Google Pixel 3a/3a XL

Devices
1

Discussion about Google Pixel 3a/3a XL: https://devices.droidian.org/#/devices/sargo

Current status: supported by Droidian 101

2

I wanted to post this information for anyone else with a pixel 3a suffering from continuous crashes, freezes, and spontaneous reboots. I had several per day and considered giving up on Droidian :sob:.

But users in Droidian’s Matrix room suggested it was likely due to my pixel 3a being out of memory, and that I could install zram to fix the issue. It worked really well! My device nearly never freezes or reboots anymore (less than once per week, if at all).

Here is some useful info:

  • Use apt or aptitude to install zram-tools (e.g. apt install zram-tools)
  • See/adjust zram settings in file /etc/default/zramswap (I left it as is)
  • Check status (or restart after setting changes) with
    systemctl status zramswap

A user also suggested disabling all power saving which they reported helped with their device. I haven’t tried that yet since the above worked so well.

Now I’m very happy with Droidian :partying_face:

I still have a few issues:

  • Sometimes my camera just stops working (comes up blank or crashes). A reboot fixes it.
  • Sometimes firefox opens up, and just freezes. I can’t type anything, and I can’t quit it either. The only thing I can do is kill it via the terminal or Usage app, but if I run it again, it still freezes. Only a reboot fixes it.

If someone has some ideas about those issues (which might not be unique to pixel 3a), I’d love to hear.

3

Hi cbeau,

I installed Droidian 102 on a Pixel 3a but the camera does not work at all. The standard Camera app reports “No Camera Found”. dmesg | grep -iE “cam” returns a bunch of “Invalid ioctl cmd” errors, but I do not know if it is related:

[   16.944193] CAM_ERR: CAM-CCI: cam_cci_read: 1019 read_words = 0, exp words = 1
[   16.944227] CAM_ERR: CAM-CCI: cam_cci_read_bytes: 1233 failed rc -22
[   16.944244] CAM_ERR: CAM-SENSOR: cam_cci_i2c_read: 41 rc = -22
[   16.944682] CAM_INFO: CAM-SENSOR: cam_sensor_driver_cmd: 688 Probe Succees,slot:1,slave_addr:0x34,sensor_id:0x355
[   17.361082] CAM_ERR: CAM-CCI: cam_cci_read: 1019 read_words = 0, exp words = 1
[   17.361117] CAM_ERR: CAM-CCI: cam_cci_read_bytes: 1233 failed rc -22
[   17.361135] CAM_ERR: CAM-SENSOR: cam_cci_i2c_read: 41 rc = -22
[   17.909993] CAM_ERR: CAM-CCI: cam_cci_read: 1019 read_words = 0, exp words = 1
[   17.910011] CAM_ERR: CAM-CCI: cam_cci_read_bytes: 1233 failed rc -22
[   17.910086] CAM_ERR: CAM-SENSOR: cam_cci_i2c_read: 41 rc = -22
[   22.936404] CAM_ERR: CAM-CPAS: cam_cpas_subdev_ioctl: 454 Invalid command -2140645888 for CPAS!
[   22.936611] CAM_ERR: CAM-CORE: cam_subdev_ioctl: 68 Invalid command -2140645888 for cam-isp
[   22.937535] CAM_ERR: CAM-ICP: cam_icp_subdev_open: 67 ICP subdev is already opened
[   22.937636] CAM_ERR: CAM-CORE: cam_subdev_ioctl: 68 Invalid command -2140645888 for cam-jpeg
[   22.937723] CAM_ERR: CAM-CORE: cam_subdev_ioctl: 68 Invalid command -2140645888 for cam-fd
[   22.937812] CAM_ERR: CAM-CORE: cam_subdev_ioctl: 68 Invalid command -2140645888 for cam-lrme
[   22.937900] CAM_ERR: CAM-CCI: cam_cci_subdev_ioctl: 33 Invalid Args
[   22.937990] CAM_ERR: CAM-CSIPHY: cam_csiphy_subdev_ioctl: 34 Wrong ioctl : -2140645888
[   22.938080] CAM_ERR: CAM-CSIPHY: cam_csiphy_subdev_ioctl: 34 Wrong ioctl : -2140645888
[   22.938170] CAM_ERR: CAM-CSIPHY: cam_csiphy_subdev_ioctl: 34 Wrong ioctl : -2140645888
[   22.938257] CAM_ERR: CAM-ACTUATOR: cam_actuator_subdev_ioctl: 31 Invalid ioctl cmd
[   22.938342] CAM_ERR: CAM-SENSOR: cam_sensor_subdev_ioctl: 31 Invalid ioctl cmd: -2140645888
[   22.938427] CAM_ERR: CAM-SENSOR: cam_sensor_subdev_ioctl: 31 Invalid ioctl cmd: -2140645888
[   22.938583] CAM_ERR: CAM-FLASH: cam_flash_subdev_ioctl: 228 Invalid ioctl cmd type
[   25.883936] CAM_ERR: CAM-CPAS: cam_cpas_subdev_ioctl: 454 Invalid command -2140645888 for CPAS!
[   25.884047] CAM_ERR: CAM-CORE: cam_subdev_ioctl: 68 Invalid command -2140645888 for cam-isp
[   25.884203] CAM_ERR: CAM-ICP: cam_icp_subdev_open: 67 ICP subdev is already opened
[   25.884243] CAM_ERR: CAM-CORE: cam_subdev_ioctl: 68 Invalid command -2140645888 for cam-jpeg
[   25.884284] CAM_ERR: CAM-CORE: cam_subdev_ioctl: 68 Invalid command -2140645888 for cam-fd
[   25.884323] CAM_ERR: CAM-CORE: cam_subdev_ioctl: 68 Invalid command -2140645888 for cam-lrme
[   25.884363] CAM_ERR: CAM-CCI: cam_cci_subdev_ioctl: 33 Invalid Args
[   25.884408] CAM_ERR: CAM-CSIPHY: cam_csiphy_subdev_ioctl: 34 Wrong ioctl : -2140645888
[   25.884451] CAM_ERR: CAM-CSIPHY: cam_csiphy_subdev_ioctl: 34 Wrong ioctl : -2140645888
[   25.884491] CAM_ERR: CAM-CSIPHY: cam_csiphy_subdev_ioctl: 34 Wrong ioctl : -2140645888
[   25.884533] CAM_ERR: CAM-ACTUATOR: cam_actuator_subdev_ioctl: 31 Invalid ioctl cmd
[   25.884575] CAM_ERR: CAM-SENSOR: cam_sensor_subdev_ioctl: 31 Invalid ioctl cmd: -2140645888
[   25.884613] CAM_ERR: CAM-SENSOR: cam_sensor_subdev_ioctl: 31 Invalid ioctl cmd: -2140645888
[   25.884653] CAM_ERR: CAM-FLASH: cam_flash_subdev_ioctl: 228 Invalid ioctl cmd type

Your camera seems to work… What version of Droidian are you using?

4

Answering my own question: the camera does not work with the current nightly build, but it works with “droidian-OFFICIAL-phosh-phone-google_sargo-api28-arm64-101.20251130_20251207.zip”

5

Well, while zram might help with RAM usage, I don’t think Droidian should need more RAM than the device has. Maybe there is a memory leak? Also, as for that firefox issue, it certainly is not unique to Pixel 3a as it happens on my other devices too.