3a seems to have bricked itself without any modification? - Google Pixel 3a Questions & Answers

I believe one of the security updates decided to install partially and prepare to install on the next reboot which came during a night out where the phone reached 0%. Now when I turn the phone on all I'm getting is "Cannot load Android system. Your data may be corrupt" Google/Sargo 10/QQ1A.200205.002/6084386.
My question is, is there any method that can get a dump of the user data? I would be interested in paying for a chip off type service to get the local storage back. I pretty much do not care if the device is ever actually usable again, I have other phones to switch to but there was a lot which was not cloud syncing on this 3A. A nand dump is worth more to me than the phone itself. I've read that Pixels are encrypted by default though so I'm unable to think of anything other than being SOL on it.
I'm pretty furious at this thing, it's left me with the wipe and deal-with-it ultimatum that I'm only used to seeing from toying with flashing devices yet all I did was swipe away the February patch notification 2 or 3 times. How can this thing really have just bricked itself totally stock? Don't they bother to check the battery level before auto applying updates anymore? Help! What the hell Google?
Edit: Or thinking about this more calmly - is it possible to flash only the bootloader or key partitions of the os without wiping the sdcard partition? I could care less about the installed app data, only thing lost would be Signal messenger history. But the user space partition is the biggie.

naaaaail said:
I believe one of the security updates decided to install partially and prepare to install on the next reboot which came during a night out where the phone reached 0%. Now when I turn the phone on all I'm getting is "Cannot load Android system. Your data may be corrupt" Google/Sargo 10/QQ1A.200205.002/6084386.
My question is, is there any method that can get a dump of the user data? I would be interested in paying for a chip off type service to get the local storage back. I pretty much do not care if the device is ever actually usable again, I have other phones to switch to but there was a lot which was not cloud syncing on this 3A. A nand dump is worth more to me than the phone itself. I've read that Pixels are encrypted by default though so I'm unable to think of anything other than being SOL on it.
I'm pretty furious at this thing, it's left me with the wipe and deal-with-it ultimatum that I'm only used to seeing from toying with flashing devices yet all I did was swipe away the February patch notification 2 or 3 times. How can this thing really have just bricked itself totally stock? Don't they bother to check the battery level before auto applying updates anymore? Help! What the hell Google?
Edit: Or thinking about this more calmly - is it possible to flash only the bootloader or key partitions of the os without wiping the sdcard partition? I could care less about the installed app data, only thing lost would be Signal messenger history. But the user space partition is the biggie.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Afaik, you can change the default boot partition, as we have 2. Only one gets updated. You can do that in fastboot mode. Search google for an how to. It should be something like boot a or boot b.
Wish you good luck with your data. I can write tomorrow, i have to sleep now.

Can you still boot into recovery?
If so, and if I understand the problem correctly, you might be able to ADB sideload an OTA from there. Download the version you were on or the update after that from https://developers.google.com/android/ota#sargo to your PC, boot into recovery and choose "Sideload update from ADB", get ADB running on your PC and use this command in a command line window
Code:
adb sideload [/path/to/ota.zip]
which should apply it like a regular update without wiping anything. This is possibly your best bet.
Did you unlock your bootloader, by any chance? Then you might also be able to flash a factory image via fastboot, but you have to remove the "-w" in the "flash-all.sh/bat" file to avoid wiping the device.
I faced another issue and went through a lot of troubleshooting, which I wrote about here and it might be informative or relevant to some extent:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-3a/help/systemui-crash-loop-rescue-directions-t3997747
Everything failed in my particular case, though, but this might show you some other ideas I and other helpful people had, especially with an unlocked bootloader.

I think you can edit the flash-all script and remove the wipe from the script line. But I'd try sideload OTA First if you can

Related

SMG386T1 Partition Recovery

Hi, I've been meaning to write this since 2016 or 2017, I think, butI think I can still remember all the important details of this crisis...
So I had rooted this 'Galaxy Avant' phone originally so I could disable/remove the extra stuff of the systems' in the hopes of improving the phones' performance, but I didn't change the OS from whag metropcs gave me at that time. I also had a password and/or a pin lock on both the sd card, startup, and internal memory. Everything was okay until I ran into a wifi issue where it wasn't connecting to a semi-public wifi hotspot, so I thought if I cleared the wifi apps' cache the issue would go away. Trouble was I didn't know that the wifi cache wasfor some reasin the same as the system's cache, and a few seconds after clearing it, my phone crashed, and continued to restart itself. So I panicked and tried removing the password/pin locks for easier backup to recovery/resetting. Well the external sdcard managed to decrypt, but when I proceeded to attempt the same for the device, it decided to factory reset itself.
I lost nearly everything from that event. I did periodic backups to the sd card but not daily and since that phone was also responsible for my own memory retention, at least a month or two of my soul is still missing. Any new contact, commitment, itinerary, life decision, goal, deadline, or other important note from that time was wiped and can't be found anywhere else, and I still don't know who else is or was affected from this (especially if I had just made their acquaitance).
So all that to say I must get this device back to how it was before the cache-wiping incident. The phone hasn't been turned on since, except to dump the system image onto my linux desktop. With testdisk I can see what I assume are the deleted partitions from before the factory reset, but I don't know how to undelete+decrypt them and/or copy them back to the device. Please tell me honestly that there's a way to do this, and what that way is. My functioning really depends on it...
shmusername said:
Hi, I've been meaning to write this since 2016 or 2017, I think, butI think I can still remember all the important details of this crisis...
So I had rooted this 'Galaxy Avant' phone originally so I could disable/remove the extra stuff of the systems' in the hopes of improving the phones' performance, but I didn't change the OS from whag metropcs gave me at that time. I also had a password and/or a pin lock on both the sd card, startup, and internal memory. Everything was okay until I ran into a wifi issue where it wasn't connecting to a semi-public wifi hotspot, so I thought if I cleared the wifi apps' cache the issue would go away. Trouble was I didn't know that the wifi cache wasfor some reasin the same as the system's cache, and a few seconds after clearing it, my phone crashed, and continued to restart itself. So I panicked and tried removing the password/pin locks for easier backup to recovery/resetting. Well the external sdcard managed to decrypt, but when I proceeded to attempt the same for the device, it decided to factory reset itself.
I lost nearly everything from that event. I did periodic backups to the sd card but not daily and since that phone was also responsible for my own memory retention, at least a month or two of my soul is still missing. Any new contact, commitment, itinerary, life decision, goal, deadline, or other important note from that time was wiped and can't be found anywhere else, and I still don't know who else is or was affected from this (especially if I had just made their acquaitance).
So all that to say I must get this device back to how it was before the cache-wiping incident. The phone hasn't been turned on since, except to dump the system image onto my linux desktop. With testdisk I can see what I assume are the deleted partitions from before the factory reset, but I don't know how to undelete+decrypt them and/or copy them back to the device. Please tell me honestly that there's a way to do this, and what that way is. My functioning really depends on it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to Sammobile .com or samsung-updates .com, enter your model number in their search feature to find your stock firmware. If you can find the firmware, you can use Odin to flash the firmware to restore the device to normal function.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk
Droidriven said:
Go to Sammobile .com or samsung-updates .com, enter your model number in their search feature to find your stock firmware. If you can find the firmware, you can use Odin to flash the firmware to restore the device to normal function.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but the device already functions normally; it reset itself to factory defaults, after all.
I just want to be able to restore the device to as it was before the accidental cache wipe—apps as they were, files, and all...
shmusername said:
Thanks, but the device already functions normally; it reset itself to factory defaults, after all.
I just want to be able to restore the device to as it was before the accidental cache wipe—apps as they were, files, and all...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, you mean you want to recover your lost data. All I can say is try some data recovery software on PC, there isn't any guarantee that it will work though. Data recovery on android is not very reliable.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk

Wrong pattern after booting TWRP / Can`t decrypt data

Hey guys.
Got a Oneplus 6 running lastest OTA with latest TWRP installed.
Before flash this latest OTA, I was running latest open Beta, flashed by TWRP, with no problems.
Just booted on TWRP today to flash latest Beta again, but when I drawed the patterns, TWRP restarts. Tryed some more times, same thing, put the right patterns, TWRP imagem boots into it again.
Rebooted into system, but the system said wrong pattern now. Can't boot in system anymore too.
Booted in TWRP again, went to File Manager, and deleted these files inside /data/system (Guess I ****ed up even more here)
locksettings.db-wal
locksettings.db-shm
locksettings.db
Now I can boot in system, but it stay stuck on Initializing system on screen, and I can access only configuration using the status bar. Tryed to set the same pattern on security, still don`t work on TWRP decrypting, and system keeps saying Initializing.
Got pretty stuck here, don't know nothing else to try, anyone have any clue on what I can do?
When asked for the pattern in TWRP instead of trying to enter it choose the "do not decrypt /data" option. Then you can format (not wipe) /data. Obviously you'll lose everything, including on internal storage.
And also, it may happen again if you don't flash the no_verity zip. That stops the ROM re-encrypting /data. See this thread for more info.
Looks like some Security Patch downgrade stuff. You flashed an older build, encryption gets messed up because the Security Patch date is older than the one previously installed, you'll have to format your Data partition to decrypt the storage.
As said above, running decrypted will prevent those situtations
Although some may advice running decrypted to avoid situations, I won't recommend it, especially if you're using TWRP. A person with a good knowledge would be able to do what you did and remove lockscreen security, compromising your important accounts.
And: instead of a pattern, it's recommended to use a PIN (at least 8 digits) or password (at least 6 letters/digits/specialchars)
remewer said:
Although some may advice running decrypted to avoid situations, I won't recommend it, especially if you're using TWRP. A person with a good knowledge would be able to do what you did and remove lockscreen security, compromising your important accounts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest, altough what you said is absolutely true, finding yourself in a situation where someone steals your phone, sees he can't enter it, but happens to know how to use TWRP to remove the lockscreen security or sideload your data is pretty far fetched.
Frankly, loosing your data over a bad flash seems a bit more threatening.
Totone56 said:
To be honest, altough what you said is absolutely true, finding yourself in a situation where someone steals your phone, sees he can't enter it, but happens to know how to use TWRP to remove the lockscreen security or sideload your data is pretty far fetched.
Frankly, loosing your data over a bad flash seems a bit more threatening.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not threatening if you back up those data. Which everyone should do regardless if you're going to flash a ROM or not.
remewer said:
Not threatening if you back up those data. Which everyone should do regardless if you're going to flash a ROM or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, that is what i personally do. I like being able to flash anything and potentially having to format the whole storage without any worry. Using Google Photos, Keep, Doc, ect, using Spotify and syncing every contact really makes life easier.
remewer said:
Not threatening if you back up those data. Which everyone should do regardless if you're going to flash a ROM or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which is fine if you are only getting this issue directly after ROM flashing or at some other predictable time. But when I was getting it, my lockscreen code/pattern was initially working fine after flashing the ROM, then it would stop working at some seemingly random moment. So the only way I could reliably have any data stored was to run with /data unencrypted. Which I agree is not ideal.

Google Pixel 2 bootloop, locked device limitations? patching an OTA?

