[ZTE Axon 7 Mini Questions & Answers] Nathan4:
Hi everyone,

You can probably guess where this is going. I bricked my Axon 7 Mini B2017G.

Yesterday I had the genius idea that I was going to do something awesome with my phone, so I went into recovery and flashed a file called "emmc_appsboot.mbn" but unfortunately it was until only afterwards that I discovered that it was for the A2017G, which I think is the not-mini version of the phone, and I probably have the B2017G. And let's assume that as of yesterday, I knew absolutely NOTHING about smart phones. I can press the power button and get nothing. No boot. No recovery. No backups.

What I've tried:

I cannot get into the same mode I did yesterday that lets me flash files from an sd card, which I think is called Recovery Mode.

I can get into a mode that says FASTBOOT MODE by holding the up and down arrows, which I think is called EDL Mode.

In EDL Mode, it says "DEVICE STATE - locked" in scary red letters.

In EDL Mode, ADB doesn't work, because I think ADB is much higher level, like some application on the OS that you talk to via networking protocols?

The fastboot command doesn't work, because it gives me an error that OEM unlock isn't allowed.

The Axon7Tool doesn't work because it can't detect the phone, maybe because it's looking for the non-mini version?

The MiFlash tool is the ONLY thing that can detect my phone! This must be important but:

I've tried shoving dozens of zip files into MiFlash from the interwebs, but they all give me an error that it couldn't find a bat file named "flash_all_except_data_storage".

There are so many versions of MiFlash available - some are versioned by date, some look kinda like major.minor.revision, and they're all anywhere between 20%-100% in Chinese (which I thought I couldn't read, but somehow I think the buttons "Next", "Prev", and "Do the things" are the same in every human language now).

When I look up information about MiFlash, it sounds like it's for another company that's not ZTE!

But when I look up information about unbricking the non-mini, XDA forum guides say to use MiFlash!

That one website Host with all the Files and the Androids, doesn't have any files for the Axon 7 Mini.

I am NOT opening up my phone case. At worst, I'm going to RMA my phone in and pretend that I was taking a vacation to... Upper Michigan(?)... and that it was on hold at the post office and found out it was a lemon when I opened it. Because science.

I barely have any Internet - only for a few hours a day, with varying degrees of dialup slowness, and various degrees of all the good websites are blocked (yes - sometimes all of the proxies).

Also... please don't assume I have certain things installed such as adb, fastboot, miflash, etc. Please let me know exactly what I need, where, and what versions. This is because I have less than ideal computer access.

MiFlash must be the key! It sounds to me like the parts ZTE used to make the phone has a secret hidden backdoor built into the USB jack where if you send certain commands, it opens up a tunnel somehow (potentially a serial connection?) that goes straight into the phone's insides, with no limitations, that they probably use to do... put software on the phone in the factory???

But what is this .bat file that it needs? What do windows files have to do with my weird-linux-java phone? Where can i get the correct boot files to put on my phone and how can I shove them into MiFlash so that it works? Can I steal these files from somewhere, or fashion them somehow, or get them from one of you guys? Am I doing something completely wrong? What other information can I give you to help me better?

How can I unbrick my phone

? I know it must be possible! (without cracking open the case and poking 5V wires into various places)

Please help me urgently! Thank you, you all have my eternal gratitude <3

EDIT 2018.05.17 21:00+0000:

So I found a script file on the interwebs with the same name that MiFlash is looking for - "flash_all_except_data_storage" - and all it contains is a bunch of fastboot commands that appear to flash individual files to separate ...sections? ...paritions?? One of them is even the file that I borked - the "emmc_appsboot.mbn" file. What does MiFlash have to do with fastboot? When I had tried to do fastboot before, I wasn't allowed to modify the device. Where can I get the correct emmc_appsboot file for my specific device? And am I on the right track? How do these things fit together and how do I use these things?

EDIT 2018.05.18 01:30+0000

There's so many conflicting guides on the Internet... is the mode that I'm booting into by holding down both volume buttons with the words "FASTBOOT MODE" actually called bootloader mode? If so,

how do I get into EDL

!?!?!?! Help pls.

EDIT 2018.05.18 03:00+0000:

I tried bs-ing the script file that MiFlash is looking for and it appears that the only thing MiFlash does is run fastboot for me! That's not helpful at all because fastboot can't flash!! I'm beginning to believe that I'm not actually in EDL mode.

How do I get into EDL

??