• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help HTC M8 soft or hard brick?

M

mato123

Newbie
Hi guys,

I have a problem with my one m8 at&t, unlocked, and i can only navigate in hboot in hboot & fastboot modes. no htc logo screens or sth like this.
when i try to go to recovery or do factory reset i get three android skaters on the screen for cca 0.2 sec and it returns to fastboot usb mode.

Its friends phone so i dont know what he had done to it, but i just want to make it work again, wiping data is not the problem.. can you tell me what should i do to get recovery( TWRP/ CWM) working, thats all i need for now because im going to s-off later. i tried to do something but it didnt work.

some things i have tried in that order:

1)flashing twrp via fastboot:
C:\adb>fastboot flash recovery C:\adb\openrecovery-twrp-2.8.5.0-m8.img
target reported max download size of 1830727680 bytes
sending 'recovery' (16086 KB)...
OKAY [ 1.438s]
writing 'recovery'...
FAILED (remote: image update error)
finished. total time: 1.500s

2) flashing stock recovery via fastboot( i dont know if i had the right one):
C:\adb>fastboot flash recovery C:\adb\recovery.img
target reported max download size of 1830727680 bytes
sending 'recovery' (14109 KB)...
OKAY [ 1.262s]
writing 'recovery'...
FAILED (remote: image error! (BootMagic check fail))
finished. total time: 1.277s

3) 'booting' same stock recovery- what changed now are 3 android skaters for cca 0.2 sec when i try to enter recovery or start factory reset from bootloader, before it just went to fastboot usb mode.
C:\adb>fastboot boot recovery.img
creating boot image...
creating boot image - 14450688 bytes
downloading 'boot.img'...
OKAY [ 1.273s]
booting...
OKAY [ -0.000s]
finished. total time: 1.273s

Can please anyone help me? Thanks in advance :)

Here is data about the phone:

(bootloader) version: 0.5
(bootloader) version-bootloader: 3.16.0.0000
(bootloader) version-baseband: INVALID_VER_INFO
(bootloader) version-cpld: None
(bootloader) version-microp: None
(bootloader) version-main:
(bootloader) version-misc: PVT SHIP S-ON
(bootloader) serialno: HT.............8
(bootloader) imei: 35...........30
(bootloader) imei2: Not Support
(bootloader) meid: 00000000000000
(bootloader) product: m8_ul_ca
(bootloader) platform: hTCBmsm8974
(bootloader) modelid: 0P6B12000
(bootloader) cidnum: CWS__001
(bootloader) battery-status: good
(bootloader) battery-voltage: 0mV
(bootloader) partition-layout: Generic
(bootloader) security: on
(bootloader) build-mode: SHIP
(bootloader) boot-mode: FASTBOOT
(bootloader) commitno-bootloader: c3d94491
(bootloader) hbootpreupdate: 11
(bootloader) gencheckpt: 0
 
Hmm, im not best placed to help with US phones but a couple of things spring to mind.

Presume fastboot connects OK eg fastboot devices returns serial no.?
What version of the sdk fastboot/adb do you have? May be worthwhile trying latest version.

In case TWRP was a bad download, re-download and check the md5.

Was the temp boot into the stock recovery successful? Sorry, but I couldn't tell if it worked or not. If it worked try temp boot to re-downloaded TWRP?

Fall back might have to be running official RUU exe - if there is one, but there probably will be for AT&T.

But I'd prefer @EarlyMon to take a look here, and get this moved to the ATR sub-forum for you.
 
fastboot works, im pretty sure of this.
no, temp boot failed, i had to restart the phone.
i would like RUU is my last choice as i never used it.

EDIT:
tried re-download TWRP and flash, still the same message
 
Last edited:
Was the phone working when you got it, or is this a result of something else you tried? Just to be clear I'm not criticising here, it is usually also useful to know what folk have done or were trying to do.
 
when my friend gave it to me it was already bricked( i havent done anything to make situation worse). he said his battery died and when he charged it, it booted to hboot.
no problems about criticising, we are here to solve the problem :)
tnx for helping btw

EDIT:
i remembered now, it was bootloader unlocked because he did sim unlock. i dont know any details of how its done or if that has something to do with this. :(
 
I was about to ask whether the bootloader was unlocked (though bootloader unlocking and SIM unlocking are entirely separate things). You definitely need the bootloader unlocked in order to flash recovery, so if it's been relocked you need to unlock it again before that will work.

