[ZTE Axon 7 Mini ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other] demenicis:
Not sure why you cannot root your phone.

[MENTION=4126377]tdm[/MENTION] recovery and the EDL method works 100%.

if you are on Nugget ROM, simply unlock the bootloader and flash twrp using tulip tool, reboot to twrp and flash the latest magisk 16.4. done, your are rooted

if you are on marshmallow ROM you can also do the same, but your phone won't boot. then you install the modded no-verity-boot image, the android 7 bootstack and in my case I flashed a modified android 7 (stock zip, but without the bootstaks and without the recovery, with a modified update.script to flash the system only) done.

Are you saying you carrier block the bootloader unlock? I do not think this is possible with this phone.

I've heard similar thing with for example the galaxy S5 AT&T, which for years was impossible to unlock, but not the axon 7 mini. for this reason I'd walk miles away from this stupid At&t.

And by the way, which carrier of which country still prevents hotspot in the year 2018? I'd change carrier if I was you, so they learn a lesson.

Regards

---------- Post added at 12:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:20 AM ----------

I think I'll open a new post where I can write down everything I have learnt about this phone.

The basic lesson is that although this phone is absolutely well built and gorgeous, it bootloops and go funny, DFU mode, blank screen blablabla very easily.

I have never seem such a fragile system, that can always be recovered, but not after a lot of work, mainly when the user isn't used to his/her new phone, which is basically most of us.

The types of brick I suffered and recovered from are very different from each other, I'll try to order them in the order of severity:

Brick A (mild brick)

- you can boot into twrp, but the system doesn't boot. this one is very easy assuming you have a working recovery.

this can happen for various reason,

- a simple stupid wrong line in the build.prop, recover by pushing the original file via recovery adb, easy.

- using the tulip tool straight from android 6. recover by using the tulip tool again to flash the boot image, boot into twrp, flash the bootstack, then flash android 7

- any other reason zte invented to prevent the system to boot. flashing no-verity boot img allows you to root nicely without the system complaining your "data cannot be decrypted and is corrupt" message on first boot.

Brick B (medium Brick)

- system doesn't boot, twrp seems not to work and shows white screen.

To recover took me some research, but it is actually easy. although the recovery seems not to work, the phone recognises it in adb devices as "recovery".

Use adb to push the bootstack files to the phone (data/media) then use "dd" command to write these files into each partition (process just described on post #327)

Brick C (hard brick)

- DFU mode is the only thing that the PC recognises.

It happened to me after flashing a simple, but wrong resolution, splash.img. the phone seemed to have died.

Once you know the method it is dead easy to recovery from it.

You will need a deep flash cable, a full EDL rom, the correct windows drivers and the tulip EDL tool (Miflash didn't work for me). then it goes easy from there.

Brick D (Very Hard practically impossible brick)

- PC doesn't recognises the phone in ANY mode. Phone buttons don't work. Deepflash cable doesn't do anything. The only sign of life is a tiny dash at the lower right corner of the screen when the phone is connect with USB cable (charging via the mains or the pc)

I got out of this one yesterday, after 2 months.

To recover you will have to open the phone, which is not an easy task alone, then use the test point, then if you are religious you should do some preying.

After short circuiting the test point, which I believe is not the one found on pictures I've seen online. I removed the mother board and I belive the test point is at the back.

Anyway, after shorting the test point (which I'm still not sure was the actuall test point), it didn't do anything so I left the phone connected to the PC, with the battery disconnected (all internal plugs disconnected but the USB port/board), then after 2-3 minutes, literally out of the blue, I heard a sound from the PC and the loader 901D was finally recognised.

then I simply proceed as per Brick C, using the EDL tool to flash the full EDL ROM.

In fact this EDL ROM actually fixed the imei I had lost on this phone.

plus a few tips on:

- restore IMEI, if you lost it, don't try anything (i.e. don't re-flash the stock ROM or stock recovery, or re-lock the BL. Simply DON'T), keep the rom you have, then ask for help, there is a complex solution for this, but I had it recovered in my second phone by flashing the full EDL ROM B13.

- make tether work, also just recently discussed on post #332;

- the fact Magisk seems better than superSU and supers once blanked my baseband out.

- using android pay with rooted phone (magisk). I can confirm I had to uninstall xposed (what a shame) to make A.Pay work. it works as a treat though, so no xposed for me anymore (I miss so much the google keyboard arrows though).

In summary, I cannot think of a single bug in the rom (tried b09 and now on B13).

A MASSIVE thanks to [MENTION=4126377]tdm[/MENTION] to allow us to have twrp and the amazing tools he developed. I wonder how one can develop, try & error on such a sensitive phone that can get brick for anything you cannot even imagine.

Cheers