Why does this file prevents me from merging my branch?

I have a Git repo with LFS installed and working properly. On my dev branch, I renamed an image file (tracked by LFS) from NoMedal-Fade.png to None-Fade.png with the Windows file Explorer. I committed, pushed onto GitLab, and it went great.

Then, in another instance of this repo on my computer (this repo is on another branch called production/foo, I ran git fetch, and git merge origin/dev to get and merge the modifications I just made in the other instance. This is where I have troubles understanding what's happening: the merging failed with this error:

error: add_cacheinfo failed to refresh for path '■■■■/■■■■/■■■■/■■■■/■■■■/■■■■/None-Fade.png'; merge aborting.

And this added the new file in the unstaged modifications:

Changes not staged for commit:
  (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
  (use "git restore <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
        modified:   ■■■■/■■■■/■■■■/■■■■/■■■■/■■■■/None-Fade.png

In my incomprehension, I tried to git reset --hard, but the file was still here. I tried to git checkout <file path>, but the file was still here. I deleted the instance, cloned back, and tried again the same process, still same problem. I tried to stage the file I wanted to have, committed it and pushed it. Now the file doesn't show up anymore in the unstaged files list, but i still can't merge because of this same error aforementioned (add_cacheinfo). Finally, a friend of mine told me to try git config core.fscache false before merging, unfortunately, nothing changed (same for global config).

PS C:\Users\■■■■> git --version
git version 2.24.0.windows.2

Solution

Okay so the only thing I found was to reset the branches before the file was renamed, with git reset --hard <commit hash before rename> and git push origin <remote branch>:<local branch> --force to update the remote.

WARNING: keep in mind that this latter command is very dangerous if you work with several people. Given that I'm the only one with a friend on this project, it was easy to tell him to clone the project back and avoid bigger errors.

After having erased from the history the faulty commits, I renamed the file once again with git mv <file name> <new file name> instead of using Windows' file explorer. It worked well, apparently, I have no more issue with the file.

But still, this is not a real solution to the issue, more like a workaround. I'll keep my answer as the best solution until someone finds something else.