yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Google Pixel 5a] MrPolite:
Need a bit of direction. I've been running the 10/14 build and it's great. But my sideload of the 10/28 build wont boot...

Do i need the latest corresponding recovery image, or was using the older recovery image with the newer build not the problem?

TIA
[Google Pixel 5a] aleasto:
Use the Updater app for updating. Otherwise you need to manually reinstall all your addons (namely, gapps)
[Google Pixel 5a] MrPolite:
Oh ya that works. Thank you again for all you do.
[Google Pixel 5a] MrPolite:
Night Light

The red shift intensity is less on this phone, compared to LOS 18.1-10/21 on my LG-V20.

I have my linux computer's monitor at 2700K and I can turn my LG's screen to the same color with the slider at about 90%.

2700k is the color of a candle flame. The burning light our species evolved with.
[Google Pixel 5a] aleasto:
Not entirely sure why, but the slider for Pixel 5a is configured to range 2596~4082 (that's default on AOSP) while on the V20 it was lowered to 1200~4082
[Google Pixel 5a] MrPolite:
Interesting, thanks for looking into it.

I did

adb shell settings list secure

and got this on the LG

night_display_color_temperature=1430

I'm guessing this needs to be changed at the kernel level, which is beyond my hardware and technical abilities.
[Google Pixel 5a] Super Jamie:
Thank you aleasto for building this image. It's so hard to get a good phone with a headphone jack these days. I sent some money via PayPal to show my appreciation.

I wasn't able to install following the instructions from the LineageOS wiki, so I hope my solution below saves someone else some time too.

When doing the Factory Reset step, I kept getting an error E:can't send spi message: Try again. Then trying to flash LineageOS failed with message Logical partitions are mapped. Please reboot recovery before installing an OTA update.

The solution is to disable Verified Boot as described here: https://xdaforums.com/t/read-this-before-updating.4356221/

Doing Factory Reset still throws the spi message, but it works. I could then sideload LineageOS, reboot into recovery and sideload Open GApps. Reboot and do the usual LineageOS setup. All good.
[Google Pixel 5a] aleasto:
You don't need to do that, it was only a coincidence. As the message suggested you just had to reboot to recovery before you could sideload LineageOS (you probably hit Mount/unmount system or tried to sideload some different zip before LineageOS, and it needed a clean reboot).

I appreciate the tip.
[Google Pixel 5a] Super Jamie:
Ah, thanks for clarifying. I saw others say they solved the same problem by rebooting into recovery multiple times. I tried 3 times in a row but no luck. I guess the boot where I flashed vbmeta just happened to be the one that worked. I definitely hadn't tried to flash anything before, all I had downloaded to flash was LineageOS and GApps. Never mind, it all worked in the end :) Cheers!
[Google Pixel 5a] jazkid03:
I'm getting a Pixel 5a (barbet) on Tuesday of next week, is running LOS 18.1 worth it? I currently have a Razer Phone 2 (aura) and a Moto G4 Play (harpia) and both suffer from some quality of life issues, such as volume intensity, camera issues, flashlight issues and safety net issues. I have been running Cyanogenmod on my old devices and now Lineage on my new ones and I gotta say I love rooting and messing with my devices, but seeing as how I'm getting this phone brand new is it worth it to run Lineage right off the hop? From what I can tell from this thread the build runs great but I just want to make sure before I commit to it. So if any of you could provide me with any issues you are having with your device I'd greatly appreciate it, thanks guys!
[Google Pixel 5a] Clemson_Engineer:
I am currently running LOS 18.1 with pico Open Gapps and Magisk 23.0. I don't have much experience with stock Pixel 5a as I installed LOS the same day I got the phone. I have been running it for about 1.5 months and have had zero issues. I use the magisk modules recommended by aleasto in this forum to pass safety net. I run Google Camera version 8.3. The OTA updates have worked flawlessly. I do run Nova launcher as I prefer the way they implement app organization in the app drawer. A lot of the customizations I used to use root to achieve on my previous phones are already baked into LOS. My battery life has been very good too. My only major complaint about the OS is that it does not have native support for exfat formatted external drives, so I have to use a 3rd party app to be able to access external hard drives. This is made worse because of the phone's lack of micro SD slot. The main reason I got this phone is so I could install LOS. Otherwise, I would have gotten something that takes a micro SD card. Hope this info is helpful.
[Google Pixel 5a] Zedicus:
i used the stock OS for about 1 day before deciding to switch. The stock OS has really limited rotation features compared to Lineage. Most of the other things i disliked about the stock OS (gestures, app-settings) could all be changed but to get more advanced rotation settings that worked would take rooting anyway.

