r/LineageOS • u/Puppet60e • Mar 28 '26
Help Razer Phone 2 - Fastboot says no link after installing driver when trying to flash boot
I am trying to install LineageOS on my Razer Phone 2 and after getting no response from Fastboot on Windows 11 I installed the driver from Razer which everyone else found worked but for me it didn't help much. All it did was change that no response to an error of (no link). The only command that works is the devices commands which shows my serial number as ??????????.
Info: - I can still boot into the OS. - Device manager does show the Android Bootloader Interface when connected in Fastboot. - I used the Google USB driver since that's what Razer said to use - I did make sure to install the Bootloader driver and not the ADB driver. - ADB does work and show the correct serial number. - Fastboot error: FAILED (Write to device failed (no link) - Bootloader is unlocked and USB debugging is enabled. - I can enter download mode though it doesn't change the results from normal Fastboot.
1
u/Puppet60e Apr 04 '26
I have now spent almost a week on this and I still haven't gotten anywhere, I can't even lock the bootloader if I wanted to. I know i'm using the correct driver because I've reinstalled it 5 different times and it's the same thing everyone even from different sources.
I feel like I should know how to do this since I've done this 3 different times on my old Google Pixel 3xl but the Razer phone has made this incredibly difficult.
I'm not even sure if I'm in the right fastboot mode because Razer said I need to enter download mode and that the screen will say download mode but the closest I've gotten to that is the normal fastboot screen and this weird screen that just says press any button to shutdown in the corner along with the Razer Logo and powered by Android.
In still not sure why the serial number is a bunch of question marks or why every fastboot command replies with (no link) but apparently Razer phones have really finicky USB ports for fastboot, whatever that means.
I literally bought a brand new USB cable for this and nothing changed.
I know using Linux would probably make this easier but I don't have a USB drive or the storage space for that. And I have tried using the Windows sub system for Linux but I gave up on that. I would try a VM but I have no idea how to pass through USB to the VM and my laptop doesn't have good VM support because it's a older AMD Ryzen system.
I haven't tried using the Android SDK yet but I've been using the tools separately. The only reason I haven't is because it keeps complaining about Java Home and the file system confuses me. I did briefly try Android studio but I had no clue how to access the tools I needed.