[Help] Bricked phone stuck in bootloop

[rafk12]

I have an old Asus Zenfone 4 that randomly got stuck in a boot loop while it was recharging, and now I don't know how to fix it, or even if it is possible to fix. The only thing that still works is fastboot mode (recovery mode doesn't work either, so SD cards are out of question).

I have tried a number of things to factory reset the phone and see if it changes anything, but it seems impossible to unlock its partitions for flashing: commands such as fastboot flashing unlock, fastboot oem asus-go or anything similar just throw errors saying that the command doesn't exist, or if it does, that I don't have permission to run them. For this same reason, I couldn't use things such as TWRP as I can't flash any of the partitions on my phone. Additionally, I have tried to enable adb through fastboot oem, but even though the command is successful, whenever I get the system info, it says that adb debugging is still off.

Does anyone know a way to either unlock this device or factory reset it without unlocking?

 

[OldNoobOne]

Another old-ish device killed by the silent OTA update of the OEM!
The deadly mistake of connecting an old-ish device to OEM servers for fresh install.

 

[OldNoobOne]

Check with unauthorized service centers who have <Miracle Box> if they can flash with fastboot. Or authorized service centers might charge but they could revive the device.

 

[rafk12]

Check with unauthorized service centers who have <Miracle Box> if they can flash with fastboot. Or authorized service centers might charge but they could revive the device.

By what you are saying... Is it actually impossible for me to unlock the bootloader? I have no problem with service centers, but it would be much better and quicker if there was was a way for me to unlock it.

 

[OldNoobOne]

By what you are saying... Is it actually impossible for me to unlock the bootloader? I have no problem with service centers, but it would be much better and quicker if there was was a way for me to unlock it.

I threw away two old chaina phones just because I made the mistake of reflashing the original OS and tried to update from OEM servers..BOOM! Dead Phone!
The moment OEM servers detect an old device connected to their servers for an update, they kill the device so that new devices can be sold in the market, why would this happen to a device which was working perfectly under a Custom ROM before? I dont update the device from OEM channelsbecause OEM might try to kill the device after warranty period, instead I update through the Custom ROM channel.

 

[OldNoobOne]

Maybe some chip got fried while charging the device, among the asian brands shamshung & WonPlus have durable components but other asian brands maximum 4 years before the components like display etc. or even the chipset components begin to fail. Or it could be the OEM update thing too