as far as lineage on the 5a, no complaints from me. It does all of the phone like things i expect, and can be used more like a regular computer than pretty much any other android distro.
[Google Pixel 5a] rchris494:
for me i have been on the stock rom for about 1 month. it is so buggy when you update apps from the google store. especially when you are using 3 button gestures. google maps locks up and you cant exit it if you update. google messages doesn't format correctly you get a big blank spot between the message window and the keyboard. half the time you get the notification sound of a text message. a lot of times you don't. i flashed the nov stock from again from the web and now. google play store doesnt update some of the apps i select. i'm kind of sorry i bought is phone. no custom roms. no TWRP. the phone is not faster or better than my HTC U11 6gb/128gb i came from. probably will never have twrp or a selection of custom roms due to pixel 6 coming out 1+ month later after 5a was released.
[Google Pixel 5a] MrPolite:
You're posting in the LOS 18.1 thread and everything you said is wrong, irrelevant and your own fault for not doing research before buying.
[Google Pixel 5a] newlyfe878@gmail.com:
Part of the reason that it doesn't have more custom ROMs is just the fact that the phone is pretty new still. All in all, I got the phone to be able to root, install a custom ROM if I so choose, etc. Mr. Polite is not wrong, you should have at the very least checked xda before buying the phone (or leasing). The only thing I regret is spending so much on the phone right before the 6 came out. But you live and you learn. I am willing to bet that two/3 years from now (hopefully) this phone will have some more roms. Until then I will continue to be supportive of the hard work that devs have put into getting a custom ROM onto the device. While it is nice to be able to have a plethora of ROMs to choose from, this takes time and dedication behind the scenes. Something much harder than hitting the download button and just being a little inconsiderate of the work it takes to even get an unofficial build out the door.

Even so, I have nothing but love for the device I currently have. I have had the OG Pixel XL, Pixel 3XL, and now the 5a. A little bit of a die-hard Google fan but still. I was curious what the LOS style looked like but what just busy taking the stock 12 for a drive first.
[Google Pixel 5a] rchris494:
not taking credit away from or saying LOS is bad. at least they are first and hopefully of many more roms to come. my original post was about my view of the stock rom on the phone being garbage. maybe i should switch to LOS. the sad part is people who do this in their spare time do 10,000 times better job than someone making $200,000+ a year. yes i should have done my homework but i was forced off my HTC U11 because of AT&T blacklisting my phone even though the phone supported 4G phone calls if they actually whitelisted it.

i know a lot of work goes into creating roms. i tired once and realized that there is a lot to it. So i just gave up on it. Definitely not easy for a newbie to creating roms. Developers really deserve more credit than they actually get for all of their hard work. it took me 4 months to build a firmware for my LTE router and I still had to had to hand over my work the real developers to finish it off.
[Google Pixel 5a] newlyfe878@gmail.com:
True that man. Sorry I wasn't trying to dog on you. I wish I was at the level of building my own rom. I am more of a tech aficionado than anything lol.
[Google Pixel 5a] jazkid03:
So maybe I'm doing something wrong, but on stock android 12 I can't seem to get my phone to respond to fastboot or adb commands when I'm in the bootloader with it OEM unlocked. I'm new to pixel phones, is there some other step I may have missed while getting to the bootloader to install LOS? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
[Google Pixel 5a] dkryder:
some things to check are using a different cable, using a different port, under usb connections i use PTP, make sure usb debugging is on and the permission is granted.
[Google Pixel 5a] rchris494:
install the USB drivers from the google pixel developer rom website. i had the same problem in the beginning. adb and fastboot would not issue commands to the phone in bootloader mode. also make sure you are using the latest adb and fastboot exe. i was using an older version that didnt seem to fully work when trying to root my pixel 5a. i'm also new to the pixel. so its been a learning curve. that always make me nervous because i dont want to brick the phone. probably want scares me away from LOS. ive bricked too many phone in my life.
[Google Pixel 5a] Clemson_Engineer:
I had the same issue with the drivers. Once I got the correct drivers, fastboot started working.
[Google Pixel 5a] jazkid03:
Thanks everyone for your help, I'll be trying out LOS later today!
[Google Pixel 5a] saibotnoob:
Sorry if this is a stupid question, I just bought a Pixel 5a and did my very first custom ROM installation today. The only apps I care about from the Pixel are it's camera (and maybe Google Maps). I'd like to avoid Google wherever possible. Is it possible for me to just download and install the apk for the camera and have it working or must I install MindTheGapps or Open Gapps? Can I just use Aurora Store from F-Droid instead, or will I run into problems later down the road?

