Database Users

I'm trying to unbrick my x720 by QFIL but my pc won't recognize Qualcomm 9008 port

My problem is that I can't even try to do the procedure in the other threads that i've read because my pc simples dont recognize anything when i install the qualcomm drivers. Any tips? Thank you in advance. I want to try this thread [GUIDE][QFIL MODE]Unbrick your Le Pro3, tested and working. But simply the qualcomm port doesnt appear in the device manager.

Bad cable or need to reinstall drivers...

marik1 said:
Bad cable or need to reinstall drivers...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried with two different cables and reinstalled the drivers a few times now. No port in the device manager. Just the Android ADB Interface tha showed when I installed the leeco adb drivers. On the ports just appear the standard Comunication port and printer port. I tried everything, the volume bottons power, etc. The Flash One dont recognize the phone for QFIL.

Say sth more about your phone state and history...

marik1 said:
Say sth more about your phone state and history...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont have hardware problems. I flashed the Pixel Experience rom in february with sucess but I didnt like it. It had too much battery drain. Then I wanned to try some other rom like AICP. But in the process of flashing something went wrong. I wasnt able to flash it, always gave me the error 7. Then it simply died. I was rebooting TWRP mode and it went dead. Now just vibrates when I try to turn on. I tried the QFIL process (both volumes + power) but I dont even know. How can we know that it in qfil mode? My pc wont recognize anything. Not in Flash One, Not in QPST, nothing. Am I doing something wrong? The phone vibrates so its charged. I installed the Qualcomm drivers properly, I thing, eventhow it doesnt appear the qualcomm 9008 port in the device manager. Its suppose to appear before the phone is pluged right? Thank you for the reply.

I've no idea how to help you... Sorry.

gradim said:
I dont have hardware problems. I flashed the Pixel Experience rom in february with sucess but I didnt like it. It had too much battery drain. Then I wanned to try some other rom like AICP. But in the process of flashing something went wrong. I wasnt able to flash it, always gave me the error 7. Then it simply died. I was rebooting TWRP mode and it went dead. Now just vibrates when I try to turn on. I tried the QFIL process (both volumes + power) but I dont even know. How can we know that it in qfil mode? My pc wont recognize anything. Not in Flash One, Not in QPST, nothing. Am I doing something wrong? The phone vibrates so its charged. I installed the Qualcomm drivers properly, I thing, eventhow it doesnt appear the qualcomm 9008 port in the device manager. Its suppose to appear before the phone is pluged right? Thank you for the reply.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Instead of creating a new post why not just read the enormous unbrick forums that exists and have proven steps. Many, Many phones have been debricked using those steps.
Hint, read the last pages for updated links to the software tools needed.
Next, I just found this cable which will help immensely with unbricking your device: https://www.amazon.com/GPG-EDL-Cabl...r1&keywords=edl+cable+for+wall+qualcomm+usb+c

tsongming said:
Instead of creating a new post why not just read the enormous unbrick forums that exists and have proven steps. Many, Many phones have been debricked using those steps.
Hint, read the last pages for updated links to the software tools needed.
Next, I just found this cable which will help immensely with unbricking your device: https://www.amazon.com/GPG-EDL-Cabl...r1&keywords=edl+cable+for+wall+qualcomm+usb+c
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried four different cables now and nothing. Thank you for minding but I think there isn't a solution for my leeco. Its dead and no one can help him.

Is yours 722?
Sent from my SM-A730F using xda premium

mchlbenner said:
Is yours 722?
Sent from my SM-A730F using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, x720 6gb ram 64 rom.

gradim said:
No, x720 6gb ram 64 rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is your phone completely Dead or do you have fashboot or anything working.
Do have a red flashing light?
Sent from my SM-A730F using xda premium

mchlbenner said:
Is your phone completely Dead or do you have fashboot or anything working.
Do have a red flashing light?
Sent from my SM-A730F using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Completely dead, just vibrates when I press power and yes, I sometimes have the red light, sometimes flashing, sometimes stable.

