Pixel 7a bricked by flash-all.sh

Tobias

Hi,

I just bought a Pixel 7a to replace my Pixel 4a.
Unfortunately the install script did not work as expected and the pixel ran into boot loop. (Google Logo --> Reboot)
Last lines of output were the following:

Rebooting into fastboot OKAY [ 0.000s] < waiting for any device >

So I manually entered fastboot but the script then terminated with this error:

fastboot: error: Failed to boot into userspace fastboot; one or more components might be unbootable.

I can enter fastboot mode but if I select "recocery mode" or "rescue mode" there, I am back to the boot loop.
Ridiculously Google has not published any stock image for the pixel 7a yet. So I also cannot even try to go back to stock for now...

Here is the full output from the script:

./flash-all.sh Sending 'bootloader_a' (12348 KB) OKAY [ 0.297s] Writing 'bootloader_a' (bootloader) Flashing pack version lynx-1.0-9716681 (bootloader) flashing platform gs201 (bootloader) Validating partition ufs (bootloader) Validating partition ufs (bootloader) Validating partition ufs (bootloader) Validating partition partition:0 (bootloader) Validating partition partition:1 (bootloader) Validating partition partition:2 (bootloader) Validating partition partition:3 (bootloader) Validating partition bl1_a (bootloader) Validating partition pbl_a (bootloader) Validating partition bl2_a (bootloader) Validating partition abl_a (bootloader) Validating partition bl31_a (bootloader) Validating partition tzsw_a (bootloader) Validating partition gsa_a (bootloader) Validating partition ldfw_a (bootloader) Flashing partition ufs (bootloader) Flashing partition ufs (bootloader) Flashing partition ufs (bootloader) Flashing partition partition:0 (bootloader) Flashing partition partition:1 (bootloader) Flashing partition partition:2 (bootloader) Flashing partition partition:3 (bootloader) Flashing partition bl1_a (bootloader) Flashing partition pbl_a (bootloader) Flashing partition bl2_a (bootloader) Flashing partition abl_a (bootloader) Flashing partition bl31_a (bootloader) Flashing partition tzsw_a (bootloader) Flashing partition gsa_a (bootloader) Flashing partition ldfw_a (bootloader) Loading sideload ufsfwupdate OKAY [ 0.397s] Finished. Total time: 0.695s Setting current slot to 'a' OKAY [ 0.062s] Finished. Total time: 0.063s Rebooting into bootloader OKAY [ 0.000s] Finished. Total time: 0.050s < waiting for any device > Sending 'bootloader_b' (12348 KB) OKAY [ 0.296s] Writing 'bootloader_b' (bootloader) Flashing pack version lynx-1.0-9716681 (bootloader) flashing platform gs201 (bootloader) Validating partition ufs (bootloader) Validating partition ufs (bootloader) Validating partition ufs (bootloader) Validating partition partition:0 (bootloader) Validating partition partition:1 (bootloader) Validating partition partition:2 (bootloader) Validating partition partition:3 (bootloader) Validating partition bl1_b (bootloader) Validating partition pbl_b (bootloader) Validating partition bl2_b (bootloader) Validating partition abl_b (bootloader) Validating partition bl31_b (bootloader) Validating partition tzsw_b (bootloader) Validating partition gsa_b (bootloader) Validating partition ldfw_b (bootloader) Flashing partition ufs (bootloader) Flashing partition ufs (bootloader) Flashing partition ufs (bootloader) Flashing partition partition:0 (bootloader) Flashing partition partition:1 (bootloader) Flashing partition partition:2 (bootloader) Flashing partition partition:3 (bootloader) Flashing partition bl1_b (bootloader) Flashing partition pbl_b (bootloader) Flashing partition bl2_b (bootloader) Flashing partition abl_b (bootloader) Flashing partition bl31_b (bootloader) Flashing partition tzsw_b (bootloader) Flashing partition gsa_b (bootloader) Flashing partition ldfw_b (bootloader) Loading sideload ufsfwupdate OKAY [ 0.387s] Finished. Total time: 0.684s Setting current slot to 'b' OKAY [ 0.067s] Finished. Total time: 0.068s Rebooting into bootloader OKAY [ 0.000s] Finished. Total time: 0.151s < waiting for any device > Sending 'radio_b' (96532 KB) OKAY [ 2.327s] Writing 'radio_b' (bootloader) Flashing pack version g5300n-230203-230323-M-9801058 (bootloader) Flashing partition modem_b OKAY [ 0.127s] Finished. Total time: 2.455s Rebooting into bootloader OKAY [ 0.000s] Finished. Total time: 0.251s < waiting for any device > Erasing 'avb_custom_key' (bootloader) avb custom key: erase done OKAY [ 0.010s] Finished. Total time: 0.010s Sending 'avb_custom_key' (1 KB) OKAY [ 0.000s] Writing 'avb_custom_key' (bootloader) avb custom key: flash done OKAY [ 0.021s] Finished. Total time: 0.023s Rebooting into bootloader OKAY [ 0.000s] Finished. Total time: 0.100s < waiting for any device > OKAY [ 0.005s] Finished. Total time: 0.005s Erasing 'fips' OKAY [ 0.004s] Finished. Total time: 0.004s Erasing 'dpm_a' OKAY [ 0.003s] Finished. Total time: 0.004s Erasing 'dpm_b' OKAY [ 0.003s] Finished. Total time: 0.004s Snapshot cancel OKAY [ 0.002s] Finished. Total time: 0.002s Bootloader Version...: lynx-1.0-9716681 Baseband Version.....: g5300n-230203-230323-B-9801058 Serial Number........: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX extracting android-info.txt (0 MB) to RAM... Checking 'product' OKAY [ 0.000s] Checking 'version-bootloader' OKAY [ 0.000s] Checking 'version-baseband' OKAY [ 0.000s] Setting current slot to 'b' OKAY [ 0.071s] extracting boot.img (64 MB) to disk... took 0.187s archive does not contain 'boot.sig' Sending 'boot_b' (65536 KB) OKAY [ 1.541s] Writing 'boot_b' OKAY [ 0.083s] extracting init_boot.img (8 MB) to disk... took 0.033s archive does not contain 'init_boot.sig' Sending 'init_boot_b' (8192 KB) OKAY [ 0.193s] Writing 'init_boot_b' OKAY [ 0.011s] extracting dtbo.img (16 MB) to disk... took 0.048s archive does not contain 'dtbo.sig' Sending 'dtbo_b' (16384 KB) OKAY [ 0.385s] Writing 'dtbo_b' OKAY [ 0.023s] archive does not contain 'dt.img' extracting pvmfw.img (1 MB) to disk... took 0.004s archive does not contain 'pvmfw.sig' Sending 'pvmfw_b' (1024 KB) OKAY [ 0.024s] Writing 'pvmfw_b' OKAY [ 0.004s] archive does not contain 'recovery.img' extracting vbmeta.img (0 MB) to disk... took 0.000s archive does not contain 'vbmeta.sig' Sending 'vbmeta_b' (8 KB) OKAY [ 0.000s] Writing 'vbmeta_b' OKAY [ 0.002s] archive does not contain 'vbmeta_system.img' archive does not contain 'vbmeta_vendor.img' extracting vendor_boot.img (64 MB) to disk... took 0.173s archive does not contain 'vendor_boot.sig' Sending 'vendor_boot_b' (65536 KB) OKAY [ 1.539s] Writing 'vendor_boot_b' OKAY [ 0.078s] extracting super_empty.img (0 MB) to disk... took 0.000s Rebooting into fastboot OKAY [ 0.000s] < waiting for any device > #boot loop started here. Then I entered fastboot manually while device was still connected via USB fastboot: error: Failed to boot into userspace fastboot; one or more components might be unbootable. Rebooting into bootloader OKAY [ 0.000s] Finished. Total time: 0.252s

