Develop Bugs

Boot Loop stuck in Animation help.

Hey everyone. I know there are already a few threads with boot loop animations, and am having difficulties finding the same situation as what I'm going through. Here is what the phone used to have before it randomly started looping:
Rooted - with Stock rom, using ClockwordMod Recovery 5.5.0.2
Used Go Launcher Theme ( if that even matters )
No additional roms installed or anything, the phone is 3 months old.
Ok here is where I'm stuck. I understand I should reflash somethings like recovery image or something, but I'm stuck with one big problem. My computer and phone don't recognize using the USB mount.
The message I get is called "Unable to open lunfile ( no such file or directory)
Here's what screens I can get to:
1. Hold vol up/down while holding power ( the little android with its belly open, and the options Start - Restart Bootloader - Recovery mode - Power Off )
2. Hold vol down - ODIN mode, with the START option only
I can access WMD recovery and factory reset, Try to install my old backup, nothing works at all in that area, no matter what I do.
Can someone advise me a step by step way of getting my computer to recognize my phone, so that I am able to do fastboot, or reflash, or anything to get my phone working again. I can't access my internal memory at all.
It's even possible that I've read too much, and my frustration is getting in the way, if so I apologize! Some guidance would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance of course! I need my phone for business!
Cheers,

Install the drivers on a computer then use fastboot oem unlock. Or just factory reset it from within recovery.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2 Beta-4

Try my siggy.
I'm not sure about the exact error:
But the link there will get you the correct drivers.
Also, as stated...try to factory reset.
You'll lose your apps/data that way though =/
Hopefully you can get the driver installed and get your computer to recognize.
If so, follow this to back up your apps:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1420351

Have exactly the same setup as you (rooted/stock/CWM) and had the animation bootloop - animation would just loop until a battery pull.
Only thing that solved it was a factory reset from recovery. Been working fine for the 4 weeks since. No need for any reflashing etc. Titanium recoveries have all worked fine as well. Didn't try my Nandroid backup as I thought that may still have the 'fault' built in.

I had a boot loop for every from I tried to flash...wat fixed it was before flashing u need to wipe system data and wipe the cache in the recovery...ie a clean install...then every rom I tried worked...so I think ur missing that crucial step coz it worked for me
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

Hey guys, as stated above I've done numerous factory resets, it still seems to boot. I will for sure try to get the drivers installed so my phone is recongised by the computer, but would need step-by-step assistance when doing fastboot, or whatever the next step is.
Looking for more help though! Keep em coming!

?
Any other ideas?
Thanks!

Ok guys, so here's where I'm at now. I've used Jubakuba's sticky link, located here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1529058
Everything is able to be recognized up to the point where it says "Put the su.zip on your phone."
Since I cannot access my phone contents, since I keep getting this "Unable to open lunfile ( no such file or directory), it does not allow me to add anything to my phone.
I re-installed CWD as stated in the list of things to do, and all that went well. But I have the same issue, I tried factory resetting all that. erase cache, and still stuck with the same issue.
What's my next step now peeps? Looking for a quick answer as I have time to do it tonight!

Edit***
Just tried this trick: but it says it does not recognize the device?? what is going on! Please help someone! Thanks!
Panic Section! (Something is Wrong)
Q: My phone won't boot!
A: The easiest option is to get into recovery and restore a nandroid using the above guide (pull battery to put phone in an off-state if needed).
However, more advanced options are available if you don't have a nandroid available (You're naughty).
Do you have another rom .zip available on your SD card? If so, simply use the above guide for installing a rom to get you booting again.
If not, you can download one on your PC. Boot into fastboot (the green Android with open chest menu).
Move the .zip to the C:\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools folder.
Open ADB.
Change the NAMEOFZIP.zip below to the correct file name...and perform the action.

Surely your computer recognizes your phone. Otherwise how were you able to unlock the bootloader and flash the recovery?
And I've never seen that error message before. It doesn't even make any sense to me. Where are you seeing it? On your phone or on your computer? And in what context? What are you trying to do when it shows up?
If your phone isn't booting I'm not sure that you can copy any files to it yet. (Maybe you can use adb in clockworkmod? I'm not sure) What I do know you can do is flash the stock ROM and start over.
Download the image from Google here:
http://code.google.com/android/nexus/images.html
Here's a instructions for the GSM version:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1366806
For the Verizon version, I can't find the thread at the moment but you just replace the filenames and also there's 2 radios to flash so:
fastboot flash radio *filename*
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot flash radio-cmda *filename*

"Unable to open lunfile ( no such file or directory) appears on the phone, in CWD mode, when trying to attempt "mount Usb" to be able to access my internal storage .
I am attempting your thoughts right now.
I will post with results

Ok I tried to do this step. This is the outcome I received on the computer after even typing the first step:
'fastboot-windows' is not recognized as aninternal or external command, operable program or batch file.
A thing to stress, I'm not sure how to do step 1: 1) Take a Nandroid Backup if you have CWM installed.
EDIT***
GREAT NEWS!
used this setup!
http://android.modaco.com/topic/348161-01-feb-r4-superboot-rooting-the-gsm-lte-galaxy-nexus/
and it worked!
Thank you everyone! Going to play with my phone and make sure it all works!

Macinshak said:
Ok here is where I'm stuck. I understand I should reflash somethings like recovery image or something, but I'm stuck with one big problem. My computer and phone don't recognize using the USB mount.
The message I get is called "Unable to open lunfile ( no such file or directory)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the problem is when that happen?? when ur phone is booted and u plug the usb cable to ur pc? or when u are under recovery and want mount the usb mass storage? the second one doesn't work

[Q] Can I backup any data within fastboot?

Hi Folks,
I have experienced the sadly famous boot loop issue (the one that keeps the device on the boot screen forever), not in one, but in two different devices (same model and build, 4.0.2 GSM - ICL53F).
I fixed the first one by flashing the latest stock rom (4.0.4), but of course it lost all the data, including camera pictures.
So for this one, I would like to save as much as I can. The problem is, that I can't access the device with adb since it wont boot, I just can access it with fastboot.
I have managed to enter the ClockWorkMod Recovery and perform a backup, but it saves it into the sdcard, so if I flash the phone to fix it, it will lose the backup
So, the question is: How can I either access the filesystem trough fastboot or just performing a backup that won't be lost if I have to flash it.
Thanks in advance

You said you can access ADB...but I assume you meant can't?
If you can...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=24910351&postcount=21
And pull your sd card as well.
If not...
I assume you've tried booting into bootloader and odin?

Jubakuba said:
You said you can access ADB...but I assume you meant can't?
If you can...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=24910351&postcount=21
And pull your sd card as well.
If not...
I assume you've tried booting into bootloader and odin?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your assumption is right, I can't.
And yes, I tried booting trough odin and bootloader, many times, but I have read about many people experiencing this issue, most of them solved it by wiping data (and some also flashing). I know how to solve the booting issue, I just want to save as much data as I can.

mdelolmo said:
Your assumption is right, I can't.
And yes, I tried booting trough odin and bootloader, many times, but I have read about many people experiencing this issue, most of them solved it by wiping data (and some also flashing). I know how to solve the booting issue, I just want to save as much data as I can.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No I understand man.
The link I gave would back up your apps at least...
And your SD if you changed -noshared to -shared but I haven't had much success.
But you'd need ADB access.
Wait for another opinion if you wish.
But I'd assume you need a factory reset if you can't get ADB...
And simply flashing a rom doesn't work, right?

mdelolmo said:
Hi Folks,
I have experienced the sadly famous boot loop issue (the one that keeps the device on the boot screen forever), not in one, but in two different devices (same model and build, 4.0.2 GSM - ICL53F).
I fixed the first one by flashing the latest stock rom (4.0.4), but of course it lost all the data, including camera pictures.
So for this one, I would like to save as much as I can. The problem is, that I can't access the device with adb since it wont boot, I just can access it with fastboot.
I have managed to enter the ClockWorkMod Recovery and perform a backup, but it saves it into the sdcard, so if I flash the phone to fix it, it will lose the backup
So, the question is: How can I either access the filesystem trough fastboot or just performing a backup that won't be lost if I have to flash it.
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You cannot backup through fastboot with a shipping bootloader, but you can access /sdcard via adb when booted in CWM, despite not being able to connect when booted normally.
1) Boot into CWM.
2) Connect to a PC.
3) Open a command prompt in the same directory where you have your adb.exe file.
4) Type: adb pull /sdcard/

5x Hard Bricked??

