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NEXUS S EUR Bricked OEM UNLOCK ERASE FAIL

Hey guys, i've a big problem.
Yesterday, suddently my nexus s didn't boot. It was stucked on Google logo.
It's rooted and it has the cm7 rom.
I tryed to reflash with cw recovery but i have an issue.
I cannot copy nothing on the sdcard partition.
I mount it with recovery and correctly copy the img from my pc. After i sync and dismount but if i remount the sdcard i cannot see the file that i've copied before.
It seems strange because if i try to format sdcard from recovery it says "done" but the data still remain.
After that i tried to lock and reunlock my phone but it fail.
I launch the command fastboot oem unlock, correctly the two-choices window appear, i select yes but on my pc i see (erase fail) and bootload remain unlocked.
Please give me some advice to resurrect my phone.
Thanks for the support, and sorry for my bad english.
Emiliano

fastboot oem unlock wont lock it, use fastboot oem lock.

i need to unlock it. i've locked now i need to unlock.
But the procedure
fastboot oem unlock
fail with erase fail errore.

I had almost the exact same problem yesterday. Tried literally everything and nothing worked. In fact it kept getting a little worse with every battery pull/reboot.
I purposely re locked the boot loader, right before I went to Sprint and paid $38 for a working replacement.
Probably be a good long while before I root another phone.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

After 4.0.4 OTA update device is bricked.
I have experienced the same issue you are discussing here.
A couple of days ago I received an OTA update to android 4.0.4 for my Nexus S device, vodafone UK. My phone is NOT rooted or OEM unlocked. The update downloaded but fails to install on reboot. The phone just returns to the original state, with the update waiting to install.
Any app or software will not work on the device, force closes error. If I attempt to restore to any factory settings or wipe / format the phone by any method you can come up with in a google search!, once the device reboots this change is ignored. If I copy any file on the Mass storage via usb, after the phone reboots the file is gone.
I've attempted to unlock the oem to flash the device in an attempt to resolve this, however when using ./fastboot oem unlock I get the following error:
... FAILED (remote: Erase Fail)
It seems the device has been screwed some how after receiving this update. It can only be a hardware error now....
Who is now responsible to fix this? i have had this Nexus S over 1 year now, can I take to Samsung or Vodafone for these guys to get repaired?

Sounds like hardware issue. Have you tried formatting the sdcard in windows or running chkdsk /F.

I Have Same Problem how can i fix it?
LeeVidor said:
I have experienced the same issue you are discussing here.
A couple of days ago I received an OTA update to android 4.0.4 for my Nexus S device, vodafone UK. My phone is NOT rooted or OEM unlocked. The update downloaded but fails to install on reboot. The phone just returns to the original state, with the update waiting to install.
Any app or software will not work on the device, force closes error. If I attempt to restore to any factory settings or wipe / format the phone by any method you can come up with in a google search!, once the device reboots this change is ignored. If I copy any file on the Mass storage via usb, after the phone reboots the file is gone.
I've attempted to unlock the oem to flash the device in an attempt to resolve this, however when using ./fastboot oem unlock I get the following error:
... FAILED (remote: Erase Fail)
It seems the device has been screwed some how after receiving this update. It can only be a hardware error now....
Who is now responsible to fix this? i have had this Nexus S over 1 year now, can I take to Samsung or Vodafone for these guys to get repaired?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
please anyone can help me how can i fix my mobile ...

You can't. It's a hardware common issue without any solution. Better sent it to repair. My two cents
Sent from my
( •_•)
( •_•)>⌐■-■
Nexus S
(⌐■_■)
YYYYYYYEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

sammme problem har you fix it?
benazhack said:
i need to unlock it. i've locked now i need to unlock.
But the procedure
fastboot oem unlock
fail with erase fail errore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
please help me if u get the solution plz

zaherrrr said:
please help me if u get the solution plz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Already been posted, you can't, warranty repair or you need to replace the main board(guessing £100-200?)
Sent from my ice cream powered Nexus S

