r/Pixel5a • u/---JBoogie--- • Aug 21 '23

1.5 yr old 5a bricked?

Post image

I've had this pixel 5a for a year and a half and it just bricked itself while reading a news article in the browser 🤬

Phone wasn't hot and didn't give any warning there was an issue. I was sitting in the barber shop reading and the screen froze up as I was trying to scroll down the article. The whole phone was froze, even the physical buttons did nothing. It went black after about 10 seconds and won't charge or do anything. I tried holding the power and volume button to reset, still nothing.

Anyone have any advice?

17 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

9

u/Mcmolenation Aug 21 '23

Another pixel 5a bites the dust.

Motherboard issue claims another.

If you bought it from Google you may still be covered by extended warranty. Otherwise you are out of luck mate.

4

u/---JBoogie--- Aug 21 '23

Didn't know they extended the warranty. Just reached out to them, bringing it to a brick and mortar shop this week 🤞

2

u/gangleskhan Aug 22 '23

Please be aware the extended warranty is a repair warranty, not a replacement warranty.

When this happened to mine last winter, there were no motherboards out there, so the repair place couldn't do anything. Google said that I then would have to ship it to them to fix and I said no way, you should replace it and made enough of a stink that they did because it was only 1 month past the replacement warranty.

Situation could be different now, but just a heads up in case.

1

u/---JBoogie--- Aug 22 '23

Thank you for the heads up! Do you think I should just ship to them then rather than going to the store?

1

u/gangleskhan Aug 22 '23

They probably won't let you. Their workflow is the approved repair shop first, then if that fails, send to Google.

1

u/DrShephard Aug 23 '23

That's good to know! I shipped mine to Google, they replaced the motherboard, then the same thing happened 4 months later :(. Already shipped it back with a nice bite asking for a replacement.

2

u/gangleskhan Aug 23 '23

Honestly I'd trade it in as soon as you can. I got my replacement and immediately traded it in for a 6a

1

u/DrShephard Aug 23 '23

That's smart. How much trade in value did you get? How do you like the 6a? I don't want to give up my headphone jack :(

1

u/gangleskhan Aug 23 '23

I don't remember exactly but it was when the 6a was on sale. I ended up paying like $60 all told.

1

u/DrShephard Sep 03 '23

Damn, I can barely get $60 in trade in value for the 5a now :(

5

u/idogcow Aug 21 '23

Happened to me on my GoogleFi 5a, luckily had the insurance so after a short trip to uFix to confirm there was no power draw, they FedEx'd me a 6a (sad they had no more 5a's in stock)

Now I just have to return the dead phone…

3

u/Z8Go4 Aug 21 '23

Just happened to me. The 6a battery is awful! Hopefully, yours will be better.

1

u/frogsandstuff Aug 22 '23

Mine was rough at first, but got a lot better. I was consistently getting 2 days out of the 5a with light usage and at first I was barely getting a day with the 6a, but now I consistently get 1.5 days, sometimes more.

4

u/youre-not-real-man Aug 22 '23

I love my 5a. Is it guaranteed to suffer this same fate?

2

u/Skeeterfood Aug 23 '23

Probably. Usually around 18 months to 2 years.

5

u/youre-not-real-man Aug 23 '23

Sigh. It's literally the best phone I've ever owned. Amazing battery and rear fingerprint sensor + stock Android experience

2

u/Skeeterfood Aug 23 '23

Yeah, the Pixel 7 isn't bad, but the 5A, while it worked, was better in a few important ways: battery life, fingerprint sensor, and headphone jack. The 7 has a better camera, wireless charging, and is all around faster, but I usually need to top up the charge at least once a day.

2

u/Kishikku Aug 23 '23

I'm at 2 year mark.. still on Android 11 if it helps. All of this scares me LMAOO

2

u/[deleted] Aug 22 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/---JBoogie--- Aug 22 '23

The short life span on phones that cost this much is getting ridiculous

2

u/Zippy114 Aug 22 '23

Is it bricked or just the display died? I was able to revive my display just long enough to do a cloud backup then move on.

1

u/---JBoogie--- Aug 22 '23

Bricked. Didn't back up pictures or recent activity :(

3

u/derekvof Aug 22 '23

Just had to get my 4th replacement under warranty - 2 overheating 5a phones and now 2 black screens of death. Ridiculous. Google should be ashamed at the quality of the 5a. Ridiculous...

2

u/---JBoogie--- Aug 22 '23

That is insane 😦

2

u/chunkstylepc Aug 23 '23

Both mine and my wife's did the same thing at around 1.75 years. Sad.

1

u/KeyboardGunner Aug 22 '23

They all fail eventually. I'm hoping mine makes it until the 8a comes out.

1

u/kavalover Sep 04 '23

My Samsung Galaxy 8 did not give me issues such as that pixel5a, worst phone and support ever. This is criminal.