[General Questions and Answers] optimusodd:
Kindly find the updated post here

Hello guys,I was uninstalling some apps and accidently Asus launcher,Google Play and Play services etc got selected as well.While apps were getting uninstalled and downgraded,phone restarted somehow and everything is screwed up now.I am stuck on a screen telling “Can’t load Android System.Your data may be corrupt.If you continue to get this message, you may need to perform a factory data reset and erase all user data stored on this device” with 2 options underneath, 1.Try again and 2.Factory data reset

When I select “Try again” it shows “ Dead android robot on his back and red triangle” for a split second and then goes to Asus logo screen for 5 seconds and then ask for encryption key, when I enter the key it goes to ASUS logo screen again for 30-40 seconds and again back to Error screen.

Asus ZenFone 3 ZE552KL

ROM : Stock Oreo Version WW-15.0410.1807.75

Bootloader is Locked

Recovery : Stock Recovery

USB debugging : Disabled

Android device encryption is ON

I don’t wanna to lose my data coz there are some very important documents,projects reports, pictures and backups in it.

Device is booting in Fastboot Mode and Recovery Mode.

It even boots to the Sideload Mode via recovery and running "adb devices" command shows it attached with it's serial number and sideload but other commands don't work ( probably coz USB debugging is disabled ? )

Device is being shown /listed in Fastboot Mode.

I am unable to use adb as USB debugging is disabled.Running "adb devices " command shows device’s serial number and "recovery" written next to it ,in the command prompt.

Will flashing Version WW-15.0410.1807.75 again do the job without wiping user data ? Just like “userdata” partition is not normally touched by the OTA update process ?

How about flashing only boot.img / system.img ?Can we resolve the issue by just flashing just system.img or boot.img instead of flashing complete stock ROM ?

I don't care about performance of the system or unpredicted issues later on,my entire focus is on preserving my data.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I extracted the Stock ROM zip and found it's updater script in "META-INF/com/google/android"

ifelse( getprop("ro.build.id") == "OPR1.170623.026", ui_print("Android O device"), (
(greater_than_int(getprop("ro.build.date.utc"), 1514390400)) || abort("Can't install this package on device version less than 14.2020.1712.85 device build time (" + getprop("ro.build.date") + ").");
) );
ifelse( getprop("ro.product.name") == "OPEN_Phone", ui_print("OPEN SKU device"), (
getprop("ro.product.name") == "WW_Phone" || abort("This package is for \"WW_Phone\" devices; this is a \"" + getprop("ro.product.name") + "\".");
) );
ui_print("Target: asus/WW_Phone/ASUS_Z012D:8.0.0/OPR1.170623.026/15.0410.1807.75-0:user/release-keys");
show_progress(0.750000, 540);
ui_print("Patching system image unconditionally...");
block_image_update("/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/system", package_extract_file("system.transfer.list"), "system.new.dat", "system.patch.dat") ||
abort("E1001: Failed to update system image.");
ui_print("Verifying the updated system image...");
if range_sha1("/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/system", "136,0,32767,32768,32770,33009,33011,33516,65535,65536,65538,66043,98303,98304,98306,98545,98547,99052,131071,131072,131074,131579,163839,163840,163842,164081,164083,164588,196607,196608,196610,197115,229375,229376,229378,229617,229619,230124,262143,262144,262146,262651,294910,294912,294914,295153,295155,295660,327679,327680,327682,328187,335068,360448,360450,360955,393214,393216,393218,393723,393724,393725,425982,425984,425986,426491,458751,458752,458754,459259,491519,491520,491522,492027,524287,524288,524290,524795,557055,557056,557058,557563,589823,589824,589826,590331,622591,622592,622594,623099,655358,655360,655362,655867,688126,688128,688130,688635,720894,720896,720898,721403,753662,753664,753666,754171,786430,786432,786434,786939,819198,819200,819202,819441,819443,819948,851966,851968,851970,852475,884734,884736,884738,884977,884979,885484,917502,917504,917506,918011,950270,950272,950274,950779,967696,967697,983040") == "9a4740126249131da4ccd7e39fcf8d7302a3f818" then
if range_sha1("/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/system", "136,32767,32768,32770,33009,33011,33516,65535,65536,65538,66043,98303,98304,98306,98545,98547,99052,131071,131072,131074,131579,163839,163840,163842,164081,164083,164588,196607,196608,196610,197115,229375,229376,229378,229617,229619,230124,262143,262144,262146,262651,294910,294912,294914,295153,295155,295660,327679,327680,327682,328187,335068,335580,359936,360448,360450,360955,393214,393216,393218,393723,393724,393725,425982,425984,425986,426491,458751,458752,458754,459259,491519,491520,491522,492027,524287,524288,524290,524795,557055,557056,557058,557563,589823,589824,589826,590331,622591,622592,622594,623099,655358,655360,655362,655867,688126,688128,688130,688635,720894,720896,720898,721403,753662,753664,753666,754171,786430,786432,786434,786939,819198,819200,819202,819441,819443,819948,851966,851968,851970,852475,884734,884736,884738,884977,884979,885484,917502,917504,917506,918011,950270,950272,950274,950779,967696,967697") == "6d1cea242bbacf2ea86f62fa6c06b6bde31ec430" then
ui_print("Verified the updated system image.");
else
abort("E1003: system partition has unexpected non-zero contents after OTA update");
endif;
else
abort("E1002: system partition has unexpected contents after OTA update");
endif;
show_progress(0.050000, 5);
package_extract_file("boot.img", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/boot");
show_progress(0.200000, 10);

# ---- radio update tasks ----

ui_print("Patching firmware images...");
ifelse(msm.boot_update("main"), (
ui_print("installing cmnlib64");
package_extract_s_file("firmware-update/cmnlib64.mbn", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/cmnlib64");
ui_print("installing sbl1");
package_extract_s_file("firmware-update/sbl1.mbn", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/sbl1");
ui_print("installing cmnlib");
package_extract_s_file("firmware-update/cmnlib.mbn", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/cmnlib");
ui_print("installing rpm");
package_extract_s_file("firmware-update/rpm.mbn", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/rpm");
ui_print("installing tz");
package_extract_s_file("firmware-update/tz.mbn", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/tz");
ui_print("installing devcfg");
package_extract_s_file("firmware-update/devcfg.mbn", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/devcfg");
ui_print("installing aboot");
package_extract_s_file("firmware-update/emmc_appsboot.mbn", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/aboot");
ui_print("installing lksecapp");
package_extract_s_file("firmware-update/lksecapp.mbn", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/lksecapp");
ui_print("installing keymaster");
package_extract_s_file("firmware-update/keymaster.mbn", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/keymaster");
), "");
ifelse(msm.boot_update("backup"), (
ui_print("installing cmnlib64bak");
package_extract_s_file("firmware-update/cmnlib64.mbn", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/cmnlib64bak");
ui_print("installing sbl1bak");
package_extract_s_file("firmware-update/sbl1.mbn", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/sbl1bak");
ui_print("installing cmnlibbak");
package_extract_s_file("firmware-update/cmnlib.mbn", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/cmnlibbak");
ui_print("installing rpmbak");
package_extract_s_file("firmware-update/rpm.mbn", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/rpmbak");
ui_print("installing tzbak");
package_extract_s_file("firmware-update/tz.mbn", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/tzbak");
ui_print("installing devcfgbak");
package_extract_s_file("firmware-update/devcfg.mbn", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/devcfgbak");
ui_print("installing abootbak");
package_extract_s_file("firmware-update/emmc_appsboot.mbn", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/abootbak");
ui_print("installing lksecappbak");
package_extract_s_file("firmware-update/lksecapp.mbn", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/lksecappbak");
ui_print("installing keymasterbak");
package_extract_s_file("firmware-update/keymaster.mbn", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/keymasterbak");
),"no backup partition");
msm.boot_update("finalize");
ui_print("installing modem");
package_extract_s_file("firmware-update/NON-HLOS.bin", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/modem");
ui_print("installing dsp");
package_extract_s_file("firmware-update/adspso.bin", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/dsp");
ui_print("installing asusfw");
package_extract_file("firmware-update/asusfw.img", "/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/asusfw");
set_progress(1.000000);