Recording the unbricking of a Xiaomi phone after a failed attempt to flash the ROM half a year ago.

title: Rescuing a Bricked Xiaomi Phone After 6 Months of Failed Flashing
date: 2023-04-09 03:10:43.747
updated: 2023-04-09 03:58:03.558
url: /?p=211
categories:

Computers
tags:
Flashing

Preface

My Redmi K20 Pro bricked half a year ago when I was flashing PixelExperience... Today, a classmate asked to borrow my phone, which reminded me of it, so I decided to give it another try.
The unresolved issue from half a year ago was that the phone would only boot into fastboot mode, and Windows couldn't recognize the phone, so USB debugging couldn't be enabled.

This time, I figured it out. The reason was that the phone's driver was missing on Windows, preventing it from being recognized. Installing the correct driver resolved the issue.

Environment

My environment:
Windows 11
USB 3.0 cable
Redmi K20 Pro
The following preparations are needed, you can scroll down to see them
TWRP
ADB, Fastboot, and other flashing tools SDK Platform Tools
MIUI EU official website, which includes some tutorials MIUI EU
The ROM image you want to flash, using MIUI EU as an example ROM download

Getting Started

Driver

Download the driver for your specific model here, Xiaomi Driver

Taking my K20 Pro as an example, download this ADB Driver and extract it.
xiaomidriver_adb_download

Open Task Manager, boot your phone into fastboot mode, connect it to your computer via USB, and look for the newly added unknown device that looks like this:

devices_manager

Right-click Update driver —— Browse my computer for drivers
Select the ADB Driver folder you just downloaded, then click Next to complete the installation.

update_driver_adb
If you encounter certificate or other issues, you will need to search and download compatible drivers yourself. Alternatively, try restarting your computer and phone to see if the issue is resolved.

Flashing TWRP

At this point, the driver icon should no longer have a question mark. Here, we'll use the location E:\Downloads\twrp-3.7.0_9-0-raphael.img as an example.

.\fastboot flash recovery  E:\Downloads\twrp-3.7.0_9-0-raphael.img
.\fastboot boot E:\Downloads\twrp-3.7.0_9-0-raphael.img

Check if ADB can detect your phone at this point, then proceed to the next step.

.\adb devices

boot_adb_devices

Uploading ROM to the Phone

At this point, my computer still couldn't access the phone's internal storage, so I used the following method to transfer the file E:/Downloads/xiaomi.eu_multi_HMK20ProMI9TPro_V12.5.5.0.RFKCNXM_v12-11.zip to the /sdcard/ location on the phone. Note the difference between / and .

.\adb push E:/Downloads/xiaomi.eu_multi_HMK20ProMI9TPro_V12.5.5.0.RFKCNXM_v12-11.zip /sdcard/

Upload successful

E:/Downloads/xiaomi.eu_multi_HMK20ProMI9TPro_V12.5.5.0.RFK...pushed, 0 skipped. 36.1 MB/s (3227830635 bytes in 85.189s)

Now, in TWRP on the phone, locate the image and install it. Once done, you're finished.