Autofocus broken - Google Pixel 3 Questions & Answers

Hello,
I just realized that the autofocus of the rear (main) camera of my pixel 3 is broken out of the blue. It just focuses to a plane which is about 10 cms in front of the lens. Is that a known HW weakness of the Pixel 3 camera, SW issue I consider unlikely, since it did not happen after an lineageos upgrade? Or am I simply unlucky and only my device broke?
Many thanks
Rainer

Any recent upgrades or updates?
Try in safe mode, try a factory reset, but it sounds like the micromotor that focusses the lense failed. Possible SOC/mobo failure as that is part of the autofocus circuit.
Possibly a loose connector...

Thanks for the quick reply. No unfortunately no recent upgrades or updates.
I will try a warranty claim. I was hoping that this is a known weak point of the phone.

Quick but unrelated question: how do I enter safe mode? if I do a long press on the power or restart button, the menu simply disappears again. Do I need to enable the safe mode option somewhere or is this a lineageos bug? I am using the lineageos build 20230530.

rdorsch said:
Thanks for the quick reply. No unfortunately no recent upgrades or updates.
I will try a warranty claim. I was hoping that this is a known weak point of the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome. The micromotors are generally very reliable. I've had many Canon lens and 4 smartphones and have never seen a AF failure because of something like this.
It could even be firmware corruption although unlikely. No easy answer, sorry.
A warranty claim is probably your best option.

rdorsch said:
Quick but unrelated question: how do I enter safe mode? if I do a long press on the power or restart button, the menu simply disappears again. Do I need to enable the safe mode option somewhere or is this a lineageos bug? I am using the lineageos build 20230530.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure for this model. Timing and sequence matter.
I've said this before... troubleshooting stock builds is much easier as their behavior is more well known and thus predictable.
Would it work with the stock rom? If so what would this mean... probably a SOC/mobo failure -if- the coding was good and not corrupted on the alternative firmware/software. It adds many more variables to troubleshooting and makes doing so even more difficult.

Good point, I will try that route, but I thought safe mode is a cheap test I can do before. I consider it unlikely that it helps, but if it does, it would be a big win. Although in this case, I probably would also need at least a full wipe.

rdorsch said:
Good point, I will try that route, but I thought safe mode is a cheap test I can do before. I consider it unlikely that it helps, but if it does, it would be a big win. Although in this case, I probably would also need at least a full wipe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If safe mode works it's likely a third party app. Uninstalling it will usually work unless it permanently altered a hidden user setting(s).
This happens sometimes with poorly coded apps. I try to avoid using the factory reset option because unless you find the issue it can likely reoccur.
A Single Event Upset can corrupt any one byte of data in any partition on the phone as well. They are rare but do happen; more as you go up in altitude. In space they become common place.
The one byte flip can become significant if it's part of a critical piece of data. That's one reason why spacecraft have multiple redundant computers.

Just for completeness: restoring the Google factory image did not resolve the problem. So it seems to be a hardware defect.

Same issue here since February. Somebody said it was the adhesive for the glass slipping over the sensor in their case. I haven't opened mine up to check though

Related

unable to start camera

so prior to being on venom 4.2, i was on venom 3.xx. i had no problems prior.
i flash 4.2, and had no problems related to the camera not working. i had other problems though, after reflashing 4.2 those problems went away, but now a new problem came up.
after a restart, i can use the camera maybe once, or take one photo. after that, the screen through the camera will be frozen on screen. i can still take pictures, but it will only be off what is on the screen. after closing the camera, or force closing it,upon trying to open the camera app again, it barely loads, then force closes automatically and i get an "unable to start camera" bubble on screen. i can see only the grid outline of the camera, off center and such very briefly ontop of my wallpaper.
i can do a reset on my phone, and resume taking pictures, sometimes i am fine to continue, other times its the same problem. this is a very common recurring problem for me.
looking at my apps, i see 2 cameras installed, one is the new 5.0, and the other is the old 4.xx camera. i have frozen the 4.xx camera before through titanium, and it doesnt fix it. should i uninstall the 4.xx camera altogether?
subsequent reflashing of this rom doesnt fix this issue. and i dont know what else to do rather than reflashing the rom from a blank slate. previous reflashings have been on top of the current rom.
i would rather not have to start new as this phone has crappy amoint of space, and i cannot back up all my apps and settings.
i dont know if it is kernel related. prior to 4.2 i was using elemental x, after 4.2 i switched to beastmode since i wasnt soff.
is there perhaps a way i can manually start the camera through root browser?
If you've got both versions of camera in your app drawer I'm guessing you dirty flashed the ROM, which has most likely caused your problems. Clean flash the ROM and see if it fixes your issue. This is why I'm totally against dirty flashing anything.
I don't understand how you don't have space to back up your apps, I have a backup of every app I've ever used and still have tons of space left over. The fact that you mention backing up settings troubles me, restoring system settings after flashing a new ROM will more than likely cause problems for you.
When you're flashing a ROM don't do it the lazy way, do it the right way, perform a full wipe (cache/dalvik cache/factory reset/system) and start clean. It only takes a few minutes to setup your ROM from scratch. Restore your apps but don't restore any system data.
Sent from my Evita
thanks for the reply.
as suggested, I did a complete reset. wiped the caches, factory reset, and system reset.
installed from scratch. But i am still having the camera issue?
now its just not loading at all. black screen, then close. no error message. and no unable to start message.
could it perhaps be a hardware issue at this point?
without restoring anything, under apps, I still see two instances of the camera app. one at 5.1, and one at 4.2.2. can anyone confirm this is normal?
the only thing out of the ordinary, within the past few months, my phone has been getting crazy hot at times. specifically right below the lens of the rear camera. I was getting this heat from charging, or even certain apps. Definitely attribute that to the age of the phone. as apps that ran smooth when the phone was new, no longer are so.
I dont know if the heat can cause hardware damage?
also, not sure how relevant this is in the context of my situation. but apps that use the camera do not work either when the camera is needed, such as snapchat and instagram.
Since the clean flash did you at least end up with only the more recent version of the camera in your app drawer? You could be looking at some kind of hardware malfunction, or even a problem with the ImageSense proprietary chip that is utilised to operate the camera. The fact that the camera works sometimes would suggest that all is not lost. Have you tried flashing an aosp ROM to see if anything changes? I'd suggest trying that, and if that doesn't work you should try running an RUU to see if a completely stock setup will help.
The phone heating up near the camera lens isn't abnormal for this device. The amount that it heats up can change significantly depending on the ROM/kernel that you're running. You should definitely try not to use CPU intensive apps while the device is charging.
Sent from my Evita
timmaaa said:
Since the clean flash did you at least end up with only the more recent version of the camera in your app drawer? You could be looking at some kind of hardware malfunction, or even a problem with the ImageSense proprietary chip that is utilised to operate the camera. The fact that the camera works sometimes would suggest that all is not lost. Have you tried flashing an aosp ROM to see if anything changes? I'd suggest trying that, and if that doesn't work you should try running an RUU to see if a completely stock setup will help.
The phone heating up near the camera lens isn't abnormal for this device. The amount that it heats up can change significantly depending on the ROM/kernel that you're running. You should definitely try not to use CPU intensive apps while the device is charging.
Sent from my Evita
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no, the clean flash still left both cameras in my "manage apps", i have never seen two camera icons in my app drawer.
as of right now, i cannot get the camera to run in any way. even with a reboot. The only reason I really did the clean reflash, was because the camera wasnt working at all today. I did a bit more digging around, and it seems like this is a fairly common problem for the one x. there seems to be quite a few people, even on stock roms, that cannot seem to remedy this. and a few have chalked it up to a hardware problem, some have been confirmed, and others not so much.
I really dislike flashing this phone. ive encountered so many hiccups and scares(mainly a few soft bricks here and there). I really prefer the "if its not broken, it doesnt need fixing approach" here, granted my camera is shot.
one of the reflashes today was giving me wifi errors with wifi not even turning on. I really want to avoid potentially more problems, unless a fix is deemed more definite. Thank you for all your help timmaaa!