Conversely, you need to relock the bootloader in order to use an RUU.

That said, he's made a real mess of it somehow: lots of "invalid" or "none" in the information there, no battery data available (it really doesn't have a batter voltage of 0 mV!). I'm amazed it's possible to mess all of that up while still being S-On ;).

You can still get into the bootloader and it still responds to fastboot, so I'd think you'd have a good chance with an RUU. I can see a few ATT KitKat RUUs here, which is what I think you'll need.
 
OK, first things first is the bootloader definitely unlocked - it does say Tampered & Unlocked at the top of the bootloader screen? If you go the ruu route you will need to relock first.

Actually issues with RUU packages are rare. The hardest part for us folks in thebrest of the world can be finding an official signed package to match cid numbers if you are s-on. The US carriers are much better for releasing these.

I had a quick search and there are a few official RUUs available for your phone. Only thing you'll need to consider is not going for the latest one if you are intent on gaining s-off. Been a while since I used Sunshine so not sure if it works with 5.x. Being stock is best bet for success anyway.

On train at the moment so connection isn't great. But either I or someone else will be back.
 
Tnx for your answer.

in att you can see it is unlocked bootloader.
do i need to use kitkat RUU or i can use lolipop- http://www.htc.com/us/support/htc-one-m8-att/news/? what do you suggest?

EDIT:
ok, i now read about 5.x.x RUU, tnx

IMAG0512.jpg
 
just as a precaution.. is RUU safe to do if i relock? it wont do any more damage? :D
if i accidentaly run a wrong RUU it will just exit?
 
ok, i now tried to relock..
this is very weird..

C:\adb>fastboot oem lock
...
(bootloader) [PGFS] partition_update_pgfs: pg1fs_security
(bootloader) [DEBUG] Cmd18 polling status timed out, MCI_STATUS: 0x4C2000
(bootloader) [DEBUG] sdcc_command: sdcc_poll_status error, rc: 2
(bootloader) [SD_HW_ERR] read data fail in CMD18
(bootloader) CMD18: cmd failed
(bootloader) [SD_HW_ERR] SD: Read data fail..
(bootloader) [PG_ERROR] htc_pg_hdr_get(118):
(bootloader) sd_read_sector error
(bootloader) [PG_ERROR] htc_pg_part_hdr_get(170):
(bootloader) htc_pg_hdr_get failed
(bootloader) Lock successfully...
(bootloader) deinit_lcd
(bootloader) mipi display off
(bootloader) mdp_clock_off
(bootloader) turn off fd8c2308 failed 1 times. Try again...
(bootloader) disable_mmss_clk done
(bootloader) pll1_disable done
(bootloader) TZ_HTC_SVC_DISABLE ret = 536739196 (0x1FFDFD7C)
(bootloader) [CRITICAL] SPMI write command failure: cmd_id =
0, error
(bootloader) = 4
(bootloader) [CRITICAL] SPMI write command failure: cmd_id =
0, error
(bootloader) = 4
(bootloader) [INFO] Rebooting device
FAILED (status read failed (No such file or directory))
finished. total time: 1.244s
 
it rebooted, and i can hear it connects and disconnects to pc with screen off about 5 times before booting to bootloader
 
mato123 said:
just as a precaution.. is RUU safe to do if i relock? it wont do any more damage? :D
if i accidentaly run a wrong RUU it will just exit?
Click to expand...
Yes, safe as long as you get the ruu specific to your phone model and carrier.

You'll have to try hard to mess the phone up any more than your mate already has, short of a hard brick. It is a very good thing that you can still access the bootloader [emoji1] and I reckon an ruu is the best option.
 
i tried second time to unlock, now it says:

