Pixel 3a. Bootloader unlocked. Stock. Previously have used Magisk although I didn't have it installed or setup at the moment. I was neglectful and hadn't updated OTA or factory images since updating to Android 10. My current boot slot is b. I've tried updating via Magisk OTA or system OTA but they both fail, so I use factory images manually to keep my data partition.
Today I downloaded the sargo November 2019 image. The process I've been using across a few Pixel phones the past few years has been to manually unpack the Factory image ZIP and the update ZIP, then manually fastboot flash bootloader, reboot, radio, reboot, then boot_a and boot_b, system, system_b, vendor, and modem.
It should have been a hint to me that I got an error when I went to flash system. My console told me I need to use fastbootd. So I switched there, flashed the system partitions. Went to reboot and got "Your device is corrupt. It can't be trusted and may not work properly.", which I've never encountered before. Press Power - ignore the device-is-unlocked message, and get to the Google boot screen. And then the device appears to be frozen.
Right now I'm thinking to go back to my first Android 10 factory image and see if I can reverse whatever I did... but figured I should check here to see if I had missed something important. Low and behold this forum says to only flash one slot at a time, to switch and boot into the other slot, etc. Okay, so I messed up. Any good ideas on how to fix what I did?
UPDATE: I don't normally sideload updates, but I got into recovery mode, sideloaded the OTA for November, and I'm back in business. I'll do a few reboots to be sure I'm good but the phone did boot up, my user data is intact. The phone still starts out with a "your phone is corrupt" message, which is then followed by the "you have an unlocked bootloader" message. That second screen has some messed up characters on it.
If anyone has advice on the "right" way to maintain slots A vs. B and how to be careful, how to combine this with Magisk etc and can point me to posts in threads, that'd be helpful for the future. Thanks!
Today I downloaded the sargo November 2019 image. The process I've been using across a few Pixel phones the past few years has been to manually unpack the Factory image ZIP and the update ZIP, then manually fastboot flash bootloader, reboot, radio, reboot, then boot_a and boot_b, system, system_b, vendor, and modem.
It should have been a hint to me that I got an error when I went to flash system. My console told me I need to use fastbootd. So I switched there, flashed the system partitions. Went to reboot and got "Your device is corrupt. It can't be trusted and may not work properly.", which I've never encountered before. Press Power - ignore the device-is-unlocked message, and get to the Google boot screen. And then the device appears to be frozen.
Right now I'm thinking to go back to my first Android 10 factory image and see if I can reverse whatever I did... but figured I should check here to see if I had missed something important. Low and behold this forum says to only flash one slot at a time, to switch and boot into the other slot, etc. Okay, so I messed up. Any good ideas on how to fix what I did?
UPDATE: I don't normally sideload updates, but I got into recovery mode, sideloaded the OTA for November, and I'm back in business. I'll do a few reboots to be sure I'm good but the phone did boot up, my user data is intact. The phone still starts out with a "your phone is corrupt" message, which is then followed by the "you have an unlocked bootloader" message. That second screen has some messed up characters on it.
If anyone has advice on the "right" way to maintain slots A vs. B and how to be careful, how to combine this with Magisk etc and can point me to posts in threads, that'd be helpful for the future. Thanks!
Last edited: