Develop Bugs

[Q] My Unrooted HTC Desire stuck at htc logo and need to backup my data

Hi All,
I am a new member to the xda developers forum. also, i am a noobie for android os and using an android phone myself. before i describe the problem i am facing, i will describe on my phone description. i am using stock rom (not rooted) and currently using SIS set (original set) in Malaysia. SIS is the sole distributor of HTC phones in Malaysia - original set. btw, my phone is not used more than a year. also, i checked the xda developers forums for my problem and didnt find any answers to my problems, so i posted a new one here.
yesterday, i have a very very very serious problem with my phone.my htc desire crashed and rebooted automatically due to overheating problems. so, i left my phone off to cool down my phone for 1 hour. when i switch on my phone from there (my phone is already cooled down by then), my htc desire got stuck on the htc logo for long time - about 5-10 minutes) and does not go to android at all. i tried removing the battery and inserting it again but still stuck at the htc logo. additional note, i can go to the bootloader by pressing the volume down and the power button though. from there, i think its the software problem and not the hardware problem since i still can switch on my phone...i have tried removing the sim card and microsd card and booted it again but to no avail
i have not done the clear storage option in the bootloader screen since i want to recover my data - contacts, calendar, sms messages before i can factory reset my phone.
so my question is as follows:
1. how can i backup / recover my phone data (contacts, calendar, sms messages) without voiding my warranty with SIS - (rooting phone void warranty immediately)? i am desperate to get my data from my phone as it is precious to me...
2. if i go to the bootloader, can i recover my data from there? i see the recovery menu in the bootloader, can i use that to recover my data?

First, make a copy of the memory card to your pc. This will at least keep some fotos. Then re-install the card back to the phone.
Then you can go into recovery, and "should" be able to restore your phone. You can also do a backup from the recovery section (although I'd think you'd just be backing up an already corrupted system).
Can't say much about anything stored on the phones memory though, such as contacts, user data, etc.
It's always desireable to sync you phone to your pc on a regular basis.
Also, there is a program called titanium backup, which backs things up to the sd card.
There are reports however, of people placing their phones (minus battery) in the freezer in a plastic baggie for 10 min. And it allowed them to get past the frozen htc screen. Not advisable in my book though. (last ditch effort)
And rooting a phone, Will void the warranty.

for those putting phones in freezer, those are for heating issues, but mine is not the heating issue anymore...

Titanium backup needs root so that won't work. Don't think there is a way to back up data when unrooted. But keep in mind contracts and calendar are backed up with your gmail account (if you have set it up).
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA Premium App

I would pull the SD card and copy contents to PC via card reader, then try restoring via the recovery option in the bootloader.
If that doesn't work, you could factory reset via bootloader (this will wipe everything):
1. Power off your phone (or take out the battery, if it is non-responsive)
2. Holding the [Volume -] key, press the power button once. Hold it until you see three skateboarding Androids at the bottom of the screen
3. Use the Volume buttons to navigate.
4. Select "Bootloader"
5. Select "Clear Storage"
6. Follow the on-screen instructions if you want to factory reset
and try to boot the phone normally. If that doesn't work I would return the handset for warranty repair - should be fine as you have not rooted etc. yet.
I think that's good, but would someone more experienced confirm the steps?!

what does recovery mode exactly do in htc desire?

Beyonder2000 said:
what does recovery mode exactly do in htc desire?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the stock recovery I'm not sure to be honest as I never had cause to use it! I think it only lets you apply official rom updates.

Usually, recovery will run the update.zip, which is normally on the root of the SD card. This should be the last ROM from the manufacturer.
Running this in recovery, will usually install pretty much to the last good ROM that was installed.
Wether or not it will delete your user data, well, ify-ify. But, it's usually the first thing to do on a stock system, and generally works.
Considering you are not rooted, and probably do not have a "gold Card" (usually required on half of the Desires), your options are limited at this time.
You should take a look at your SD card, and see what files are on the root of the card.

Beyonder2000 said:
for those putting phones in freezer, those are for heating issues, but mine is not the heating issue anymore...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said, a last ditch effort. And I personally, would not try it.

