Android system. Your data may be corrupt". I've been told to try sideloading onto it the latest OTA, but my Linux computers don't see the device on adb or even lsusb. Do I have no choice at this point but to factory reset?

(After reading around, apparently the only plausible explanation is a battery-related issue, cause I haven't used the duress PIN.)

VehicularClatter298

Not answering your question, but: you might have used the Duress PIN on a PIN/password prompt different from the lock screen, as just happened to this user.

SnapDragon

VehicularClatter298 I was able to see my device on my PC and even update the drivers for it once I downloaded the USB driver on Windows.

yazomie

VehicularClatter298 Not possible, the phone was unsupervised and it was already shut down when I grabbed it...

yazomie

A little update: I've managed to enter fastboot mode and from there recovery mode so as to be able to sideload.

When I enter "Apply update from ADB", the first problem I notice is:

ERROR: recovery: [libfs_mgr] Unable to enable ext4 verify on /dev/block/platform/14700000.ufs/by-name/metadata because /system/bin/tune2fs is missing

Then I attempt to sideload - and I try to do that with both the current release of the phone and the latest OTA, both the magick and the rootless versions of the bluejay version... In all cases, halfway through verifying update package I get:

ERROR: recovery: failed to verify whole-file signature
Update package verification took [whatever] s (result 1)
ERROR: recovery: Signature verification failed
ERROR: recovery: error: 21

Is there anything left to do?

userofgos

yazomie magick and the rootless versions of the bluejay version

What are you talking about? There's no such releases available from the GrapheneOS website.

Johnnyloans

Are you following this guide?
https://grapheneos.org/usage#updates-sideloading

Check to see if your OTA file is correct. (you only need to verify one of these checksums) These are my computer's calculations:
md5
5db1746a4756c09dd6c33f7240810c4c bluejay-ota_update-2026021200.zip
sha256
ffe8c7ce216ba3103cf1c6da007dffa013bb5e31cc129e714c48883a1410bbf4 bluejay-ota_update-2026021200.zip

Download the signed update package here:
https://grapheneos.org/releases#bluejay

Try a different usb cable that hopefully isn't damaged.

Use a different usb port. Perhaps one that isn't nearby to your first attempt--different usb controller.

Try doing this process on a different computer or a bootable usb stick.

Clean the inside of your usb port on the phone.