Pixel 3 xl died without warning.

[Majonez]

So I bought my Pixel 3 xl brand new when it came out in October 2018. Treated it like a baby. Always wore it with a silicon case with a screen protector. The phone looks like new. It had slipped a few times from a siting position onto the carpet, nothing of any concern.
Anyway I had it on ~53% battery when I decided to charge it more with the original charger. About 1h later I've unplugged the phone and tried to unlock it with the finger sensor - no reaction from the phone whatsoever, no screen light, no sound, no vibration... That got me a bit of concern.
I tried pressing the power button - nothing - holding the power button - again nothing - holding the power button with the volume down button - nothing again - connecting the phone to the PC - no reaction.

I described the issue and my troubleshooting to google support. Bruce from the support asked me to try taking of the case and the rebooting the phone, also to check if the charging port is clean. After that didn't help he gave me to options:
1) Try the Google of warranty fixing - after selecting "power issues" the estimate cost was £324 + tax and that could get more expensive. Shame that I can get a new phone cheaper on ebay - about £265
2) Try with iSmash - a UK authorized repair shop, I presume. Will be trying them later.

Just can't believe a phone can die like this.

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

Oh wow! I am so sorry to hear this. It does sound like the phone is dead to me. I have heard of iSmash as I found them when looking at the price to replace a battery in a Pixel 2 XL. They do fix Google phones. I am pretty sure they have a price estimate on their website. Otherwise I would give them a call tomorrow morning and see what they advise you.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! I moved this from the Buyers Guide forum to the Pixel 3 forum for more specific traffic.

That's unfortunate, but realistically, this kind of thing can happen to any phone. It could be a worn out or defective battery, or it could be a motherboard problem. A phone that's out of warranty can cost a fair amount of money to repair, so if you're in the habit of owning phones beyond their usual warranty period, it's worth looking into additional insurance (although that's typically not a very good value either, because apart from the insurance premium you pay, you'd also have to pay a deductible if you end up using the insurance for a claim). Since you had a Pixel, hopefully you were taking advantage of all of the backup and sync features, so getting started with a new phone won't be a big hassle.

 

[Majonez]

Hi. Thanks for moving my post.
I am that kind of person that likes to use a device until it's just too much hustle or till there is something much better.
I definitely didn't expect a flagship phone to simply die after 2 years. Furthermore, I have to add that I am a very light user.
Why a phone for over £800 has just 1 year of warranty and a phone for £270 can have 3 years?
It's a real shame because this was my first Google phone, and it was making a good impression. It went bonkers just once when the whole UI went wild, lots of phantom touches. But after a while I managed to do some backup and factory restore it. But now it committed suicide, and it might be just an unfortunate event but an impression nonetheless.

Now the lesson for me is this: don't ever again cheat on Sony, don't ever buy a flagship when it just came out.
I had a Xperia Z2 for 5 years I think, great phone but old and the Pixel was just much better at taking photos - the best at the time - and that's what I wanted: good pictures, nice display, better charging. Bye bye my old, damaged friend, Jack Headphone. We all miss you.

 

[J Dubbs]

Hi. Thanks for moving my post.
I am that kind of person that likes to use a device until it's just too much hustle or till there is something much better.
I definitely didn't expect a flagship phone to simply die after 2 years. Furthermore, I have to add that I am a very light user.
Why a phone for over £800 has just 1 year of warranty and a phone for £270 can have 3 years?
It's a real shame because this was my first Google phone, and it was making a good impression. It went bonkers just once when the whole UI went wild, lots of phantom touches. But after a while I managed to do some backup and factory restore it. But now it committed suicide, and it might be just an unfortunate event but an impression nonetheless.

Now the lesson for me is this: don't ever again cheat on Sony, don't ever buy a flagship when it just came out.
I had a Xperia Z2 for 5 years I think, great phone but old and the Pixel was just much better at taking photos - the best at the time - and that's what I wanted: good pictures, nice display, better charging. Bye bye my old, damaged friend, Jack Headphone. We all miss you.

Have you tried plugging it in with a different adapter? I've had stock adapters (bricks) go bad and drain the battery instead of charging it. Also plug it in and try your best to get into recovery mode... you can boot it normally from there or factory reset. Have you had any issues after a recent update?

It could be anything, but if it was a battery issue you probably would of had some more warning signs. If it's software related from a recent update possibly, a factory reset could keep it going for several more years.....if it's a hardware failure then say goodbye old friend and get a pixel 5

 

[Majonez]

Have you tried plugging it in with a different adapter? I've had stock adapters (bricks) go bad and drain the battery instead of charging it. Also plug it in and try your best to get into recovery mode... you can boot it normally from there or factory reset. Have you had any issues after a recent update?

It could be anything, but if it was a battery issue you probably would of had some more warning signs. If it's software related from a recent update possibly, a factory reset could keep it going for several more years.....if it's a hardware failure then say goodbye old friend and get a pixel 5

I had it plugged into the pc and charge wireless. Also, one repair guy tried charging it with a different, more powerful charger for me. His theory was that sometimes a battery needs a bit of a kick, but that didn't help. He only told me that the battery is drawing power, so he thought it was the screens backlight, but in that case the phone would at least vibrate. I can try charging it with something else, but honestly I think that is a dead end. I didn't notice anything weird after the update.