DarkhShadow said:
Already been posted, you can't, warranty repair or you need to replace the main board(guessing £100-200?)
Sent from my ice cream powered Nexus S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just figured something out, i had the same issues as described above, could only boot the phone with a hair dryer
The new update Jelly Bean 4.1.1 is more forgiving when it comes to booting (probably voltages of the internal SD!! I'm still testing, but as far as i can see now, the phone boots normally again now (no more stuck on the google logo)
My problems:
- Not able to unlock bootloader (erase failed).
- Not possible to boot normally due to faulty internal SD card (only able to boot with the 'hairdryer' trick).
What did i do:
- Just tried the same as the trick on booting: use the hairdryer when fastbooting!!!
- Have everything ready; cmd, fastboot files, drivers etc, phone connected to computer with USB.
- Try to boot it first after heating the phone with the hairdryer (get past the google logo) and then immediately remove the battery.
- Then boot into fastboot mode (power and vol. up).
- Immediately execute the 'fastboot oem unlock' command.
Voila, that did the trick for me. Status OKAY and my bootloader was unlocked.
Then ROOT and update the phone to 4.1.1 with the following instructions:
(not able to unclude link, see webtrickz dot com/guide-to-manually-update-nexus-s-i9020ti9023-to-android-4-1-1-jelly-bean)
That did the trick for me!
NO MORE HAIRDRYER FOR ME!!

OEM unlock FAILED (remote: Erase Fail)
Hi
I'm replying to this message to share my experience about the same issu i had.
I bought a broken nexus s on google, auction described the phone as messed up during some software update. When cell got here:
- Bootloader was loading and locked
- Bootloader was reporting no boot image and no recovery
- Recovery was flashed with cwm 6.0.1.0
When trying to oem unlock, I was getting "FAILED (remote: Erase Fail)" no matter what I try. My config was good i've unlocked many nexus s with the same setup.
In recovery I was not able to mount sdcard, system, boot, nothing was working as it should.
After many frustrating hours, i saw this post.. What a stupid idea.. But I have nothing to loose at this point.
I don't have a hair dryer but I do have an oven. I figured the idea was to get the phone really hot..
Set the oven to 170, convection on and cooked the phone without the battery and cover for about 5 minutes until it was really hot but not melting.
Did the oem unlock and guess what.. It worked on first try.
After that I was able to update bootloader, radio, recovery and installed latest cm10. I've wipped the phone a couple of time, tried everything I could think of to test if something is not working, but everything does..
No hair dryer?
Just cook you phone at 170 for 5 minutes.
Worked for me.. go figure..
hetile
TimeClypse said:
Just figured something out, i had the same issues as described above, could only boot the phone with a hair dryer
The new update Jelly Bean 4.1.1 is more forgiving when it comes to booting (probably voltages of the internal SD!! I'm still testing, but as far as i can see now, the phone boots normally again now (no more stuck on the google logo)
My problems:
- Not able to unlock bootloader (erase failed).
- Not possible to boot normally due to faulty internal SD card (only able to boot with the 'hairdryer' trick).
What did i do:
- Just tried the same as the trick on booting: use the hairdryer when fastbooting!!!
- Have everything ready; cmd, fastboot files, drivers etc, phone connected to computer with USB.
- Try to boot it first after heating the phone with the hairdryer (get past the google logo) and then immediately remove the battery.
- Then boot into fastboot mode (power and vol. up).
- Immediately execute the 'fastboot oem unlock' command.
Voila, that did the trick for me. Status OKAY and my bootloader was unlocked.
Then ROOT and update the phone to 4.1.1 with the following instructions:
(not able to unclude link, see webtrickz dot com/guide-to-manually-update-nexus-s-i9020ti9023-to-android-4-1-1-jelly-bean)
That did the trick for me!
NO MORE HAIRDRYER FOR ME!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

hetile said:
Hi
I'm replying to this message to share my experience about the same issu i had.
I bought a broken nexus s on google, auction described the phone as messed up during some software update. When cell got here:
- Bootloader was loading and locked
- Bootloader was reporting no boot image and no recovery
- Recovery was flashed with cwm 6.0.1.0
When trying to oem unlock, I was getting "FAILED (remote: Erase Fail)" no matter what I try. My config was good i've unlocked many nexus s with the same setup.
In recovery I was not able to mount sdcard, system, boot, nothing was working as it should.
After many frustrating hours, i saw this post.. What a stupid idea.. But I have nothing to loose at this point.
I don't have a hair dryer but I do have an oven. I figured the idea was to get the phone really hot..
Set the oven to 170, convection on and cooked the phone without the battery and cover for about 5 minutes until it was really hot but not melting.
Did the oem unlock and guess what.. It worked on first try.
After that I was able to update bootloader, radio, recovery and installed latest cm10. I've wipped the phone a couple of time, tried everything I could think of to test if something is not working, but everything does..
No hair dryer?
Just cook you phone at 170 for 5 minutes.
Worked for me.. go figure..
hetile
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm speechless..hair dryer works for me too!!! THANK YOU GUYS!

nexus 5 is dead?

hi - i have in my nexus 5 only the google logo and the unlocked key is on the screen;
when i get to fast boot it does see the device.
when ienter " fastboot oem device-info
igot device tampered true
device unlock true
off mode charge - true
when i try to write twrp recovery it says sending recovery okay and writing recovery okay.
but ucant enter to the recovery of twrp.
when i try to flash an image it says:
writing bootloader
failed (remoteflash write failure)
rebooting into bootloader okay
writing radio - failed remoteflash write failure
target reported max size of 1073741824bytes
is there any way to save my phone?
i can enter adb its says on the phone "now send the package you want to apply to the device with "adb sideload filename"..
how do i can send an image?
thank u

re
i try to flash with the lg flash rool - i did everything ok and it stuck in 6% and says"user data erase fail" what can i do?

You're using the batch commands included with the stock ROM to re-flash?

Hi my Nexus 5 also suddenly die too. And I have the same exact problem that you have when trying to flash it. I looked for hours on the internet tried formatting, erasing and many other alternatives and nothing. There are some people experiencing this same problem like us. For no reason the memory is getting corrupt or died. I get mant errors on the cache when I boot to regular recovery. The only recovery that I have manage to boot to (except for the original one) is Clockworkmod using fastboot boot "therecoveryname.img". With clockworkmod I have adb working but still can get the phone to boot or accept factory images. I can't lock the bootloader either.
I think this error was cause by the software. There was a very similar problem that never got fixed for the nexus 7 when lollipop came out.

Do you need to lock the bootloader? Once locked, you cannot flash anything via fastboot commands, not even a stock ROM.

No I don't need to. I tried just to see if the phone will relock itself. I read somewhere in the internet that if you can't relock/unlock the device the nand if fried.
If you look for these errors there are people with LG G2 and LG G3 that are having something similar happen. I think LG hardware is partly behind the problem. I call Google and told them about it and the put me through LG which want me to send the phone for repairs but not free. My guess is that it will be way to expensive to repair and that is not worthy.
Hopefully someone with real repair skill can give us light if this is something fixable by software.
audit13 said:
Do you need to lock the bootloader? Once locked, you cannot flash anything via fastboot commands, not even a stock ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I had two different Nexus 5 phones that were stuck in a bootloop with the spinning coloured KK animation.
Every time I unlocked the bootloader, the bootloader would always re-lock itself when rebooting. Even when I managed to unlock the bootloader, I could not re-flash a stock ROM because the bootloader kept relocking itself.
Whenever I unlocked the bootloader, the phone would only take 2 ot 3 seconds to wipe the phone which is too fast.
In the end, I purchased a nexus 5 with a smashed screen to use its motherboard in my defective N5.
I have never come across a post where someone was able to solve the problem unless they had LG replace the motherboard with a new imei.

[Completed] Recovery mode is gone, Factory mode is gone, help me XDA you're my only hope...

So here is a string of steps I've already been through in trying to save my bricked Nexus 6: [Can't post outside link yet...]
Basically I got the 'your phone is corrupt' message from google and it kept forcibly shutting down. It would not boot up so someone suggested I side load a rescue OTA. At this point recovery existed and I went through all the steps and had it installing, only to fail mid-way through (~52%) and give me a 'read error' on my command prompt. I started the whole process over again just fine and it got to 73% before 'read error' failing again. I thought no big deal, I'll just keep doing this until it gets to 100%. Nope, recovery is gone. I cannot get there anymore. I start into Fastboot mode and scroll to recovery and hit power and it just goes to a new Fastboot screen and keeps flashing every time I try to select it. The Bootloader logs give me a 'failed to validate boot image: ret=-1' message and says 'Boot up failed.'
I can't find a single guide online that doesn't require recovery mode to work. At this point I don't care about my data and just want to get this phone working again before I throw in the towel and pay Motorola $175 for a refurb. I'm just barely over a year too. The Nexus 'expert' gave up and blamed the memory and maybe he is right but I wanted to run this by you guys first. This phone was completely stock and unrooted.
The only reason why I feel there is still a chance is because when I connect USB my computer reads it as an Android Device in Device Manager with 'Android Bootloader Interface' as a sub device. If the computer can read it, isn't there a chance that some kind of software exists that can forcibly load a new bootloader onto this phone without recovery? I'm 'competent' with computers and android phones but I haven't rooted or done any custom stuff in years so I'm at a loss for what's out there.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me, even if it's to tell me I'm SOL.

Ok so far I have tried to load a custom recovery but that requires an unlocked bootloader. Then I tried using a toolkit to flash stock as a soft-bricked device but that also requires an unlocked bootloader and I can't unlock the damn bootloader. You know, I thought I was just playing it safe by leaving this phone as-is instead of playing around with it but it looks like I screwed myself by doing so.

Is this the wrong forum for this question?

JQ3 said:
Is this the wrong forum for this question?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for the delay
We have a dedicated help section for your device here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6/help
Ask there to receive help
Good luck

Pixel stuck in bootloader loop and unable to boot in recovery

As per title, it just happened while I was using the phone while charging. Trying my luck as I'm not in the country(Australia) that I bought my Pixel from. Grateful for any suggestion that the sub can provide. Non rooted stock rom

You're only able to get into bootloader and that's all? I would suggest unlock the bootloader, a factory reset will follow. Try rebooting after that. If that doesn't work, at least your unlocked and you can fastboot boot twrp and reset that way or flash a stock rom. If nothing works you "may" have a defective device. I'm no expert but I would try those things first.

Yes only bootloader. What you have mentioned do not require recovery mode right ? Cos I can't boot into it. Thanks for your reply

k.s.deviate said:
You're only able to get into bootloader and that's all? I would suggest unlock the bootloader, a factory reset will follow. Try rebooting after that. If that doesn't work, at least your unlocked and you can fastboot boot twrp and reset that way or flash a stock rom. If nothing works you "may" have a defective device. I'm no expert but I would try those things first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The bootloader would have needed to have been unlocked already.

indifferent1 said:
The bootloader would have needed to have been unlocked already.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no it doesnt, I suggested unlocking the bootloader first, that way it factory resets. this might fix the problem, if not its unlocked so he can flash the factory image.

Bump? I'm having this problem as well.

Same here. How would we unlock the bootloader of the phone when it's stuck in either a Google screen the reboots over and over again, or the bootloader interface (that won't load recovery)? Sorry about the noob question, but I'm not sure how to do it.

graymoment said:
Same here. How would we unlock the bootloader of the phone when it's stuck in either a Google screen the reboots over and over again, or the bootloader interface (that won't load recovery)? Sorry about the noob question, but I'm not sure how to do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the same issue. My wife's Pixel entered a continuous boot loop today. It only loads the white screen that says "Google." I can enter the bootloader, but when I select "recover," it goes back to the bootloop. As far as I know, she is on Android 8.1, debugging mode is off and the phone is 100% factory.
If anyone has solved this issue, it would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks

has anyone figured this out?? this happened to me today, i was using the phone, the poof it restarted itself and stayed in a boot loop. i can get into the recovery, i tried wipe/factory reset. any suggestions? google told me i need to send it to whatever company to get it fixed or get a new phone. verizon told me to go through insurance. insurance told me to go through verizon because i may be able to use the extended warranty. went back to verizon but they wont take it because the screen cracked a year ago. its not a deep crack and it didnt affect the phone at all, never had an issue. so now i go back to assurion and now they need an affidavit about my screen being cracked. im at a loss.... i havent rooted a phone since my droid x, then s3 days. so im essentially new again!

Same issue here. Phone starts on the bootloader (shows device is locked), but won't start recovery or boot any further.
I'm guessing it's time for a new phone? I hadn't taken the Android 10 update yet, so it was running Pie.
[edit] it's dead - won't let me unlock bootloader or switch boot slots

thedosbox said:
Same issue here. Phone starts on the bootloader (shows device is locked), but won't start recovery or boot any further.
I'm guessing it's time for a new phone? I hadn't taken the Android 10 update yet, so it was running Pie.
[edit] it's dead - won't let me unlock bootloader or switch boot slots
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same thing happen yesterday (not long after the Android 10 update). I was finally able to get it to boot after multiple tries and it stayed up long enough for me to enable "OEM unlocking" in Developer options. Now at least I have the option of unlocking the bootloader and re-flashing the OS with an image directly from Google.
Has anyone been able to get past this problem by reflashing the image? I suspect the underlying problem is some kind of hardware fault with eMMC, DDR, or the SOC itself.
One other interesting behavior I noticed is that the only way to shut it down and stop the bootloop is to select the "Power off" option in the bootloader menu. However, if I plug it in to charge when it is fully powered "off", it will start up the bootloop again.

Same sitution here. A couple of days after installaing it suddenly went inte a G-bootloop frenzy.
Erratic though, sometimes I could boot up (2-3/40 boots) but then it froze and started again.
Also Recovery and Safemode is very hard to get into.
Got in once or twice out of 100 boots, Bootloader Fastboot is generally reachable though.
It exhausted the battery and now I'm holding off trying to interfere, until I get more info off the net.

{Solved} Pixel 2 Bricked, need help.

Hey Guys. I'm new to the Pixel 2 and have found myself stuck and not sure what to do. I'm stuck at this screen and keep getting getting an error message staying "Slot Unbootable: Load Error". I am not able to get into fastboot to flash the "Deuces" script or to flash a new system image.
I have tried all of the basic stuff to get to my device to be recognized. I downloaded and installed the latest ADB & Fastboot and I have tried different cables and USB ports and still have no luck. I'm really worried and not sure what to do if I cannot get my device to accept fastboot commands so I can recover.
Please let me know if you have any ideas that may help me.
Jason
EDIT:
I still have no idea what I did, but I decided to use the Skipsoft Tool to see if it would work. Lucky for me it did and I was able to restore the factory image. Sorry for the fire-drill, I should have tried this before I posted. Thank you for the replies!!

Grab the latest Google platform tools and USB drivers. When your device is plugged in, do you see any unknown devices in your device manager? Or anything that looks like it could be your phone?

jascolli said:
Hey Guys. I'm new to the Pixel 2 and have found myself stuck and not sure what to do. I'm stuck at this screen and keep getting getting an error message staying "Slot Unbootable: Load Error". I am not able to get into fastboot to flash the "Deuces" script or to flash a new system image.
I have tried all of the basic stuff to get to my device to be recognized. I downloaded and installed the latest ADB & Fastboot and I have tried different cables and USB ports and still have no luck. I'm really worried and not sure what to do if I cannot get my device to accept fastboot commands so I can recover.
Please let me know if you have any ideas that may help me.
Jason
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen that before.
When you select reboot bootloader does that message go away?
Try it without the cable plugged in does it go away then?
I just want to know if you can actually get that message to go away or not at this point.
Also can you link the tools you are downloading

jascolli said:
I still have no idea what I did, but I decided to use the Skipsoft Tool to see if it would work. Lucky for me it did and I was able to restore the factory image. Sorry for the fire-drill, I should have tried this before I posted. Thank you for the replies!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For future learning, I'd recommend you familiarize yourself with how to do this without toolkits. A toolkit is nice, but it really helps to understand what the toolkit is doing so that if you have an issue you know what to do next.

Telperion said:
For future learning, I'd recommend you familiarize yourself with how to do this without toolkits. A toolkit is nice, but it really helps to understand what the toolkit is doing so that if you have an issue you know what to do next.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Solid advice, thank you.

I did this same thing and solved it the same way. I think things just get funky and the tool you mentioned to fix it.

nolimit78 said:
I did this same thing and solved it the same way. I think things just get funky and the tool you mentioned to fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I'm baffled. I could not for the life of me get fastboot to work. That Skipsoft tool is pretty impressive.

HELP!!!!
I have same problem, so which functions you use to fix it????
jascolli said:
Hey Guys. I'm new to the Pixel 2 and have found myself stuck and not sure what to do. I'm stuck at this screen and keep getting getting an error message staying "Slot Unbootable: Load Error". I am not able to get into fastboot to flash the "Deuces" script or to flash a new system image.
I have tried all of the basic stuff to get to my device to be recognized. I downloaded and installed the latest ADB & Fastboot and I have tried different cables and USB ports and still have no luck. I'm really worried and not sure what to do if I cannot get my device to accept fastboot commands so I can recover.
Please let me know if you have any ideas that may help me.
Jason
EDIT:
I still have no idea what I did, but I decided to use the Skipsoft Tool to see if it would work. Lucky for me it did and I was able to restore the factory image. Sorry for the fire-drill, I should have tried this before I posted. Thank you for the replies!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Same thing happened to me. I need help. Please tell me how you unbricked your phone

same problem
i have the same problem already download skipsoft program but dont have results can you tell me the steps what you do please
---------- Post added at 07:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:43 AM ----------
yuva_cool said:
Same thing happened to me. I need help. Please tell me how you unbricked your phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do you already unbricked your phone?

my pixel still cant be detected by that toolkit, can u list the step by step procedure what u did to unbrick the device?

I was having the exact same issue as OP. I wound up fixing it by entering fastboot and making it display barcodes until the battery died. Then I put a rubber band over the power button so the red led would blink (I wanted to completely drain the battery). When it stopped blinking, I hooked my dead phone up to my PC via a USB 3 port and held Power + vol down to boot into fastboot (the battery was still too low for the phone to boot normally -- it would just show the battery icon). Surprisingly, my PC recognized my phone (made the little USB sound) and I was able to fastboot flash-all the newest factory image on it!! No toolkits required!
I'm so happy because this was a last ditch effort before I sent my original phone back to google and would have to live with the RMA they sent me which could not be bootloader unlocked (this is a whole other issue!)
I hope this helps!
EDIT: Info I provided in a PM
Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the process... I didn't want to push my luck and things are working now. But The photo I've attached was exactly what I was seeing except I was on the December update (Now I'm on the January update) ... and:
UFS: 128 GB Hynix
DRAM: 4096MB Micron LPDDR4
Device State: unlocked (I had been unlocked since April 2018)
Until I had entirely drained my battery, I couldn't do anything. Download mode and recovery mode were impossible to access. I forgot the specific error, but it was the same as a lot of other people who have been having this problem.
The only thing I could do was to restart bootloader, which removed the error message until I tried to do anything. I couldn't boot at all or do anything conducive to fixing my phone until I drained the battery entirely. I couldn't get any PCs to even acknowledge the existance of my phone until after the battery was drained.
Keep in mind, I NEVER got my RMA phone to work. I was only able to fix my original NEW phone that I had purchased directly from google.

Until I had entirely drained my battery, I couldn't do anything. Download mode and recovery mode were impossible to access. I forgot the specific error, but it was the same as a lot of other people who have been having this problem.
The only thing I could do was to restart bootloader, which removed the error message until I tried to do anything. I couldn't boot at all or do anything conducive to fixing my phone until I drained the battery entirely. I couldn't get any PCs to even acknowledge the existance of my phone until after the battery was drained.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the correct resolution to this issue.
I had the same issue, no usb in bootloader. I drained the phone and rebooted into the Bootloader flash A and B side bootloader the Aug 2018 (previously working for me) and A and B side Radio, as well as the System image. After that everything booted fine.
Attempted to install the January update the same way and it worked as well.
Seems like they messed up A and B side flashing
My steps::: For Lurkers having this issue.
1. Drain battery DEAD!
2. Boot Bootloader (Vol Down + Power)
3. fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-walleye-mw8998-002.0073.02.img (or whatever image)
3. fastboot set_active b (opposite of the one on screen)
4. fastboot reboot-bootloader
5. fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-walleye-mw8998-002.0073.02.img (or whatever image) (Again)
6. fastboot reboot-bootloader
7. fastboot flash radio radio-walleye-g8998-00253-1809191716.img (or whatever image)
8. fastboot set_active a (opposite of the one on screen)
9. fastboot reboot-bootloader
10. fastboot flash radio radio-walleye-g8998-00253-1809191716.img (or whatever image)
11. fastboot reboot-bootloader
12. fastboot update image-walleye-pq1a.190105.004.zip (or whatever image)
Phone boots properly, and is updated.

thedude9821 said:
I was having the exact same issue as OP. I wound up fixing it by entering fastboot and making it display barcodes until the battery died. Then I put a rubber band over the power button so the red led would blink (I wanted to completely drain the battery). When it stopped blinking, I hooked my dead phone up to my PC via a USB 3 port and held Power + vol down to boot into fastboot (the battery was still too low for the phone to boot normally -- it would just show the battery icon). Surprisingly, my PC recognized my phone (made the little USB sound) and I was able to fastboot flash-all the newest factory image on it!! No toolkits required!
I'm so happy because this was a last ditch effort before I sent my original phone back to google and would have to live with the RMA they sent me which could not be bootloader unlocked (this is a whole other issue!)
I hope this helps!
EDIT: Info I provided in a PM
Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the process... I didn't want to push my luck and things are working now. But The photo I've attached was exactly what I was seeing except I was on the December update (Now I'm on the January update) ... and:
UFS: 128 GB Hynix
DRAM: 4096MB Micron LPDDR4
Device State: unlocked (I had been unlocked since April 2018)
Until I had entirely drained my battery, I couldn't do anything. Download mode and recovery mode were impossible to access. I forgot the specific error, but it was the same as a lot of other people who have been having this problem.
The only thing I could do was to restart bootloader, which removed the error message until I tried to do anything. I couldn't boot at all or do anything conducive to fixing my phone until I drained the battery entirely. I couldn't get any PCs to even acknowledge the existance of my phone until after the battery was drained.
Keep in mind, I NEVER got my RMA phone to work. I was only able to fix my original NEW phone that I had purchased directly from google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
omg after months of figuring it out ,and almost opt for warranty,finally my pixel is aliveeeee, thanks alot for the fix im so glad.. and whats more important for me is the data is still intact! i cant thank you enough.. google messed up december update pretty bad.

I just received my 4th RMA and the bootloader wasn't able to unlock. So to my surprise Google is giving me a full refund? I purchased my Pixel 2 back in Nov 2017 ?

Dajax2 said:
3. fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-walleye-mw8998-002.0073.02.img (or whatever image)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@Dajax2 Super new to this and it may be a total waste since my bootloader screen says "Device State: locked" but in trying to flash or even sideload ota, the command returns "error: cannot load (file location/name): no such file or directory found". Again, total noob and I don't even know if I'm supposed to unzip the folder or not but have tried both ways with the same error.
It returns the serial number for fastboot devices but nothing for adb devices. I obviously didn't have OEM or USB debugging enabled prior. Hoping I can at least get in to retrieve data before giving up all hope :/

Solved. Enter barcode mode. In this screen, check for devices from adb or fastboot. It should be there. You are now able to switch slots and do all the fastboot things.