Also, since this is my first time flashing, when I was trying to flash a recovery image, I was initially met with an error because I flashed it on to boot_b and it kept telling me that the system was corrupted. I managed to get back into fastboot and flash the recovery onto boot_a. To be honest, I don't know how I got to boot_a, but that seemed like it worked since I have a running LOS on my phone right now, but I just want to make sure that I didn't do something that will screw me up in the future.

Also, I loaded Magisk via `adb sideload` after booting up LineageOS my first time. I tried to do it before booting LineageOS for the first time, but I kept getting an error about it not being a .zip file. Will my Magisk persist if I update LOS or will I have install Magisk again? If so, what should I do to successfully sideload Magisk so that it will stay?

I'm sorry about all the questions! Just trying to learn and understand all of this.
[Google Pixel 5a] aleasto:
Google Camera won't start unless it detects google services are installed, so you'll need GApps (or, if i recall correctly, microG works too, but that's not maintained by us).

I think you'll be fine with Magisk, but you had better given the install guide a thorough read to avoid such inconveniences
[Google Pixel 5a] saibotnoob:
Thanks! I was messing around with the ROM last night and noticed that the Camera kept on crashing when I tried to load it, but Google Maps still works, although it did prompt me to install Google Play Services, but I just hit the ignore button and had no issues. I wonder why Google Camera crashes but Google Maps works? Are there any alternative camera apps that are as good as the Google Camera app for the Pixel 5a?

I did read the installation guide, but was just curious about whether it would persist or not. Thank you for the link.

Also, regarding question 2, do you have any insights that you can offer? I don't know anything about boot_a and boot_b, and honestly it's just a stroke of luck that I was able to get back into fastboot and flash it again. I remember it saying boot_b the first time I flashed, then it became corrupted, and when I managed to get back into fastboot it somehow showed up as boot_a, so I decided to try and flash the recovery again and it seemed to work.
[Google Pixel 5a] Clemson_Engineer:
My understanding is that magisk will not persist after an update. I simply changed the extension on the magisk file name to .zip and then was able to flash it before first boot. My magisk installation has persisted through updates to LOS. I don't know about the gcam question, I have only run LOS on phones with either nano gapps or micro G.
[Google Pixel 5a] threeeye:
Hi,

I downloaded the latest build (12/09), I flashed the recovery, but I get boot loops trying to enter recovery...

Thanks for the help
[Google Pixel 5a] jimmy16:
I think the problem is bootloader A-B slot. I fixed this problem by flashing default android images provided by google. Wait until install and boot the images, reboot to bootloader and this time flashing the recovery and rom worked.
[Google Pixel 5a] threeeye:
That is what I did about 3 times now...
[Google Pixel 5a] aleasto:
As the install instructions say, you have to be on Android 11 stock before starting.
[Google Pixel 5a] threeeye:
O, I guess I missed that...

I'll try it, thanks!
[Google Pixel 5a] threeeye:
THANKS!

It's working now!!!
[Google Pixel 5a] eriklion:
It might be noted that you need to flash vbmeta with the disable verity and disable verification flags otherwise it will just bootloop for a bit then go to bootloader.

fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash vbmeta vbmeta.img

My experience was cut short with a need of a working device.

I could not adb sideload opengapps aroma or super. Error 255 in recovery. And mentionings of lack of space in /system by the aroma script. I need one of those to make Google Fi(Not eSIM) work properly. I need that USC and SPR when TMO is out of range.