My Google Pixel 2 phone is in a bootloop (perpetually showing G logo animation). I don't know if this was triggered by the almost full memory or by a mechanical shock. Simply, one morning it just refused to boot. However, after being stuck for several hours, it booted, worked fine for few hours and then powered off in the middle of taking a photo. Bootlooping since then. I tried various approaches with no success so far. There is locally stored personal data that is very important to me. I would appreciate very much any help provided to understand what is going on and recovering the data.
After discharging the battery completely (freezer) I was able to get into the Recovery menu, sideload two different replacement Android 8.1.0 OTA images via adb following the instructions on Maker, but the phone is still bootlooping. I also tried heating the back of the phone but I could not get it to boot that way either.
Device state is listed as: Boot-slot:a, Console: Disabled, Secure boot: yes (PRODUCTION), Device State: locked. According to recovery file oem flashing is supported but boot flash is currently locked.
What are exactly the limitations of locked device state and disabled console?
I was able to sideload update recovery OTAs. What is exactly locked and what can be still externally modified? The adb sideload process showed success message but the phone is not behaving any different, hence I am confused whether I have indeed managed to replaced the Android system code on my device with those from sideloaded OTA or not?
If yes, what could be the reasons that sideloading clean OTAs (neither the same - build G, nor a newer one - build Q) has not changed the situation at all?
From related posts it seemed that the almost full storage could be preventing the system to boot.
Would it make any sense to try to modify/patch these OTA images with some code that would e.g. delete some unnecessary data on the phone as early as possible in order to make sufficient space for the kernel to load? Perhaps deleting some swap file or temporary data would be sufficient?
Has anyone tried thist?
A
anyone?
anabbb said:
anyone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First, you won't be able to modify the ota as it's signed by google and you'd need the signing key on any modified file.
If it's an issue with the storage being almost full you might try using adb to pull and then delete any large files you have.