00droid said:
For the stock recovery I'm not sure to be honest as I never had cause to use it! I think it only lets you apply official rom updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can i flash a rom, and keep my data intact at the same time?

If it's a signed and factory update, it "should" keep your data.
No promises.
But, you can either fix your phone (which has probably lost most of your data anyhow), or, wait for a miracle.
Unfortunately, phones are like PC's, it you never back up your important data, eventually, it bites you when you least expect it.
But surely, you have an old phone, that has most of the contacts. You can copy them to sim (if you have a gsm ph), then transfer them after you get your android going again.

how to repair
Moscow Desire said:
If it's a signed and factory update, it "should" keep your data.
No promises.
But, you can either fix your phone (which has probably lost most of your data anyhow), or, wait for a miracle.
Unfortunately, phones are like PC's, it you never back up your important data, eventually, it bites you when you least expect it.
But surely, you have an old phone, that has most of the contacts. You can copy them to sim (if you have a gsm ph), then transfer them after you get your android going again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how do i go about fixing the issue?
is it getting the rom (RUU_Bravo_Froyo_HTC_WWE_2.29.405.5_Radio_32.49.00.32U_5.11.05.27_release_159811_signed.exe - is this fr malaysia sis version?) ,putting it on my sd card and doing recovery based on this os?
and yes, i regretted doing the backup recently...

That's the correct stock version, but, am not sure about the ".exe". I distinctly remember a .zip extension.
Gimmie a few min.

What you actually need, is the 2.2 ota froyo update.
Unfortunately, having a hard time finding it!!!! (link)
I have one on my system, but rather large to e-mail.
You can google, and find. But the instructions will tell you to rename the zip file, to "update.zip" (not update.zip.zip)

What you have, is the whole thing.
http://darrenrichie.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-toflash-your-desire-to-22.html
But am not sure if you can use this, as your's stuck at the htc screen and not sure if htc sync will detect your phone.
If you pm me with your e-mail, I'll send you the update file (28mb), it may, or may not work. Basically, you'll copy it to the sd root, boot into recovery, and recover the zip.

Help... I will PAY for help!

First person to help gets paid for your time...
Problem: I have a s3 i747 from att.
it has 4.3 stock.
I use srs to unlock all my phones.
well when I went to unlock this one it said it had new security.
Usually when this happens I odin this file that downgrades the modem.
well I did it and now I have null imei and unknown baseband
I tried restoring to stock, didn't help. Through kies and odin.
I need to put it back the way it was... can someone please help..... ill paypal you as soon as its working again...thanks

So you're currently at stock, unlocked? Does the phone boot at all?

These threads may help:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2658486
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2722660

yes it is still stock 4.3. no its not unlocked. everything works and boots fine. just no signal because of null imei and unknown baseband.
I think I need to just flash a modem via odin....I just don't know which one

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1831898
There's seems to be a rash of this happening in the past month. You'll probably find that link helpful but first check and see if others found a better solution.

Yes. Flash the 4.3 modem.
As of 4.3, flashing any older modem will no longer work, resulting in an unknown imei and baseband version. Flashing back to the correct modem nearly always solves this issue.
It will be like this from now on btw. You cannot use any modem except the one which matches your current firmware build.
This means our free unlock method no longer works unfortunately. But you can get unlocked for just a few bucks using one of the many services online. I know some are on ebay, but google will find others as well.

I installed cwm and downloaded the modem but im lost from there.
do I rename it update.zip?

Nope, just flash like you would any other rom.
Because you asked about renaming it to update.zip though, I have to ask if you are certain you are in cwm? If you had previously updated via ota it may restore the stock recovery every time you reboot. If this is happening, reflash cwm in Odin, but uncheck auto reboot. Wait until it says PASS, then unplug and pull the battery.
Next put the battery back in and boot to recovery. (Volume up, home, power. Release power only after it vibrates)
If you are sure you are in cwm though, just flash the modem normally.

Yes im sure its cmw. when I open recovery and look for the zip its nowhere to be found. that's why I was asking if I should change the name.
I did try it by changing the name but the file still doesn't show up.

It's an IMEI problem. If you haven't made a backup of the IMEI folder you can't do anything.
Sent from my SM-G900H using XDA Free mobile app

daddydv said:
Yes im sure its cmw. when I open recovery and look for the zip its nowhere to be found. that's why I was asking if I should change the name.
I did try it by changing the name but the file still doesn't show up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure the sdcard is mounted. Have you tried getting to it on both internal and external cards?
Thin_Bezel said:
It's an IMEI problem. If you haven't made a backup of the IMEI folder you can't do anything.
Sent from my SM-G900H using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not true. 90% of unknown baseband and imei problems ive helped people with lately just needed the correct modem. And even if it were the imei, I can still help with that. Im convinced in this case its just the modem though.

Thanks doc... that was the problem...imei and baseband are back. donation has been sent....thanks again.

Hey thanks man! I do appreciate it, but I am just glad I could help! I will definitely put it to good use though! (Broke the lcd on my S3 a while back and haven't had the disposable funds to fix it. Something always comes up...lol!) Will be adding it to my savings for this purpose!
Anyway, since we were slightly on the IMEI topic, there is a backup you should do if you haven't already. (Root is required for this to work though.)
Its super simple and will create an on device backup of your nv data. The backup will be stored on a couple of partitions we never touch, not even with firmware flashes. This essentially makes it a permanent backup. The cool thing about it is every time you reboot, the system checks for any corruption, and if detected, it will automatically restore from this backup. So if it were to ever happen, you probably wouldn't ever even notice it!
Install the Terminal Emulator from the play store. Open and enter this:
su
reboot nvbackup
Thats it! Device will reboot and create your backup. This should prevent you from ever suffering from a lost IMEI!

DocHoliday77 said:
Hey thanks man! I do appreciate it, but I am just glad I could help! I will definitely put it to good use though! (Broke the lcd on my S3 a while back and haven't had the disposable funds to fix it. Something always comes up...lol!) Will be adding it to my savings for this purpose!
Anyway, since we were slightly on the IMEI topic, there is a backup you should do if you haven't already. (Root is required for this to work though.)
Its super simple and will create an on device backup of your nv data. The backup will be stored on a couple of partitions we never touch, not even with firmware flashes. This essentially makes it a permanent backup. The cool thing about it is every time you reboot, the system checks for any corruption, and if detected, it will automatically restore from this backup. So if it were to ever happen, you probably wouldn't ever even notice it!
Install the Terminal Emulator from the play store. Open and enter this:
su
reboot nvbackup
Thats it! Device will reboot and create your backup. This should prevent you from ever suffering from a lost IMEI!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can also use qpst to backup imei. Windows app. Free. Lots of walkthroughs around for those less comfortable with cli.

Nvm. 10char

azuziel said:
You can also use qpst to backup imei. Windows app. Free. Lots of walkthroughs around for those less comfortable with cli.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know, I already have it and have used it and other tools to help fix at least 700-800 S3's, probably more! (No, i do not charge for my help either.) I dont tell about it or give it out unless its absolutely needed for a legitimate imei restore though. Too many people try to use it illegally and Im not willing to take the chance. Its the main reason most of the info has been deleted from everywhere. Only a few threads here and there get by the mods it seems.
Anyway, to my knowledge, no one who has run this backup has ever lost their IMEI. It even seems to help for those occasions after flashing a cm rom where the imei displays "unknown". (Apparently, at least on the T999, cm sometimes has problems reading the nv data. If rebooting several times doesnt solve, stock firmware does).
At this point I believe if you run this backup, you will have no need for a .qcn or .txt file backup, which is why I just dont mention it anymore. And if it does happen, people can pm me and ill be happy to help fix it.
Because of how I understand this backup to function, I do believe if it had been run during first boot, we would've never seen so many imei problems to begin with! I just dont understand why Samsung refuses to do this!
Anyway, that's why I dont mention those tools anymore. If you have any questions about any of it, please feel free to PM me and ill try to explain better.

