Some Google Pixel 6 series phones are bricking after a factory reset

Ben Schoon | Jul 1 2024 - 11:45 am PT

In a strange issue, some Google Pixel 6 series owners have noticed that their phones are bricking themselves following an attempt to factory reset the device.

Seemingly caused by recent updates, a growing number of Pixel 6 series owners are seeing their devices no longer functioning after attempting a factory reset. The issue causes the device to fail to boot up and give an error message saying that the device “cannot load Android system” and advising a second factory reset.

One user on Google’s forums captured an image of the error message saying:

Cannot load Android system. Your data may be corrupt. If you continue to get this message, you may need to perform a factory data reset and erase all user data stored on this device.

The issue was first highlighted by the folks over at TechIssuesToday, who also noted a reply from a “Product Expert” on Google’s forums who claims this is a “known issue” under investigation. Google has yet to more formally acknowledge the issue beyond that comment.

It’s also noted that affected devices are showing errors during boot that say the device is “unable to enable ext4 verity” and is missing a “tune2fs” file, as shown in a video that OF Tech posted to YouTube recently.

The issue has popped up across Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, and Pixel 6a as well, but no newer Pixel models.

The underlying cause here seems to be updates, but it’s hard to know which update is the cause. While many claim to have been running the current stable update, but at least one Pixel 6 Pro owner who ran into this issue was running Android 15 Beta 3, while some other reports don’t mention the Android version at all.

There’s no word on a fix, though some have noted that the Android Flash Tool doesn’t recognize the device. It’s unclear if anyone has tried the Pixel Repair Tool.

We’ll update this post if any new details come to light. If you have an affected Pixel 6 series device, let us know in the comments below.