im just in need of a new phone now. so many problems, and so many things the phone can no longer do effectively. random reboots, overheating, battery life, even the charging rate. this phone has become crap. Ive always hated the lack of expandable memory. I really dont know why I didnt choose a different phone over this at the time.
i really like the htc one, but i feel like many of the nuisances in the one X will follow over.
chinaman_chong said:
no, the clean flash still left both cameras in my "manage apps", i have never seen two camera icons in my app drawer.
as of right now, i cannot get the camera to run in any way. even with a reboot. The only reason I really did the clean reflash, was because the camera wasnt working at all today. I did a bit more digging around, and it seems like this is a fairly common problem for the one x. there seems to be quite a few people, even on stock roms, that cannot seem to remedy this. and a few have chalked it up to a hardware problem, some have been confirmed, and others not so much.
I really dislike flashing this phone. ive encountered so many hiccups and scares(mainly a few soft bricks here and there). I really prefer the "if its not broken, it doesnt need fixing approach" here, granted my camera is shot.
one of the reflashes today was giving me wifi errors with wifi not even turning on. I really want to avoid potentially more problems, unless a fix is deemed more definite. Thank you for all your help timmaaa!
im just in need of a new phone now. so many problems, and so many things the phone can no longer do effectively. random reboots, overheating, battery life, even the charging rate. this phone has become crap. Ive always hated the lack of expandable memory. I really dont know why I didnt choose a different phone over this at the time.
i really like the htc one, but i feel like many of the nuisances in the one X will follow over.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's nothing wrong with this phone. Given the right amount of knowledge and care the thing doesn't skip a beat. Even though there is no such thing as a soft brick (a phone is either bricked or it isn't), whatever it is that people experience in those so called "soft brick" instances is caused by user error 99% of the time. I've seen it time and time again.
Any phone available on the market can experience any amount of issues if it isn't handled correctly. You got unlucky and your camera is most likely shot, but any other problem you've encountered comes with the territory of flashing unofficial firmware and software, it isn't anything wrong with the device itself. These are possibilities you need to be comfortable with if you're going to modify your device.
Yea, I assumed there were gonna be risks when I rooted my phone. Dont know if any of the issues I had were related to rooting or not.
The soft brick scare I had was due to a flash that went wrong for no apparent reason.
another update on my phone. I noticed my front facing camera has no issues whatsoever. unluckily for me, I cannot even access my camera, to toggle to the front facing camera to even attempt to check it out. Instagram also does not allow me to switch either, it just gives me an error saying it cannot connect to a camera, then closes. snapchat's rear facing camera is just a black screen for me, but it doesnt force close, so I am able to toggle to the front camera, and it works just fine.
is there a setting or something I can modify, for now, so the front facing camera is the default?
my brother's one x recently went out this year too. I am gonna try to salvage his camera, and see if it will fix my problem.
I have not taken apart this phone yet, is the camera soldered or held in with connectors?
Have you tried an RUU yet like I previously suggested?
Sent from my Evita
chinaman_chong said:
I really dislike flashing this phone. ive encountered so many hiccups and scares(mainly a few soft bricks here and there). I really prefer the "if its not broken, it doesnt need fixing approach" here, granted my camera is shot.
one of the reflashes today was giving me wifi errors with wifi not even turning on. I really want to avoid potentially more problems, unless a fix is deemed more definite.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If a couple hiccups and scares are too much for your, then it might be that modding phones is not for you. These types of things happen time to time to even those experienced with flashing ROMs. Occasional setbacks and troubleshooting is just part of the game. If that is too much for you, than don't play.
As timmaaa already mentioned, failure to boot is not the phone's fault; and its almost always a matter of user error and not following the procedures properly.
chinaman_chong said:
im just in need of a new phone now. so many problems, and so many things the phone can no longer do effectively. random reboots, overheating, battery life, even the charging rate. this phone has become crap. Ive always hated the lack of expandable memory. I really dont know why I didnt choose a different phone over this at the time.
i really like the htc one, but i feel like many of the nuisances in the one X will follow over.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Random software errors like random rebooting, overheating, etc. are often easily remedied with the proper steps. They are likely not issue with the phone itself, but rather a result of improper steps while flashing the ROMs. I've flashed many ROMs on this device, and have never suffered any such issues that I couldn't solve easily.
As for your other complaints about the phone (lack of expandable memory, why you didn't choose another phone), I don't know why you even posted them, as they are not constructive. Those still on this forum are mostly here because we love the phone and remain loyal to it. Your comments aren't going to help your issue, and will only annoy fans of the device. Better to keep such comments to yourself.
If you hate the phone so much, go buy another one and be done with it. But crying about it isn't going to solve anything.
I would suggest you follow timmaaa's advice, and flash the appropriate RUU to "start over". S-off is highly recommended before RUU, as running certain RUUs with S-on and SuperCID will brick the phone.
I have the same device and the same problem.
It doesn't depends of firmware or kernel or camera app..
I thought it's hardware problem but it is not. Because i was changing the camera module and it doesn't helps((
Don't know what to do with this issue(

