I have a galaxy tab a8 for a few years now (and i previously owned many different models in the galaxy tab series).
I use it mainly for web browsing, social networks and mails.
I was never impressed by the performances from day 1 but lately the tablet was really laggy and especially from waking up the device : for a few minutes, the tablet was barely usable.
So i decided to flash it, here below my steps.
- Ensure you have the latest « Android SDK Platform-Tools » (version 35.0.2-12147458 in my case)
- Ensure you have the latest « SAMSUNG USB Driver for Mobile Phones » (version 1.7.61.0 in my case)
- Enable oem unlock in developper options (dont forget to reboot and enter download mode to actually activate oem unlock / the tablet will be reseted to factory)
- Enter download mode and flash twrp via odin (AP slot / Use the MrFlufflyOven twrp 3.7.1)
- Enter recovery mode (twrp) and reboot to fastbootd
- While in fastbootd mode, flash new image (in my case: fastboot flash system lineage-21.0-20250125-UNOFFICIAL-arm64_bgN-signed.img from andyyan-gsi)
- Optional : If the flashed image is not lineageos, consider flashing back the stock recovery (extracted with 7zip from the stock image downloaded from samfw.com)
The tablet rebooted smoothly to lineageos and has never been so well performing : user experience has never been so snappy
Reminder :
- To enter download mode, hold volume up and volume down at the same time then plug your usb cable connected to your computer.
- To enter recovery mode, hold volume up and power buttons.