The random death? of my Google Pixel

[anthonium]

Hello all,

I've owned my Pixel gen 1 phone since launch and have never had an issue until recently. I was on my 5 year anniversary trip and while looking up directions on Google Maps the screen froze, no buttons were responding, and the phone then turned off. I've tried all of the fixes I could find by google searching and through Google's own troubleshooting site but no luck. When plugging in the phone there is no indication of it charging, holding the power button does nothing, attempting to enter recovery mode does nothing, and when I plug it into my laptop it shows up as QUALCOMM HS-USB QDLOADER 9008 (COM4).

Has anybody encountered this issue before? My phone is now out of warranty. More than anything I'm afraid the phone was not able to backup my photos in time before the crash. It's the only reason I'd like to fix it, aside from having to spend on a new phone.

 

[Rukbat]

Unfortunately the fix is replacing the motherboard, so you'd lose your pictures. It's surprising that a phone fails after 2-1/2 years, but it happens. The only other possibility is that the battery has gone pretty flat - try leaving the charger plugged in for about an hour before trying to turn it on again. If that fails, it's new phone time. (Maybe some little cheapie until the Pixel 4 comes out.)

 

[anthonium]

Unfortunately the fix is replacing the motherboard, so you'd lose your pictures. It's surprising that a phone fails after 2-1/2 years, but it happens. The only other possibility is that the battery has gone pretty flat - try leaving the charger plugged in for about an hour before trying to turn it on again. If that fails, it's new phone time. (Maybe some little cheapie until the Pixel 4 comes out.)

Thank you so much for your response. I feared that the phone had "bricked" itself after attempting all the solutions. Sadly as you stated I don't think I'll be able to recuperate the photos. My wife is extremely sad about it. I am surprised that even the phone I had before the Pixel for 5 years never failed on me. After more researching I see this issue has happened to others and while rare, I didn't think it could happen to newer devices, particularly a Google device. This sort of turns me off to purchasing a newer Pixel but time will tell.

Fortunately a friend gave me an old Galaxy SIII and finally today I have been able to reconnect to to the world. I had two factor authentication established on my google account and had no way of getting into my email!

I'll hold on to the S3 for a bit until I do some more phone hunting. These newer flagship prices are out of my budget.

 

[Mike Dee]

Thank you so much for your response. I feared that the phone had "bricked" itself after attempting all the solutions. Sadly as you stated I don't think I'll be able to recuperate the photos. My wife is extremely sad about it. I am surprised that even the phone I had before the Pixel for 5 years never failed on me. After more researching I see this issue has happened to others and while rare, I didn't think it could happen to newer devices, particularly a Google device. This sort of turns me off to purchasing a newer Pixel but time will tell.

Fortunately a friend gave me an old Galaxy SIII and finally today I have been able to reconnect to to the world. I had two factor authentication established on my google account and had no way of getting into my email!

I'll hold on to the S3 for a bit until I do some more phone hunting. These newer flagship prices are out of my budget.

Have you checked out what a pixel 2 would cost you? There's some pretty good deals out there right now on phones that are not the latest models but still available new.

 

[dekatch]

disassemble the whole thing and ask someone who's experienced enough to solder the memory chip to something that's capable of reading it. i mean before you just throw it away

 

[mustang7757]

Thank you so much for your response. I feared that the phone had "bricked" itself after attempting all the solutions. Sadly as you stated I don't think I'll be able to recuperate the photos. My wife is extremely sad about it. I am surprised that even the phone I had before the Pixel for 5 years never failed on me. After more researching I see this issue has happened to others and while rare, I didn't think it could happen to newer devices, particularly a Google device. This sort of turns me off to purchasing a newer Pixel but time will tell.

Fortunately a friend gave me an old Galaxy SIII and finally today I have been able to reconnect to to the world. I had two factor authentication established on my google account and had no way of getting into my email!

I'll hold on to the S3 for a bit until I do some more phone hunting. These newer flagship prices are out of my budget.

If you sign into your Google account you set up with the phone on your computer you'll see your Google photos and drive backup you last had on the phone.