dead camera....twice

Dear all,
A few days ago, my N5's camera stopped working and none of the usual solutions (reboot, clean data and cache of camera app, even complete wipe and change of ROM) did anything to fix the problem. So I went on ebay, and bought a replacement back camera, fitted it and all was well...for a day!!! It looks like after just one day (and nearly no use at all) the new camera has already stopped working. Is anyone aware of what may be causing it, and of a way to fix it? or is it time for a new phone?
Thanks for your help!!
Is it possible the camera connction on the motherboard is a bit flaky?
audit13 said:
Is it possible the camera connction on the motherboard is a bit flaky?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply. I thought that too after the second camera went wrong. I re-opened the phone and checked the connection, and from what I can see it seems quite solid. I am not sure what could possibly be going wrong that causing 2 camera modules to go bad in quick succession though. While the rest of the phone works perfectly.
Maybe it's just coincidence. I guess you could try a third camera to see what happens.
Can't connect to camera
My camera quit working the day I updated to 6.0.1
At first it would work for a few hours after a fresh boot. Now it won't work at all. I replaced the camera module with a working one and it worked for a few hours then died. Now all I get is "can't connect to camera". I'm convinced its related to the marshmallow update.
Safe mode doesn't help. Factory reset doesn't help. Third party apps still let me use the front camera but the rear is dead. I think I've reached the end of the road buying nexus devices and beta testing OS releases.
Maybe it because of your sd card
dixie600mhz said:
My camera quit working the day I updated to 6.0.1
At first it would work for a few hours after a fresh boot. Now it won't work at all. I replaced the camera module with a working one and it worked for a few hours then died. Now all I get is "can't connect to camera". I'm convinced its related to the marshmallow update.
Safe mode doesn't help. Factory reset doesn't help. Third party apps still let me use the front camera but the rear is dead. I think I've reached the end of the road buying nexus devices and beta testing OS releases.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Initially I thought this may be a normal issue of age of the phone, but the fact that a few of us are bumping into this so shortly after the marshmallow upgrade makes me think maybe the 2 things are related.
I suppose I could try and install a lollipop rom and buy yet another camera module.
The only component that should face problems in a persons lifetime would be the battery. It is a shame that companies and people treat this stuff as disposable.
OP and others who cannot fix this through software, or a small hardware change, this must be a hardware issue. Something on the mainboard is messing with the camera. Others are running stock marshmallow fine, to rule out any software issues, wipe all and flash new (manually wiping and flashing each partition from fastboot would be best). Report back.
wangdaning said:
The only component that should face problems in a persons lifetime would be the battery. It is a shame that companies and people treat this stuff as disposable.
OP and others who cannot fix this through software, or a small hardware change, this must be a hardware issue. Something on the mainboard is messing with the camera. Others are running stock marshmallow fine, to rule out any software issues, wipe all and flash new (manually wiping and flashing each partition from fastboot would be best). Report back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply. Done, but to no avail. Infact when you flash from fastboot the camera app is not even installed and the torch does not show up in the notification bar.
It is definitely a hardware issue, which is not resolved by simply replacing the camera module, as that seems to break again in a short amount of time. Not sure if I feel investing in a new mainboard and a new camera module.

Annoying camera restart problem

Not sure why but recently this is happening a couple times a week now.
I'll go to open the camera and its just a black screen and says the phone needs to be restarted or ill open snapchat, instagram, etc. (Any app that uses the camera) and, same thing, black screen and it says restart camera/phone.
Anyone else experience this ? Should I factory reset The phone ? It has never been dropped or anything out of the ordinary use. I don't have many apps installed either.
Factory resets are a waste of time unless it's an old load or a virus, trojan etc.
If you do a hard reset to cure this issue and it's not due to the above reasons it will likely reoccur.
Take the time and trouble to track down the root cause... to save time and trouble.
Try clearing the system cache on the boot menu.
Try a hard reboot.
Try clearing cam data.
Disable Bixby and any automation junk.
Look closely at all 3rd party apps that use the cam... that may well be the trouble.
You can try resetting settings but this is pretty drastic global action as you will lose all your settings... try not to do this! Plus it may not work.
It's a samsung bug that has to do with camera access, mine happens when switching to live focus video but works normal after camera restarts.
There's nothing we can do to fix it except write to internet publications to shame samsung into cleaning up their code.
My best friend is a regional manager for tmobile and they have tons of calls about it.
coilbio said:
It's a samsung bug that has to do with camera access, mine happens when switching to live focus video but works normal after camera restarts.
There's nothing we can do to fix it except write to internet publications to shame samsung into cleaning up their code.
My best friend is a regional manager for tmobile and they have tons of calls about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If not all phones of that tmobile variant are effected it's probably related to settings too.
Try disabling all power management except for the screen. Don't set that to it's max power saving setting (set to medium or high performance).
Power management causes a lot of issues.
All buckets in standby apps should show as active otherwise power management is active.
blackhawk said:
If not all phones of that tmobile variant are effected it's probably related to settings too.
Try disabling all power management except for the screen. Don't set that to it's max power saving setting (set to medium or high performance).
Power management causes a lot of issues.
All buckets in standby apps should show as active otherwise power management is active.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ugh search the forums, all variants have been affected, I think most people don't report it because it's so rare, or want to justify the illusion of their perfect $1000+ phone .
It's Samsung's software being half baked and not cleaned up as usual.
Literally the problem probably is the difference between the TOF and Laser autofocus systems because samsung in their lazynes have code and references to the s20 series in their n20u (n10+ too) systems.
coilbio said:
Ugh search the forums, all variants have been affected, I think most people don't report it because it's so rare, or want to justify the illusion of their perfect $1000+ phone .
It's Samsung's software being half baked and not cleaned up as usual.
Literally the problem probably is the difference between the TOF and Laser autofocus systems because samsung in their lazynes have code and references to the s20 series in their n20u (n10+ too) systems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The laser AF is cool... took Sammy over a year to finally fix the Buds firmware but they did.
Samsung products aren't solid like Denon or Canon products. No support either compared to a top shelf company like Canon or Denon.
Though unlikely it could be a hardware issue or a bad flash especially if no one else has this issue.
Had a $6G Canon pro cam like that; no one could believe it had random glitches (including myself at times). It did. Canon finally replaced it.
It was a little bugger.
Most likely though it's settings, 3rd party app, cache or app corrupted.
If you have any cam updates try going back to the factory load version. This regression repair can work alarmingly well.
Play with it, and more than likely you'll find the cause. Androids wuv attention...
blackhawk said:
The laser AF is cool... took Sammy over a year to finally fix the Buds firmware but they did.
Samsung products aren't solid like Denon or Canon products. No support either compared to a top shelf company like Canon or Denon.
Though unlikely it could be a hardware issue or a bad flash especially if no one else has this issue.
Had a $6G Canon pro cam like that; no one could believe it had random glitches (including myself at times). It did. Canon finally replaced it.
It was a little bugger.
Most likely though it's settings, 3rd party app, cache or app corrupted.
If you have any cam updates try going back to the factory load version. This regression repair can work alarmingly well.
Play with it, and more than likely you'll find the cause. Androids wuv attention...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, weird..
I never faced that issue on my N986U1 since I bought it. Maybe it's an factory issue.

Question [Pixel 6a] Is this a hardware defect? [crashing when it's cold outside]

Hi everyone!
Just purchased a P6a during Black Friday. In general I am quite happy with the device and would want to keep it.
However, I have massive issues with crashes/freezes/reboots when using the camera.
I know that many people have reported similar issues, but my case is somewhat special in that it only happens on weekends. During the work week, I use the camera normally, and there has not been a single crash.
But when I go hiking/mountaineering/trailrunning on the weekends, I have massive problems.
I would say, every five photos I take, something goes wrong.
Sometimes I get a complete freeze in the camera app and have to do a hard reboot.
Sometimes, the phone simply reboots itself.
Sometimes it switched itself off.
Sometimes, the camera app seems to work correctly, but then a few minutes later the phone reboots all by itself.
Sometimes, these crashes result in broken, unreadable JPG photos on my phone.
This has happened up to ten times on each of my outdoor tours. I have observed this now over three weekends, on four different tours. After such a crash/freeze/reboot, the phone seems to work completely normally again, as long as I do not use the camera app. As soon as I use the camera app again, it does not take long until the problem reappears. But only as long as I am outdoors for extended periods of time. Indoors never any issue.
The natural suspicion is that it must have something to do with the temperatures outside. But temperatures here in late autumn Bavaria have not even been all that cold; the problems already occur at relatively moderate temperatures of a few degrees above freezing.
Software is fully updated, of course.
Because of the 100% clear correlation with outdoor activities of a certain minimum length, which I can only interpret as temperature dependency, I guess this must be a hardware defect, and I should ask Amazon for a replacement. But what do you guys think? What would you do? Is there any diagnostics I can do first?
Thanks a lot!
Locked bootloader still? Are you planning to unlock, or open to it? I would recommend doing so and doing a complete clean flash of the latest stock to both slots. Sometimes OTA's arent as complete as we like to think.
If you dont want to unlock the bootloader then I would at least do a factory reset, if you already havent.
Have you done anything to rule out everything else? Like are you positive that it's because of the temperature?
Maybe it's got something to do with cellular connectivity or GPS?
You could try removing your SIM/entering Airplane mode, and/or turning GPS off, and going outside, see if the issue persists?
Thanks for the responses!
No, I am currently not planning to unlock the bootloader. (Maybe I will, once the phone is 2 years old and the implied warranty has expired, but not now.)
Yes, I could do a factory reset. Is there a good non-unlocked way to backup everything I have already setup and configured?
No, I have no way of being completely sure that it is the temperature. Your idea that it might be linked to GPS is an interesting one. After all, I had the geotagging feature of the camera app enabled. I switched this off now, let's see if the problem occurs again.
Problem is, I can only test it on weekends. Being outdoors for only an hour or so has never been enough to trigger the problem. It had to be a longer stay outdoors of a few hours at least, and that I can only do on weekends.
rhhd said:
Maybe I will, once the phone is 2 years old and the implied warranty has expired, but not now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty sure that you can just flash the stock ROM, re-lock bootloader, and they won't know/bat an eye.
---
Could you leave your phone outside for a few hours? Instead of going on a hike?
From what I've gathered from OP and your reply above is that your phone starts acting up if it's been out in the cold for a while and you open the camera app. You might wanna leave it in the cold for a bit, wait for it to cool down to ambient temperatures, then try to open the camera app? If it still acts up, then we can be more certain that it's got nothing to do with geolocation, but with the cold temperature.
Good idea! I'll try that tonight and put it on my balcony for a few hours.
I suppose it could also be the fact that it get's moved/shaken more when I am moving on my outdoor tours...
rhhd said:
I suppose it could also be the fact that it get's moved/shaken more when I am moving on my outdoor tours...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or maybe changes in altitude? Although, I don't know if you're that hardcore at hiking or not
Anyway, leaving it on your balcony could help narrow down the source of the issue.
I don't think it is changes in altitude, because one of the tours was just a trailrun in only hilly terrain with maybe only 200 meters of altitude difference between highest and lowest point, and even on that tour I had massive issues.
rhhd said:
I don't think it is changes in altitude, because one of the tours was just a trailrun in only hilly terrain with maybe only 200 meters of altitude difference between highest and lowest point, and even on that tour I had massive issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you keep your device in your pocket? If so, it wouldn't be able to get too cold.
When running, it is in a mesh pocket of my running vest, so it would get quite cold. On mountain tours it is usually in an outside pocket of my pants. So yes, close to my body, but still some isolating layers away from my body.
Other question, now that we are talking shaking as a possible cause:
When you shake your phone in front of your ear, with the camera module facing towards your ear, do you hear something? I can definitely hear something shaking, as if a tiny metal part is loose inside the phone.
I keep my bootloader locked. Each month when there is an update I unlock the bootloader and update the phone in case something goes wrong. Once I've successfully updated my phone I relock the bootloader which just requires a reboot. Unlocking and relocking the bootloader does not delete data.
rhhd said:
When you shake your phone in front of your ear, with the camera module facing towards your ear, do you hear something? I can definitely hear something shaking, as if a tiny metal part is loose inside the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. Super faintly.
When having a camera app open, it definitely sounds like what you were describing. My best guess would be the OIS trying its best to keep everything stabilized.
xrayA4T said:
Unlocking and relocking the bootloader does not delete data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it void warranty though? Like what's Google's warranty policy here? Does unlocking the bootloader once void it already?
Lada333 said:
Yup. Super faintly.
When having a camera app open, it definitely sounds like what you were describing. My best guess would be the OIS trying its best to keep everything stabilized.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I don't mean the OIS sound. I can also hear that one (very very faintly) when the camera app is open and I move the phone. (Sounds like a tiny tiny motor whirring a little.)
But the little clattering that I mean can be heard always, even when the screen is off. Sounds like a tiny screw is loose or something. It is also clearly audible, not nearly as faint as the OIS whirring.
Lada333 said:
Does it void warranty though? Like what's Google's warranty policy here? Does unlocking the bootloader once void it already?
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Click to collapse
No, it's not like you are flashing a custom ROM (which I'm pretty sure doesn't void the warranty in the US or Europe). It just allows you to flash a full ROM, not just an OTA. Google has provided this functionality. There is not warning when unlocking that this will void the warranty.
rhhd said:
Sounds like a tiny screw is loose or something. It is also clearly audible
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When I shake my phone "front to back," I hear that. Only when the camera app isn't open though. When I open it, I cannot replicate the sound.
rhhd said:
No, I don't mean the OIS sound. I can also hear that one (very very faintly) when the camera app is open and I move the phone. (Sounds like a tiny tiny motor whirring a little.)
But the little clattering that I mean can be heard always, even when the screen is off. Sounds like a tiny screw is loose or something.
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Interesting. That seems to be a third sound. Yes, I also have that one, and just as in your case it goes away when the camera app is open.
But the sound I mean is independent of the camera app, and also occurs when shaking the phone side-to-side.
OK, the test results are in:
On Tuesday, I left the phone out in the cold on my balcony for 2,5 hours, and yes, afterwards the problems did occur.
On Wednesday, I used the phone indoors, no issues. A new camera app update was installed, I hoped this might be the fix.
But no: On Thursday, I again put the phone outdoors for 2,5h. The problems are back.
I will ask Amazon for a replacement.
Thanks a lot for your suggestions!
rhhd said:
OK, the test results are in:
On Tuesday, I left the phone out in the cold on my balcony for 2,5 hours, and yes, afterwards the problems did occur.
On Wednesday, I used the phone indoors, no issues. A new camera app update was installed, I hoped this might be the fix.
But no: On Thursday, I again put the phone outdoors for 2,5h. The problems are back.
I will ask Amazon for a replacement.
Thanks a lot for your suggestions!
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That's so strange!
I'd love to know what actually triggered this odd issue.
I mean, yeah, surely, something to do with cold temperatures, but that in itself doesn't explain a lot, does it?
I hope your replacement device won't have any issues!

Question Screen weirdness on me the other day.

My pixel 7 pro freaked out on me the other day and went black on me when I played a game and didn't come back for over 15 minutes then finally was responding again. Any reason why this happened . Hopefully software and not hardware. Hasn't happened since but still concerning .
Anyone ?
Redbeardkevv said:
Anyone ?
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Flaky game? I never play games on any tool, which a smartphone is. I wish the OEM's would stop trying to make it even possible. Buy a "gaming" phone which is designed specifically for that purpose. In fact, some of the best phones available today (spec wise) are gaming phones! If it only happened while playing the game then that is where I would look.
jaseman said:
Flaky game? I never play games on any tool, which a smartphone is. I wish the OEM's would stop trying to make it even possible. Buy a "gaming" phone which is designed specifically for that purpose. In fact, some of the best phones available today (spec wise) are gaming phones! If it only happened while playing the game then that is where I would look.
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This is one of the most ridiculous responses I have ever seen. There is nothing that makes a "gaming phone" special. They're using the same hardware and software as any other phone with gaming-specific gimmicks. The phone has a throttle mechanism to prevent any kind of damage.
EtherealRemnant said:
This is one of the most ridiculous responses I have ever seen. There is nothing that makes a "gaming phone" special. They're using the same hardware and software as any other phone with gaming-specific gimmicks. The phone has a throttle mechanism to prevent any kind of damage.
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Ridiculous...maybe...but the fact remains that you experienced this WHILE playing a game! So I wonder what the problem may be?
Hmmm
jaseman said:
Ridiculous...maybe...but the fact remains that you experienced this WHILE playing a game! So I wonder what the problem may be?
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That's called a hardware defect if the hardware can't cope. Going blank for 15 minutes is not normal.
Hardware hmm and not software?
Redbeardkevv said:
Hardware hmm and not software?
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What were you playing? If it was a graphically intensive game, I would definitely lean more towards blaming the hardware. It's very rare that a game can actually make a phone that unstable. In fact I can't remember the last time I've had a game make my phone unresponsive.
Roblox with my nephew
Redbeardkevv said:
Roblox with my nephew
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I've never played that game but their site seems to suggest some rather low requirements so I would be shocked if an ARMv8 processor like Tensor 2 is going to struggle with it.
Android warning screens
Due to the very large number of Android devices in existence, we cannot be certain that all devices will run optimally even if they are running the correct version of the operating system and do not have a Tegra 2 chipset.
We have 2 levels of unsupported Android devices - skippable and unskippable:
Skippable Devices: These types of devices will get a warning telling you that your device may not be powerful enough to play experiences smoothly. This is just a warning to let you know that while your device isn't specifically supported, experiences might still run though they will likely lag a little (or a lot). Tapping outside the warning box will make it go away and the experience should keep loading.
Unskippable Devices: will get a message that informs you that your device doesn't meet the minimum system requirements. This means the device is not able to play experiences on Roblox. This message usually shows up on devices that use the Tegra 2 graphics chipset or a processor older than ARMv7. These kinds of tablets/phones do not support features that the Roblox needs to be able to function. However, users with these unskippable messages will still be able to access all other parts of the app outside of experiences.
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https://en.help.roblox.com/hc/en-us/articles/203625474-ROBLOX-Mobile-System-Requirements
Yea I was thinking it had low requirements. Maybe bad coding ??? But then again no other app or game has caused that to happen. Sooo. Yea
I don't think it's software. I already had one screen die. Went black and never came back on. I had it fixed under warranty at a local UbreakIFix (Asurion - Google's warranty partner). Techs were aware of a similar problem with the 5a and replaced my screen same day.
I've had a few wonky screen issues that hard locked my phone. Had one go black, but fortunately came back after holding power down. It once went all yellow with weird shapes/sections. And then just had some freezes with artifacts on the screen.
I'm going away for the holidays so I'll send it back when I get home if I'm still having issues. If you're going away, I'd suggest taking a backup phone just in case. Had mine die the first time when I was visiting my folks out of state. It sucked with no backup.
One thing I noticed is the screen does a fuzzy flash whenever I plug in a USB charger. It's only a split second but it is noticeable. Has anyone else experienced that?
Superguy said:
I don't think it's software. I already had one screen die. Went black and never came back on. I had it fixed under warranty at a local UbreakIFix (Asurion - Google's warranty partner). Techs were aware of a similar problem with the 5a and replaced my screen same day.
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Click to collapse
Most of these failures have been a combination of both hardware and software - nothing is actually wrong with the screen. I'm not sure exactly how it happens, but it seems that this usually involves a OS crash (phone freezing up) followed by an attempt to reboot, but for some reason the bootloader has become corrupted and the device won't start. Fixing it generally involves replacing the mainboard, because most repair centers don't have the QPST or the software needed to perform low level reflash. This is a known issue over several generations of Pixels; the cause is unknown.
V0latyle said:
Most of these failures have been a combination of both hardware and software - nothing is actually wrong with the screen. I'm not sure exactly how it happens, but it seems that this usually involves a OS crash (phone freezing up) followed by an attempt to reboot, but for some reason the bootloader has become corrupted and the device won't start. Fixing it generally involves replacing the mainboard, because most repair centers don't have the QPST or the software needed to perform low level reflash. This is a known issue over several generations of Pixels; the cause is unknown.
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Click to collapse
What was weird is when mine went black, the phone would still boot and in theory was still usable. Pushing the buttons gave haptic feedback like they were bringing up the power menu or adjusting the volume. I just couldn't see what was going on or use touch to give input.
They told me they just replaced the screen. Didn't touch the motherboard.
I was using one of the custom kernels so I ended up having to wipe it and went back to stock kernel with magisk and some modules. It hasn't acted up as much as it did with the custom kernel, but there are still issues. I suppose it could be something that's messed up in the stock kernel, and perhaps tweaks a dev made in theirs may have exasperated it some.
If I end ups ending it back, I'll try a custom kernel again, but for now, I'm just sticking with stock.
*no disrespect intended or implied to any dev
Superguy said:
What was weird is when mine went black, the phone would still boot and in theory was still usable. Pushing the buttons gave haptic feedback like they were bringing up the power menu or adjusting the volume. I just couldn't see what was going on or use touch to give input.
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Click to collapse
Yeah, that's definitely a display issue. I'm talking about when the device doesn't work or respond at all, maybe vibrates on power up but doesn't respond to anything, and usually will come up as "Qualcomm Bulk USB" or something when connected to PC
Superguy said:
They told me they just replaced the screen. Didn't touch the motherboard.
I was using one of the custom kernels so I ended up having to wipe it and went back to stock kernel with magisk and some modules. It hasn't acted up as much as it did with the custom kernel, but there are still issues. I suppose it could be something that's messed up in the stock kernel, and perhaps tweaks a dev made in theirs may have exasperated it some.
If I end ups ending it back, I'll try a custom kernel again, but for now, I'm just sticking with stock.
*no disrespect intended or implied to any dev
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For sure, active development may or may not have stability issues, it's all a learning process!

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