How to unbrick an Android stuck on FastBoot without ADB & with a locked bootloader!

My OnePlus 8T had been stuck on the FastBoot screen for the past week, only being able to be detected by my PC with the fastboot command from Android platform tools. I had used MSM Tool to downgrade from OOS13 to OOS11.


What is the FastBoot mode & menu?

FastBoot mode is a low-level firmware mode on Android devices that allows users to flash new firmware or recover the device. It is usually accessed through a combination of key presses on the device and connecting it to a computer via a USB cable, or by using Android Debug Bridge (ADB) commands, such as 'adb reboot fastboot'. 

What is MSM Tool?

MSM Tool is a software that allows users to flash firmware on Qualcomm-based Android devices. It helps to flash firmware and recover the device when it is stuck in a bootloop or bricked, being typically used in repair centres. It can be downloaded alongside the Android version image through many sites, including OnePlus Community Tools. For specifically OnePlus devices, you can access all the stock images and MSM Tool for each version through this website: https://onepluscommunityserver.com/list/Unbrick_Tools/.

Note that, according to this post on my Reddit thread about this, the MSM tool for OnePlus 10 series or above is now and requires a login to use, so unfortunately this process and other methods to unbrick the device probably won't work due to this anti-consumer approach taken by Oppo & OnePlus.



I did not unlock the bootloader as I read somewhere that this wasn't necessary to return to stock. ADB commands did not work either: the phone was not detected. Whilst the bootloader does not need to be unlocked for MSM Tool to work, it became a slight issue later on.


Whilst flashing my device with OxygenOS 11, MSM Tool decided to stop working at 229 seconds in, displaying the device's connection as N/A. Whether this was human error or not I'm still not sure as I was physically away from my desk and my phone at the time this happened, but either way, when I came back, I turned on my phone just to see that there was the FastBoot menu on it. Great!


After installing various Android Bootloader Interface drivers, trying out ways to reboot into EDL mode with fastboot reboot edl and fastboot oem reboot-edl, none of this worked.


Furthermore, I spent a solid two hours trying different variations and timings of holding both volume buttons, just one, plugging in the USB cable, hitting power button but it just kept rebooting back into the FastBoot menu 100% of the time. Not what I wanted to see, bearing in mind that practically every single soloution online was saying to reboot into EDL mode, using the volume buttons, which simply did not work no matter what I tried doing.


I could not flash a new Android version on there, neither use something like TWRP to boot into EDL mode. Because of this, MSM Tool was not detecting the phone.

However, I found a fix to put it into EDL mode which was surprisingly straight forward, with no intervention from the PC or any physical volume/power buttons.


Here's how I fixed it:


  1. Enter FastBoot mode on the device. (Not recovery mode)

  2. On the PC you are connected to, open up the latest Android flatform tools folder. Then, open up a PowerShell window and run:fastboot reboot fastboot. (Or run this command anywhere you can!).

  3. The phone should now be in "Fastbootd mode". (NOTE: This may not be necessary, as it may be able to be ran from the Recovery mode accessible from the FastBoot menu. I haven't checked it yet.)

  4. Tap around the centre-bottom of the phone screen, just above/on the 'Ver 1.2' text. There is an invisible button which, when clicked, says 'Go to download mode'. This is how to access EDL mode.

  5. Open up your version of MSM Tools, then hit Start, so that it immediately picks up your device when you plug it in.

  6. Make sure your phone is plugged into your PC and then hit 'OK' on the download mode prompt. Similarly to EDL mode, you've got 10 seconds when the screen is black when in this mode, else it will reboot back into the FastBoot menu.

  7. Wait for the firmware to flash. (It took 262s for mine to work.)

  8. VoilĂ ! 



Download mode on my own 8T.


Stock OxygenOS 11 and MSM Tool Download for the OnePlus 8T (International variant): https://onepluscommunityserver.com/list/Unbrick_Tools/OnePlus_8T/Global_KB05AA/R/OnePlus_8T_Global_OxygenOS_11.0.zip


Note that the drivers I have installed are:

- Qualcomm USB drivers

These drivers are necessary to connect your phone to your PC while in EDL mode. They enable the phone to be detected and recognised by the computer, and allow the phone while in Emergency Download Mode to receive commands and data from the computer. The recommended version of the Qualcomm USB drivers is 1.00.55 (at least, that's the version I used)

- OnePlus USB drivers (version 1.00)

I had uninstalled the FastBoot drivers too. My OP8T was showing as 'Kona for arm64' in Device Manager -> Other Devices at the time it was in Fastbootd mode.


tl;dr: There is a secret invisible button in the Recovery/Fastbootd menu screen that allows you to boot into Emergency Download mode (EDL) mode which works even when the volume button method may not be. It would have really helped if the geniuses making OxygenOS and ColorOS actually made this button visible.


I hope this helps. This took me many hours over a week to figure out.

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