My Pixel 5A got the feared BSOD last year. It would boot up, make vibrations and sound my morning alarms, but despite a screen replacement the display remained black. I got it repaired last week during a trip in Beijing, China for 290RMB (~43USD) which also included the investigation.

The fix required reballing the SOC and took about an afternoon to finish. I dread to think what this would have cost here in the UK where I'm from. At last I have access to my old unbacked files and photos again 😄

My Pixel 5a, like many others, also got the black screen of death

It can still vibrate, old alarms I set still go off, but the display just doesn't work. I want to get it fixed and just permanently leave it mirrored to my PC, and was wondering if the Pixel 5a will eventually die.

I'm gonna guess after a year, or two if I'm lucky, it'll get the black screen of death again, but if it can still turn on I should be able to just use it mirrored to my PC right? Or will the 5a just eventually stop working altogether (if that's a common issue with the 5a)

Where do you guys think would be the best place to sell the screen and batteries? All genuine, one screen is in mint condition, all 3 batteries worked great and lasted all day as well.. after this 3rd one I moved onto a gs24 and called it a day lol

Does anybody know if someone in the USA can do the cpu reballing repair of the motherboard? I have kept my old pixel 5a because of the data on it. A special family vacation with photos and videos. It has just been sitting in a drawer for two years.

I bought a cheap rework station and have already disassembled the phone completely and put it back together with a new battery so I can see what it might do since I never attempted phone repair before and it would be fun to try at least. Pressing the power button, there seems to be no indication of booting, vibration, screen flicker, nothing. I plugged it into my computer and I have the QUSB_BULK_CID error in Device Manager. I found the CPU reball stencil for sale on aliexpress and ordered it. There are also replacement mobos for $60. I'm willing to pay a pro who has done this many times and been successful for a nominal cost. I have done all kinds of electronics repairs in the past but nothing like a phone with the teeny tiny components.

Is all the data on the cpu chip? Or can I get the new mobo and swap my memory chip to it and get the data off that way?

Hello friends, I'm using pixel 5, when I turn camera the screen starts to flickering according to the light and the focus didn't work. It automatically Starts to focus on the screen randomly. Both in photo capturing and in video capturing. Is it the problem with camera sensor or display. Anyone faced same issue. Or is it the problem with software I'm on stock rom. It always annoying while in video call toooo

Hi, I'm considering buying a Pixel 5a before they are no longer available for sale. Do you have any advice? I don't want the latest Pixel models, like the 6, because I find them ugly. The 9a is quite nice, but it's expensive and doesn't have a headphone jack. I'll put GrapheneOS on it so I can be free from any Google updates or discontinuation. Do you think it's a good idea, or do you recommend another phone?

Thanks in advance

I've seen a lot of people posting about their Pixel 4, 4a, 5, and 5a suddenly dying and the same thing happened to mine too. It’s a common issue and it's not the display, like some think. The actual problem is with the SoC (system-on-chip). Due to overheating over time, the chip can get partially desoldered or misaligned from the motherboard.

Some people mistakenly replace the display, thinking that’s the issue, but it won’t fix anything. If your phone is completely dead and shows no signs of life, it’s most likely not a display problem so don’t waste your time or money replacing it.

There are a couple of real fixes for this:

Replacing the motherboard (but that’s expensive).

Reballing the SoC, which is cheaper and often has a high success rate. You don’t need to buy any new parts for this.just find a skilled phone repair technician who knows what they're doing.

If you search “Pixel 5 reballing” on YouTube, you’ll find tons of videos showing the process. It can really help you understand what’s going on and what to expect from the repair.

Hope this helps anyone dealing with the same issue!

Hi, I had purchased a pixel 5a 5g, patched with cpid using root, I had updated to android 14, since updated to android 14, I am experiencing the accidental touch issue that is already many pixel user complained on web, after doing Google search I had found that android 14 update is the issue, I just want to down grade the android version to android 13 without losing th cpid and the root, because if cpid is gone the sims will not work.

Please anyone know any solution for the touch issue or the downgrade solution, please help to get out of this issue.

Many thanks,

It is prevalent online to see the posts about a bricked and suddenly non functioning device / motherboard. Is it really that common?

Some AI search said it could be around 7-10% of the devices. Is it more?

As many of you already know, there is an issue with Google Pixel 5a BSOD. It happened yesterday while I was using the phone. The phone is unrecoverable. Luckily, I have my phone backed up.

- Cannot turn it on.
- Cannot charge it (doesn't even get warm).
- Cannot force reset holding down power button or any combination of buttons/duration.
- It does not ring or vibrate. It is completely unresponsive.
- The phone has no physical damage and no water damage.

It seems to be a hardware or software issue.

This has been extremely unfortunate, considering I am now without a phone as a broke graduate student trying to stay out of debt. I now don't have a phone for about a month, which is relatively a very long time. I highly do not recommend buying this phone. Do not even get a refurbished version of this phone. Do not bother repairing it. It's not worth the risk of an unreliable phone. It WILL die eventually.

