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Is my phone stuck in a bootloop?

Daniel Fernandes

Android Enthusiast
Aug 20, 2016
535
699
So, I have this ASUS PadFone Mini Station for a few years. A couple of weeks ago, it powered off suddenly and since then if I ever boot into it it gets stuck in the "Asus - In Search of Incredible" screen where theres a cursor below it that goes round and round forever. Is this phone now stuck in a bootloop? Will it ever come on again? I need my data, so I can't do the factory reset thing. Any other option to get it fixed?

I tried removing the battery then putting it back. I also made sure that it's charged. I removed the SD card too if that was causing the problem, but no. Can this get fixed without loosing my data? Any help would be appreciated...
 
https://www.gsmarena.com/asus_padfone_mini-5891.php
It sounds like the Android OS has become corrupted and that's why your phone is going through the startup procedure but fails when it comes to actually loading up the operating system. Hopefully others will comment with more optimistic viewpoints but this does not bode well for recovering data stored in your phone's internal storage at this point.

You referred to removing the battery but how long did you leave it out? If you just removed it and put it right back in, try removing it again but this time leaving it out for several minutes, and then put it back in and see if your phone boots up properly. (By leaving it out for an extended period, that allows any residual power that might be left in any of your phone's internal components to drain away.)
You might also want to try wiping the system cache partition. While this is not a likely solution to this particular problem it doesn't hurt anything to at least try. The system cache resides in its own dedicated partition, completely separate from the data partition, where all your files are stored, so it won't affect any of your data. You need to boot your phone up into its Recovery Mode to do this:
http://www.hardreset.info/devices/asus/asus-pf451cl-padfone-mini/recovery-mode/
Once running in Recovery Mode select the 'wipe cache partition' option, and then reboot.

There's also the option of taking your phone in to trusted repair facility. Explain your situation (emphasizing you need to save your stored files), and be sure to get something in writing for a price quote and that they won't do something like a Factory Reset.
.... and be sure from this point onward to set up a reliable backup solution. Were you saving anything to your microSD card? (That's more of a half-measure as backup media since cards are tend to have limited reliability for long-term storage.)
 
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Okay, I'll try removing the battery for like a day and see what happens. Thanks...

Also, I don't know why, but this phone doesn't seem to have a clear system cache option in the recovery mode. It has most of the other options, like factory reset, apply update from SD (but no ADB I think, weird) reboot (and an extra option called "reboot droidboot", what does that do?). So I can't clear system cache... But ya, I'll try removing the battery and let's see what happens tomorrow.
 
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Okay, so I had taken the phone to a repair center and he said that it is not possible to get the data back but he would try. Then for the next three weeks the only thing he said was that he would "receive the software by mail (not email, mail!) from <a place far away but within this country>".

Then yesterday I just decided to get the phone back and when I went to them, they said that they did something about the software but the phones main board is gone and that it is better for me to buy a new phone.

But I have a feeling that they haven't even touched this phone because when I got it back, the battery was dead, they didn't even care to charge it...

Now, I want to repair this phone myself. I found this firmware, but I do not know how to flash it:
https://www.asus.com/Phone/PadFone_mini_PF451CL/HelpDesk_BIOS

Can I flash it with minimal ADB and fastboot? or should I use the SD card download feature?

Oh, and I found that this phone has fastboot and recovery mode on the same screen. I mean the recovery mode has fastboot in it... The recovery mode and fastboot are one....

Anyways, for now I will just download that update on my PC.
 
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