My Pixel 7 running GrapheneOS has a malfunctioning screen (it intermittently displays static/white noise instead of a correct image – I didn’t damage it; it legitimately randomly failed). I managed to get Amazon to accept a return for it, but now I need to figure out how to wipe it and reinstall the stock firmware without being able to see what I’m doing. Any advice?
Edit: I was researching the problem and found this article talking about Pixel 10s doing the same thing.
(My phone screen looks just like that, except tinted blue instead of pink.)
It made the point, which I had also suspected, that it might be a software problem rather than a hardware one because it sometimes fixes itself. Is this a known issue for the Pixel 7 and/or phones running GrapheneOS, rather than on only the Pixel 10 on stock firmware? Has progress been made on diagnosing or fixing it since last September when the article was written?
(Should I be worried about flashing the stock firmware back on “fixing” it, such that my return might be rejected even though I still need to replace it since I can’t trust it anymore?)
You can use a USB keyboard to open the settings menu and enable adb. You might need another of the same phone with the same OS to figure out all the shortcuts and keystrokes. I had a friend rescue some photos that way.
Happily, I’m running KDE Connect, so stuff like rescuing photos isn’t a problem at all. The advice I need is really just for the wiping/re-flashing stock firmware part. The documentation suggests using Google’s web browser-based flashing tool, but I’m not sure if there’s anything about that procedure that relies on interacting with the screen.
Probably just enabling ADB over USB and approving the connection from the PC.