@GrapheneOS@grapheneos.social I think today my GrapheneOS tried to auto update itself, that's what it usually does. The phone got a little bit hot as well, that's also what normally happens. But after that my phone turned into a brick, the screen is black, and I can't boot, not into recovery even. It's just a brick now. Is this a known issue? Sorry I can't really provide any logs for diagnostics. We'll probably have to wait and see if more people have a similar issue.
this post was submitted on 03 May 2025
2 points (100.0% liked)
Privacy
0 readers
19 users here now
Everything about privacy (the confidentiality pillar of security) -- but not restricted to infosec. Offline privacy is also relevant here.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
@astroboy@fosstodon.org That's extraordinarily unlikely and you're likely misdiagnosing it.
OS updates are tested on each device model before reaching Alpha and go through both Alpha and Beta testing before Stable. This OS update hasn't reached the Stable channel yet.
OS updates happen in the background and kick in after rebooting. There's a toggle to automatically reboot after updates while idle in the System Updater settings but it's disabled by default.
If an update fails to boot, it gets rolled back.
@GrapheneOS@grapheneos.social Thank you for the information. Yes, it looks as if it was installing an update, but it could be I'm completely wrong about it. I don't have the toggle to auto reboot turned on.
@astroboy@fosstodon.org There's a known upstream Android bug impacting 8th generation Pixels which can cause them to become unresponsive with a black or frozen screen. The device remains booted and functioning when that happens so trying to boot it isn't going to work because it's already turned on and still mostly functioning. You have to long press the power button to force the device off if you've encountered that issue. It might be a GPU bug introduced in Android 15 QPR2 but we haven't determined it yet.
@GrapheneOS@grapheneos.social I tried to long press the power button, but nothing happens, also tried long pressing power + volume down buttons. Is there anywhere where I can read more about the display bug? Does it fix itself, after reboot? Somehow my phone is absolutely unresponsive.
@astroboy@fosstodon.org Hold power for a minute or longer.
Which device model do you have? Is it an 8th generation Pixel?
There's something wrong with 8th generation Pixels since perhaps around Android 15 QPR2 in March 2025 which can cause the device to become unresponsive until forced off. It can be a problem to get it forcefully turned off. It appears to be some kind of upstream Android bug or Pixel firmware bug. We don't know if it happens more often with GrapheneOS. The May update will hopefully fix it.
@GrapheneOS@grapheneos.social Yes! Pixel 8 is my device. Here is what I tried, and what has worked. Thank you for helping! https://fosstodon.org/@astroboy/114450411390638894
@GrapheneOS Apparently I was holding down the wrong buttons. I now hold down the power + volume UP button, and my phone is working! But after the Sim Card pincode screen appears, the whole screen goes black again. So maybe that is indeed that upstream bug you were talking about. But how to fix it?
@astroboy Try plugging the device into a wall charger and then turning it off completely. Hold volume down while it reboots so it boots into fastboot mode instead of the OS. While it's plugged in and in fastboot mode, turn off the device from there and let it charge for a while. Then, see if it works properly after it has been charged for at least around 10 minutes.
@GrapheneOS@grapheneos.social Thank you! I will try this right now. You're very helpful and kind.
@GrapheneOS Wait, I didn't even need to try anything, it's just working again! But I do see that it was caused by an update, because I see a message "App restart required". The version I have now is 2025-04-25-00. So it was caused by another update, not this one. Thank you so much for your help anyways!
@astroboy That doesn't mean it was caused by an update and it fact shows that it almost certainly wasn't related. You had an update installed and waiting for you to reboot the device. The issue causing it to lock up with a black screen occurred on an old version of the OS prior to the 2025042500 release. When you forced it off and turned it on, you booted 2025042500 for the first time. That implies you weren't on 2025042500 yet. If it had failed to boot repeatedly it'd have been rolled back.
@astroboy@fosstodon.org The issue you experienced has been reported by a dozen other Pixel 8 users recently and isn't related to any of our recent updates. It has possibly been an issue since Android 15 QPR2 in March or possibly only since the April monthly update. It's not known what's causing it and no one has provided any logs showing any crashes or anything else that's helpful, likely because people can't really do much with the device once it happens. This means we don't know much about the cause.
@GrapheneOS@grapheneos.social Yes, I understand now. Thank you for helping.
@GrapheneOS@grapheneos.social Your notes seem to not tag Pixel 9a, is it somehow excluded?
@xeekei@mastodon.world Pixel 9a is a newly launched device which is not supported by mainline Android. It still has Android 15 QPR1 with the stock Pixel OS instead of Android 15 QPR2 and it's the same with GrapheneOS. It does not receive the regular releases of GrapheneOS yet and does not have the full Android or GrapheneOS feature set. It will have mainline Android with the launch of Android 16 in June. Until then, it has special releases using a Pixel 9a device branch based on the upstream branch for it.
@GrapheneOS@grapheneos.social @xeekei@mastodon.world Interesting but I have to say as a new graphenos user on a P9a, it feels perfect to me.
@kgw@cosocial.ca @xeekei@mastodon.world We backported most of the GrapheneOS features, bug fixes and improvements which were made after Android 15 QPR2 was launched. We didn't backport any of the Android 15 QPR2 features or bug fixes though. The stock OS is based on Android 15 QPR1 so it's not as if GrapheneOS would be worse due to this, it's just behind the Android version used by the other devices we support. That will change in a bit over a month when Android 16 is released. It will be on mainline Android after that.
@xeekei@mastodon.world You can see from https://grapheneos.org/releases#tegu that it's not on the same version of GrapheneOS as the other devices.
It's normal for new devices to launch with a device branch. Pixel 8a and Pixel 9a are the first non-flagship devices launched after trunk-based quarterly releases started with Android 14 QPR2.
Pixel 8a launched with Android 14 QPR1 in May 2024 instead of QPR2 from March 2024. Android 14 QPR3 was released weeks later in June, merging it into mainline Android. This is similar.
@xeekei@mastodon.world They saved time not porting either to the QPR2 release prior to launch. It wasn't as noticeable for the Pixel 8a since Android 14 QPR3 was launched weeks later and provided mainline Android support for it. It's more noticeable for the Pixel 9a since it launched in April instead of late May.
Android 16 is coming out this year in June instead of that being the QPR3 release as usual. We aren't sure why. It's possible they decided to move the month yearly releases come out going forward.
@GrapheneOS@grapheneos.social Yes! Gotcha. Things'll be less weird in june. Lov yall's work so far 🩶
@GrapheneOS@grapheneos.social A'ight that was very comprehensive and informative. No further questions. Thx