Not a single reply on Matrix, I posted a link to this thread here. I have asked over at XDA Forums where I have always found customs ROMs for my older phones and always get excellent help and advice. I am not getting the error now that the OS is corrupt during boot, I only get the "your phone is running a different OS etc." which you get when running GrapheneOS, but on that same screen it would also give the corruption warning., but not since I sideloaded the latest OTA, I'm convinced it was the last OTA update that caused the issues since the phone had a problem installing the OTA then after a reboot it installed but then the problems started. Which makes me angry because not a single dev has responded to this when it definitely seems like a Graphene issue.

After sideloading it will boot to the start screen as if I am setting up the phone for the first time, sometimes it reboots right away and sometimes it does it after I get through a few setup screens. Being an IT Pro it seems to me like a corrupt or missing file/filesystem and when the phone looks for the missing or corrupt file it can't find it and the system crashes. I just don't know how to check/fix the missing file/filesystem.

Thanks a lot for your assistance, any suggestions are extremely helpful since there is always something I may not think of or know how to do. As of right now I have a useless device.

    drtweakllc After sideloading it will boot to the start screen as if I am setting up the phone for the first time, sometimes it reboots right away and sometimes it does it after I get through a few setup screens.

    Recovery mode has a "graphics test" and a "locale test". If you experience a reset while running either of those, that might indicate a hardware problem.

    Have you tried booting while connected to a power source?

        Hold vol- while powering on so that it goes into FASTBOOT mode.
        Then use vol+/- until it says "Recovery Mode" and press the power button to enter it.
        When it boots into recovery it will say "no command". This is normal.
        Press and hold the power button, and while held, press vol+.
        Now see there is a factory reset option in the menu. Follow directions to factory reset.

          intelligence
          Thanks for your reply. But the OP is not not trying to factory reset. The title of this post is misleading.

          Since the last OTA update, the OP is not able to successfully boot into GrapheneOS, due to corrupt OS.

          I have seen in the Matrix room in cases like this that the devs suggest flashing stock Android and flashing back to GrapheneOS.

          But even after sideloading the latest release, OP is not able to boot. Therefore the OP is not able to unlock the bootloader, rendering the device currently useless.

          drtweakllc I am pretty sure it's not an issue with the latest GrapheneOS update, otherwise many users would be reporting the same issue on their device. Which is not the case.

          I don't have any other suggestions to resolve this, I'm afraid. Others might do like the suggestion from de0u. All the best!

                Thanks for all the replies. At this point I don't care if I do a factory reset, I just want my phone working again. The latest thing I thought of was sideloading the last OTA that worked before the issues started. That version is GrapheneOS version 2023021000, does anyone know where I can download that OTA so I can try and sideload it? Thanks

                • de0u replied to this.

                  drtweakllc I am not an expert but I think downgrade protection means that neither an attacker nor you can install an older version on top of a newer version.

                  Sadly, it is possible the device is unrecoverable. If there is a hardware problem, it is very likely unrecoverable. Have you been able to try the graphics test and/or the locale test? If either of those causes a reboot it is probably a hardware failure.

                    Yes I have, the graphics test immediately goes to "Installing system update" goes through a small update then goes back to recovery mode. The locale test goes through a list of things all in German.

                    • de0u replied to this.

                      drtweakllc For me the graphics test runs for around 15 seconds (it isn't doing an update; it's just showing you status screens from an update process to exercise the screen a bit). The locale test will display a few text items in a variety of languages and fonts -- for me, 79 different things if I keep hitting volume-down long enough. Neither one really exercises the machine a lot. "View recovery logs" will do some work if you keep hitting the volume-down key, but it's not really a hardware exerciser either. If you could get something other than GrapheneOS to crash, that would suggest the problem isn't a broken GrapheneOS install, but hardware instead. But it's a one-sided test: if the limited things you can run from Recovery don't crash that doesn't mean there isn't a hardware problem.

                      Have you tried to boot GrapheneOS while the device has external power? That shouldn't matter, but it's something that could be tried. I guess you could also try chilling the device for a while before booting GrapheneOS. Again, that shouldn't matter, but maybe there is a heating problem?

                      BTW I think the "tunefs" message you see isn't diagnostic. I have seen that message too. And I found an entry on a LineageOS page that suggests the SPI message also isn't fatal.

                      When the next GrapheneOS release comes out for your hardware you could try installing that via Recovery (downgrade protection doesn't mind at all if you move forward).

                      But I think I, personally, am out of ideas. Maybe try the Matrix chat room again?

                        Thank you so much de0u, I have tried booting connected to power, no difference. I don't believe it's a heat issue because I can stay in Recovery Mode forever without a reboot. It only reboots when booting into the OS, that's what leads me to believe it's a bad update, corrupt OS etc. If I had the bootloader unlocked I would be ok and could reflash to stock then back to Graphene. I'm an IT Pro so basic troubleshooting tells me it's the OS or filesystem corrupt/missing files. This all started after the OTA update version 2023022300 and when I sideloaded that same update I started getting the error my OS was corrupt at the bootloader screen, when I sideloaded with the latest OTA the error about corruption disappeared. This is why I wanted to try sideloading the last version prior to the issue but I don't where to download it from.

                        • de0u replied to this.

                          drtweakllc This all started after the OTA update version 2023022300 and when I sideloaded that same update I started getting the error my OS was corrupt at the bootloader screen, when I sideloaded with the latest OTA the error about corruption disappeared. This is why I wanted to try sideloading the last version prior to the issue but I don't where to download it from.

                          Unfortunately I believe downgrade protection means that you can't install an old OTA even if you have one. See also this GitHub comment. I believe your only way forward will be literally forward, i.e., waiting for the next GrapheneOS update and trying to sideload that. But you might want to do that while getting real-time advice from somebody in the Matrix chat room.

                            3 months later