gradim said:
I dont have hardware problems. I flashed the Pixel Experience rom in february with sucess but I didnt like it. It had too much battery drain. Then I wanned to try some other rom like AICP. But in the process of flashing something went wrong. I wasnt able to flash it, always gave me the error 7. Then it simply died. I was rebooting TWRP mode and it went dead. Now just vibrates when I try to turn on. I tried the QFIL process (both volumes + power) but I dont even know. How can we know that it in qfil mode? My pc wont recognize anything. Not in Flash One, Not in QPST, nothing. Am I doing something wrong? The phone vibrates so its charged. I installed the Qualcomm drivers properly, I thing, eventhow it doesnt appear the qualcomm 9008 port in the device manager. Its suppose to appear before the phone is pluged right? Thank you for the reply.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your phone is probably fixable.
Based on what you stated above, it seems that you downloaded and attempted to install the wrong version of TWRP and now your phone has no recovery at all.
Here is partial instructions I posted in the unbricking forum : https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=76100899&postcount=121
Use those instructions along with is mentioned below. I have personally helped so many people unbrick their phone that I have lost track and this is the reason why the posts are so long and extensive. Because sometimes what works for one person does not work for the next. So I have essentially have taken everyone's great advice and updated the links, made the instructions steps a little more concise and easier to read, fixed some incorrect steps or added the needed skipped steps. Plus added my own research into what I believe is now a definitive guide for unbricking the Leeco variants X720 and X727. The point of not reposting the information here is to keep everything from becoming more fragmented.
Yes, it's possible that you have a hardware issue. But, its also possible that it can be fixed!
Remember that you will not see the port unless you are in EDL mode
Just press volume △ (+) and volume ▽ (–) buttons together while powering the phone on.
It should now be EDL mode. If you cannot get into EDO mode, you cannot do anything else.
If you get an error, press and hold the power button while at the same time hold vol up + and down simultaneously plug the usb cord into the back of the computer while holding the buttons.
Yes, It's a pain and this is why the deep flash cable is handy....it's a special cable ( so your extra cables will do nothing to help you) The deep flash cable will automatically put your phone into EDL mode and allow you to use Flash on.
Install the Qualcomm QDLoader 9008 driver: https://goo.gl/9E3bKq or the from links provided in the unbrick forum.
There are multiple versions or Qfil, some have issues. I posted the correct one that works.
FOR anything else go to that forum read my and everyone else's posts. Again, I keep all of my linked files are up to date, and many are located on my own drives.
You can make one of these cables. Here's a video that shows you how:
https://www.youtube.com/watch v=kSiGsYK66gM&lc=z220yhtqvwyyct21pacdp432sh2xjecek10dae1jen5w03c010c.1524884617336803
it will not be a quick fix.
There are 4 or 5 different unbricking options and it requires persistence and patience.
The good news is that your phone has a solution that may work.

So when your where flashing a rom you got error 7 and your phone went dead.
I had gotten that same error.
Error could mean two things 1) update recovery or update firmware.
My point is sounds nice like hardware issue.
These phones are known for just dieing.
Also getting into that mode you have to push power+volume+volume- at the same time.
Sent from my SM-A730F using xda premium

What to do if you didn't follow the QFIL directions?

Hi, and please tell me there's something that can be done to help. I have the AT&T V35 and was really happy to see the bootloader was unlockable, so I went ahead and downloaded QFIL and thought I was following the step by step directions for putting it into the correct download mode. There were no issues at all, but I did have a few more things open on my laptop that were partially covering the directions that could have led to my problem. There was a part of the directions where there are 6 or so partitions that needed to be backed up and substituted, I only saw 2. That's when I thought I was finished and proceeded to reboot the phone, having only 2 of the partitions saved and that caused me issues because now I can plug the phone into any USB port and the computer doesn't even recognize anything there. Also the top left corner just says "..ANY BUTTON TO REBOOT PHONE".
I think if I could get it into download mode or something I could at least reflash the .kdz file and replace the damaged firmware with good firmware, but I got to get the drivers to recognize the phone even being plugged into the USB port first. It seems like I'm going to have to repair it with Octoplus at this point, but maybe someone here has a better option, as I do not have the Octoplus or any other JTAG equipment to use. Any thoughts?