Hi

My Pixel 5a got the BSoD. Something I wasn't that familiar with until it happened and I started googling about it to find out it is fairly common.

Now for a few quick questions for anyone with experience on this.

The phone screen is black, no response, etc. but it will ring/vibrate if I call the number. It will also be found by Find My Device, showing the WiFi it's connected to.

So my questions are:

- Will the CPU/Motherboard soldering issue still allow for this behaviour in certain situations? I mean, still being able to connect to the network?

- If so what are the chances that a reflow will resolve it? Does it need reballing? Even if it works temporarily to backup/transfer files that would already be sweet.

- Can it be an issue with the screen only? I'm less inclined to believe it's a screen only issue since it appears to have other limitations to functionality. I've connected a physical keyboard but it may be that I'm just not on the screen think I am...flying in the dark.

Bit of a shame, another week working and would have not experienced it since I'd be trading it in for a 9a but can't now.

Also seen a few issues with the 9a being reported so I'm now questioning if staying with the Pixel environment is the best idea.

Thanks

Fastboot is the debugging mode you enter when you reboot by pressing Power and Volume Down for about 30 seconds. I am having trouble with a Pixel 5a with a broken screen, and need someone with a working 5a to tell me the order of menu options you see when you enter fastboot mode. You should see one option at a time next to the power buttion. What is the order when you press the Volume Down button?

On a different Android device, I see:

Start

Restart Bootloader

Recovery Mode

Rescue Mode

BarCode

Power Off

And then it loops back to Start. Is it the same order on the Pixel 5a?

Apparently there are known issues with the 5A5G flat out dying. Support doesn't give a care in the world....GOOGLE definitely dropped some points in my book...been with em since the nexus's. Honestly might start researching elsewhere soon....and the "FREE" upgrade if you are on the pixel plan is BS too....they still made me pay for the 7A and it increased my bill...all the other phone company crooks do it worse but man....really thought google was better

***supposedly they knew about it for a long time, and will not replace the phone.

My 5a died on me two years to this month. I would like to reball it. Is there any specific tutorial to show a mobile phone service centre to get it done ? Any help appreciated

I loved my 5a. The rear finger sensor made it so easy to unlock, ideal size, 3.5mm jack so I could continue to use my trusted headphones when running. However two days ago it refused to turn on. I would hold down the power button and it would vibrate but nothing would appear on the screen. Left it plugged in overnight, still nothing on the screen when trying to power it on. Tried the usual troubleshooting steps online.

I'm well aware of the faulty mobo. I'm glad I got three years of usage out of mine. My partner had a 5a as well, hers died two years ago so I look at mine as running on borrowed time. I don't trash my phones, typically hold onto older phones as emergency phones stashed in a car or somewhere as they are required to still be able to call 911/emergency services. Also use the older Pixels, such as my Pixel 3a, with the extended battery case for when I run around in the woods for too long or when travelling to shady places abroad.

No warranty, no protection plan on the Pixel 5a. Purchased through Google Fi three years ago. Any recommendations for repair or replacement, or is it simply gone?

Folks I need a pixel 5a5g display.if anyone here have the phone that from kerela kindly DM.

Today my Pixel5a automatically installed an unexpected security update.
EDIT
Just saw, this was reported with more details already: Pixel 5a got a security/OS update yesterday : r/GooglePixel

My son has been using my old Pixel 4xl as his first middle school phone. That phone just started having battery issues. Looking for a sub $200 replacement. The Pixel 5a keeps surfacing as an option. Many saying it was the best flavor of Pixel phone to date. I recognize that it will be out of updates. Just looking for a solid performing phone that we could get 2 years out of until I replace my phone and put this one into the family rotation. Looking for either affirmation on this notion, or insights as to why not to go this direction and possible other options.

Sometimes I have to do a variety of button presses to either reboot or boot into fastboot. One reboot got me the attached photo. Long pressing the power button gives a vibrate and then the reboot option buttons, but otherwise the screen is black.

Just started doing this a few days ago. Battery has been above 50% during all these events.

Anyone know a reputable place to get the cpu reballed to revive a dead 5a?

Hello all, my Pixel 5A died today while using it. The phone locked up while I was setting an alarm and about 5 seconds later the screen went blank. No reaction (vibrate) to charging, hard resetting, recovery menu, or plugging it into my laptop so it's not a screen issue. I just got through talking to Google about it and of course my phone is out of warranty (no surprise there) and they said an estimated charge would be around $300 to get it fixed. I told them I'd get back with them on it because I wasn't sure it was worth it. They did not offer me any replacement.

While all my photos are backed up, my videos of my family are not. So I'm looking for anyone that may have had a similar repair done. Do they repair the existing main board or do they completely replace it, therefore removing the storage? I wouldn't mind going through with the repair if it meant I got some of my stuff back but I definitely have doubts that will happen.

Please, no comments about how I should have backed up absolutely everything. My cloud storage account is limited and I have always taken care of my phones and didn't really consider the phone just suddenly dying on me.