There is hope
I had a similar case.
In the beginning they put the EAD 'on hold' pending I140 approval.
The first time I went, they wouldn't give me an iEAD bc of the 'hold'.
At this point, about a year passed and in the meantime there were FP's on the I485, and an RFE on the I140.
Now, bc I needed the EAD, I went back to the local office. The very friendly officer (of indian heritage!) made some calls to the regional center and found out that the 'hold' had been lifted months ago, but that they just never processed the EAD application. The officer at the processing center informed him that they would pull the case for processing and that we should receive the EAD within two weeks. If I received nothing in two weeks, I should come back to him personally and he could issue an iEAD then.
After two weeks, nothing had happened except for a LUD change on the online system. (we are 60 days after receipt of RFE response at this point)
So I went to the local office early in the morning. When my number came up the officer wasn't in yet, so I asked the officer at the desk to be passed over in order to wait for the friendly indian officer.
When he came in, he recognized me and my wife, took my application and started printing out stuff from the REAL computer system. He ran an IBIS check. When I saw him putting a date in the 'valid until' field on the top of the I765, I almost fainted.
I had to go to another room, get the index print and the photo done, 15 minutes later I walked out with a 8month iEAD !
So what do we learn:
- if they lift the 'hold' they don't automatically issue an EAD
- at times, there are friendly and human people working at CIS
- if you get refused for an iEAD bc your application is 'on hold', keep going back every month or so and try your luck. In the worst case, you wasted another morning.
- ignore the online systems bizarre messages
- an RFE on the underlying I140 doesn't necessarily block you from getting an iEAD
- the call-center is staffed by imbecile morons who have no f___ clue about immigration, the procedures of the service, the legal rights of immigrants etc. Don't waste your time.
- smile and be pleasant, even if you are beeing BS'ed with one of their usual excuses.