u/TechnicalMidnight218

Hi everyone,

I'm new to Android modding and custom ROMs, and I think I've soft-bricked my Redmi 9A.

What happened:

I was preparing to install a custom ROM.

I entered recovery mode.

I selected "Wipe all data."

Then I rebooted the phone.

After that, the phone no longer boots into Android.

The good news is that I can still enter:

Fastboot mode

Recovery mode

So I believe it's a soft brick rather than a hard brick.

I haven't unlocked the bootloader successfully yet, and I'm trying to understand what my recovery options are.

My questions are:

Is this definitely a soft brick?

Can this usually be recovered without replacing hardware?

Should I continue trying to recover it myself, or is it better to let the Xiaomi service center fix it? (They quoted me around ₹177.)

Once it's fixed, would you recommend continuing with the Redmi 9A for learning custom ROMs, or switching to another phone like a Samsung Galaxy A13 4G if it has good ROM support?

I'm trying to learn properly rather than blindly following tutorials, so I'd really appreciate any advice or explanations.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I'm new to Android modding and custom ROMs, and I think I've soft-bricked my Redmi 9A.

What happened:

I was preparing to install a custom ROM.

I entered recovery mode.

I selected "Wipe all data."

Then I rebooted the phone.

After that, the phone no longer boots into Android.

The good news is that I can still enter:

Fastboot mode

Recovery mode

So I believe it's a soft brick rather than a hard brick.

I haven't unlocked the bootloader successfully yet, and I'm trying to understand what my recovery options are.

My questions are:

1. Is this definitely a soft brick?

2. Can this usually be recovered without replacing hardware?

3. Should I continue trying to recover it myself, or is it better to let the Xiaomi service center fix it? (They quoted me around ₹177.)

4. Once it's fixed, would you recommend continuing with the Redmi 9A for learning custom ROMs, or switching to another phone like a Samsung Galaxy A13 4G if it has good ROM support?

I'm trying to learn properly rather than blindly following tutorials, so I'd really appreciate any advice or explanations.

Thanks!

I installed Linux Mint yesterday and I really want to learn how to use the Linux command line properly. I tried watching YouTube videos to understand it, but honestly I feel lost because most of them move too fast or assume I already know the basics. Could you guys suggest beginner-friendly resources or ways to actually learn and remember Linux commands? Also, which commands should I focus on first as a complete beginner? I’ve also seen some people suggest intentionally breaking stuff (like drivers or configs) until you can’t even log into your PC anymore just to learn how to fix things. Is that actually a good way to learn Linux, or is it too extreme for a beginner?

Any advice would really help. Thanks!

I have an old ThinkPad with pretty poor battery life, and I’m thinking of upgrading it instead of buying a new laptop. Right now it has 12GB RAM and around 500GB SSD storage.

I’m planning to install Linux Mint since I’m a complete beginner to Linux, and I’ve heard it’s one of the best beginner-friendly distros.

I mainly want recommendations for:

A good replacement battery

Whether I should upgrade the RAM further or keep it at 12GB

Any SSD/storage upgrades worth doing

General modifications or tweaks to make the ThinkPad run better with Linux Mint

I’ll mostly use it for learning Linux, kernel level programming, web browsing, media, and maybe some creative work.

Would love to hear your suggestions and beginner tips for using Linux Mint on an older ThinkPad. Thanks