I think I've done goofed my nexus.
Yesterday, I made a backup of my phone, and then booted it up. Everything was working fine prior to the backup, but as soon as I booted it after making the backup, it got stuck on the google logo. I tried restarting it several times, but it's just been stuck in a bootloop ever since. I've tried numerous things, like formatting it, flashing factory images, and so on, but it turns out fastboot won't detect my device. ADB detects my device fine, but only in recovery. As far as I know, I don't have usb debugging enabled (since I formatted it). It currently has no OS since I formatted it. I've tried installing stock android since formatting it but it still gets stuck in a bootloop.
All my drivers are correct (I've re-installed them probably 10 times by now), and the images aren't corrupted (as far as I know).
I've run out of ideas, as I've been trying to figure this out for the past 2 days with no success. Any help would be appreciated.

I've had a similar issue a couple times after doing something stupid (ADB or FASTBOOT could not detect the phone). The fix was to look in Windows Device Manager and make sure the phone really was detected and a driver installed. Windows would say that it could not find a driver but telling it to install manually did the trick..... as I recall there were a couple driver choices, so it might be trieal and error. Might not be the issue in your case since it does sound like the hardware has a problem, but worth looking into?
Paul

pgoelz said:
I've had a similar issue a couple times after doing something stupid (ADB or FASTBOOT could not detect the phone). The fix was to look in Windows Device Manager and make sure the phone really was detected and a driver installed. Windows would say that it could not find a driver but telling it to install manually did the trick..... as I recall there were a couple driver choices, so it might be trieal and error. Might not be the issue in your case since it does sound like the hardware has a problem, but worth looking into?
Paul
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've re-installed the drivers a couple of times now, and it doesn't seem to be fixing the problem.
I don't think it's a hardware problem, because I don't see what making a backup would do to the hardware of the phone (of course, I don't really know much about the hardware, so I might be wrong.) Thanks for the help, though!

ItsMason said:
I've re-installed the drivers a couple of times now, and it doesn't seem to be fixing the problem.
I don't think it's a hardware problem, because I don't see what making a backup would do to the hardware of the phone (of course, I don't really know much about the hardware, so I might be wrong.) Thanks for the help, though!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, since you're communicating with the device via ADB and can boot to recovery, I'm pretty sure you can still do something about it. I've had this issue and I can recommend starting to read up on Ubuntu or some type of Linux with a decent user interface. It's easier for starters.
You see, if you don't detect the device via the 'fastboot devices' command, then you have one of two big problems:
a) drivers are messed up - it implies you uninstall everything from Device Manager related to ADB / Bootloader interface. After that, shut off the phone, connect your type-c usb cable, boot up the phone into bootloader and let it install the drivers again (I didn't have much success with this but I read others have. Worth a try)
b) something messed up deeper, as in device permissions. When I had the issue, I used Mint (a Debian distribution) and installed all the drivers via the command line there. After that, when I ran fastboot devices, I got something. It was my lost N5x showing with 'no permissions' and no serial ID. I ran 'sudo fastboot devices' and lo' and behold, I saw the device. After that, I just used sudo fastboot flash recovery/system/etc with it and that was it.

exige34 said:
Hi, since you're communicating with the device via ADB and can boot to recovery, I'm pretty sure you can still do something about it. I've had this issue and I can recommend starting to read up on Ubuntu or some type of Linux with a decent user interface. It's easier for starters.
You see, if you don't detect the device via the 'fastboot devices' command, then you have one of two big problems:
a) drivers are messed up - it implies you uninstall everything from Device Manager related to ADB / Bootloader interface. After that, shut off the phone, connect your type-c usb cable, boot up the phone into bootloader and let it install the drivers again (I didn't have much success with this but I read others have. Worth a try)
b) something messed up deeper, as in device permissions. When I had the issue, I used Mint (a Debian distribution) and installed all the drivers via the command line there. After that, when I ran fastboot devices, I got something. It was my lost N5x showing with 'no permissions' and no serial ID. I ran 'sudo fastboot devices' and lo' and behold, I saw the device. After that, I just used sudo fastboot flash recovery/system/etc with it and that was it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I made some progress: my device is now detected in fastboot. I have literally absolutely no clue what happened. I guess it was a bit of randomness or luck or something (maybe wacky and goofy). I've done some flashing - I've flashed system, boot, recovery, cache, data, and radio, but it's still stuck in a bootloop. I don't know what's going on it with it now, but it seems like I haven't made any progress with fastboot.

ItsMason said:
I think I've done goofed my nexus.
Yesterday, I made a backup of my phone, and then booted it up. Everything was working fine prior to the backup, but as soon as I booted it after making the backup, it got stuck on the google logo. I tried restarting it several times, but it's just been stuck in a bootloop ever since. I've tried numerous things, like formatting it, flashing factory images, and so on, but it turns out fastboot won't detect my device. ADB detects my device fine, but only in recovery. As far as I know, I don't have usb debugging enabled (since I formatted it). It currently has no OS since I formatted it. I've tried installing stock android since formatting it but it still gets stuck in a bootloop.
All my drivers are correct (I've re-installed them probably 10 times by now), and the images aren't corrupted (as far as I know).
I've run out of ideas, as I've been trying to figure this out for the past 2 days with no success. Any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you use 3.02.1. Twrp

Since you mention ADB works fine from recovery, have you tried to adb push a rom zip, and then flash it from your recovery?
Code:
adb push "/path/to/rom.zip" /data/media

ItsMason said:
I made some progress: my device is now detected in fastboot. I have literally absolutely no clue what happened. I guess it was a bit of randomness or luck or something (maybe wacky and goofy). I've done some flashing - I've flashed system, boot, recovery, cache, data, and radio, but it's still stuck in a bootloop. I don't know what's going on it with it now, but it seems like I haven't made any progress with fastboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good. I see you mention flashing system, boot, recovery, cache(?), data(?) and radio. What do you mean by flash cache&data? You mean you've cleaned it? Formatting data is not usually a thing you have to do to recover from a bootloop.
What ROM have you flashed? Are you flashing stock? It's important you give more details so I can help you.
Have you flashed vendor.img? If you have been on a ROM that had it's own vendor.img and you went back to stock, then the vendor.imgs are different enough to cause a bootloop.
If all and all fails, we just want to see your system running so I'd recommend drop everything you are doing and follow these steps:
1. Access recovery (make sure you're using v 3.0.2.2)
2. Tap Wipe - > Advanced Wipe - > And check:
Dalvik / ART Cache
System
Internal Storage
Cache
3. Go to -> Pixel ROM (7.1.1) Get V 3.0 which was just uploaded recently. Please note it comes preconfigured with Gapps so no need to get that
4. You have to unzip the archive and you will see all the necessary img files (includes boot/vendor which are critical for boot). I strongly recommend manually flashing them. You can open the flash-all.bat file with a .txt editor and just follow the steps there.
After you have finished these steps, you should be free of a bootloop. From there, it is your decision where you. Either stay on a stock ROM or flash safely and always remember that you can make a backup and flash that backup in case you bootloop.
Good luck.
EDIT
Decay3 said:
Since you mention ADB works fine from recovery, have you tried to adb push a rom zip, and then flash it from your recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think his problem is deeper than a /system error. I'm guessing the wrong boot/vendor is flashed for the ROM he is trying to install and trying to guess which ROM would work on his current config would take more time than just starting from a clean flash.

Thanks for the help guys, but I gave up. I contacted Google and they sent me a replacement. Sorry for kind of wasting time.

