Root Zte Zmax 4.4.4 Metro Pcs BRICKED Help!!

[LOLZTE]

I may have found a fix for this soft brick issue. I encountered the same issue with the MetroPCS variant of the ZTE Zmax Z970, Android Version 4.4.4 Build B01

I was stuck in a boot loop, with no recovery (had not installed TWRP) at all and no backup, and the only thing I could access was FTM along with ADB. What led to this headache was trying to gain perm root with the method described here: http://androidforums.com/threads/zteroot.918802/ . I already had temp root using the King Root 4.5 APK.

The script said successful, but whenever I rebooted, I would no longer have any root access. So, I had an update available from ZTE that kept bugging me, plus I thought if I updated, the script would work, since that post says "IF YOU HAVE NOT UPDATED YOUR PHONES THIS WILL NOT WORK"

Well, I was wrong. The phone rebooted to install the update and it kept doing that for hours. An infinite boot loop is what I had at hand. I searched for hours, both here and XDA but because I wasn't perm rooted, so this guide: http://androidforums.com/threads/guide-how-to-fix-a-softbrick.919712/ didn't work for me.

I kept getting an error after typing "su". Then I thought to myself, "Can I root it in its current state?" I had nothing to lose, so I tried first with "King Root 3.0," the Desktop version and it said Successful!! I thought I had figured it out, but no. When I typed "su" in adb shell, it gave me the error "Connection to ui timed out"

I kept trying but same result, and I would have to root it every time it would reboot, which was annoying because it would take abnormally long to do so.

Then I tried with "KINGO Root 1.4.0," the desktop version of course. It was taking so long to connect to the device, but it was Successful! I didn't get excited because it could give me the same error as king root did, but I tried it anyway.

To my surprise, the command "su" did not give me an error, instead, it was granted access. So then I followed what xtremeasue had suggested of wiping cache, but I received an error so I then kept looking. By this time, I had already extracted the updated TWRP 2.8.6 from the updated APK by hroark13. I renamed it "recovery.img" and I ran the following commands:

adb devices
adb shell
su
adb push recovery.img /data/local/tmp/recovery.img
dd if=/data/local/tmp/recovery.img of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/recovery

I got help from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=60946420&postcount=3065 for those commands. After trying a couple of times (rebooting and rerooting with KINGO root), it finally worked and I was able to enter TWRP manually (Vol + and Power)and first thing I did was create a backup, then wipe cache and dalvik a couple of times. I rebooted into recovery from TWRP just to make sure I wasn't going to get stuck again, and it worked. I then rebooted system (say no to installing SuperSU) and none of my data is lost.

All of this was done in FTM using CMD running windows 7. I have experience with unbricking Samsung, LGs and HTCs, but this definitely takes the cake in the amount of time I've spent recovering this phone.

Just thought I'd share since I got a lot of help and ideas from these and other posts.

thanks for the guide, everything goes ok, but when is time to push recovery I get this
List of devices attached

? device

C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot>adb shell

shell@draconis:/ $ su

su

shell@draconis:/ # adb push recovery.img /data/local/tmp/recovery.img

dd if=/data/local/tmp/recovery.img of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/recoveryadb push recovery.img /data/local/tmp/recovery.img

error: device not found
any ideas?

 

[LOLZTE]

thanks for the guide, everything goes ok, but when is time to push recovery I get this
List of devices attached

? device

C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot>adb shell

shell@draconis:/ $ su

su

shell@draconis:/ # adb push recovery.img /data/local/tmp/recovery.img

dd if=/data/local/tmp/recovery.img of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/recoveryadb push recovery.img /data/local/tmp/recovery.img

error: device not found
any ideas?

ok found the error, i am not that good at adb so probably i was making a syntax mistake, but i downloaded adb for noobs and pushed recovery, restarted the phone and got bootloop again, but this time i attempted to enter recovery by pushing power + volume down and releasing as soon as the screen flickered and voila phone is alive after 3 months !!!!!

 

[mtsolutions]

ok found the error, i am not that good at adb so probably i was making a syntax mistake, but i downloaded adb for noobs and pushed recovery, restarted the phone and got bootloop again, but this time i attempted to enter recovery by pushing power + volume down and releasing as soon as the screen flickered and voila phone is alive after 3 months !!!!!

I'm glad I could help in some way. I had the same error as the device not being found but after trying a couple of times, it worked. I also rebooted the phone into recovery using the keys, not an adb command.

Just to let you and others reading this, I didn't try rooting it again since I was happy enough to use the phone again. Did the kingo root work for you?

 

[LOLZTE]

Yes 3.0 desktop version works, that's the first thing I did, then installed twrp and tried to make a backup, sadly I got error:
E:createTarFork() process ended with ERROR=255

 

[LOLZTE]

Yes 3.0 desktop version works, that's the first thing I did, then installed twrp and tried to make a backup, sadly I got error:
E:createTarFork() process ended with ERROR=255

Tried resurrection but was unable to use camera, CM 12 seems to work just fine

 

[ThePhizzle]

Listen brother... If you don't have the reading comprehension skills to understand the write ups right now then if we can get you back to stock don't try to root....I get 20 - 30 messages a day pertaining to this problem exactly I'm going to tell you the same thing I tell everyone rise.....

Boot into ftm plug in your phone add open cmd type

adb shell

Once in adb type

su

If it gives an error your bricked nothing I or anyone else can do about it right now....

If it doesn't give you an error run

rm -r /cache/

What if you get permission denied message?

 

[Masterchief87]

What if you get permission denied message?

Then you are bricked

 

[mtsolutions]

What if you get permission denied message?

It means you're not rooted, well at least in my case it did. Read my previous post and follow along if haven't done so.

 

[ThePhizzle]

Then you are bricked

Hey MC follow alot of your work but this has me stumped,would really like to hear your opinion on what might of caused this kind of a brick;as the phone was given to me,as to i know program dosent mount till aftet the boot screen,but it bootloops right back to the boot screen twice then after the third time it boots to a blackscreen,witch we both know isn't good but id like to ask is,might there still be hope since i can still get it into factory test mode?thank you and again love your work!

 

[Masterchief87]

Hey MC follow alot of your work but this has me stumped,would really like to hear your opinion on what might of caused this kind of a brick;as the phone was given to me,as to i know program dosent mount till aftet the boot screen,but it bootloops right back to the boot screen twice then after the third time it boots to a blackscreen,witch we both know isn't good but id like to ask is,might there still be hope since i can still get it into factory test mode?thank you and again love your work!

If you can get root access in adb shell while in ftm mode. If you can't then you are bricked

 

[speedwheels]

Use ftm mode by pushing power + volume down, then you need to flash a twrp recovery using your adb, with phone connected to you computer you can download a twrp image from Masterchief87 he has two zips with it inside them, copy the twrp recovery to sdcard with use the correct name!e were Ttwrp is in the adb push command
adb push twrp /sdcard/recovery.img
Then use dd comand to overwrite your current recovery
dd if=/sdcard/recovery.img of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/recovery
Rename recovery to what ever your twrp is named, this should get to into twrp, once inside clear cache with twrp, if you still have a syste! You should be able to boot now, if not then flash the stock ROM that Mon has called butternoob, you should be able to boot up then

Hi, What format does the TWRP need to be in to do an adb push to /sdcard/recovery.img. There are twrp APKs floating around but I am guessing you need a file in .img format?

 

[Masterchief87]

Hi, What format does the TWRP need to be in to do an adb push to /sdcard/recovery.img. There are twrp APKs floating around but I am guessing you need a file in .img format?

The img is inside the assets folder inside the apk. Just extract the apk like a normal zip file. If your file manager cannot extract an apk then change the file extension from .apk to .zip then extract it.

 

[XweAp0nX]

Use ftm mode by pushing power + volume down, then you need to flash a twrp recovery using your adb,

What if the device does not seem to have a Field Test Mode? I have Recovery and Download mode, but no Field Test Mode. There is an ADB selection in the recovery rom, but it won't find my device on my PC when I try it. The whole operating system appears to be missing except for the boot logo!

The device belongs to my neighbor, I had fixed two bricked Samsung devices for him, but with Odin and TWRP it's easy, as long as you have the right PDA files. I found an Odin-Like tool for ZTE but it's only for ZTE Open. Hell if I had an odin-like tool I could install CWM or TWRP, then it's just a matter of toggling off the sig verification.

