GrapheneOS
Unresponsive and black screen after boot
When starting the phone, it does not properly start but instead just gives a black screen. Doesn't respond on any input.
How it happened in my case:
- Rebooted for an update
- once up, still BFU, I turned it off
on a Pixel 8 with build number 2025041100
On the 2nd hard restart (holding the power button for 60s) it worked
On the first one, it booted, but then hang in the middle of the passcode field animation coming up On the 2nd, I waited a bit (to notice that I entered the passcode after the notification for app optimisation came up), and then it worked without issues
According to a conversation with bigchungos_real on Discord, there are already 3 known cases (context) (though idk how it happened there)
I just had this issue as well, holding down the power button for 60+ seconds managed to restart the phone.
Pixel 8 (8gb 256GB) is bricked basically
got the black screen after reboot (in fact it's approx 1 second after the phone finished to start) I got the hash, then the google logo, then the grapheneos, then the lock screen, and less than 1sec, it goes black nothing is hapening.
I tried many reboot holding 60s the power button, but went to the black screen everytime after less than 1 sec, I did't had time to type password.
Then I tried Power+VolDown and tried RescueMode, Recovery, but both went to "No command screen with Android bot laying down" Now, even trying to start normally (start from fastboot mode, or power 60s, or plug usb charge) it goes stuck into "No command screen with Android bot laying down"
Help!
@gmgtamz
It sounds like your device has experienced a hardware failure.
Then I tried Power+VolDown and tried RescueMode, Recovery, but both went to "No command screen with Android bot laying down"
That's what's supposed to happen in recovery mode. You access the menu by holding power and pressing volume up while holding it, then releasing both. You can sideload the latest GrapheneOS update there. Even if you're already on the latest version, it might help if the issue is SSD data corruption of the OS due to an SSD hardware failure.
it rebooted again, with usb plugged... then its not HW. there is a bug, I deactivated the auto reboot just in case... I typed the PIN, the pass, it works, I have no idea why...
@gmgtamz
it rebooted again, with usb plugged... then its not HW.
That's not accurate. It can be a hardware issue.
there is a bug, I deactivated the auto reboot just in case...
There could be a driver or firmware bug. It could also be a hardware failure. There's no sign of anything specifically related to GrapheneOS though.
since I wrote the original issue, the thing described by @gmgtamz is not what I was describing. Putting it here for clarity
I had the same problem as gmgtamz today on my Pixel 8 with release 2025080600. For me the solution was to reinstall the latest release https://grapheneos.org/releases via ADB. It now works perfectly fine. Apparently the automatic installation done by the system was erroneous.
I had the same issue as @pazupa with my akita (8a). I've been using Graphene with this phone for a few months. Suddenly last night, I saw the phone reboot. Afterwards, I'd either get an unresponsive black screen or I would see the lock screen and be able to interact with the phone for only a few seconds until I would get a black screen again.
I suspected a hardware issue except that I was able to leave the phone in fastboot mode overnight without any black screen appearing.
At that point, I followed the instructions to sideload and manually sideloaded the latest OTA update. Now I've been using the phone without issue for an hour.
@cruatta If the issue was the battery not supplying enough power near low capacity, that's a hardware issue, and that's what it sounds like.
@pazupa No, you're drawing an incorrect conclusion. The symptom you're describing is a hardware failure and has nothing to do with the update not being installed correctly.
@thestinger thanks for responding! My phone was at around 60% battery when this happened, if that helps.
I did, several times and I was charging my phone when doing these reboots. Each time I rebooted into the OS, I encountered the same symptoms. I never encountered the symptoms when I rebooted into the bootloader or recovery modes though.
FWIW, this same symptom has occurred on my son's Pixel 8 (but not my Pixel 8a, touch wood) for some reason. Apparently he was using it fine last night, left it on charge overnight, and in the morning in had the black screen.
I saw it could be rebooted by holding power for 60 secs, but it just hangs again each time within a few seconds of booting up, suggesting some kind of software corruption. Then I found this bug report, and it started making sense :)
I'll try the side-loading the OTA later if I get a moment and check back.
I’ve gotten the same thing on my Pixel 7 Pro just recently. I’m glad i’m not the only one at least!
UPDATE: After holding both power and volume up in recovery mode (by accident, I misinterpreted the instructions), my phone rebooted and now it’s working perfectly fine somehow.
Same in my case. I didn't actually need to sideload the OTA. While messing around trying to get the phone into recover mode for 'adb' to connect to it, it booted up and stayed up for more than a few seconds. We were able to use it normally again after that point.
Had the same issue on a Pixel 9a, and sideloading the latest update fixed the problem for me.
Had the same issue. Phone turned off because of low battery and it had an update queued up. I have "Require battery above warning level" and "Require device to be charging" turned on so it shouldn't have installed the update once the battery just got a few percent in it. Would get to the lock screen and everything would be fine, have all the time in the world to put in my password, but as soon as it tried to get into the home screen, the screen would turn black. Also if I tried to switch users from the lock screen it would turn black. This doesn't seem like a hardware failure to me.
Issue was resolved after a few reboots, sometimes in Fastboot, sometimes in normal. By the way, the issue persisted even as the battery was fully charged.
I had the same issue as @pazupa with my akita (8a). I've been using Graphene with this phone for a few months. Suddenly last night, I saw the phone reboot. Afterwards, I'd either get an unresponsive black screen or I would see the lock screen and be able to interact with the phone for only a few seconds until I would get a black screen again.
I suspected a hardware issue except that I was able to leave the phone in fastboot mode overnight without any black screen appearing.
At that point, I followed the instructions to sideload and manually sideloaded the latest OTA update. Now I've been using the phone without issue for an hour.
I also have 8a and have had this exact experience on multiple occasions. Also had it happen on my pixel 6 before I upgraded. This is incredibly frustrating and needs to not happen
Similar case as @gmgtamz minus the happy ending...
### Pixel 7 (8GB/128GB) bricked after GOS update.
I’ve had GOS for more than a year on this phone without any major issues.
Two days ago the OS did an OTA update, I rebooted, it finished optimizing apps, and about 10min later crashed while I was browsing a website. It got stuck in the following indefinite self-rebooting cycle:
- It goes directly into the “GrapheneOS” screen (skipping the “Your device is loading a different operating system” screen, and the “Google” screen).
- It loads the lock screen, where I am able to enter the PIN.
- It goes to black screen with only the left (i.e. back) navigation button visible, sometimes the other two buttons flash for like half a second too. I can click the back button, but nothing happens. The screen does not react to anything but I can actually start the camera by double-clicking the power button. The camera looks normal but does not take photos or react to anything. A few times I got the following white overlay error message after starting the camera: “Process system isn’t responding” with these 3 options: “Close app; Wait; and Show details”. Again no reaction to pressing any of them. When I long-press the power button I get the white overlay menu with “Emergency, Power off; and Restart” options with no reaction again. The phone stays with this black screen for about a minute and then it goes back to step 1. It repeats the cycle until the battery is flat.
The phone actually gets my alarm ringing during the black screen part of the cycle that falls on the time my alarm clock is set to. This kinda gets me hoping the phone ain’t dead yet but... :)
When I hold the power button for 60s, I get the full reboot cycle, i.e.: “Your device is loading a different OS” screen, “Google”, “GrapheneOS” and lock screens, but I end up with the black screen again, and then it enters the above shorter cycle.
When I hold power + VolDown buttons, I get to the Fastboot Mode. But the “Restart Bootloader” option does not change anything, the “Rescue Mode” and “Recovery Mode” options end up in the "No command” screen with logo of Android bot laying down, and the “Start” option does the same thing as the above 60s power button scenario.
I have reinstalled the latest OS update (2025121200) via ADB, but no change. Plugging the usb cable does not seem to change anything either.
The phone went through hundreds of self-reboots, I did about 30+ “Fastboot Mode -> Start option” reboots with or without the “Restart Bootloader” option, but no change whatsoever.
Anybody any help or ideas? I have quite a bit of data there that I haven’t backed up :(
