[Asus Zenfone Go Questions & Answers] marmoh:
i'm in desperate need for guide please,

so i first off i had some questions (excuse my stupidity but i really couldn't find any answers around)

1) can an never-rooted android device's build number change or is it always the same? like with stock/official updates only?

2) my recovery mode (stock/system recovery) aborts every single installation file (official rom from the Asus website) without even opening the package, it's like i press 'install update from sd card' then as i press the zip file, it immediately says 'installation aborted' without even typing any other significations/steps, and the same happened for the kernals zip files too. so does that mean my recovery mode is corrupted or something is wrong with it?

3) i noticed some slight changes in my recovery since the last bootloop i had and had to use it back then, for example the dead android screen appearing after choosing the recovery mode, at first it used to say 'no command' under the dead android, but this time it doesn't say anything, just the dead android image only until i press power button and volume up to get the recovery options. so does that mean my firmware version changes since last time or my recovery is corrupted or it just means nothing?

4) is there aNYWAY to know my build number of a phone in bootloop (not rooted but bootloader unlocked)

so my initial problem is; i had my asus zenfone go zc500tg on march 2016. it was working so fine actually (using it like a default user not actually knowing anything about roms/flashing/recovery etc) until july of 2017 when i noticed my phone was a bit slow (out of the ordinary) and it used to get SO hot while using it normally and battery drained pretty faster than before, but i didn't know what to do tbh so i just kind of ignored something was off. but not long after these symptoms, the booting of my phone got slower and slower, until it reached its max by staying more than three hours just doing the 'optimizing apps' on the booting screen until it booted, so i thought it was a virus that would go away after a factory reset, and after the reset, it got worse, until it stopped booting and got into a bootloop. I panicked then because i didn't have the slightest idea what was happening until some internet searching guided me into the world of bootloops and custom roms and recovery. so i eventually managed to fix the bootloop and it worked fine for several months until it started to lag again and boot slowly and got the second bootloop, and that i fixed like the first one by installing the rom from the asus website then putting it on the sd card sand flashing it through recovery,

the third bootloop was quite the same, except that i did something additional in recovery mode, i pressed "backup user data" and that did a nandroid backup then i restored it smoothly after flashing the rom.

the fourth bootloop was a bit different, i as always downloaded the same firmware as the times before and flashed it and backed up user data too, but the odd thing that happened was me getting a message box that won't go away that said "unfortunately, the process com.android.phone has stopped" the phone worked but the sim cards weren't recognized and the message box was coming and going every second, so i noticed that the message box went away (nearly) when i got my sd card out, but still the phone app and the sim cards were corrupted,i thought the issue was from my sd card at first but i eventually, (coincidentally tbh) managed to fix it by doing the OTA update that was due, (that bootloop was fixed on the date of January 13th 2018)

then my phone was working so fine and everything was alright.

then shortly after (january 20th 2018) i was on whatsapp normally then suddenly ALL the things on my phone came crashing in front of me : TONS of endless message boxes saying things like "unfortunately, the process com.(any app on my phone) has stopped"

that i literally panicked and tears welled up in my eyes, so i rebooted the phone and while rebooting it did a (relatively quick) "optimizing apps" but as it booted everything was the dreaded same, all the apps crashing, then with the second rebooting was the current bootloop. i thought it was the same as before and just downloaded the usual zip file i use everytime but while flashing it (it did the same as mentioned in question 2 above) but it aborted instantly so i went and downloaded every rom there but it was the same so i went and tried the kernal zips too but always the same (i can't read my build number through the system recovery because it is like not fitting well in the screen si half the number isn't there that's why i asked question number 4)

so can anyone help me please? i'm in desperate need for help, i'm literally crying while typing this because i can't afford another phone and i'm so scared.