XA2 stuck on a black screen at startup

General
1

Hello everyone,
I’ve searched the forum but can’t find anything similar to my problem.
I can’t boot my XA2 (5.0.0.72) normally.
Here’s what happens:
I start it up, I get the bootloader message, the Sony logo, and the security code request. After entering the security code, I get an intermittent white screen (every 4 seconds, 5 times in a row) with the message “No active application.” Mais en Français “ Pas d’application active”
Then I get a “black” screen, black in quotation marks because if I press the power button, it goes completely black with the pixels turned off.

When the screen is completely black, i.e., in standby mode, the fingerprint reader reacts and “turns on” the phone on this “black” screen.
I gather that the phone is still partially booted up :wink:

I tried combinations with the power button and volume up and down buttons but nothing happen then.

For your information, before this reboot, I modified the CameraLayer.qml file, so it’s very likely that this is related.
Do you have any idea how to get out of this mess?
Is recovery mode from the terminal recommended?
Thank you in advance.

2

Did you try force reboot with power button pkus volume up for 20 seconds?

3

Thanks, I just retry it ( with 2 set of 3 vibrations) but really nothing happen.
No bootloader, no logo, no asking security code, just full black screen.

4

You are sure the phone is booted and not off, are you?
Not that the phone is not wanting to boot anymore because of an empty battery?

Recovery is ok. You can boot that way to copy back a good version of that file.

1 Like
5

Yes sure, it react with the fingerprint reader and the battery was almost full.

Ah ok, cool! I was afraid to cannot access the file.

Thanks a lot,
hope I found enough time and calm to do that tomorrow.

6

I you are not afraid to fiddle a bit, you can open the phone and disconnect the battery.
Or wait until the battery is empty, as you are probably already doing.

Then, when the phone is off:
Hold upper Vol key while plugging to the computer
cd to the PC directory where you uncompressed SFOS when you flashed it

fastboot boot ./hybris-recovery.img # = boot your phone in recovery mode

Wait some seconds

telnet 10.42.66.66 # Connect to your phone

Choice #5
Agree you void the warranty
Enter your device lock code
Open another terminal on the PC

mkdir /mnt/sfos # Create a dir to mount your phone partition in.

sshfs -o idmap=user,allow_other root@10.42.66.66:// /mnt/sfos # mount the partition

cd /mnt/sfos/rootfs # You are into the root directory

Tu unmount your phone:

fusermount -u /mnt/sfos

2 Likes
7

Oh waww thanks for all these infos. That´s really cool. More than what I found on the documentation.

I don´t understand why to force the phone to get off battery? I have made an approach to the recovery mode this afternoon but I didn´t have time to go further but it seem to work without this procedure.
I try with this :

  • Hold the Volume Up key down and connect the data-connected USB cable

  • Ensure that the indictor light at the top of the display area is lit in BLUE colour (if not, disconnect the cable, release the key and try again)

Letś try tomorow.
Thanks for your help.

8

Oh, yes, forcing batt down was in case it wouldn’t turn off.
Check your PM for a copy of the file.

2 Likes
9

Hello everyone,
After spending hours on this problem yesterday, I’m still stuck
I ran a system check in recovery mode, which gave me some information (usefull?) that seems problematic.
/dev/mmcblk0rpmb: read failed after 0 of 4096 at 0: Input/output error

2 logical volume(s) in volume group "sailfish" now active

Superblock last mount time is in the future. (by less than a day, probably due to the hardware clock being incorrectly set)

/dev/mapper/luks-home: 55552/1054704 files (3.8% non-contiguous), 1127094/4217344 blocks

/dev/mmcblk0rpmb: read failed after 0 of 4096 at 0: Input/output error

0 logical volume(s) in volume group "sailfish" now active

I tried to connect via SSH to perhaps restore the qml file I modified yesterday to its normal state. But I can’t connect. It asks me for a password, which is supposed to be “recovery,” but that doesn’t work, nor does the phone’s security code.
I read that I’m not the first person to encounter this password problem. I tried the solutions suggested in several threads, but nothing worked.

But maybe the problem isn’t with the .qml file?
What do you think?

20260117_125558
20260117_1255581920×3387 565 KB

The image was supposed to be a video of the problem I encountered. Here’s a direct link.

10

Shouldn’t the password for the ssh be your root password?if not try with your phone lock code

1 Like
11

Yes, it should be recovery but it doesnt work. I have try with the phone lock code but it neither work.

12

Okay, the mess is over, the phone is working again.

It was indeed the CameraLayer.qml file.

To access the SSHD, I had to use an earlier version of the SFOS image (4.3.0.15 instead of 5.0.0.72).
And then there were no more password problems (the root password: recovery works as it should), I was able to modify the problematic file.

And like magic, the phone rebooted normally.

A big thank you to @ric9k for his expert advice.

All in all, it was a great experience that gave me a better understanding of SFOS and the terminal.
So let’s move on to the next step :wink:

1 Like
13

Congratulations for the repair !
Yes, this password issue is reported in this bug report. It is tracked, so it will be addressed sonner or later.
The important point indeed is to remember the last usable version: 4.3.0.15.

1 Like