Fixed: Zenfone 2 stuck in recovery after wipe cache partition

oday I decided to wipe the cache partition of my Zenfone 2 because it was getting too slow. I thought this was going to be straightforward process but I would soon be proven wrong. Because the wiping was taking too long, I switched the Zenfone 2 off midway into wiping the cache partition. On reboot my device got stuck only showing a green sleeping(Dead) Android logo with an error! message. The error message would just flashing constantly and nothing would happen when I try to enter the recovery by the usual method of pressing power + volume up at the same time and then releasing it. I thought it was just a minor bug and I could easily solve it by switching off and again booting into recovery. Again, I just got a dead Android and couldn’t access the recovery options. However, since I could still boot into fastboot, I knew all hope wasn’t lost. Finally I was able to fix the problem by connecting the phone to my PC and running some Fastboot commands. If you are having this problem of a dead Zenfone 2 after using the wipe cache partition option in the recovery, here is how you can fix it:

How to fix Zenfone 2 Wipe Cache Partition Recovery Error

Before you begin, I really hope you have sufficient charge on your Zenfone 2. I had about 30% left before I messed up the recovery. If you have zero charge and your phone is not able to charge, you may not be able to use the below steps.

1. Install ADB/Fastboot drivers in your PC 
• Note: You may have to turn off your antivirus because it may detect the adb files as a malware.
2. Install Intel USB drivers for Android devices from here
3. Down these stock recovery and boot images from here (not sure if you really need them)
   boot.img | droidboot.img | recovery.img
4. Copy all of the img files to the same folder where the adb and fastboot files are located
5. Reboot Zenfone 2 in fastboot by pressing power + volume up key (Release volume up after the ASUS logo appears). Fastboot menu is basically the first menu from which you can choose Recovery. But don’t go into recovery yet.
6. Now connect you Zenfone 2 to your PC via USB
7. If you have installed the USB driver, the Zenfone 2 will be detected as an Android Device
8. Open Command Prompt and navigate to the folder where the adb and fastboot files are located
9. Run this command- Fastboot devices which checks whether your device is detected or not
10. Now run these commands one by one: 
• Fastboot erase cache 
• fastboot flash fastboot droidboot.img 
• fastboot flash recovery recovery.img 
• fastboot flash boot boot.img 

Note that you will get the "permission denied" error with each of these commands. Despite the errors my Zenfone 2 was fixed because after running these commands I could finally access the recovery menu. After completing the above commands, disconnect your Zenfone 2 and then go to recovery menu by using the volume key and then pressing power key to select it. Now you will notice that the sleeping android logo with error message is no longer blinking or flashing. Press and hold power button, then (while holding power button) press Volume up key and release it and then release the power button. It should now take you to the recovery menu. If that didn’t work try this: press power button + Volume and release the buttons at the same time.

Now you will finally see the recovery menu. Use the volume keys to highlight “Wipe Cache Partition” and this press the power button to select it. Wait till the wipe cache partition is completed. Now reboot the device and your ASUS Zenfone 2 will come back to life.

I hope my tip will help a lot of people who are experiencing the same dead Zenfone 2 issue after wiping the cache partition. Many people who went through this problem think they have bricked their Zenfone 2 for good but as you can see it’s actually very easily fixed.