Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G renoir stuck in Fastboot, slot A unbootable, bootloader locked, need to recover photos

[ankudev]

Hello,

I need help with a Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G, codename renoir. The main goal is data recovery, especially photos. I do not want to wipe the phone, unlock the bootloader, or flash anything that touches userdata or metadata.

Current situation:

The phone boots only into Fastboot. From the Fastboot menu, selecting Recovery Mode makes the phone turn off/vibrate and then return to Fastboot. The same happens with Boot to QMMI. Recovery using Volume Up + Power also returns to Fastboot.

Important fastboot info:

product: renoir
secure: yes
unlocked: no
Device unlocked: false
Device critical unlocked: false
variant: SM_ UFS
current-slot: a
slot-unbootable:a: yes
slot-successful:a: no
slot-retry-count:a: 0
slot-unbootable:b: no
slot-successful:b: no
slot-retry-count:b: 0
is-userspace: no

The phone refuses to change slot because the bootloader is locked:

fastboot set_active b
FAILED (remote: 'Slot Change is not allowed in Lock State')

fastboot --set-active=b
FAILED (remote: 'Slot Change is not allowed in Lock State')

fastboot oem set_active b
FAILED (remote: 'unknown command')

Trying to continue boot fails:

fastboot continue
FAILED (remote: 'Failed to load image from partition: Load Error')

Trying to boot into userspace fastboot also fails:

fastboot reboot fastboot
fastboot: error: Failed to boot into userspace fastboot; one or more components might be unbootable.

I also tried to backup misc, but this fastboot does not support fetch:

fastboot fetch misc misc_backup.img
fastboot: error: Unable to get max-fetch-size. Device does not support fetch command.

Trying to erase misc is blocked too:

fastboot erase misc
FAILED (remote: 'Erase is not allowed in Lock State')

What I have NOT done:

I have not wiped data.
I have not unlocked the bootloader.
I have not flashed any ROM.
I have not erased userdata.
I have not erased metadata.
I have not used MiFlash clean all.

Question:

Is there any safe way to make the phone boot from slot B, repair boot metadata, or repair the boot/vendor_boot/vbmeta state without wiping userdata and metadata?

Would EDL/Qualcomm 9008 help in this case, assuming it is done as a data-preserving repair and not a clean flash?

I understand that chip-off UFS is probably useless because of Android encryption. I want to keep the original board and make the current encrypted userdata bootable again, so I can unlock the phone normally and copy the photos.

Any advice from people familiar with Xiaomi A/B slots, locked bootloader, renoir, or EDL data-preserving repair would be appreciated.

 

[hyperunlock]

Hello,

I need help with a Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G, codename renoir. The main goal is data recovery, especially photos. I do not want to wipe the phone, unlock the bootloader, or flash anything that touches userdata or metadata.

Current situation:

The phone boots only into Fastboot. From the Fastboot menu, selecting Recovery Mode makes the phone turn off/vibrate and then return to Fastboot. The same happens with Boot to QMMI. Recovery using Volume Up + Power also returns to Fastboot.

Important fastboot info:

product: renoir
secure: yes
unlocked: no
Device unlocked: false
Device critical unlocked: false
variant: SM_ UFS
current-slot: a
slot-unbootable:a: yes
slot-successful:a: no
slot-retry-count:a: 0
slot-unbootable:b: no
slot-successful:b: no
slot-retry-count:b: 0
is-userspace: no

The phone refuses to change slot because the bootloader is locked:

fastboot set_active b
FAILED (remote: 'Slot Change is not allowed in Lock State')

fastboot --set-active=b
FAILED (remote: 'Slot Change is not allowed in Lock State')

fastboot oem set_active b
FAILED (remote: 'unknown command')

Trying to continue boot fails:

fastboot continue
FAILED (remote: 'Failed to load image from partition: Load Error')

Trying to boot into userspace fastboot also fails:

fastboot reboot fastboot
fastboot: error: Failed to boot into userspace fastboot; one or more components might be unbootable.

I also tried to backup misc, but this fastboot does not support fetch:

fastboot fetch misc misc_backup.img
fastboot: error: Unable to get max-fetch-size. Device does not support fetch command.

Trying to erase misc is blocked too:

fastboot erase misc
FAILED (remote: 'Erase is not allowed in Lock State')

What I have NOT done:

I have not wiped data.
I have not unlocked the bootloader.
I have not flashed any ROM.
I have not erased userdata.
I have not erased metadata.
I have not used MiFlash clean all.

Question:

Is there any safe way to make the phone boot from slot B, repair boot metadata, or repair the boot/vendor_boot/vbmeta state without wiping userdata and metadata?

Would EDL/Qualcomm 9008 help in this case, assuming it is done as a data-preserving repair and not a clean flash?

I understand that chip-off UFS is probably useless because of Android encryption. I want to keep the original board and make the current encrypted userdata bootable again, so I can unlock the phone normally and copy the photos.

Any advice from people familiar with Xiaomi A/B slots, locked bootloader, renoir, or EDL data-preserving repair would be appreciated.

What happened BEFORE the brick?

 

[ankudev]

Honestly, nothing unusual happened before the brick.
The phone was used normally, like always. It was connected to the charger, then left overnight. After that, it ended up in this Fastboot only state.
No flashing, no unlocking, no rooting, no ROM change, no manual update, no wipe, no messing with partitions. Just normal daily use and charging overnight.