A working TWRP would likely save some headache as far as more access to logs. I've tried to build it. am getting lost in setting up configs.
[Google Pixel 5a] TechNinja49:
I'm having the same issue. I just bought a 5a with stock build RD2A.210605.007 which worked with my AT&T sim card. I didn't apply any updates and after flashing LineageOS it sees the inserted AT&T sim but it doesn't connect. I tried cycling the mobile radio power and changing the preferred network type as reported by @grassyloki but it still isn't connecting. I uploaded the adb logcat -d -b radio log here. I also took a short video showing what's happening. I'm using the RQ3A.211001.001 2021-12-09 nightly rom and recovery.
[Google Pixel 5a] aleasto:
No you don't

Install LineageOS on barbet | LineageOS Wiki

wiki.lineageos.org

Redirecting…
[Google Pixel 5a] eriklion:
I assumed that, while I was on the sq1a bootloader. I do get "no valid slot to boot" when I try lineage recovery and magisk patched stock boot image (canary 23015)

Is the RD2A bootloader required to run things compiled for 11?

also I get this...

PS D:\AndroidSDK\barbet\barbet-sq1a.211205.008-factory-458927f7\barbet-sq1a.211205.008> fastboot boot ..\..\lineage-18.1-20211209-recovery-barbet.img
Sending 'boot.img' (98304 KB) OKAY [ 0.417s]
Booting (bootloader) boot.img missing cmdline or OS version
OKAY [ 1.573s]
Finished. Total time: 2.122s

and Re: MindTheGapps, they do not include things that Fi needs such as their apps in Priv-app, it only includes framework and vending. OpenGapps works very well for 11.
[Google Pixel 5a] G0merPyle:
Probably a very obvious question, if I install Lineage and GApps then GCam, will the camera still work as well as it did in the original OS? Or will I be losing functionality? Since it has AI processing doing the lion's share of work I wanted to make sure.

I only bought this phone for two reasons, no crappy UI on top of stock android and the camera. Google ruined the UI part in android 12 so the camera is the only thing keeping me from sending it back and getting a refund.
[Google Pixel 5a] aleasto:
You get the same camera experience
[Google Pixel 5a] aleasto:
I'm not sure about bootloader, but you do need other firmware (namely vendor_boot) from RD2A.

You also cannot fastboot boot to enter recovery.
[Google Pixel 5a] G0merPyle:
Fantastic, thank you!
[Google Pixel 5a] TechNinja49:
Following up on this. I was curious why it wasn't detecting my SIM card correctly but I suspected not having Gapps installed unfortunately might be the issue. Sure enough, after wiping and flashing the 2021-12-16 LineageOS image and MindTheGapps it connected fine including 5G.

Because I really don't want Google services installed, I wiped and flashed LineageOS for microG recovery and image hoping it would work. I'm happy to report my SIM has been working for the last 6 days with no issues. I also flashed Magisk and installed a great Gcam mod and everything is working great.

Are other people without Gapps or microG having the same SIM detection issue? I didn't think it would be needed, but perhaps it's just a weird AT&T thing?
[Google Pixel 5a] :
Does notification light work in some fashion? Doesn't seem to trigger any hidden LEDs or the screen.
[Google Pixel 5a] aaog:
Hello, all! I am very excited about using LineageOS on my 5a, but I ran into trouble with the nightly build of the Recovery. I just followed the LineageOS install wiki to attempt to flash Lineage onto my Pixel 5a, and it appears the recovery image doesn't boot on my phone. Which leads me stuck in a bootloop (bricked?) that begins by saying "Your device is corrupt. It can't be trusted and may not work properly."

Once I click the power button to continue, it attempts to boot (while warning me that the bootloader is unlocked, which is intentional of course), and then it shows the Google Logo with a black background and hangs there forever.

Is there a way to unbrick the Pixel 5a currently? Also, forgive me if I am using the wrong terms; I am doing my best to figure out how all this works, and it is fascinating, but complicated to a newcomer!
[Google Pixel 5a] aleasto:
> WARNING: Before following these instructions please ensure that the device is on the latest Android 11 firmware.
[Google Pixel 5a] aaog:
aleasto is almost certainly correct. I believe I had the OS on the latest Android OS, which was 12, as I had thought that was the purpose of the exhortation, as in most software applications (clearly I am new at this). But for a bootloader it makes good sense to me that the exact version of the OS is most important. So, now that I am stuck in this position, what does one do to remedy that? I am hoping I am not the only person to have ever done that. :-/

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I have searched for a few hours for a solution and can't seem to find one for this phone. Anyone know what would be appropriate?
[Google Pixel 5a] aleasto:
Just forcefully shut down the phone and start over.
[Google Pixel 5a] aaog:
I appreciate you taking the time to reply. As you suggsted, I reentered fastboot after a hard shut down and that is great, and I am able to communicate fastboot commands to the phone over USB cable, but I can't enter recovery to use any ADB commands, nor can I boot normally to try to downgrade to Android 11 so I can use the recovery ROM suggested. If I try to do either of those things it just goes back into the boot warnings and then hangs at the logo forever. Photos are attached.

