Just trying to figure out if my phone is recoverable - can't boot after root attempt

[dskater411]

Feel free to scold me, I'm not too upset but would like to fix the phone if it is possible.

Background - Phone is a Moto G4 16gb, XT1625, running android 7.0 nougat. Phone resets a lot so before replacing it I thought I would try rooting and loading a different ROM to see if it helped. I followed THIS guide:
https://theunlockr.com/root-motorola-moto-g4-moto-g4-plus/
I successfully unlocked and flashed TWRP recovery. I then tried to flash supersu v2.82 as a zip through TWRP, and upon completion the phone no longer boots up.

I can access the bootloader and and access TWRP recovery, but otherwise wiping data/factory reset or re-flashing supersu does nothing. I also tried flashing supersu as a systemless root install. I just get a black screen and a flashing white led at the bottom when charging/trying to power on. I only after the fact happened to read something about an elementalx kernel for nougat so I'm thinking maybe this was the problem.

I this a hard brick or a soft brick or just in an unbootable state? Is there a way to recover? Thanks.

 

[dskater411]

Update, after playing around with it all morning I was able to get it back to booting by first flashing the el;ementalx kernel, then downloading and flashing the latest beta release of SuperSU, and then wiping dalvik cache. Not sure exactly which step cured it but in case anyone searches and finds this thread.

 

[echo92]

Update, after playing around with it all morning I was able to get it back to booting by first flashing the el;ementalx kernel, then downloading and flashing the latest beta release of SuperSU, and then wiping dalvik cache. Not sure exactly which step cured it but in case anyone searches and finds this thread.

Glad to hear you got your device fixed. For future reference, it's likely the ElementalX kernel that got you out - with stock Nougat on our devices, you can't root the stock Motorola kernel. You'll soft brick your device otherwise.

The problem with those guides is that they often don't mention that step - whilst the procedure may work for our devices with Marshmallow and Oreo, it just won't work for Nougat. Also, that article is over 2 years old, before we got Nougat onto our devices. If you wanted to flash a custom ROM, root is not needed, you just need an unlocked bootloader and TWRP.

As an aside, SuperSU is obselete, and likely abandoned by its developer. You may wish to flash magisk as your root solution, which would necessitate uninstalling SuperSU, reflashing the stock Motorola kernel and then ElementalX, then magisk.