Great workaround that I would never have thought - good info here, thanks everyone!

dianea said:
Solved. Enter barcode mode. In this screen, check for devices from adb or fastboot. It should be there. You are now able to switch slots and do all the fastboot things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Edit - My phone wasn't detected when on the barcode screen, just like from the main bootloader screen.
HOWEVER... to my surprise.. the above method of draining the battery completely to 0% actually worked. I'm a little dumbfounded why this allowed the bootloader to connect via fastboot again, but it did. I was able to flash the latest factory image (without wipe) and boot back up like nothing ever happened. Thank you so much for the tip. I passed this along to Google support and they also said they appreciate the troubleshooting and asked me to just send back the replacement phone with the RMA package/label.
---------- Post added at 06:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:18 PM ----------
thedude9821 said:
Keep in mind, I NEVER got my RMA phone to work. I was only able to fix my original NEW phone that I had purchased directly from google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did they accept the RMA phone back and remove the temp auth on your card?

thedude9821 said:
I was having the exact same issue as OP. I wound up fixing it by entering fastboot and making it display barcodes until the battery died. Then I put a rubber band over the power button so the red led would blink (I wanted to completely drain the battery). When it stopped blinking, I hooked my dead phone up to my PC via a USB 3 port and held Power + vol down to boot into fastboot (the battery was still too low for the phone to boot normally -- it would just show the battery icon). Surprisingly, my PC recognized my phone (made the little USB sound) and I was able to fastboot flash-all the newest factory image on it!! No toolkits required!
I'm so happy because this was a last ditch effort before I sent my original phone back to google and would have to live with the RMA they sent me which could not be bootloader unlocked (this is a whole other issue!)
I hope this helps!
EDIT: Info I provided in a PM
Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the process... I didn't want to push my luck and things are working now. But The photo I've attached was exactly what I was seeing except I was on the December update (Now I'm on the January update) ... and:
UFS: 128 GB Hynix
DRAM: 4096MB Micron LPDDR4
Device State: unlocked (I had been unlocked since April 2018)
Until I had entirely drained my battery, I couldn't do anything. Download mode and recovery mode were impossible to access. I forgot the specific error, but it was the same as a lot of other people who have been having this problem.
The only thing I could do was to restart bootloader, which removed the error message until I tried to do anything. I couldn't boot at all or do anything conducive to fixing my phone until I drained the battery entirely. I couldn't get any PCs to even acknowledge the existance of my phone until after the battery was drained.
Keep in mind, I NEVER got my RMA phone to work. I was only able to fix my original NEW phone that I had purchased directly from google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dajax2 said:
This is the correct resolution to this issue.
I had the same issue, no usb in bootloader. I drained the phone and rebooted into the Bootloader flash A and B side bootloader the Aug 2018 (previously working for me) and A and B side Radio, as well as the System image. After that everything booted fine.
Attempted to install the January update the same way and it worked as well.
Seems like they messed up A and B side flashing
My steps::: For Lurkers having this issue.
1. Drain battery DEAD!
2. Boot Bootloader (Vol Down + Power)
3. fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-walleye-mw8998-002.0073.02.img (or whatever image)
3. fastboot set_active b (opposite of the one on screen)
4. fastboot reboot-bootloader
5. fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-walleye-mw8998-002.0073.02.img (or whatever image) (Again)
6. fastboot reboot-bootloader
7. fastboot flash radio radio-walleye-g8998-00253-1809191716.img (or whatever image)
8. fastboot set_active a (opposite of the one on screen)
9. fastboot reboot-bootloader
10. fastboot flash radio radio-walleye-g8998-00253-1809191716.img (or whatever image)
11. fastboot reboot-bootloader
12. fastboot update image-walleye-pq1a.190105.004.zip (or whatever image)
Phone boots properly, and is updated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gifted both of you Ad-Free for this.
You saved me $300 and the annoyance of having to wait for shipping for either RMA or another phone on Swappa.