Root ZTE ZMAX Soft Bricked?

[NateTheGreat1337]

Hi everyone, this is my first post, and i just wanted to say thank you in advance for any help you may be able to give on the issue I am currently experiencing.

About 2 days ago I rooted my Zmax with the Kingroot method, and flashed the TWRP recovery, as per Masterchief87's post http://androidforums.com/threads/guide-how-to-root-your-zmax-list-of-roms.918933/
http://androidforums.com/threads/guide-how-to-root-your-zmax-list-of-roms.918933/
After that i flashed Cyanogenmod12.1 RC6(5.1.1) onto the phone. It worked up until last night, now it is stuck in a bootloop, and will not load the OS. I have attempted to revert back using the backup i created with TWRP approx. 100 times since, but TWRP will no longer load when pushing the volume up+power button combination. The one time i did get TWRP to load, it gave the error " cannot mount 'system " when I tried to load the backup.

Any advice is greatly appreciated guys!!

 

[Masterchief87]

The first thing I need you to do is to press and hold power and volume up until the phone vibrates and let go of the power button but keep holding volume up for another 6 to 10 seconds. If you get into twrp, do not do ANYTHING without coming back for more help. If you get the cm12 boot animation, press and hold the power button only until the phone vibrates and let it go, then wait and see what happens. If you get into TWRP don't do ANYTHING else until you come back for further instructions. If neither of these reboot methods get you into twrp let me know.

 

[NateTheGreat1337]

Neither method gets TWRP to load. Volume up + power just brings up the CM12 boot animation, which stays going for several minutes, then the phone just shuts down. Power button only also brings up the CM12 boot animation, but after going for a few minutes, the phone restarts and bootloops the CM12 animation/powered by android until the battery dies.

 

[Masterchief87]

Neither method gets TWRP to load. Volume up + power just brings up the CM12 boot animation, which stays going for several minutes, then the phone just shuts down. Power button only also brings up the CM12 boot animation, but after going for a few minutes, the phone restarts and bootloops the CM12 animation/powered by android until the battery dies.

Do you have a PC? Adb shell is the only chance of fixing your phone.

 

[NateTheGreat1337]

Do you have a PC? Adb shell is the only chance of fixing your phone.

I do, but am not familiar with the process, do you have a link to a post with instructions or could you walk me through the process if you have the time?

 

[Masterchief87]

I do, but am not familiar with the process, do you have a link to a post with instructions or could you walk me through the process if you have the time?

Fire up your pc and go to http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=48915118 and use the tool in that thread to install adb, fastboot, and the necessary drivers. Once you have done that, open a command prompt.

I will be putting the commands in quotation marks. When you see a command in quotation marks, type that command or copy and paste it without the " " then hit enter.

First enter the "adb" command.
The command window should show you a list of commands. If so then we are ready to move on.

Next, connect the phone to your PC and enter "adb devices". It should show the serial number of your phone.

Next enter "adb shell". You should get a new prompt with a $.

Next enter "su". The $ should turn to a #.

Let me know if this works for you or if you have an issue. If you have an issue, give a detailed explanation.

 

[NateTheGreat1337]

Fire up your pc and go to http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=48915118 and use the tool in that thread to install adb, fastboot, and the necessary drivers. Once you have done that, open a command prompt.

I will be putting the commands in quotation marks. When you see a command in quotation marks, type that command or copy and paste it without the " " then hit enter.

First enter the "adb" command.
The command window should show you a list of commands. If so then we are ready to move on.

Next, connect the phone to your PC and enter "adb devices". It should show the serial number of your phone.

Next enter "adb shell". You should get a new prompt with a $.

Next enter "su". The $ should turn to a #.

Let me know if this works for you or if you have an issue. If you have an issue, give a detailed explanation.

no serial number came up this is what i got:

 

[Masterchief87]

no serial number came up this is what i got:
View attachment 108149

Try running the "adb devices" command again. If you don't see a serial number, try it one more time.

 

[NateTheGreat1337]

nothing...

EDIT: i tried plugging in my working ZTE Avid (T-Mobile) and running the adb devices cmd, with the same exact result. the Avid is not rooted, so i wonder if that could be the issue here, could i have somehow lost ROOT on the Zmax? Making it so the custom ROM is incapable of loading? IDK I'm stumped on this one...

 

[Masterchief87]

nothing...
View attachment 108151

EDIT: i tried plugging in my working ZTE Avid (T-Mobile) and running the adb devices cmd, with the same exact result. the Avid is not rooted, so i wonder if that could be the issue here, could i have somehow lost ROOT on the Zmax? Making it so the custom ROM is incapable of loading? IDK I'm stumped on this one...

Have you enabled USB debugging on the avid? Also, the last time you rebooted/powered on the zmax before connecting it to the computer what buttons did you press?

 

[NateTheGreat1337]

I didn't power it on at all, as soon as i plugged in the Zmax, it turned on by itself and started a bootloop. I turned it off manually and tried again with the same results as before, and nothing.
As for the Avid, i just tried the "adb devices" again, this time with USB debugging turned on, and it returned a serial number this time.

 

[Masterchief87]

I didn't power it on at all, as soon as i plugged in the Zmax, it turned on by itself and started a bootloop. I turned it off manually and tried again with the same results as before, and nothing.
As for the Avid, i just tried the "adb devices" again, this time with USB debugging turned on, and it returned a serial number this time.

OK, here is the next thing you need to try. First, hold the power button until the zmax reboots again and do the "adb devices" command again. If this gives the same results as last time then disconnect the phone and hold power and volume up until the phone vibrates and release the power button while continuing to hold the volume up button until you see the cyanogenmod boot animation. Next, reconnect the phone to the pc and run the "adb devices" command one last time.

 

[NateTheGreat1337]

OK, here is the next thing you need to try. First, hold the power button until the zmax reboots again and do the "adb devices" command again. If this gives the same results as last time then disconnect the phone and hold power and volume up until the phone vibrates and release the power button while continuing to hold the volume up button until you see the cyanogenmod boot animation. Next, reconnect the phone to the pc and run the "adb devices" command one last time.

I tried your first suggestion with just the power button and adb devices showed no serial number or anything and the phone got sick in a bootloop, so I'm waiting until the battery dies to try the second idea out, shouldn't be more than a couple of hours.

 

[Masterchief87]

I tried your first suggestion with just the power button and adb devices showed no serial number or anything and the phone got sick in a bootloop, so I'm waiting until the battery dies to try the second idea out, shouldn't be more than a couple of hours.

You don't have to wait for the phone to die. If you press and hold the power button long enough it will force reboot. This is hard coded into the lowest level of the operating system. Just hold the power and volume up buttons as long as you need to.

 

[NateTheGreat1337]

You don't have to wait for the phone to die. If you press and hold the power button long enough it will force reboot. This is hard coded into the lowest level of the operating system. Just hold the power and volume up buttons as long as you need to.

Ok just tried that actually. Same. No serial number or anything. Tried putting an SD card into it and my computer won't even recognize it as a drive either. I'm thinking that I may have screwed it up more than I thought.

 

[Masterchief87]

Yeah, sorry but unless you can get adb working, your zmax is toast

 

[NateTheGreat1337]

Yeah, sorry but unless you can get adb working, your zmax is toast

Ok, thanks for all the help man.
I'll drop an update if anything changes, I'll probably just keep trying different things until anything changes or I get a new phone haha