I guess what I need is some action that I can take from fastboot that can either get a working recovery ROM or to get back to Android 12 so I can downgrade and try again. Since I can't get to ADB commands, I can't use the official Recovery tool from Google either. Am I missing something?
[Google Pixel 5a] aleasto:
Use google factory images https://developers.google.com/android/images to install Android 11.

Flash from fastboot with `flash-all.bat`
[Google Pixel 5a] aaog:
Thank you so much! I feel like a lot of the disparate information is beginning to come together in my mind. I have now the phone back to stock Andorid 11, and I will try to follow the LineageOS wiki precisely to try flashing Lineage again this weekend.

I read through this thread from the beginning and I am left with one thing I want to clarify. I am using Google Fi with an eSIM, and I see that the first post says gApps is required for that support: what I want to clarify is if that mean OFFICIAL gApps only (because it needs to identify you individually), or would something like microG or Open gApps work for an eSIM on this phone?
[Google Pixel 5a] aleasto:
In this context GApps stands in for GMS (Google Mobile Services). You can use any GApps addon package you prefer. We suggest these.

MicroG may work, although it's not supported by LineageOS.
[Google Pixel 5a] Klimon5:
Does this rom have ZRAM enabled? If so, what is the ZRAM swap file size? Also, the official lineage os installation guide for barbet states the following.

Install LineageOS on barbet | LineageOS Wiki

wiki.lineageos.org

"Note: Outdated fastboot releases dropped legacy A/B support, so it might attempt to flash to boot__a / boot__b rather than boot_a / boot_b if you try to flash boot. In this case, you must update fastboot to a release newer than or equal to 31.0.2. Alternatively, you can manually specify which slot to flash to based on what slot fastboot failed to flash to. For example, if fastboot fails to flash to boot__a, you must flash to boot_a."

I am running linux mint on my desktop and the latest version for adb and fastboot is...

"1:8.1.0+r23-5ubuntu2"

This is after I run the commands "sudo apt-get install adb" & "sudo apt-get install fastboot". Both commands return that this is the latest version.

Is my version of fastboot new enough to avoid issues with the legacy A/B partition support in fastboot? If not, how can I specify which partiton to flash?(boot_a instead of boot __a). I plan on flashing this stock firmware from google before installing lineage os.

"11.0.0 (RD2A.211001.002, Oct 2021)"

Factory Images for Nexus and Pixel Devices | Google Play services | Google for Developers

developers.google.com
[Google Pixel 5a] aleasto:
We have 2GB of zram swap

It should not be an issue with this device in any case.

RD2A.211001.002, Oct 2021 is correct.
[Google Pixel 5a] Klimon5:
Can I disable zram? I assume this would require me to remove a line of text from a certain file? I understand it helps with apps retaining their memory state when out of physical memory; however, I prefer to turn it off for better battery life. I don't use too many apps at once.
[Google Pixel 5a] aleasto:
You can remove the last line from /vendor/etc/fstab.sm7250, but you'll have to do that after every OTA update or set up an addon.d script to do that automatically.

It might be possible to disable it at startup with third party tools, but that's outside of my knowledge
[Google Pixel 5a] Klimon5:
I've done that before. Thanks. Don't have my device yet so what does that last line in that in the fstab.sm7250 look like?
[Google Pixel 5a] aleasto:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LineageOS/android_device_google_redbull/lineage-18.1/fstab.hardware
[Google Pixel 5a] Klimon5:
Thank you. Do I need to activate volte in the stock firmware before I flash LOS or will it work right away after I flash and setup LOS? Also, what version of magisk is necessary for successful root? I've read in this thread that a magisk canary build 23016 is necessary to avoid booting issues.