If your device’s stuck in fastboot screen or if you want to know how to recover any Xiaomi device from fastboot screen, this is the article for you. There are many reason behind this but most common one is corrupted software.
Why are Xiaomi devices stuck at fastboot?
When an Android device is booted up, the system bootloader, which is either in the ROM or on the motherboard, looks for a boot image to boot the device from. When the device is initially manufactured, the bootloader is signed with the device’s manufacturer’s key. The bootloader places the system image it finds in the boot partition (a hidden partition on the device) and starts the device booting from the system image. If the system partition or any other partition has been tampered with, the bootloader will try to load the related partitions using the boot partition but fail and this will cause the device to enter fastboot and be stuck there.
Recover any Xiaomi device without reflashing
For some reason your device might boot into fastboot interface with working software or you accidentally powered on your phone while you were also holding volume down button. If this is the case, just press and hold power button for 10 seconds and your device should boot as if nothing ever happened. However, if there is an inconsistency with the way your partitions are filled or set due to a wrong or bugged software flashed on the device, you will have to reflash the stock software.
Recover any Xiaomi device using Mi Recovery
Sometimes, being stuck at fastboot stems from userdata inconsistency with the ROM installed on your device, meaning you will have to start fresh in order for system to boot. In such cases, you can try your luck with wiping user data. This process will wipe your data so be aware.
In order to wipe data in recovery:
- Press and hold volume up and power buttons at the same time.
- Let go of power button when you see the Mi Logo but keep pressing volume up.
- You should see Xiaomi’s Mi Recovery Interface.
- Press volume down button to select Wipe Data option and press the power button enter.
- Wipe All Data should be selected by default, press the power button again.
- Use volume down to select Confirm and press the power button once again to wipe data.
Recover any Xiaomi device using MiFlash
If previous solutions weren’t helpful, unfortunately you have to flash your device MiFlash tool. It’s pretty straightforward process, so you can do this yourself or with someone you know who is good with computers. A computer and a USB are all you need. It is usually safe but please follow guide below carefully. Doing something wrong can and will brick your device beyond repair.
In order to flash stock software via Mi Flash:
- Find and download correct Fastboot ROM for your device from MIUI Downloader app. If you don’t know about this app or how to use it, check out How to download latest MIUI for your device content.
- Download MiFlash tool from here.
- Extract both of them using WinRAR or 7z.
- Run XiaoMiFlash.exe
- Click “Select” button on top left corner.
- Navigate to folder where you extracted Fastboot ROM that you downloaded in first step.
- Select folder and make sure it contains images folder and .bat file
- Connect your device to computer.
- Click “Refresh” button
- MiFlash tool should recognize your device.
- There are options on bottom right of MiFlash window, I recommend selecting “clean all” but you can select “save user data” if you have important files on your device’s storage that you want to save them. Don’t select clean all and lock!
- Click “Flash” and wait patiently, tool should reboot your phone automatically. Don’t disconnect your device during this process, doing so may brick your device.
- Your device should boot back to MIUI. If you had selected “clean all”, complete the Setup Wizard steps.
If MiFlash doesn’t recognize your device, check Driver tab and install all the drivers in that section.
Verdict
Recovering Xiaomi devices that are stuck at fastboot screen more often than not requires flashing stock firmware and mostly caused by flashing a faulty ROM. However, using the methods in this article will certainly fix this issue.