C:\adb>fastboot oem lock
...
(bootloader) [PGFS] partition_update_pgfs: pg1fs_security
(bootloader) [DEBUG] Cmd18 polling status timed out, MCI_STATUS: 0x4C2000
(bootloader) [DEBUG] sdcc_command: sdcc_poll_status error, rc: 2
(bootloader) [SD_HW_ERR] read data fail in CMD18
(bootloader) CMD18: cmd failed
(bootloader) [SD_HW_ERR] SD: Read data fail..
(bootloader) [PG_ERROR] htc_pg_hdr_get(118):
(bootloader) sd_read_sector error
(bootloader) [PG_ERROR] htc_pg_part_hdr_get(170):
(bootloader) htc_pg_hdr_get failed
(bootloader) Lock successfully...
(bootloader) deinit_lcd
(bootloader) mipi display off
(bootloader) mdp_clock_off
(bootloader) turn off fd8c2308 failed 1 times. Try again...
(bootloader) disable_mmss_clk done
(bootloader) pll1_disable done
(bootloader) TZ_HTC_SVC_DISABLE ret = 536739196 (0x1FFDFD7C)
(bootloader) [CRITICAL] SPMI write command failure: cmd_id =
0, error
(bootloader) = 4
(bootloader) [CRITICAL] SPMI write command failure: cmd_id =
0, error
(bootloader) = 4
(bootloader) [INFO] Rebooting device
FAILED (status read failed (Too many links))
finished. total time: 1.122s
 
Nope, this looks to be pretty messed up. I'd hang fire as we need some input from the experts. Don't be tempted to do anything else at the moment, until we can take stock.
 
No, you can't. You're not annoying, and phone isn't totally terminal yet.

First, after trying the relock did you reboot the bootloader - can you do:

fastboot reboot-bootloader

hopefully, this will show the status as Relocked.

Some of the messages after the lock command are normal, but you have extra errors. I think the SD_HW_ERR is because the bootloader can't see/access the phone's internal storage (to wipe it, which is what the lock/relock would do) which suggests a partition problem - possible corruption.

I'm tempted to suggest trying an RUU exe anyway, as it is the only method that has a chance of sorting out any partition issues - otherwise it may be a case of having to return to AT&T or HTC to fix.

I should note there are no guarantees with this, just so you're aware.

Unfortunately the RUU will not run if it detects the bootloader as still being unlocked, but given the phone is a bit messed up, it may be showing incorrect state on-screen.

I would be tempted to try this one first, but ultimately it's up to you:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/att-htc-one-m8/general/htc-one-m8-ruu-m8ul-4-4-3-t2860423

As if it gets so far and then fails, we could try another method through HBOOT and using the 4.4.3 zip file from this thread

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2751432

under the RUUs where it says "Bootable RUUs (no pc required)".

Reason for trying with 4.4.3 first is there isn't a later version of the Bootable RUU, at least that I could find. If you go with a later exe version and it does manage to update say the bootloader but then stops, because the phone isn't s-off you can't roll back on the firmware so the older Bootable RUU is then taken out as an option.

To use the Bootable RUU, you need to download the file and rename it to 0P6BIMG.zip (first character is a zero, fifth is capital letter I) and copy it to the root directory of your micro sd card i.e. not in a folder. Put micro sd card into phone, and from bootloader use vol down to select HBOOT in the menu (will be highlighted blue), then press power to select. HBOOT should then load, recognise the RUU zip file and start update process.

Like I say I'd still like one of the other guys to input on this, and if it were me I'd wait a few to see if they drop by - but tools are they if you decide to go ahead and try it anyway.
 
ok, i tried to fastboot reboot-bootloader and it says:
C:\adb>fastboot reboot-bootloader
rebooting into bootloader...
OKAY [ -0.000s]
finished. total time: -0.000s

after cca 1 min reboot- which seems like a longer wait than usual- again ***UNLOCKED***

I started official HTC kitkat 4.4.4. RUU downloaded from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2751432 here because i downloaded it yesterday.
it says this:
Capture.PNG


and after trying to enter bootloader- again cca 1 minute wait- it enters bootloader fastboot usb mode and after 15 secs it says this:
Capture1.PNG


just started to download bootable RUU- 4.4.3. as you suggested.
when it finishes, i will wait for someone elses input.

maybe you already realised im not a native english speaker as i dont live in USA or UK so i apologise on my english and returning to AT&T oversees costs too much for me :)

EDIT: i read bootable RUU can be done only if im ***LOCKED***
 
Last edited:
You English is good, probably better than mine [emoji4]

The lack of a USB connection points to driver issues. Odd since you heard the phone connect noises. When plugged in do you see FASTBOOT USB on the bootloader screen?

It may be worthwhile downloading a couple of things. Will dig out some links.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom