Black screen of death, bootloader shows N/A

[Easy E]

So, I've been running Benzo 9.0 October release with no issues. Yesterday, out of the blue, my phone goes to a black screen and will not respond. It's been fine for weeks and haven't changed/flashed anything since.

I can hold down power/volume down for 8 seconds and get to the bootloader. That's as far as it goes. If I try to go to recovery, I get a black screen, so can't see what it's doing. ADB sees the phone just fine but all attempts to flash anything fails.

ADB is current as of yesterday

Here's what my bootloader says that's odd:

BL: N/A
Baseband: N/A
Boot-slot b

I've changed boot slots via ADB and it confirms, but it stays in B
I've tried to flash factory image and it fails as bootloader is N/A
I've tried to flash bootloader (and anything else) and it fails like this:
==========================================================
Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.17134.345]
(c) 2018 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Eric and Liz>cd c:/sdk/platform-tools

c:\SDK\platform-tools>fastboot flash boot --slot all boot.img
Sending 'boot_a' (30993 KB) OKAY [ 1.140s]
Writing 'boot_a' FAILED (remote: 'flash write failure')
Finished. Total time: 1.702s

c:\SDK\platform-tools>
==========================================================

Ideas?

Thanks in advance....

 

[stifmaster81]

So, I've been running Benzo 9.0 October release with no issues. Yesterday, out of the blue, my phone goes to a black screen and will not respond. It's been fine for weeks and haven't changed/flashed anything since.

I can hold down power/volume down for 8 seconds and get to the bootloader. That's as far as it goes. If I try to go to recovery, I get a black screen, so can't see what it's doing. ADB sees the phone just fine but all attempts to flash anything fails.

ADB is current as of yesterday

Here's what my bootloader says that's odd:

BL: N/A
Baseband: N/A
Boot-slot b

I've changed boot slots via ADB and it confirms, but it stays in B
I've tried to flash factory image and it fails as bootloader is N/A
I've tried to flash bootloader (and anything else) and it fails like this:
==========================================================
Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.17134.345]
(c) 2018 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Eric and Liz>cd c:/sdk/platform-tools

c:\SDK\platform-tools>fastboot flash boot --slot all boot.img
Sending 'boot_a' (30993 KB) OKAY [ 1.140s]
Writing 'boot_a' FAILED (remote: 'flash write failure')
Finished. Total time: 1.702s

c:\SDK\platform-tools>
==========================================================

Ideas?

Thanks in advance....

I installed also the rom benzo a few weeks ago, and something similar happened to me, the screen went black, and I did not see anything, but I flipped the stock and it was great. I answer because what happened to me, I was also using the benzo rom, I do not have it installed anymore and I will never install it anymore.

 

[5.1]

So, I've been running Benzo 9.0 October release with no issues. Yesterday, out of the blue, my phone goes to a black screen and will not respond. It's been fine for weeks and haven't changed/flashed anything since.

I can hold down power/volume down for 8 seconds and get to the bootloader. That's as far as it goes. If I try to go to recovery, I get a black screen, so can't see what it's doing. ADB sees the phone just fine but all attempts to flash anything fails.

ADB is current as of yesterday

Here's what my bootloader says that's odd:

BL: N/A
Baseband: N/A
Boot-slot b

I've changed boot slots via ADB and it confirms, but it stays in B
I've tried to flash factory image and it fails as bootloader is N/A
I've tried to flash bootloader (and anything else) and it fails like this:
==========================================================
Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.17134.345]
(c) 2018 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Eric and Liz>cd c:/sdk/platform-tools

c:\SDK\platform-tools>fastboot flash boot --slot all boot.img
Sending 'boot_a' (30993 KB) OKAY [ 1.140s]
Writing 'boot_a' FAILED (remote: 'flash write failure')
Finished. Total time: 1.702s

c:\SDK\platform-tools>
==========================================================

Ideas?

Thanks in advance....

Hi,

Several people already faced the same issue here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-xl/help/pixel-xl-bricked-bootloader-n-baseband-n-t3537379

It seems like nothing can be done to restore your device to a working state. Either RMA or you're SOL...

Good luck anyway..! :highfive:

I installed also the rom benzo a few weeks ago, and something similar happened to me, the screen went black, and I did not see anything, but I flipped the stock and it was great. I answer because what happened to me, I was also using the benzo rom, I do not have it installed anymore and I will never install it anymore.

Hi,

Just because your screen went black, doesn't mean it's the ROM fault. Running the same ROM at the moment and never encountered such issue. Be sure if it was ROM related, it would be discussed in its thread... :good:

 

[Easy E]

Hi,

Several people already faced the same issue here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-xl/help/pixel-xl-bricked-bootloader-n-baseband-n-t3537379

It seems like nothing can be done to restore your device to a working state. Either RMA or you're SOL...

Good luck anyway..! :highfive:

Thanks for the link...yup - looks like my 1 month old used Pixel is toast.

 

[5.1]

Hi,

Several people already faced the same issue here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-xl/help/pixel-xl-bricked-bootloader-n-baseband-n-t3537379

It seems like nothing can be done to restore your device to a working state. Either RMA or you're SOL...

Good luck anyway..! :highfive:

Thanks for the link...yup - looks like my 1 month old used Pixel is toast.

This is very sad... Isn't it under warranty?

Cheers...

 

[Easy E]

This is very sad... Isn't it under warranty?

Cheers...

I bought it second hand from Swappa. Only had the phone for 3 weeks. Spent an hour on the phone with Google and they couldn't verify if it was still under factory warranty. Ugh..

 

[5.1]

I bought it second hand from Swappa. Only had the phone for 3 weeks. Spent an hour on the phone with Google and they couldn't verify if it was still under factory warranty. Ugh..

Hey,

Did you try to contact the seller? He might give you the details... When and where he purchased the phone?

Crossing fingers for you. Good luck...

 

[Phalanx7621]

So you've tried flashing the latest stock image from Google via fastboot ?

 

[Easy E]

So you've tried flashing the latest stock image from Google via fastboot ?

Yes. I can't flash anything - all write attempts fail. Since the bootloader version shows "N/A", flashing the stock image stops as it can't confirm the bootloader version. It sucks...fastboot sees the phone and verifies with serial number, but nothing can be written. It appears there is a known issue with the early Pixel mainboards causing this - some people have had them fixed by Google even out of warranty. No luck for me yet.

 

[Phalanx7621]

Yes. I can't flash anything - all write attempts fail. Since the bootloader version shows "N/A", flashing the stock image stops as it can't confirm the bootloader version. It sucks...fastboot sees the phone and verifies with serial number, but nothing can be written. It appears there is a known issue with the early Pixel mainboards causing this - some people have had them fixed by Google even out of warranty. No luck for me yet.

There's a thread started here in the Q &A section about unbricking, i would check to see if anything those guys have tried could work for you . I'm sorry you're having this issue, I know it just suck big time.

 

[Easy E]

There's a thread started here in the Q &A section about unbricking, i would check to see if anything those guys have tried could work for you . I'm sorry you're having this issue, I know it just suck big time.

After more research and reading through this link that 5.1 posted, (https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-xl/help/pixel-xl-bricked-bootloader-n-baseband-n-t3537379) it appears to not be bricked but likely a faulty main board.