Nexus 5x data recovery

Dear XDA, I could really use your help.
I have a stock LG Nexus 5x (bullhead/7.1.1) which recently started to fail to boot properly as it never loads past the coloured animations on startup and often stops. This sounds like it may be the boot-loop problem.
I have not rooted the phone, unlocked the boot-loader or flashed any recoveries. I have not enabled USB debugging and can't now because it won't boot.
I am looking at my options to recover the data from this phone.
I can get to the fastboot screen (where the fastboot command line tools see the device, but adb does not). I can proceed to the recovery screen and have tried clearing the cache with no luck.
I am considering trying:
Booting a fastboot recovery image
(eg fastboot boot recovery TWRP.img)
Applying a rescue OTA image
Will these methods void the phones warranty?
Will these methods even work (given the bootloader is locked)?
Can the images be recovery images like TWRP or does it have to be some stock/non-custom image?
Does the rescue OTA require adb/usb-debugging to be operational?
Will the data on the phone still be intact using these methods?
As I am cautiously working may way through this to firstly recover my data, secondly recover my phone., any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry to hear that! I'm assuming your files weren't backed up to Google drive.
I don't know a way to recover your data! If you flash a OTA image, it might help fix your phone boot up problem and it will preserve your phone data.
This sucks because the phone is encrypted by default (did you use to enter a password in the middle of phone booting up and the it would continue booting after your password was accepted? If yes, encryption is on). So flashing TWRP won't mean you can see your data.
And it also has USB debugging disabled by default, which means you probably can't mount the internal memory through ADB.
So I would flash a full OTA image before anything else and keep my fingers crossed. Don't flash a full factory image because it will wipe the data and continue!!!
https://developers.google.com/android/ota
Sent from my Nexus 5X using XDA-Developers Legacy app

Commodore 64 said:
Sorry to hear that! I'm assuming your files weren't backed up to Google drive.
I don't know a way to recover your data! If you flash a OTA image, it might help fix your phone boot up problem and it will preserve your phone data.
This sucks because the phone is encrypted by default (did you use to enter a password in the middle of phone booting up and the it would continue booting after your password was accepted? If yes, encryption is on). So flashing TWRP won't mean you can see your data.
And it also has USB debugging disabled by default, which means you probably can't mount the internal memory through ADB.
So I would flash a full OTA image before anything else and keep my fingers crossed. Don't flash a full factory image because it will wipe the data and continue!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately I had not set-up any syncing/backup process on the phone. In the future I will.
Although I don't recall what encryption settings were originally configured, I didn't have to enter a password in the middle of boot, and was only prompted to swipe in. So I think it wasn't encrypted.
So I attempted to sideload an OTA image via:
adb sideload bullhead-ota-n4f26i-06953aec.zip
then rebooted, however the phone still does not successfully boot any further. I must have really broken this one!
Are there any data recovery methods if a factory reset is applied? if I take it in to a repair agent under-warranty, do they typically wipe your data anyway?
Also, do I need to remove this OTA image if I am to return it for repair under warranty?

In a futile/desperate attempt to try to further recover my data, I have attempted to load my Nexus 5X into the stock recovery mode, then experimented with adb when using the 'apply update from adb' option. This exposed a subset of adb commands which appeared to work (eg adb devices, adb sideload etc). I was hoping to be able to run adb shell or adb pull remote local and recover some data... however I only encountered errors.
./adb shell
error: closed
./adb pull /storage/emulated/ /backup
adb: error: connect failed: closed
I assume this is expected (due to the stock recovery adb limitations, but thought it was worth a shot). I am considering exploring the fastboot options (eg fastboot boot recovery recovery.img) I suspect these are also likely to fail/wipe data. Has anyone got any suggestions/ideas or am I just wasting my time?

This just happened to me yesterday, and I got the single file I needed off the phone today. I fought with the thing for hours yesterday. First you have to clear the cache and sideload a new bullhead zip file (as documented elsewhere). That isn't all, though. After several tries, I noticed that I got farther along in the boot if I let the phone sit for a while. So, on the theory that there's a loose solder connection somewhere and/or heat buildup, I put the phone in the freezer for a few hours (not my idea; found it on reddit). This worked, but only if I also tapped the back of the phone with my knuckle before booting. As I said, success today and I'm all smiles. I hope this helps someone else.
The phone, by the way, is bricked as far as I can tell. And my backups are going to be a lot more comprehensive from here on.

Mi Max 3 6/128 SoftBrick - What to Do?

Hello,
I have a Mi Max 3 6GB/128GB which I got from the UK which arrived unlocked and with Global Stable ROM installed which actually updated to V10.3.3.0.PEDMIXM by OTA - I tested.
fastboot getvar anti shows failed, so I assume no Anti Rollback Protection, which I thought a little strange, it being MIUI 10 with (after OTA) June 2019 security patch.
I spent the last couple weeks setting up the phone to my liking (I have 300 apps installed) and finally finished yesterday.
Then I wanted to uninstall some Google/Facebook/Xiaomi bloatware using the excellent "Xiaomi ADB/Fastboot Tools".
I was pretty careful in my opinion to only remove the safe ones (the tool claims to only show you the safe ones) like Music, Video, MiPay, MiCloud, MiForum, MiSIM and all Facebook in the ADB section of the tool.
The I switched in fastboot and thought it would be a good idea to wipe Cache (nothing else).
Upon restart the Mi Max 3 first shows the black boot screen with unlock written at the bottom, then changes to the normal boot boot screen with MIU and the points at the bottom showing that it is busy booting. It stayed there for a while and I thought maybe it was rebuilding the cache and it took that long, but after 30 min still no luck.
Then I fired up the "Xiaomi ADB/Fastboot Tools" on my PC again and it told me the phone was in ADB mode, I could reboot into system mode, where the same thing happened - no progress in booting.
I cannot turn off my phone either, but I can switch from sastem boot (which gets stuck) into fastboot mode via ADB.
Would someone know what's wrong and what I can do to get my phone out of that bootloop while hopefully maintaining all my data and setups, on which I worked for weeks?
Thank you so much for your help!
P.S .: In case it could help: I could read out the phone properties of the Mi Max using the "Xiaomi ADB / Fastboot Tools" while it was softbricked, meaning the ro. init. persist. sys. and dalvik. values of the smartphone. I am happy to post them here, if requested.

Hi,
Do you have an SD card? If so, remove it, because as you cleared the cache, I think it might be a problem with encryption (lost reference).
In your case, I believe a reset will work again, but you will lose application configuration data. Via ADB you can backup files only.
If you do not have unlock bootloader, be very careful as you will not be able to flash TWRP or others.
Good luck!

Thanks, the phone came from the vendor with Global Stable ROM and unlocked. It may be an unofficial unlock, though I was able to install OTAs.
I don't have SDCard.
How can I do ADB backup?
I was able to flash official TWRP just a few minutes but it couldn't access data, maybe because it is encrypted. Now I think I will try and install latest Orange Fox r10 stable, which I think should be able to handle decryption, so that maybe I will be able to get at my date.
Any other advice?

Hi,
Now that you have TWRP, clear cache / dalvik from TWRP and try starting again, maybe start system.
About copy via adb follows a link below:
https://www.lifewire.com/use-minimal-adb-and-fastboot-4582201
in step 2
"
The command to move files from your computer to your phone is adb push.
To move files from your phone to your computer the command is adb pull.
"
Through TWRP you may also be able to back up. Go to (mount partitions) and select all partitions.
Make sure the TWRP MTP option is on, it will allow the device to be mounted via usb on your computer.
I use TWRP I use nijel8, it works very well.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/mi-max-3/development/recovery-twrp-3-2-3-1-nitrogen-t3866084
If you can't launch system, you will have to reinstall the Rom.
Good luck!
PS.
More help for adb.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/help/adb-fastboot-commands-bootloader-kernel-t3597181

Thanks for your advice!
I first used the official TWRP and I was able to flash it and start it.
But then the wipe of cache and dalvik failed.
And I could not mount data etc..
When I tried to repair the file system with TWRP I got error 255 - unable to repair data from fsck.f2fs.
Then I saw in your signature that you use nijel8's TWRP and I read that thread, and I started to understand, that my TWRP errors most likely originate from TWRP not being able to decrypt my partitions.
However, towards the end of the thread it seemed that nijel8 stopped working on that project and then Xiaomi once again changed the encryption in MIUI 10/Pie and so it was recommended first to use an obscure Chinese TWRP and then to move on to Orange Fox Recovery Project, which supposedly can handle the decryption better. So that's what I got and I am just about to install it and see if I can rescue or even repair anything.
If you have any other tips for me, I would be very grateful.

You have explored the possibilities well, at the moment I dont have more options regarding current system recovery / backup.
The encryption error resolves you by formatting the user partition by TWRP, in the option to format f2fs plus the installation of a custom Rom or Xiaomi.eu.
Look for tutorials and other reviews before testing these procedures.
Remember that there is a big achance of your ARB model as well.
Good luck.
PS. You can try dirty flash. Find an recovery Rom same version, and flash via TWRP.