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Fix: Pixel 3 Automatically Booting to EDL Mode

In this guide, we will be discussing some potential workarounds that shall help you fix the Pixel 3 device automatically booting to the EDL Mode. The offering from the Silicon Valley giants has been the go-to choice for many users across the globe. When you are getting a clean stock Android experience, among the best camera quality in a smartphone, and three years of guaranteed OS upgrades, there’s not much left to ask.

If we talk about its third iteration, then it was probably the first in the lineup to bring in features like Night Sight, Astrophotography Mode, and wireless charging. However, it wasn’t free from its fair share of issues either. And no, we aren’t just talking about any minor software bug, but this is an issue of significant proportions. The Pixel 3 started automatically booting to the EDL Mode and it remained in that state forever. It wouldn’t boot to the OS and users were unable to use ane device feature.

For the unaware, every Qualcomm device comes with an underlying Emergency Download Mode which is mostly used to force-flash firmware in order to unbrick a device (bring it back to life). But these issues are limited to custom development- when you unlock the bootloader, make changes to the system partition, or flash a customized firmware. However, in this case, Pixel 3 users didn’t carry out any such tweaks but still had to deal with this EDL Mode issue.

QUSB_BULK_CID EDL Mode Pixel 3

To confirm that it is indeed booted to EDL, you could connect it to the PC via USB cable and then launch Device Manager. Your device will be listed there as “QUSB_BULK_CID” along with a few numbers, which signifies that your phone is booted to the Emergency Download Mode. What’s making the matter worse is the fact that these devices might already be out of warranty, so you might have to shell out a hefty sum of money, or should you? Well, here’s everything you need to know about the Pixel 3 device automatically booting to the EDL Mode.

How to Fix Pixel 3 Automatically Booting to EDL Mode

How to Fix Pixel 3 Automatically Booting to EDL Mode

This issue seems to be affecting quite a lot of users as of late, as is evident from a plethora of threads across RedditXDA, and Google’s support forums and issue tracker. So is there any fix in sight? Well, there are two new developments regarding this that deserve your immediate attention: Google Replacing Pixel 3 and a workaround to get out of this issue. Let’s start off with the replacement news.

Google Might Replace Pixel 3 Devices Stuck in EDL Mode

According to various reports lined up across the Reddit forums, it seems the Seach Engine giants might have agreed to replace the Pixel 3 devices that have been bugged with this EDL Mode with a working model. Here’s what users have confirmed in this regard:

Google offering Pixel 3 replacement from GooglePixel

Next up, here’s what another user has to say:

 

Likewise, here’s what another Pixel 3 user had to say in this regard:

All in all, there does seem to be a silver lining among those dark clouds. However, you shouldn’t yet count your lucky stars, until this replacement decision is made official by Google. So in the meantime, here’s a workaround that you could try out to fix the issue of the Pixel 3 device automatically booting to the EDL Mode.

Workaround to Fix Pixel 3 EDL Mode Issue

There’s a tweak that seems to have worked out for the majority of users. What you need to do is let your device’s battery completely drain out so that it turns off. When that happens, plug-in your device into the charger and keep it in that state for a few minutes. Then unplug your device and power it on, it should now directly boot to the OS, bypassing the EDL Mode.

pixel 3 automatically booting to edl mode

Make sure you don’t keep it in the charging state for a longer duration, just let it charge for a few minutes so that it gets enough battery to boot to the OS. Once it gets booted, you may then charge your device normally. While this workaround doesn’t fix the EDL Mode issue on your Pixel 3, but it would atleast help you come out of this scenario whenever you face it.

Concluding Remarks

So with this, we round off the guide regarding the potential methods to fix the issue of Pixel 3 device automatically booting to the EDL Mode. If you know of any other workaround that seems to have spelled out success for you, do let us know in the comments section below. Likewise, all your queries are welcome in the comments.


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  • pradyumna

    would it be same if i am able to remove the battery connector and put it back ?

  • This does not work.

  • I wonder how do we know if the device is completely discharged

  • Guillermo

    Hello,

    thanks for the workaround, I haven’t tried it yet but have a couple of questions:
    1. How do we know when the device is completely discharged?
    2. If this works, how often would the same situation presents itself? What is the trigger and how common it is?

    Thanks!