This has been answered by several people, if you can search the forum. In the original root thread, OP cmrntnnr (original post) and vlad48 (post #11) talks about it. I also provided some information regarding this in post #74. If you get stuck post in the thread instead of private message so others can see it. Make sure you thank the contributors. Here is the thread link:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/lg...loader-unlock-root-instruction-t4052145/page8
Edit: Also, you shouldn't need Octoplus or JTAG since the engineering bootloader is out and QFil can be used to fix almost any state the phone is in. Just follow instructions to get in QFil mode (may take several tries because it is tricky, hard key combination), flash the files for abl_a and laf partitions, you can use the ones i provided. Just remember once bootloader and laf partitions are restored, even if phone can't finish booting, you can still put it into download mode by holding the vol+ button while plugging in the USB cable.
ELutts said:
Hi, and please tell me there's something that can be done to help. I have the AT&T V35 and was really happy to see the bootloader was unlockable, so I went ahead and downloaded QFIL and thought I was following the step by step directions for putting it into the correct download mode. There were no issues at all, but I did have a few more things open on my laptop that were partially covering the directions that could have led to my problem. There was a part of the directions where there are 6 or so partitions that needed to be backed up and substituted, I only saw 2. That's when I thought I was finished and proceeded to reboot the phone, having only 2 of the partitions saved and that caused me issues because now I can plug the phone into any USB port and the computer doesn't even recognize anything there. Also the top left corner just says "..ANY BUTTON TO REBOOT PHONE".
I think if I could get it into download mode or something I could at least reflash the .kdz file and replace the damaged firmware with good firmware, but I got to get the drivers to recognize the phone even being plugged into the USB port first. It seems like I'm going to have to repair it with Octoplus at this point, but maybe someone here has a better option, as I do not have the Octoplus or any other JTAG equipment to use. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus (X606f) won't power on after flashing older ROM

I'm flashing my new Lenovo tablet with Android 9 (so I can flash it later with Ubuntu Touch) and after SP Flash tool finished flashing
tablet won't power on. The power button does nothing and holding volume down + power button does nothing either.
The battery isn't dead so I'm trying to figure out why the tablet won't come on if older ROM is on it.
I had no error outputs during the flash.
This is the ROM I flashed https://mirrors.lolinet.com/firmwar..._Gen/TB-X606F/TB-X606F_S300007_200923_BMP.zip
Any suggestion as to how to get it to work again ?

I don't think you can downgrade these. You may need to completely wipe and reinstall the ROM.

ldeveraux said:
I don't think you can downgrade these. You may need to completely wipe and reinstall the ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using the official Lenovo's Rescue Tool but it's not helping. The tool isn't detecting the device after holding volume up + connecting.

python_rocks said:
I'm using the official Lenovo's Rescue Tool but it's not helping. The tool isn't detecting the device after holding volume up + connecting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
assuming windows, check that your drivers are detecting the recovery module

ldeveraux said:
assuming windows, check that your drivers are detecting the recovery module
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I'm using W10. adb is working and I've got Lenovo USB drivers installed too. What do you mean by "recovery module" ? Recovery partition inside the tablet ?

python_rocks said:
I'm flashing my new Lenovo tablet with Android 9 (so I can flash it later with Ubuntu Touch)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool. Are you doing a Halium port for this device?

Yahoo Mike said:
Cool. Are you doing a Halium port for this device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not a Halium dev but I'm trying to flash the device. Me and another member of the community have our tablets dead after flushing it with supposedly Android 9 ROM. Not even Lenovo's Rescue Tool is helping now.

python_rocks said:
Yes I'm using W10. adb is working and I've got Lenovo USB drivers installed too. What do you mean by "recovery module" ? Recovery partition inside the tablet ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No i mean when you connect the tablet to the pc in recovery, open Device Manager and ensure the tablet is connected with the correct driver. I'm sorry i don't know what that is offhand, but it should be different than when you connect it if the tablet was working. Sorry if it makes no sense, but i think this is what's going on.

ldeveraux said:
No i mean when you connect the tablet to the pc in recovery, open Device Manager and ensure the tablet is connected with the correct driver. I'm sorry i don't know what that is offhand, but it should be different than when you connect it if the tablet was working. Sorry if it makes no sense, but i think this is what's going on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my case there's no "connect the tablet to the PC in recovery". The tablet won't power on at all. Can't invoke fastboot nor recovery. The tablet doesn't react to any presses. Or press and holds. No nothing. The only thing I can confirm is the red LED on when the tablet is on charger.
Window's device manager is recognizing MediaTek USB driver when plugged in but that's it.
I've ran out of ideas about how to restore it hence I'm posting here.

python_rocks said:
In my case there's no "connect the tablet to the PC in recovery". The tablet won't power on at all. Can't invoke fastboot nor recovery. The tablet doesn't react to any presses. Or press and holds. No nothing. The only thing I can confirm is the red LED on when the tablet is on charger.
Window's device manager is recognizing MediaTek USB driver when plugged in but that's it.
I've ran out of ideas about how to restore it hence I'm posting here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh i misunderstood completely! That is worse, i have no clue how to fix it...

python_rocks said:
The tablet won't power on at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it's that dead, then it sounds like the preloader.bin is trashed.
Try this method.
There is also an older thread for older SOCs that might have some hints.
Otherwise, you might have to open up the tablet.
You could research and try the "test point" method. It involves shorting two points on the motherboard. I did something similar for the X605F (which has a QCom SOC).
I'm not sure where the test points on this tablet are. Some MTK devices don't have test points. Google "mediatek test point" for starters. If you can't find them, then maybe ask Lenovo where they are. If you find out, post a photo of the test points on here.
If you're not confident doing any of this, then send the tablet to Lenovo for repair.

Yahoo Mike said:
If it's that dead, then it sounds like the preloader.bin is trashed.
Try this method.
There is also an older thread for older SOCs that might have some hints.
Otherwise, you might have to open up the tablet.
You could research and try the "test point" method. It involves shorting two points on the motherboard. I did something similar for the X605F (which has a QCom SOC).
I'm not sure where the test points on this tablet are. Some MTK devices don't have test points. Google "mediatek test point" for starters. If you can't find them, then maybe ask Lenovo where they are. If you find out, post a photo of the test points on here.
If you're not confident doing any of this, then send the tablet to Lenovo for repair.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I've ordered opening kit. I'm going in. Quite a few people got their devices working by disconnecting the battery and connecting it back. I've noticed that no matter how long the
tablet is on charger the LED stays red, it doesn't change to orange or green.
This same problem has happen to two more members of the community. Same tablet.
We had to flag that ROM as it bricks the tablet.

python_rocks said:
We had to flag that ROM as it bricks the tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have a lot of experience with the SPF tool, but could the root-cause of your problem be that you need to use a different dropdown option? See the description of the options in the unbrick guide - specifically the firmware upgrade option.
It makes sense that you want to force a full flash of low-level firmware when changing Android versions. That option seems to do exactly that.
Android 9 OS is not going to play nice with low-level firmware written for Android 10.
There might be nothing wrong with the ROM ??? ...just an idle thought.

Yahoo Mike said:
I don't have a lot of experience with the SPF tool, but could the root-cause of your problem be that you need to use a different dropdown option? See the description of the options in the unbrick guide - specifically the firmware upgrade option.
It makes sense that you want to force a full flash of low-level firmware when changing Android versions. That option seems to do exactly that.
Android 9 OS is not going to play nice with low-level firmware written for Android 10.
There might be nothing wrong with the ROM ??? ...just an idle thought.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for trying to help.
The flash tool doesn't do anything when I click Download and plugging in the tablet while holding the volume down button. Dropdown option was set to "firmware upgrade" as advised.
The guide suggests that it's for people who can at least power on the device. It says "switch off the phone ..." which I don't need to do since I can't even switch it on

python_rocks said:
I'm flashing my new Lenovo tablet with Android 9 (so I can flash it later with Ubuntu Touch) and after SP Flash tool finished flashing
tablet won't power on. The power button does nothing and holding volume down + power button does nothing either.
The battery isn't dead so I'm trying to figure out why the tablet won't come on if older ROM is on it.
I had no error outputs during the flash.
This is the ROM I flashed https://mirrors.lolinet.com/firmwar..._Gen/TB-X606F/TB-X606F_S300007_200923_BMP.zip
Any suggestion as to how to get it to work again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you mange to fix it?

A. Alaska said:
Did you mange to fix it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to use a rework station heat gun or maybe a hair blow dryer might work to heat the sides of the screen to remove it.
I recommend cutting a water bottle in a square or rectangle shape then using the corner to slowly pry the screen off. After that remove the battery ribbon and hold the power bottom for 20-60 seconds to fully drain the charge.
Then recconect it and turn it on 100 percent works.
Just remember you must have the flash tool app and firmware ready in upgrade or download mode while holding down vol. It will reflash the tablet and bam will unbrick.

Just to note down my experiences here as well. I now also got into the same trouble. I tried
TB-X606F_S100015_191127_BMP.zip and also TB-X606F_S300091_201215_BMP.zip
It turns out that with these two you cannot start up the device anymore. Just as the thread-creator described. In my case pluging out and in again seems to give the SP FalshTool the chance to flash again (put it in "Download"-Mode before). So the latest firmware by today - TB-X606F_S300429_21110_BMP.zip - helped me to revive it again.
For me this is nice, but I also wanted to put Ubuntu touch on it just as described here: https://gitlab.com/ubports/community-ports/android9/lenovo-tab-m10-fhd-plus/lenovo-x606 ... unfortunately I am blocked now due to not being able to bring Android 9 on it. btw: There is no proposal on the site which firmware-version is even Android 9. I just guessed from the date.

Bricked Lenovo Tab M10 fhd plus while trying to downgrade, any advice?

Hi,
I'm not sure I'm posting in the right section but, I had a really bad experience upgrading to android 10. Really sluggish and slow... so I tried to downgrade to android 9 by using Lenovo's Rescue and Smart Assistant.
What I did, is to find the stock ROM for my model, and replace the files downloaded by the Rescue Assistant (which downloaded the latest firmware). The process went through, but now the device wont power on.
When I plug in the USB, windows makes a sound, the charging light comes on, but The rescue Assistant nor SP flash tool is able to flash the latest firmware.
Is it bricked for good?
Model : TB-XF606F
Hardware number : 60

Maybe your computer doesn't recognize your tablet. Did you ever try using sp flash tool with your tablet before? You can try reinstall or install a driver for your table if you haven't done it yet.

Well the tablet is recognized as the "mtk vcom..." in device manager. I guess it is the driver that the lenovo rescue app installed.
I have never used sp flash tool with my tablet, just the lenovo rescue.
I tried on 2 different pc and it is the same thing. I think the problem is that I can't turn off the tablet properly, even though, all I can see is a black screen.
I will try to drain the battery by keeping the power button pressed with some scotch tape. I don't know what I can do else.
Edit: I tried a few other times with flash tool using different setting for the connection (with battery and full speed) and nothnig happened. But now windows says it does not recognize my tablet.

did the same thing exactly. . bricked lenovo m10 fhd plus x600v after i flashed a downgrade version. dont try to downgrade this thing. i had already flashed it with 3 or 4 versions the same way , but when i chose to flash the oldest version available with the model , this tab got completly unresponsive , no feedback when try to boot into recovery, fastboot, or system . neither does it gets recognised in windows or anything - device manager dowsnt recognise this usb device ( in device manager properties comments it reads- USB\DEVICE_DESCRIPTOR_FAILURE). if you find a way to reflash the device please let us know. good luck .

Bricked mine after being completely running smoothly on Lineage, then was messing around trying to get gapps installed and jacked up the partitions. TWRP said no OS. Kept messing around and mistakenly locked the bootloader again with apparently an unverified boot partition. . I couldn't get SP Flash tool to work ever either. Pretty sure it's a door stop now.

LG G2 D802 United Kingdom Open - unbrick?

