First Time Install

trwidick

@crab_aesthetics When it hits this point and does nothing. I had to go to windows device manager and then find my pixel 3a. Manually reinstall the same driver, then reload the webpage in the browswer.

rdl85

@crab_aesthetics sorry but I bet my experience won't be much help. My install went like this: the installer finished the install and seemed to suggest a successful intall, but then it wouldn't boot fully into UT, just hung on Google screen. I then tried reflashing and then halfway through the reflash my 3a booted up and it just started to work. I have always wondered if the first flash had an error in one of the early steps and the second partial reflash fixed it... That whole install process was a little touch and go.

Keneda

@trwidick i had same issue with my mx4, device under normal boot, fastboot boot, and recovery boot needed install adb driver for each boot mode under windows.
For the record : https://forums.ubports.com/topic/4026/problem-upgrading-mx4-from-ota15-to-ubport/12?_=1623732194391

crab_aesthetics

@keneda I'm doing the installation on linux so I don't think it is a driver issue. Still stuck in Fastboot Mode, if I choose Recovery Mode I see the Google warning about 'the bootloader is unlocked and the software cannot be verified', then that message goes away and it just goes back to Fastboot Mode, like the recovery doesn't exist or something. Not really sure how to fix this :^(

Nothing shows up for command 'adb devices'.

Lakotaubp

@crab_aesthetics Have you tried.....fastboot reboot recovery in the terminal and see if the installer progresses. Unplugging and replugging in the cable sometime forces things on. If you are selecting the wipe option on the installer try without that.
These are all very general and not specific but things I tried on an OP5 install to get it to complete. All I can say (as I don't have your device) is keep trying, sometimes it "just works" which is frustrating and your not sure what you did but it worked.

crab_aesthetics

@lakotaubp

>>> adb reboot-bootloader 
error: no devices/emulators found
>>> adb kill-server
>>> adb start-server
* daemon not running; starting now at tcp:5037
* daemon started successfully
>>> adb devices
List of devices attached

>>> fastboot reboot recovery
< waiting for any device >

I don't know for sure what happened, but it seems like there is no OS to boot into and the recovery seems non-functional or non-existent. It's as if the device is not in USB-debug mode which would explain why it's not showing up as a device, but there's no OS to boot into to turn on USB debugging...

crab_aesthetics

@crab_aesthetics Success! Kind of!

I changed it to a different USB port and now it's recognized, I'm flashing 9.0 again.

Lakotaubp

@crab_aesthetics Good luck. I really don't know the ins and outs of Pixel install having never tried. The OP used TWRP which was easy to get back to(most times) untill UBports recovery was installed.

crab_aesthetics

@lakotaubp yah I've had a real beast of a time flashing custom ROMs on different android devices. The Galaxy S3 was the easiest one, someone had made a 1-click thing that rooted it and flashed Cyanogenmod. After that nothing was easy. The S7 was impossible, I tried numerous times over the years and never did get a custom ROM installed. I ended up using adb to remove all the bloatware on that one. Galaxy Tab S2 was somewhat easier, I did end up getting Lineage OS working on that one.

Going to try UT again in a little while.

Lakotaubp

@crab_aesthetics Stick with it but yes have a break and come back to it fresh and once more good luck.

crab_aesthetics

@lakotaubp No success today, now the phone is stuck in fastboot mode. I can flash stuff to it from a terminal but I can't get flash.android.com to flash the original android 9 image on it any more, it connects to it but then when I try to flash the image it fails and says

"Flash Failed
Your device stopped responding. You may have to select restart in the bootloader menu in order for it to be recognized again.

Try using a different USB cable and/or port."

I had been switching to new USB ports but I ran out of ports, and it seems like for whatever reason it will only flash Android 9 on each port once, after that it gives this error message. Persists through a reboot, which is very strange. And I don't have any other USB cables to try, it seems kind of dumb to go to the store to get a new one when I just got a new cable yesterday.

trwidick

@crab_aesthetics Did you install adb drivers when in fast boot?

crab_aesthetics

@trwidick I'm on linux and installed the android development tools before doing anything to the phone.

I was able to get Android 9 back on there and working, I need to use the phone while running some errands tonight so I will be able to try later this evening when I get back.

crab_aesthetics

@crab_aesthetics SUCCESS!

There was a little manual work that needed to be done to get it working.

For anyone's reference having difficulty flashing the image using either the UBports installer or manually flashing the vbmeta, dtbo, and boot.img files (available here), it is necessary to use --disable-verity and --disable-verification for each of these.

So the manual process looks like:

Flash stock android 9, specifically build PQ3B.190801.002
Power off phone
Using Power + vol down, boot phone into Fastboot Mode
Run these commands

fastboot flash --disable-verity --disable-verification dtbo dtbo.img
fastboot flash --disable-verity --disable-verification vbmeta vbmeta.img
fastboot flash --disable-verity --disable-verification boot boot.img

Run the UBports installer
When prompted, check the check mark for erase user data and un-check the check mark for format system data
The installer will prompt you to boot into Recovery. Use the volume button to select the option to Boot to Recovery
If everything went correctly, you should now boot into the Recovery and be able to click the Continue button on the UBports installer, and the installation should complete and after a couple automatic reboots, you get to the Language Selection screen.

Now I just need to get cellular data working...
And figure out if it's possible to switch to a dvorak keyboard layout...

unrealb2

@crab_aesthetics keep us updated, I’m thinking of getting a pixel 3a. I’m curious what you think of the speed or performance

crab_aesthetics

@unrealb2 First impressions:

Performance is very nice, it's responsive and looks really good.

The edge swiping is a little irritating, you do need to adjust the pixel width that the edge swiping activates at for it to be reasonably usable.

Changing the keyboard layout to dvorak did not actually change the keyboard layout to dvorak. Not a show stopper, but wish it would have.

The main issue for me was that it would not connect to my cell network. I couldn't make or receive calls or get any data. I'm on US Cellular.

I tried going in and manually choosing the carrier, this did not work.

I tried going in and changing the APN settings to the APN settings I found online for US Cellular, including using my MIN@uscc.net and MIN for password and this did not work.

I took it in to US Cellular to see if one of them could help me try to set the APN settings but the guy I happened to get there was pretty useless, looked at it for about 30 seconds and told me I was on my own, didn't even try to set the APN settings.

I'm flashing LineageOS on it now because I do actually need the phone to work, but I'll try again in another few months to see if there's been any progress.

For what it's worth, the US Cellular guy said that there's nothing on their end that would be blocking the phone from connecting to the network, like no OS check or verification, so it would appear that there is some software issue causing the phone to not connect to this network.

KentNmt

@crab_aesthetics First I thank you for the process you showed in your install. It is a good road map. I will be trying a similar install as soon as I get my replacement phone. I will be using a Linux laptop and my cellular provider is Visible by Verizon.