PLEASE HELP Moto G4 fastboot broken I wanted to fresh wipe my phone with a stock ROM, and well I really messed up. My bootloader was  unlocked, and like the stupid me I am, I believe I accidentally locked it again. Now, when trying to re-unlock it using 

     fastboot oem unlock UNIQUE_KEY


I get the error: 

     (bootloader) invalid boot state


That would be fine, if 
I could boot up; when I boot up, I get a "start up failed" on my device. The absolute worst part is that I cannot flash anything, not even the stock ".img". When trying to flash anything, I get the error

    target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
    sending 'recovery' (13798 KB)...
    OKAY [  0.468s]
    writing 'recovery'...
    (bootloader) Image recovery failed validation

    (bootloader) Preflash validation failed
    FAILED (remote failure)
    finished. total time: 0.530s


Any help would be greatly appreciated! I hope I can get my phone back and running again soon, thanks!



P.S. my fastboot getvar all returns :

    (bootloader) version: 0.5
    (bootloader) version-bootloader: moto-msm8952-B1.05
    (bootloader) product: athene_13mp
    (bootloader) board: athene_13mp
    (bootloader) secure: yes
    (bootloader) hwrev: P2A
    (bootloader) radio: 1
    (bootloader) storage-type: emmc
    (bootloader) emmc: 16GB SKHYNIX HAG4a2 RV=08 PV=E4 FV=00000000000000E4
    (bootloader) ram: 2GB SKHYNIX LP3 DIE=8Gb M5=06 M6=03 M7=00 M8=1F
    (bootloader) cpu: MSM8952
    (bootloader) serialno: -----
    (bootloader) cid: 0x0032
    (bootloader) channelid: 0x8d
    (bootloader) uid: BC936D0100000000000000000000
    (bootloader) securestate: flashing_unlocked
    (bootloader) iswarrantyvoid: yes
    (bootloader) max-download-size: 536870912
    (bootloader) reason: Volume down key pressed
    (bootloader) imei: -----
    (bootloader) meid:
    (bootloader) date: 10-30-2016
    (bootloader) sku: XT1625
    (bootloader) battid: SNN5970A
    (bootloader) iccid:
    (bootloader) cust_md5:
    (bootloader) max-sparse-size: 268435456
    (bootloader) current-time: "Mon May 23 20: 8:35 UTC 2016"
    (bootloader) ro.build.fingerprint[0]: motorola/athene/athene:7.0/NPJS25.
    (bootloader) ro.build.fingerprint[1]: 93-14-4/4:user/release-keys
    (bootloader) ro.build.version.full[0]: Blur_Version.25.201.4.athene.reta
    (bootloader) ro.build.version.full[1]: il.en.US
    (bootloader) ro.build.version.qcom: LA.BR.1.3.6-01710-8976.0
    (bootloader) version-baseband: M8952_70030.25.03.62R ATHENE_RETUSA_CUST
    (bootloader) kernel.version[0]: Linux version 3.10.84-ElementalX-G4-1.04
    (bootloader) kernel.version[1]:  (aaron@bella) (gcc version 4.9.4 201506
    (bootloader) kernel.version[2]: 29 (prerelease) (crosstool-NG 1.20.0 - L
    (bootloader) kernel.version[3]: inaro GCC 2015.06 - Cortex-A15) ) #1 SMP
    (bootloader) kernel.version[4]:  PREEMPT Sat Mar 11 14:16:55 EST 2017
    (bootloader) sbl1.git: git=MBM-NG-VB1.03-0-ge433b40
    (bootloader) rpm.git: git=a970ead
    (bootloader) tz.git: git=119e5b2-dirty
    (bootloader) hyp.git: git=119e5b2-dirty
    (bootloader) keymaster.git: git=119e5b2-dirty
    (bootloader) cmnlib.git: git=119e5b2-dirty
    (bootloader) aboot.git: git=MBM-NG-VB1.05-0-g8a1de8c
    (bootloader) qe: qe 0/1
    (bootloader) frp-state: no protection (75)
    (bootloader) ro.carrier: retus
    all: listed above
    finished. total time: 0.206s
Your "Invalid Bootloader State" is because your device is already unlocked. You cannot unlock it again.

Moto devices do not support downgrading officially. Preflash Validation is an error that means the images you attempting to flash is older than what is already installed. You need to flash an image that is at least version NPJS25.93-14-4 or newer. A good source for Moto firmware images is firmware.center at https://firmware.center/firmware/Motorola/

Inside the image is a file called flashfile.xml which will contain the steps necessary to properly flash the image with fastboot.