[OnePlus 8 Pro Questions & Answers] NatunaSushi:
So im gonna start off by saying that im just some dumb 18 year old and have never actually posted to ask for help, only reading other peoples situations to try to figure out my own.

but introductions aside im just gonna jump in to everything wrong with my oneplus 8 pro (global)

I was on the OOS 12 beta for a while, ive been way too lazy to change it back since ive been occupied by other stuff.

I was using magisk and decided to do some fun shenanigans with it.

I get into bootloop after flying to close to the sun with modules - a common occurrence.

so I try to switch to a custom rom since I was gonna reset anyway.

I download CR droid's recovery and main rom, went into fastboot and flashed the recovery.

I notced that whenever my phone was plugged into the computer, the options would rapidly switch on fastboot's end

when I tried to boot to recovery after flashing, it would only return to fastboot

confused I thought that maybe the recovery was bad and try another rom, no dice

i submit defeat and go to msm tool to fix the issues

I get that "Sahara communication failed" error so I hold down the volume up + power for 13 seconds before trying again.

it flashed smoothly

after getting sad at all the bloatware that was on oxygen OS after a full reset, I get the motivation to try using a custom rom again, this time using a different rom.

same weird fastboot behavior

I was unable to go into recovery

I then tried downloading stock firmware to flash it manually

fixed nothing

I delete the boot and recovery partitions and flash them again, still no dice

I even make a partion called fart, before remembering that I do not know the partition structure of android so i Ctrl+C out before it makes the partition

I go back to msm tool again in shame

"Unknown Target Device"

I reinstalled drivers

switched computers and cables

changed the source of my drivers

nothing fixed this error

and every time I would try to do anything it would go directly back to fastboot.

I try reflashing partitions in this broken fastboot mode and it would only flash if I unplugged, selected reboot bootloader, and plugged it back in

I would then try to fastboot boot into TWRP or other recoveries i downloaded

they would shut off the phone

I remember a/b partitions exist so I switch over between them and try to flash stock OOS again

after more fiddling and nothing working, I noticed some more weird traits of fastboot

twrp did boot directly after switching my main slot, not specific which one just if the slot was changed.

the "this device has an unlooked bootloader" message did not appear

only on slot a would the oneplus logo show up on boot

again every option I would click would take me right back to fastboot.

I wait a day for the phone to die so I could use EDL that way, at this point the twrp method randomly stopped working so I couldn't go into edl that way.

"Unknown Target Device Param Preload"

and like I know Param Preload is a common error but nowhere could I find information on the unknown target device part.

the phone still vibrates if I hold the power and vol+

it just vibrates in a loop as if it keeps rebooting, probably fastboot just selecting the start key over and over when I hold it down.

vol- and power do nothing, and did nothing for the entirety of this story.

is there any chance of saving my poor instantnoodle professional?

## edit for people googling this

the problem I was having was that I didn't set the "target" button on the MSM tool correctly, so make sure its set to O2 or your appropriate reigon