Basically what I'm reading here is that if you can't get into FTM mode, your f**ked?

 

[XweAp0nX]

The img is inside the assets folder inside the apk. Just extract the apk like a normal zip file. If your file manager cannot extract an apk then change the file extension from .apk to .zip then extract it.

So I can change the extension and try to install via the default recovery rom? Ah, nope, it wants Sig Verification.

 

[kmhv420]

my device is bricked i would appreciate any help getting it up and running, i have downloaded droid tools and took a screen shot and i am hoping some one know were to go from the screen shot thx im on zte zmax metro pcs ive download stock recovery stock rom just a fyi.

 

[Masterchief87]

my device is bricked i would appreciate any help getting it up and running, i have downloaded droid tools and took a screen shot and i am hoping some one know were to go from the screen shot thx View attachment 105386 im on zte zmax metro pcs ive download stock recovery stock rom just a fyi.

What do you mean when you say your phone is bricked. The screenshot says you have BrokenOS installed which means you can probably fix your phone easily. Can you provide details of what exactly is wrong with your phone?

 

[kmhv420]

no os no recovery and it stuck in a boot loop. i used broken switcher went into recovery and it said no os installed. i panicked like a idiot and tryed to use a twrp back up but i hadnt restored r/o in broken switcher so system wasnt mounted and yea unable to mount system the recovery failed after i had already wiped everything to do the recovery, thats were im at. and when i boot it up theres so many errors popping up its unusable acore and phone errors till it resets it self and tries to bootup again and fails .developer option are gone ive tried to remount system but it just sits there for hours and will crash.

 

[Masterchief87]

no os no recovery and it stuck in a boot loop. i used broken switcher went into recovery and it said no os installed paniced and tryed to use twrp back up but i hadnt restored r/o in broken switcher so system wasnt mounted and yea unable to mount system the recovery failed after i had wiped everything beofre i tried a recovery,thats were im at.

If you can message me on hangouts at mc87xda@gmail.com I'm confident I can help you fix your phone. I've helped multiple people with virtually the same issue fix their zmax phones.

 

[MonDillinger]

Correct. To piggyback on MC said, if your phone cuts on, you are good. If not then you have a situation that cannot be fixed. When we were working on the root script and BN, I did this exact thing (if I'm understanding what you did correctly) so many times that I lost count. Well over 100 times and that's no exaggeration. After going through the same problem a thousand times, I wrote this post to help others who may encounter the same issue:

http://androidforums.com/threads/guide-how-to-fix-a-softbrick.919712/

Idk if this helps, but hopefully it does. Best of luck.

 

[kmhv420]

yea it turns on and can even once in while boot broken it just has acore popup errors that make it unusable and as i said developer options are non existent.

 

[MonDillinger]

yea it turns on and can even once in while boot broken it just has acore popup errors that make it unusable and as i said developer options are non existent.

Then you need to go ahead and follow the guide above to install a recovery and flash a new rom. "acore" is a process that's simply a part of the system, the fact that it's force closing means that you have a bad flash. Get TWRP installed with r/w permissions and flash a different ROM.

 

[kmhv420]

yea im just going to buy the new metro pcs k10 and keep it stock,i have no skills to fix my zmax.

 

[Masterchief87]

yea im just going to buy the new metro pcs k10 and keep it stock,i have no skills to fix my zmax.

Did you completely miss out on my post? I've already offered to walk you through the process of fixing the issue, step by step. The only skill youll need is the ability to follow directions. I just can't give you that kind of help here on the forums because we can't communicate nearly as efficiently here. What would take less than an hour on hangouts could take days or longer here on AF.

 

[kmhv420]

yea mastercheif you are a awesome man, thx for helping me get my phone working again, many thanks bro you are the man!!!

 

[MrTechSavvy]

If you can get root access in adb shell while in ftm mode. If you can't then you are bricked

I can get into FTM as root in adb shell but bootloop is killing me I don't have enough time to execute the commands. would I "have" to install a custom recovery or not I have a ZTE Midnight Pro LTE (Z828TLV1) not the metro variant but this process applies to my device as well the carriers and firmware is the difference. I know I'm going to have a major problem finding a custom recovery for this phone if that is the case. I can access stock recovery as well.