After doing the final “Reboot system now” on the phone, it started into rebooting …
… and never came back ;-(
Since then I’m not able to get the phone back to life.
The screen is black, there’s no reaction on any tries to start the phone pressing the keys on it.
Had really been careful following the exact install instructions.
It happens partly that OnePlus devices “freeze” after a successful flash, which means they don’t visibly react to anything anymore, but are fully functional (just not starting).
This seems to be the case if they are - in the background - still “active” but not shutting down, restarting.
There’s a way to enforce a shutdown and as such allow a new restart by holding the power switch for 15+ (probably 30+… in some of my tries) seconds without any USB cable attached.
If this doesn’t do the trick, try volume up plus volume down plus power switch for 30+ seconds.
If it is successful, it should allow a clean start up by holding the power switch a few seconds.
Happened on my OnePlus 9 Pro as well, it just “hung” without shutting down or reacting clearly, but in the background still was successful flashed.