 

[FF22]

I will just throw in that my Pixel 3, about two weeks ago, seemed to die. I did all of those steps you mentioned. Finally, I held the power button in for at least a minute and suddenly I saw a flicker of life and put it on a charger. It has been working fine since. This is my first pixel, actually, my first non-Blackberry in years. And for BB I know of the various resuscitation steps. I really don't know Pixel's magic restart methods.

Good luck.

 

[Majonez]

I will just throw in that my Pixel 3, about two weeks ago, seemed to die. I did all of those steps you mentioned. Finally, I held the power button in for at least a minute and suddenly I saw a flicker of life and put it on a charger. It has been working fine since. This is my first pixel, actually, my first non-Blackberry in years. And for BB I know of the various resuscitation steps. I really don't know Pixel's magic restart methods.

Good luck.

OMG! It just... no, no it didn't. You gave me hope. I tried holding the buttons for 2 minutes after "charging" the phone all day with a computer, but no cigar.

 

[mrpackerguy]

Scary stuff. Hoping mine holds out.

 

[B. Diddy]

Try this:

1. Plug it into a wall outlet (not a PC USB port, since that supplies much less power), and let it sit overnight undisturbed.
2. Press and hold Power for about a minute -- and time it, since a minute seems like forever when you're holding a button.
3. If nothing happens, let go of the Power switch for a few seconds, then press and hold it again for another minute. This is in case the first long-press in fact forced a shutdown of a phone frozen on a blank screen.

 

[Majonez]

Try this:

1. Plug it into a wall outlet (not a PC USB port, since that supplies much less power), and let it sit overnight undisturbed.
2. Press and hold Power for about a minute -- and time it, since a minute seems like forever when you're holding a button.
3. If nothing happens, let go of the Power switch for a few seconds, then press and hold it again for another minute. This is in case the first long-press in fact forced a shutdown of a phone frozen on a blank screen.

I've tried it with the original charger after "charging" over 12h, timed it and nothing.
Now I'm going with my powerbank 5V, 2amp. Powerbank is not turning off its LEDs, so it's detecting something.
I'll be able to tell if it is being discharged. If that does nothing I still have a powered USB hub, but it is nothing remarkable.
I think the original charger might be the most powerful thing one I have.

EDIT:
So I tied the powerbank over 24h. It's a 20 Ah battery, couple years old, not used to often (only when travelling). It has 4 LEDs to indicate its charge. Over 24h, while connected to the phone it lost 50% - indicated by 2 not lit up LEDs. Personally I think that the juice from the powerbank was eaten by the constantly lit up LEDs, and that the phone battery is full.
Newer the less I tied holding down the power button and timing it twice - no reaction from the phone.

New phone came in (Xperia 5 II) with 18W charger. I hooked up the Pixel to it for ~18h and tried the same - holding the button and so on - no reaction.

Also didn't mention, but I took of the glass screen protector in case it started to obstruct the proximity sensor or create some phantom touches, but as I said, that did nothing.

I think I'll leave the phone on the street, wait for someone to fix it and then report it stolen

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

I don't know if you have sky, but I have sky protect which protects the dish and wiring, but I also get to cover 2 other devices for free. I actually cover a few devices with them for a couple of quid extra a month. It is run by Domestic and General. My husband's Pixel 2 screen died and although we paid £75 deductible we got a replacement phone within a couple of weeks and the premium didn't go up. I also covered my 2016 smart TV, pixelbook, my S10+ and my husband's new Pixel 4xl. So for me this has been a great way to get insurance without all the hassle.

Just a thought for the future.

 

[FF22]

Try this:

1. Plug it into a wall outlet (not a PC USB port, since that supplies much less power), and let it sit overnight undisturbed.
2. Press and hold Power for about a minute -- and time it, since a minute seems like forever when you're holding a button.
3. If nothing happens, let go of the Power switch for a few seconds, then press and hold it again for another minute. This is in case the first long-press in fact forced a shutdown of a phone frozen on a blank screen.

That is what I kind of thought when mine "died" as you really can't tell if the screen is non-responsive or the device is off or really dead.

Not that long ago I replaced the battery in my dead KeyOne (BB). It was a pain, getting it apart and reassembled but it worked. I don't know the battery location/difficulty of the Pixel models. Whereas I've had a local shop replace the battery in my BB Z30 - it is not an easy one to get to.

 

[Majonez]

So I tried the powerbank over 24h. It's a 20 Ah battery, couple years old, not used to often (only when travelling). It has 4 LEDs to indicate its charge. Over 24h, while connected to the phone it lost 50% - indicated by 2 not lit up LEDs. Personally I think that the juice from the powerbank was eaten by the constantly lit up LEDs, and that the phone battery is full.
Newer the less I tied holding down the power button and timing it twice - no reaction from the phone.
A New phone came in (Xperia 5 II) with 18W charger. I hooked up the Pixel to it for ~18h and tried the same - holding the button and so on - no reaction.

Also didn't mention, but I took of the glass screen protector in case it started to obstruct the proximity sensor or create some phantom touches, but as I said, that did nothing.

I think I'll leave the phone on the street, wait for someone to fix it and then report it stolen

 

[LaxRef93]

I've had the same thing happen to my Pixel 3XL randomly lately. I'll have it plugged in for charging, then take it off the charger to find it a few minutes later completely **** down, unable to turn it back on.

What's remedied it every single time was to plug it back in to the wall charger, press power, and it comes right back on. I can then unplug it and use it as normal.

 

[Majonez]

Can you describe the process in more detail?