Bricked my OP7P - Can't decrypt data partition anymore

Hey Guys,
this could propably be posted in r/TIFU as well since I think I screwed up big time today -.-
I basically just wanted to update my rooted OP7P to 10.0.5 (EU) using the latest OTA - so I followed the usual steps as always:
Uninstall Magisk
Install OTA - No Reboot
Install TWRP retention script in Magisk
Re-Install Magisk
Reboot
This procedure worked fine the last 2 times an OTA was released but this time I'm not able to boot into the system anymore. TWRP is still in places but won't read the data partition anymore - it also doesn't ask for my pattern to decrypt it. Problem is that idiot-me of course didn't do a backup before (yea, I know -.-) and obviously doesn't want to loose the data on it.
I of course checked the forum and googled my ass of trying to find a non-destructive way to access the system but couldn't find anything fitting my scenario. So my last resort is to ask you guys directly: Did anybody ever encounter such a situation and if yes, how did you resolve it? Right now any support would be much appreciated
//Edit: Symptoms and current behaviour:
Boot into system (partition A) ends in the OP logo cirling endlessly
Boot into system (partition B) sends me directly to TWRP
TWRP doesn't ask for encryption pattern
The answer to TWRP's initial question (Keep System r/o) is not persisted
Fastboot/ADB are working (but obviously w/o access to /data)
I'm technically running a stock OxygenOS with Renovate ICE. I know technically its instuctions say to install the OTA directly from within TWRP and and then re-flash TWRP and Magisk but that wasn't neccessary the last times... one idea of mine is to just do that now and see where it leads me but I really don't wanna risk my data.
the.cybertronic said:
Hey Guys,
this could propably be posted in r/TIFU as well since I think I screwed up big time today -.-
I basically just wanted to update my rooted OP7P to 10.0.5 (EU) using the latest OTA - so I followed the usual steps as always:
Uninstall Magisk
Install OTA - No Reboot
Install TWRP retention script in Magisk
Re-Install Magisk
Reboot
This procedure worked fine the last 2 times an OTA was released but this time I'm not able to boot into the system anymore. TWRP is still in places but won't read the data partition anymore - it also doesn't ask for my pattern to decrypt it. Problem is that idiot-me of course didn't do a backup before (yea, I know -.-) and obviously doesn't want to loose the data on it.
I of course checked the forum and googled my ass of trying to find a non-destructive way to access the system but couldn't find anything fitting my scenario. So my last resort is to ask you guys directly: Did anybody ever encounter such a situation and if yes, how did you resolve it? Right now any support would be much appreciated
//Edit: Symptoms and current behaviour:
Boot into system (partition A) ends in the OP logo cirling endlessly
Boot into system (partition B) sends me directly to TWRP
TWRP doesn't ask for encryption pattern
The answer to TWRP's initial question (Keep System r/o) is not persisted
Fastboot/ADB are working (but obviously w/o access to /data)
I'm technically running a stock OxygenOS with Renovate ICE. I know technically its instuctions say to install the OTA directly from within TWRP and and then re-flash TWRP and Magisk but that wasn't neccessary the last times... one idea of mine is to just do that now and see where it leads me but I really don't wanna risk my data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The bad news is once twrp loses access to data. The only fix is to format data and everything will be fixed.
So... you're basically telling me I ****ed up completely and my data is gone? Never was a profile picture more fitting than yours right now :/
What I'm wondering is that, from a technical perspective and on a working phone, the decryption takes place not during the boot but only after you've entered your code/passphrase/pattern on OS level. Meaning the system should theoretically be able to boot up to there without /data access. TThat's why I had the idea to flash a clean stock Oxygen from TWRP (no root), boot the system and hopefully be able to access the data this way. Respectively any encryption can be broken somehow, can't it? Even if it might take quite some time to do so this should theoretically be possible...
I mean... I definetly don't know enough about Android internals to understand its encryption mechanics completely but from a technical perspective it should be possible.... like the saying "there is no such thing as 100% security"
the.cybertronic said:
So... you're basically telling me I ****ed up completely and my data is gone? Never was a profile picture more fitting than yours right now :/
What I'm wondering is that, from a technical perspective and on a working phone, the decryption takes place not during the boot but only after you've entered your code/passphrase/pattern on OS level. Meaning the system should theoretically be able to boot up to there without /data access. TThat's why I had the idea to flash a clean stock Oxygen from TWRP (no root), boot the system and hopefully be able to access the data this way. Respectively any encryption can be broken somehow, can't it? Even if it might take quite some time to do so this should theoretically be possible...
I mean... I definetly don't know enough about Android internals to understand its encryption mechanics completely but from a technical perspective it should be possible.... like the saying "there is no such thing as 100% security"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude try flashing the stock rom from twrp onto both slots by mounting an otg drive..or adb sideload(very slow I think..still worth a try if you don't wanna lose data)..stock rom can manage the encryption I suppose.
Encryption is an issue when you flash different roms(I think so..I am no expert,just my experience so far).
Breaking encryption is not like what you think..it might take ages to break using brute force (again from what I heard..I lost my data a lot of time flashing roms without twrp backup..nowadays I just backup my apps using tb coz restorings the apps is really a pain in the ass process)
the.cybertronic said:
So... you're basically telling me I ****ed up completely and my data is gone? Never was a profile picture more fitting than yours right now :/
What I'm wondering is that, from a technical perspective and on a working phone, the decryption takes place not during the boot but only after you've entered your code/passphrase/pattern on OS level. Meaning the system should theoretically be able to boot up to there without /data access. TThat's why I had the idea to flash a clean stock Oxygen from TWRP (no root), boot the system and hopefully be able to access the data this way. Respectively any encryption can be broken somehow, can't it? Even if it might take quite some time to do so this should theoretically be possible...
I mean... I definetly don't know enough about Android internals to understand its encryption mechanics completely but from a technical perspective it should be possible.... like the saying "there is no such thing as 100% security"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason that format is the only answer is because when twrp does not ask for password. It believes you are unencrypted. What has happened is the file that store your password and encryption key is corrupted so any answer you give is wrong.
There's nothing you can do but format data. I've encountered this issue already.
You can try to salvage personal photos and videos using an otg drive (external ssd, hdd, sd card reader...), also back in 6t days I had this encryption problem twice, I remember that one time flashing the stock rom from the otg fixed it but I don't remember if I rebooted to recovery of the other slot.
Anyway, for the others, if he used DM verity removal and so decrypted data, he would have never face this problem again?
Joker123## said:
Dude try flashing the stock rom from twrp onto both slots by mounting an otg drive..or adb sideload(very slow I think..still worth a try if you don't wanna lose data)..stock rom can manage the encryption I suppose.
Encryption is an issue when you flash different roms(I think so..I am no expert,just my experience so far).
Breaking encryption is not like what you think..it might take ages to break using brute force (again from what I heard..I lost my data a lot of time flashing roms without twrp backup..nowadays I just backup my apps using tb coz restorings the apps is really a pain in the ass process)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
vegetaleb said:
You can try to salvage personal photos and videos using an otg drive (external ssd, hdd, sd card reader...), also back in 6t days I had this encryption problem twice, I remember that one time flashing the stock rom from the otg fixed it but I don't remember if I rebooted to recovery of the other slot.
Anyway, for the others, if he used DM verity removal and so decrypted data, he would have never face this problem again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tried flashing the stock Oxygen yesterday but to no satisfying result... afterwards it just showed a clean default-structure on the SD. Long story short: I accepted the fate that my data is gone and learned a valuable lesson... first thing I installed after rooting was Titanium^^
Zhuang zhuang said:
There's nothing you can do but format data. I've encountered this issue already.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As hard as it is to admit, you were completely right... I just lost 6 months worth of photos incl. my last vacation in Vietnam - fml.
the.cybertronic said:
I just tried flashing the stock Oxygen yesterday but to no satisfying result... afterwards it just showed a clean default-structure on the SD. Long story short: I accepted the fate that my data is gone and learned a valuable lesson... first thing I installed after rooting was Titanium^^
As hard as it is to admit, you were completely right... I just lost 6 months worth of photos incl. my last vacation in Vietnam - fml.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For future reference, brick means a brick. Like, can't boot to fastboot/twrp/or use msmtool
the.cybertronic said:
As hard as it is to admit, you were completely right... I just lost 6 months worth of photos incl. my last vacation in Vietnam - fml.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the recent OS (10.0.5 & beta 13) I think Oneplus they add something that prevent user from using the TWRP retention script. I always use this solution for lower version and have no issue but with both 10.0.5 and beta 13 have the same issue
Zhuang zhuang said:
In the recent OS (10.0.5 & beta 13) I think Oneplus they add something that prevent user from using the TWRP retention script. I always use this solution for lower version and have no issue but with both 10.0.5 and beta 13 have the same issue
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
damn, good to know if I ever install OOS again - I now switched to Havoc... even though I had to skip rooting it all together after I couldn't get Magisk running with the latest safety net changes (thanks Google -.-)

Oneplus support--mysterious "parameters"

Bit of a long story, I'll try to make it quick.
A few months ago, I carelessly overwrote my boot partition with twrp.img and completely screwed up my op7p. All I had left was fastboot, so I had to manually flash each partition using .img files extracted from an OTA update zip. I eventually got back up and running by flashing LineageOS with this method—the same ROM I was running before the incident. The weird part is that, before trying Lineage, I tried using plain old OOS and it didn't work.
After flashing OOS to every writeable partition from fastboot and rebooting to system, I could get through the setup flow no problem. But a few seconds after the launcher appears, the screen would go totally black. Holding the power button would cause a brief vibration, like normal when the power-off menu shows up, but I had to use a button combo to actually reboot.
This exact situation is mentioned on OnePlus' support site: https://www.oneplus.com/support/answer/detail/op477 (Scenario 1). They suggest to "apply for the after-sales services" in this case, so I sent them an email about it, before I eventually got Lineage working again.
They finally got back to me the other day with some interesting info:
Regarding your issue, we are glad to explain it to you in this case. Since you have installed a custom OS previously, the device might modify the parameters to fit the system and logic requirements, and we believe it should be the point of the root of the cause. Oxygen OS may request different parameter settings which leads to a mismatch. In this case, the conflict between system and device parameter may cause this issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whatever these "parameters" are, they must not be stored in any of the partitions which are writeable from fastboot. (I guess there is the possibility that they really are in a writeable partition and the OTAs just skip it for some reason, but that seems like quite an oversight.) But when I asked for more info about them:
We understand your concerns and feeling however unfortunately that we cannot share such information with our customers officially. I could personally recommend you please process the research yourself however as a OnePlus customer support agent, it is prohibited to share that information with our customers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apparently the details are top-secret!
I'm happy to run Lineage until I get a new phone, so if I can never run OOS again, then whatever. But I'm dying to know what the story is with these parameters. Does anyone know?

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