Do you have any experience with flashing 7a and/or do you have any idea how I might fix this?

GrapheneOS

Tobias You need to complete the installation. Avoid interacting with the device before it's finished. Web installer is easier than CLI install.

Ridiculously Google has not published any stock image for the pixel 7a yet.

That's not correct.

treequell

You need to return to fastboot mode and flash the OS again.

Tobias

Thanks for your responses.

I did not interact with the device for at least 30 minutes while it was in the loop. So there seems to be something wrong with the script. I also tried this twice. Installation will never complete without interaction and just runs into loop.

I use fastboot for flashing devices since 15 years or so. I might try the web installer (if this is still possible now) but basically I know what I am doing and I prefer to go the fastboot way.

At least here is no image linked for the 7a. Do you know another trusted source?
https://developers.google.com/android/images

treequell

Tobias I suggest you join the GrapheneOS chatroom on Matrix and we can support you with the installatiom there.

https://matrix.to/#/#grapheneos:grapheneos.org

Tobias

I did some more testing and tried the latest fastboot version while pasting any line separately into the shell.

So the issue appeared while installing the zip file with the command
fastboot -w --skip-reboot update image-lynx-2023051600.zip

Fedoras fastboot version 33.0.3p1 leads to the behaviour described above.

While executing the command with the latests fastboot version 34.0.1 it worked as expected.

So you might want to edit the fastboot version check in the script as 33.0.3 does not seem to work with the script/zip.

[deleted]

Tobias https://grapheneos.org/install/cli#prerequisites

Fedora isn't one of the officially supported OS for cli install, so I'd guess they probably won't be editing scripts for it to work there unless they decide to officially support it.

treequell

[deleted] Fedora does work, but it's more difficult to obtain the udev rules than many other Linux distributions.

[deleted]

treequell Wasn't meaning to say it can't work, just that if you use a os that isn't officially supported you're more liable to run into problems that's all.

treequell

[deleted] Sure, good point