[Q] Help with downgrade and/or re-unlock, possible flash new OS

Hi, total noob to Android hacking and rooting here...
I'm in the US and have the HTC Desire 816 (710c) on Virgin Mobile. Really wishing I'd done better research about the Desire 816 and VM before buying this phone. It's a great phone except for the small HD. I didn't realize just how many headaches that small HD--and Virgin's tight-fisted grip regarding their unlock policy--would cause me!
Forgive the length of this, but I'm hoping more detail as to what I've done/tried will help find the right solution...
I was doing fine on KitKat and for some reason decided I wanted to upgrade to Lollipop--mistake number 1! I first installed the update over KitKat but had some issues. Nothing major, but I figured something was definitely wonky when I noticed the basic stock web browser was gone--not that I really use it, just wanted to test something with it. (I was having an issue in Habit Browser, didn't realize 'til later that it was because I had my download folder setting on external SD card. While that worked in KK, it didn't in LP.) So, I did a backup...or THOUGHT I did. HTC Backup app was supposed to have been backing up my phone every day to Drive...turns out, it wasn't, despite notifications that it was working. So, anyway... I went ahead and factory reset the phone and reinstalled Lollipop. UGH! An even bigger mistake. Over 6 GB of the HD gone, just from stock LP!
Then I thought maybe if I unlocked the phone, I could delete most of the junk, even still using the stock OS. I followed the directions on HTCDev and although the proper screen appeared on the phone and asked me if I wanted to unlock, and I replied yes, it didn't work at first. The phone rebooted and everything was the same. Reboot checker confirmed failure.
So, as I was ready to try to narrow down my list of previously installed apps to absolute essentials due to the reduced disk space, I thought to see if there was a a way to revert to KitKat. I followed the instructions here http://forum.xda-developers.com/desire-816/general/ruu-t2952058. I tried the RUU .exe first. It failed, telling me I needed to get the correct RUU and try again. However, HTC's website does NOT show any KK downloads for Virgin Mobile USA for this device. More on that in a moment...
I also tried the flashing via SD card method. It also failed. I thought, what the heck, I'll try steps 3 and 4 of the SD card method, flashing the stock recovery and lock the bootloader, even though I thought my device was locked. Well, I guess I didn't notice when I went into fastboot that the device indeed HAD at some point unlocked, after all.
After those steps, I now had the following show up:
*** Software Status: Modified ***
*** RELOCKED ***
SECURITY ALERT!
I tried flashing the ROM.zip from SD card method again. It failed spectacularly, saying something about about a large file (some of the text was beyond the edges of the screen, so I couldn't read all of it. There was also an instruction to press power to reboot. The phone went back into fast boot screen with red highlighted "!! Image Update FAIL !!" Mind you, this was with the SD card now removed. I did manage to get the phone to boot normally again, back to stock Lollipop.
Now I thought I would try flashing the WWE KK download from HTCDev. Well, I didn't get the large image fail message, but it did fail saying that it was not the right image.
I tried unlocking the phone again, via the instructions at HTCDev. Didn't work. Thought I would try the ROM.zip file from the thread here at XDA one more time. Same fail message as before, same behavior of phone getting stuck on flashboot screen with red error message on initial attempt to reboot the device. I do notice now that although phone status is still modified and relocked, the security alert message is gone.
Can anyone help? I just want KitKat back so I can reload all my previous apps! (or possibly a good KK equivalent non-stock ROM, once I get the phone unlocked again? I have no idea which one though, being a noob :/ )
Thanks!

witchywoman said:
So, as I was ready to try to narrow down my list of previously installed apps to absolute essentials due to the reduced disk space, I thought to see if there was a a way to revert to KitKat. I followed the instructions here http://forum.xda-developers.com/desire-816/general/ruu-t2952058. I tried the RUU .exe first. It failed, telling me I needed to get the correct RUU and try again. However, HTC's website does NOT show any KK downloads for Virgin Mobile USA for this device. More on that in a moment...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That ruu file should work it's the vm usa last kitkat version. You need to follow the directions unroot and relock phone. But depending on what you did to the phone that was non standard you might also need to wipe or format internal data before running the ruu.
I think you can:
1) unroot then boot into recovery(twrp)
2) wipe phone/format data.
3) Boot directly from twrp to bootloader so you can get to fastboot usb.
4) Flash stock recovery from your PC.
5) Relock bootloader then run the ruu.exe.
All the other stuff you did afterwards should not be necessary.

pcjunky: The phone is currently relocked. I'm not 100% sure about unrooted, but I think it is. Like I said, when it was unlocked before I didn't even realize it, and I didn't really do anything unusual with it. The phone still had stock Lollipop on it and I just changed some stock settings and preferences.
Also, as I said, I am a total noob. I don't know what you mean about twrp and booting into that to wipe the drive and then from that. I'm sure there is info about that on this site somewhere, but it might be quicker if you (or someone) could explain it briefly, or point me in the right direction.
Updating to answer my own question in this reply. You're telling me to use a custom recovery but I never installed one. So.... currently searching to see how to do that.

I don't know if it's worth you time to learn how to go back to Kitkat. There should be howto's in the general forum for most everything you need. But I think the free memory difference between Kitkat and Lollipop is almost 1GB. 4.04GB free versus 3.14GB free. If you make sure all your apps that support being moved to SD card are moved and your storage settings for supported items uses the SD card you might be able to save enough space to get by until you decide to switch phones.
Twrp is a custom recovery and backup/restore tool you can do a search to learn about it, but you might not need it. The HTC backup is OS specific and it only saves apps and data not system files. So your HTC backup under Kitkat won't restore over Lollipop. If you had installed Twrp and and made a backup of Kitkat before you installed Lollipop you could restore your kitkat backup over Lollipop.
If you still want to try to get back to kitkat you can try to reset your phone(In theory relocking your phone should do that but it wont hurt) before you run the ruu file.

pcjunky said:
I don't know if it's worth you time to learn how to go back to Kitkat. There should be howto's in the general forum for most everything you need. But I think the free memory difference between Kitkat and Lollipop is almost 1GB. 4.04GB free versus 3.14GB free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it's interesting to note that my phone used ~ 4.8 GB when it was new with KK installed. After the Lollipop upgrade, it was using well over 6 GB with just the stock OS, HTC apps and Virgin apps on it. Obviously, that was unacceptable, and it's what got me started on this whole quest. :silly: However, after flashing a custom recover image, rather than the stock recovery I used previously, the stock installation is using 4.97 GB, so I think I should be good to go with that.
If you make sure all your apps that support being moved to SD card are moved and your storage settings for supported items uses the SD card you might be able to save enough space to get by until you decide to switch phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I always have used the SD card as much as was supported. Switching phones is not an option for me as I have a rather limited income and the Desire was an investment. Thus another reason I embarked on trying to make these changes.
Twrp is a custom recovery and backup/restore tool you can do a search to learn about it, but you might not need it. The HTC backup is OS specific and it only saves apps and data not system files. So your HTC backup under Kitkat won't restore over Lollipop. If you had installed Twrp and and made a backup of Kitkat before you installed Lollipop you could restore your kitkat backup over Lollipop.
If you still want to try to get back to kitkat you can try to reset your phone(In theory relocking your phone should do that but it wont hurt) before you run the ruu file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, as I said above, the stock/OME installation now, before uninstalling whatever junk it will let me, is using only 4.97 GB, so I should be fine with that.
Thanks for your efforts to help me out with this. :good:

I'm glad you got it to a workable point. It's possible to go back to Kitkat, but I personally wouldn't do it because it gives you better battery life.
From time to time you should check apps under settings and swipe left to see the apps on sd card. Sometimes new app updates will support being moved to sd card or an updated version of an app will need to be moved over to the sd card.

I'm an idiot and I got some crazy malware. Help please.

OK so I smashed my s5, am a UDP verizon guy and hooked on the open bootloader, so i searched far and wide for another one with the 15 chipset...which I didn't find but I found a note 4 with it.
I bought it and unlocked it and loaded on a rom I loved. (5.0.1 og5). Well...no sense lying here...I was trying to do some less than kosher things regarding my ex's Facebook account with it. In the process I wasn't smart enough to cross check MD5s (a precaution I learned all too well) and opened an app that has me baffled.
It basically hijacked admin on my device completely. No Antivirus program can touch it, though many detect it. "Unknown sources" in my security folder is stuck permanently enabled, and I can't take over as admin on my own brand new note4.
I have tried flashing twrp and titanium backups to no avail, and also tried the safe stock og5 firmware through Odin but it never completes. I am stuck. I have logcat records and all the tools I would think might help, but I can't get rid of it...it seems to have used root and embedded itself into every facet of the device.
I am willing and ready to do anything including a full unroot and stock rom, I just don't want a locked update. Can anyone help me please?

As of now, no roms break it, only the stubborn malware CM app tries to get rid of it, but only identifies it as "suspicious file". My user admin and unknown sources are both locked, and a gaggle of bizarre log events happen constantly, forcing my device into crazy lag. As soon as it happened I received a couple random number-link blank text messages, but I never opened them. I don't have the numbers saved as I've flashed the phone like 30 times since trying to rid myself of this. Aside from the lag and locked unknown sources and admin, and an inability to clear trusted credentials, the phone seems to run normally, though I am scared to use it to log on to pretty much anything. The malware didn't come from a text, but from an app that I knowingly permitted thinking it was something else and I feel like a moron for it. It doesn't seem to have a name. It installed as an untitled app and I couldn't delete it with the root system app deleter, because it put a green bar over the check box in the app. I got rid of it with titanium, but to no avail. It still lurks.
Thanks in advance, and let me know of any screens hits or logs or tests I can provide to help.

At that point, I would recommend using Samsung's Smart Switch for PC program to do an emergency firmware upgrade & initialization. This will download a full copy of the stock firmware for the device (including a few bits that you won't find in stock firmwares available for download through sites like SamMobile) and will erase everything on the device and restore your phone to stock firmware.
If you are in the US and have a Best Buy nearby, you can see if one of their Samsung reps can perform a factory recovery using their SMART tool (which will do the same thing that Smart Switch's emergency firmware initialization will). Officially, rooted devices are not supported and they may rightfully refuse to do this, but it's worth asking if you don't have a computer to use for Smart Switch or don't want to wait.
You will need to redo the developer conversion, but that's the only thing I can think of that will definitely completely restore your phone to stock and eliminate all traces of whatever you installed.

thanks. that solved my problem and got it back to stock, rid of the malware completely. unfortunately, when i tried to return to the rom i had used, everything fell apart for me :/.

[HELP REQUEST] WILL PAY TO WHOEVER HELPS ME GET THROUGH THIS SOFTBRICK

.

rodagola said:
Hello everyone on xda, please bare with me. Here's my story
I own a Redmi Note 8 pro, chinese rom model. It was running miui 11.0.3 over android 9 If I recall correctly.
Ok so... I was tired of some of the china apps pushing their notifications over and over and auto installing stuff, so I looked up how to apply adb commands to remove such bloatware, which was a fairly simple process. I copied and pasted a list of safe stuff to delete I found around some forums.
then... there were some other packages I checked out using an app called "app inspector", which directly tells you which app is under which package (totally useful for this purpose).
I tried to be careful not go overboard since I don't have any root access, or custom recovery, and wasn't really planning to have these, just wanted to keep this as my simple daily driver cellphone, but also perform this little maneuver to get rid of some bloatware.
little did I know, I was about to somehow softbrick it. More info: I did not use a screen lock method other than the "swipe up".
Ok, so I uninstalled some packages I cannot remember exactly how they went, but they had the terms "xman" and "yman" on them I think, I wasn't so sure about them because I looked them up on the web yet they didn't appear anywhere. I think they went something among the lines of "com.android.miui.xman". I also uninstalled 2 or 3 more, but after googling, they seemed unsuspecting.
Anyways, I'm aware there's a command to reinstall the packages because they're still on the phone's ROM image. That is in case I had to restore anything back to normal. Turns out I later rebooted the phone and when it launches the lock screen, I keep swiping up but it won't take me over to the actual MIUI launcher. The screen is frozen on the lock screen.
I'm not freaking out at this time because I still tried to connect the device to the pc, and it still shows as connected, I then go to the adb console and type "adb devices", it is still recognized, however, it says next to it that it is unauthorized... damn it. So now I might not be able to run the commands that allow me to reinstall the exact packages that are rendering the phone softbricked (I guess), plus I'm not really sure which package caused this.
After about a minute or two on the lock screen, the phone takes me to the "redmi-recovery 3.0",
which displays 3 options:
Reboot to system: which basically forms a loop
Wipe date: godforbid... really don't want to do it since I likely had many files not backedup
Contact miassistant: not sure what to do with this, says "pcsuite.mi.com" at the bottom
on the miassistant option you can apparently sideload stuff, idk how to go about this, maybe it allows me to install a slightly upgraded ROM, which in turn will work the same as if it was an OTA update (so it will keep my data as it was instead of wipe)? Because the point is not to erase my user data!!
I'm not sure how to feel or what to do without losing my pictures, notes and documents
I have hopes this situation can be turned around back to normal, and like the title implies... I'm WILLING to PAY you through paypal or something to WHOEVER offers to guide me through in the best way possible. Please if you have the knowledge/experience don't hesitate I'll also be grateful timelessly.
I'm not an expert at these scenarios so I might as well ask on xda where most are really skilled! Thanks in advance to those amazing souls
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tldr;
If you can boot into fastboot mode you can just flash a official MIUI fastboot ROM:
Xiaomi Firmware Updater (where you can download official MIUI ROMS): https://xiaomifirmwareupdater.com/
This is the current hard unbrick method: https://telegra.ph/Installing-Redmi-Note-8-Pro-firmware-via-SP-Flash-Tool-01-21
It should also work in your case and there's even a video guide.
This is another video guide for fixing a hard brick:
Both methods above will format your phone though (afaik all data will be lost).
Compass.

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rodagola said:
are these the kind of roms that you unzip and have the BL, AP, CP, CSC files? I could try that, but I've heard installing home_csc will not override/wipe my personal data. If this is what you meant, can you confirm? Or do you reckon these linked video tutorials would not wipe the data?
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Nope, it doesn't.
If you can boot into Fastboot, flash the ROM using Mi Flash, otherwise, use this tutorial:

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Compass Linux and juliusjr have told you the method, so I will just add supplemential infos.
In your case, I think simple upgrade will do the trick, dirty flash is applicable both via fastboot flash (mi flash) and recovery flash (the mi assistant method). If you want to stop the ads, I will recommend you to unlock your bootloader, move to global, root, and use an adblocker (a bare minimum config, in trade of some bangking apps being blocked).
I don't know the corresponding version for miui china rom, but in global rom, prior 12.0.0.7 (the one with the early 2021 security update), you can dirty flash back and forth while keeping your data.

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rodagola said:
Hi, thanks for your info, I would like to try the mi flash tool as I've been told before the stock recovery thing has less chances of working. However, I had dev options turned on before but didn't manage to turn on the "OEM unlock" option, will flashing original ROMs work this way? or did I need that option toogled on? That's my last doubt, and thanks a lot. Btw, the China ROM this Redmi N8P had never ever showed me any ads, but thanks a lot as well for such input
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You still have a locked bootloader? (How do I know? You will see "Unloked" on the bottom of the screen everytime your device reboots and showing mi logo if your device is unlocked)
Hmm, mechanically it work like normal ota update. Full recovery update will ony erase nessesary partitions (system, boot, and some other things) while keeping your data intact. So doing this to your phone technically safe. You can do this with MiFlashPro, do a recovery update using a recovery rom (the 2 gigs one) greater than your current MIUI version. But please bear in mind that I have never done this before to a locked phone. A same distribution version IS A MUST (i.e. global with global).
Oh and it will need you to log in to your xiaomi account. My guess is you need the flash permission open for your account (if you have unlocked your phone you shouldn't have a problem). I have never flashed with an account that never have been used to unlock a bootloader, so I might be wrong.
If your phone is bootloader unlocked, Mi Flash is the least demanding and it can retain your data with "save user data" in the bottom right corner option on, regardless your miui version (but I think there will be some problem with installed apps if you downgrade from A10 to A9).
Hope this help.