 

[anthonium]

Have you checked out what a pixel 2 would cost you? There's some pretty good deals out there right now on phones that are not the latest models but still available new.

I am looking into the Pixel 2. There was a time I always wanted the latest but even mid range phones run really good nowadays. I wasn't planning to update my Pixel phone for an additional year or two. Using the Galaxy S3 now brings back nostalgia when phones had batteries that could be removed.

disassemble the whole thing and ask someone who's experienced enough to solder the memory chip to something that's capable of reading it. i mean before you just throw it away

Unfortunately I do not know anybody that tech savvy.
I actually was wondering what do I do now with this phone. I've kept it looking brand new to this day. Not a scratch on it.

If you sign into your Google account you set up with the phone on your computer you'll see your Google photos and drive backup you last had on the phone.

I did now that I got access to my account again. Unfortunately the pictures did not get saved. This really is what pains me the most.

Thank you to all for the advice. I was thinking of taking it to UBreakIFix as they are partnered with Google but I'm not sure there is anything even they can do at this point.

 

[mustang7757]

I am looking into the Pixel 2. There was a time I always wanted the latest but even mid range phones run really good nowadays. I wasn't planning to update my Pixel phone for an additional year or two. Using the Galaxy S3 now brings back nostalgia when phones had batteries that could be removed.


Unfortunately I do not know anybody that tech savvy.
I actually was wondering what do I do now with this phone. I've kept it looking brand new to this day. Not a scratch on it.


I did now that I got access to my account again. Unfortunately the pictures did not get saved. This really is what pains me the most.

Thank you to all for the advice. I was thinking of taking it to UBreakIFix as they are partnered with Google but I'm not sure there is anything even they can do at this point.

See if they can extract the photos , always keep sync on so you can access those photos from other devices or computer with your Google sign in .good luck and your welcome

 

[JSOL1]

This happened to mine a few months ago. it was a month before P3 launch and I couldn't wait.
I sent it to Google and they replaced the motherboard and battery for about $240. I looked at it as buying a new phone for that amount. will keep me till the P4 as my OG is still a great phone and runs as new.
good luck

 

[anthonium]

This happened to mine a few months ago. it was a month before P3 launch and I couldn't wait.
I sent it to Google and they replaced the motherboard and battery for about $240. I looked at it as buying a new phone for that amount. will keep me till the P4 as my OG is still a great phone and runs as new.
good luck

I appreciate this input! At that repair cost I might as well fork over a little more to get the Pixel 2. Fortunately I have this temporary phone to last me a bit while I wait to see if next week's release announcement of the Pixel 3A will be something that interests me if it is around the $500 or less mark (not hopeful on that).

For the time being I took it to a UBreakIFix to see if there's any chance of getting my photos otherwise I think I might be able to sell this dead phone for its parts. It's such a shame. I really really love this phone especially since it's the limited blue edition.

 

[JSOL1]

In my case I knew the cost of repair was going to get me roughly a year's worth of usage, so o equated it with buying a mid range phone with all of the Pixel benefits.
One lesson learned from this is that a backup phone is a must! While waiting for the repair l picked up a Moto G6 for a little over $100 bucks. Could have returned it, but decided to keep it as a nice little backup

 

[dekatch]

.


Unfortunately I do not know anybody that tech savvy.
I actually was wondering what do I do now with this phone. I've kept it looking brand new to this day. Not a scratch on it.

don't know either, but I'd assume, that some shops that do repair could handle this. you'd probably need a donor gen1 pixel to swap the memory. dunno exactly. but if there are some very valuable photos on it, I'd give it a go. or some professional data recovery company, but those tend to be more pricey

 

[anthonium]

Well I got my phone back from UbreakIFix and indeed it is the motherboard that would need to be replaced. The photos are not able to be recovered either. I am now stuck with a beautiful mint condition block!

I'm holding on to it though to see if at some point in the future my phone will miraculously come out of its comatose state. Now on to finding a new phone to purchase. I'm finding deals on used Pixel 2 devices but nothing on a new device yet.