Hey everyone,
I'm very new to Android development and XDA, but a few years ago I bricked this LG G2 and I don't really remember how, except that I rooted it and tried to install a custom ROM, which obviously didn't work.
I have tried a number of different guides on these forums, but somewhere or another I get stuck on them.
[HOW TO] Fix your soft-bricked LG G2 (All Variants)
I'll be very specific, something most people lack of. Okay lets get to it, I recently bricked my LG G2 (D801) by installing a ROM that wasn't compatible with my model. I fixed it by doing the following steps. This worked for me using Windows 8.1...
forum.xda-developers.com
With this one, although the device shows up in Devices and Printers, neither Fastboot nor the LG Flash Tool detect it. I have installed both the LG Mobile Driver and the LG United Mobile Driver.
“./fastboot devices” is empty.
I have the TOT file and the DLL that the (patched version of the) LG Flash Tool requires.
I have an Ubuntu 20.04 install as well as Windows 11. I can get into Firmware Update with a USB icon ("Do not unplug the USB connection until the process is complete. 0%." ...etc), when I turn it on normally it shows a battery made out of grey and white bars and a percentage, and sometimes the LG logo.
If you need to know anything else don't hesitate to ask \
Much appreciated,
ninjadev64

use a usb 2.0 port, update adb/fastboot, update drivers, remove previous related devices using nirsoft usbdeview. try using a windows 7 or earlier system. can you manually get into recovery? if so update to latest blastagator twrp which should be 3.3.1.

DvineLord said:
use a usb 2.0 port, update adb/fastboot, update drivers, remove previous related devices using nirsoft usbdeview. try using a windows 7 or earlier system. can you manually get into recovery? if so update to latest blastagator twrp which should be 3.3.1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- I was using a 3.0 port, although it still showed up in Control Panel - I’ll try with a 2.0 port today
- I installed “Minimal ADB and Fastboot” and the drivers yesterday, so they should be up to date
- I’ll use usbdeview too
- I can’t use an older system unfortunately
- How do I get into recovery?

Recovery: With the device powered off and usb unplugged, hold Volume Down + Power. When the LG logo appears, release both buttons and hold Volume Up + Volume Down.

Ok, so I got into a factory reset screen that way, I said yes to factory reset, is that the right thing to do? (@DvineLord)

ADB recognises the device, but it's unauthorised. And I obviously can't boot it up to authorise it.
Factory reset just got me back to the LG screen for a long time, so I powered it off again.

Also, when I try to change the COM port to 41, when I click Advanced in Port Settings, it just stops me with "You must have write privileges in the registry for this device in order to modify the device's advanced settings".
I can't find the right path for the device in regedit to follow these steps: https://forums.techguy.org/threads/need-write-permission-for-com1-port.577543/#post-4756991

Were you able to get into Recovery? or did you get into Bootloader/Fastboot/Download?
Bootloader/Fastboot/Download: With the device powered off, hold Volume Up and connect the USB cable.
You want to be in Recovery like I posted above. Do you have TWRP on your device?

DvineLord said:
Were you able to get into Recovery? or did you get into Bootloader/Fastboot/Download?
Bootloader/Fastboot/Download: With the device powered off, hold Volume Up and connect the USB cable.
You want to be in Recovery like I posted above. Do you have TWRP on your device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The recovery method you said to try got me into a factory reset screen, as I stated. All the other recovery methods I saw online didn’t work, so maybe I have no recovery?
I said in the original post that I can obtain download mode. I recognise “TWRP” but I’m pretty sure I botched it up while installing it, because I didn’t know how any of this worked, 4 years ago.
Thank you!

Unfortunate you can't get ADB/Fastboot working.

DvineLord said:
Unfortunate you can't get ADB/Fastboot working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Soo... what can I do?

Try to recall as closely as possible the exact steps you used to modify your device. autorec, ioroot, stump root, avicohh, stock build you were on, custom rom you tried to flash, custom recovery, bootstacks, custom kernel, etc.
Odds are you'll have to try again to flash back to stock, something which I haven't done yet.

Unfortunately all I know is that I tried to install a custom ROM, scuffed up when I was installing twrp, the ROM didn't work and now I have no recovery to fix it. Flash back to stock *is* what I'm trying to do (that's your third question/point which I've already explained in the original post).
If anyone with the same problem visits this in the future, please save this post and share your solution if you find one, cause I'm still stuck!

hope you get it flashed back to stock. make sure to do the first 5 things i listed in my initial post to see if that helps you flash back to stock. the data cable can also make a difference sometimes too.