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I have an old Zte Blade Apex 2 with stock rom TIM-IT and stock recovery that can't start because of Encryption unsuccessfull error.

It can boot in recovery with power + volume+ so as a first step I tried to wipe data and cache but the issue persists.

The original rom is not available anywhere online, but some other provider's ROMs are available (movistar or Micro P UK), I tried to use one of those updates but the updater script will fail because of an assert on getprop("ro.build.product") which differs only by the network operator name. Clearly changing the updater script inside the zip causes "failed to verify whole-file signature" error.

For this device there is a TWRP recovery available but currently it's not installed.

I can run adb sideload (in recovery mode) and adb shell without root (from FTM mode, power + volume-), but trying adb restart bootloader will start the device normally with the encryption error. By booting power with volume+ and volume- together (that should be fastboot mode) the red led is on and the device won't be recognized by Windows 10 (USB device not recognized) while on ubuntu with lsusb I can see the usb device id (which is different from the one in FTM mode allowing adb commands) but the command fastboot devices won't show any device and also trying to manually provide the device id won't work.

Any suggestion to recover this phone?

UPDATE: I started the phone with power+both volume keys, lsusb gives ID 19D2:0112 ZTE WCDMA Technologies MSM QHUSB__BULK. while ./edl.py r recovery r.img keeps printing dots "Waiting for the device". In FTM mode ID 19D2:0500 ZTE WCDMA Technologies MSM Android I could run abd reboot edl but edl.py will return Library.sahara - couldn't find a loader for given hwid and pkhash :( Now lsusb gives 05c6:9008 Qualcomm, Inc. Gobi Wireless Modem (QDL mode) On windows it is recognized by MiFlash so it should be correctly in EDL mode, but how can I flash the TWRP recovery now?

David
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  • fastboot mode is not helpful on locked bootloader. you can dump userdata + metadata in EDL mode https://github.com/bkerler/edl – alecxs Apr 24 '20 at 07:25
  • @alecxs I updated the question with the attempt with edl.py, do you know any other tool? – David Apr 24 '20 at 13:42
  • https://forum.xda-developers.com/general/rooting-roms/how-to-backup-qualcomm-phone-root-t3570178 – alecxs Apr 24 '20 at 13:49
  • https://flashtool.org/8/download-ZTE-flash-tool.html – alecxs Apr 24 '20 at 14:11
  • you need to find Qualcomm_Factory_Loader_MSM8926_ZTE.mbn or prog_emmc_firehose_8926.mbn or something https://android.stackexchange.com/q/224131 – alecxs Apr 24 '20 at 14:22
  • I tried to browse the mbn file with QPST Software download tool and it errors "Could not open flash programming file". If I use it from user Partitions it sais "No user partition have been enabled for download" while "error 0x80004005 while switching selected device to download mode" when clicking switch device to DLOAD in emmc software download. – David Apr 24 '20 at 16:48
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    Thank you, but I am a bit lost.. How do I write an xml file for the firehorse programmer? I don't have the actual offsets of the partition table for my phone, can I extract something with the original rom update.zip or with non root shell access? I have seen the Axon7 tool https://forum.xda-developers.com/axon-7/development/axon-7-edl-tool-flash-backup-restore-t3750759 that probably can be customized with other mbn loaders – David Apr 24 '20 at 23:22
  • I tried YGDP too but it won't recognize the phone, QPST is showing it correctly over a COM port – David Apr 24 '20 at 23:23
  • you can maybe get offsets from fastboot getvar all for xml files see linked question for more links. i have just now realized you wiped data from recovery, this is same as factory reset. which leads me to believe in emmc wear-out – alecxs Apr 25 '20 at 00:12
  • I'm not able to enter fastboot mode, adb reboot fastboot will just restart the phone, there is no fastboot option in recovery and with attemps of every possible boot combination it never reacted to fastboot devices. So it's probably an hardware emmc failure? You can post it as an answer if you want – David Apr 25 '20 at 10:41
  • Volumedown + power is FTM mode that allows adb commands but not fastboot. With adb reboot-bootloader the phone will boot normally till showing the encryption unsuccessful, it's not entering in fastboot mode. Power+both volume keys leads to unknown usb device (device descriptor request failed) – David Apr 25 '20 at 13:08
  • okay then with both Vol Keys you are in right mode then. now try usb 2.0 port or different PC, also double check if fastboot works for other devices https://android.stackexchange.com/q/214930 https://android.stackexchange.com/q/102897 – alecxs Apr 25 '20 at 15:29
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    Tried other usb ports win and linux,other pc but same result, unable to get this phone in download mode. I have a xiaomi that works with fastboot. I tried some mbn from here https://github.com/programmer-collection/zte in QFIL with no success. in the meantime I realized that sahara protocol works only in the first 1 minute the phone is in EDL, after it will give sistematic errors and I also learned that QFIL will put the phone from FTM mode to EDL mode automatically. I think I will throw away this old phone, not worth it to invest so much time despite learning interesting things about Qualcomm – David Apr 26 '20 at 00:22

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