[Q] HTC One From Amazon Warehouse - Received unlocked and a bit messed up - Pls help

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Mar 12, 2014
9
0
Hello everyone,

Firstly, I’d just like to say that I’m a bit of a noob. However, I’ve spent hours and hours reading through the forum, googling, reading guides, and generally trying to inform myself before writing this. So hopefully I won’t annoy people with my questions :)

My phone is a factory unlocked HTC One from Amazon Warehouse Germany (ie. second hand, but direct from Amazon themselves). The phone looks great and seemed to work fine, but after deciding that I’d like to go rooted, I had my first encounter with the bootloader. This is where I realised that something wasn’t right….

If I access the bootloader (Power+Vol-), it will always perform a factory reset when I exit. It doesn’t matter whether I try to exit using the Reboot or the Power Down options from the fastboot menu. As soon as I power the phone back on, it will always boot up like it’s a brand new phone that needs setting up from scratch. This is a real pain, because I have to complete that basic phone setup every time - just to know whether or not it happens next time.

At one point I noticed that the botloader already has the **Unlocked** message in the top left corner, so I then followed the relevant guides to clear the cache and flash a custom recovery… When I do this (using fastboot flash recovery command) I always get the message that the recovery was sent and flashed OK. But if I try to access the custom recovery, I just come to a screen with a red exclamation mark inside a triangle. The phone will then eventually reboot its self (in a factory reset state again). From what info I can find, the triangle with the red exclamation mark means that the recovery isn’t actually there.

As a last resort I thought I’d try to fix the phone with an RUU, but for that I need a relocked bootloader. So I tried to do this with the “fastboot oem lock” command and got the following message:

(bootloader) Lock successfully...
(bootloader) mipi display off
(bootloader) mipi_dsi_cmds_tx_ext
(bootloader) pm8921_vreg_disable function, vreg_id = 38
(bootloader) pm8921_vreg_disable function, vreg_id = 1
(bootloader) TZ_HTC_SVC_DISABLE ret = 534642044 (0x1FDDFD7C)
(bootloader) Use PSHOLD to reset device.
FAILED (status read failed (Too many links))
finished. total time: 1.165s

Afted the above message shows, the phone restarts its self automatically and boots up in a factory reset state again. The bootloader also remains unlocked.

I’ve attached a screenshot of my bootloader and here are some details of the phone that I got by using “fastboot getvar all” (I removed the IMEI):

(bootloader) version: 0.5
(bootloader) version-bootloader: 1.55.0000
(bootloader) version-baseband: 4A.21.3263.04
(bootloader) version-cpld: None
(bootloader) version-microp: None
(bootloader) version-main: 3.62.401.1
(bootloader) version-misc: PVT SHIP S-ON
(bootloader) serialno: **************
(bootloader) imei: ***************
(bootloader) meid: 00000000000000
(bootloader) product: m7_ul
(bootloader) platform: HBOOT-8064
(bootloader) modelid: PN0710000
(bootloader) cidnum: HTC__102
(bootloader) battery-status: good
(bootloader) battery-voltage: 4295mV
(bootloader) partition-layout: Generic
(bootloader) security: on
(bootloader) build-mode: SHIP
(bootloader) boot-mode: FASTBOOT
(bootloader) commitno-bootloader: dirty-bb768ae1
(bootloader) hbootpreupdate: 11
(bootloader) gencheckpt: 0
all: Done!
finished. total time: 0.047s



After Googling some of the info from the bootloader screen, I noticed that one of the top results is a htc1guru.com guide to resetting your phone back to stock. For that reason I’m thinking that the previous owner might have messed around with the phone, flashed a few custom roms, and then tried to restore the device back to stock before sending it to Amazon for a refund.

I know that I could complain and send the phone back to amazon myself, but the phone is in such immaculate condition (for a used device) that I’d really like to keep it if possible.

Can anyone help me? please?

Thank you,
Craig.
 
Last edited:

mb_guy

Senior Member
Sep 6, 2008
483
109
Winnipeg
Hello everyone,

Firstly, I’d just like to say that I’m a bit of a noob. However, I’ve spent hours and hours reading through the forum, googling, reading guides, and generally trying to inform myself before writing this. So hopefully I won’t annoy people with my questions :)

My phone is a factory unlocked HTC One from Amazon Warehouse Germany (ie. second hand, but direct from Amazon themselves). The phone looks great and seemed to work fine, but after deciding that I’d like to go rooted, I had my first encounter with the bootloader. This is where I realised that something wasn’t right….

If I access the bootloader (Power+Vol-), it will always perform a factory reset when I exit. It doesn’t matter whether I try to exit using the Reboot or the Power Down options from the fastboot menu. As soon as I power the phone back on, it will always boot up like it’s a brand new phone that needs setting up from scratch. This is a real pain, because I have to complete that basic phone setup every time - just to know whether or not it happens next time.

At one point I noticed that the botloader already has the **Unlocked** message in the top left corner, so I then followed the relevant guides to clear the cache and flash a custom recovery… When I do this (using fastboot flash recovery command) I always get the message that the recovery was sent and flashed OK. But if I try to access the custom recovery, I just come to a screen with a red exclamation mark inside a triangle. The phone will then eventually reboot its self (in a factory reset state again). From what info I can find, the triangle with the red exclamation mark means that the recovery isn’t actually there.

As a last resort I thought I’d try to fix the phone with an RUU, but for that I need a relocked bootloader. So I tried to do this with the “fastboot oem lock” command and got the following message:

(bootloader) Lock successfully...
(bootloader) mipi display off
(bootloader) mipi_dsi_cmds_tx_ext
(bootloader) pm8921_vreg_disable function, vreg_id = 38
(bootloader) pm8921_vreg_disable function, vreg_id = 1
(bootloader) TZ_HTC_SVC_DISABLE ret = 534642044 (0x1FDDFD7C)
(bootloader) Use PSHOLD to reset device.
FAILED (status read failed (Too many links))
finished. total time: 1.165s

Afted the above message shows, the phone restarts its self automatically and boots up in a factory reset state again. The bootloader also remains unlocked.

I’ve attached a screenshot of my bootloader and here are some details of the phone that I got by using “fastboot getvar all” (I removed the IMEI):

(bootloader) version: 0.5
(bootloader) version-bootloader: 1.55.0000
(bootloader) version-baseband: 4A.21.3263.04
(bootloader) version-cpld: None
(bootloader) version-microp: None
(bootloader) version-main: 3.62.401.1
(bootloader) version-misc: PVT SHIP S-ON
(bootloader) serialno: FA399W906494
(bootloader) imei:
(bootloader) meid: 00000000000000
(bootloader) product: m7_ul
(bootloader) platform: HBOOT-8064
(bootloader) modelid: PN0710000
(bootloader) cidnum: HTC__102
(bootloader) battery-status: good
(bootloader) battery-voltage: 4295mV
(bootloader) partition-layout: Generic
(bootloader) security: on
(bootloader) build-mode: SHIP
(bootloader) boot-mode: FASTBOOT
(bootloader) commitno-bootloader: dirty-bb768ae1
(bootloader) hbootpreupdate: 11
(bootloader) gencheckpt: 0
all: Done!
finished. total time: 0.047s



After Googling some of the info from the bootloader screen, I noticed that one of the top results is a htc1guru.com guide to resetting your phone back to stock. For that reason I’m thinking that the previous owner might have messed around with the phone, flashed a few custom roms, and then tried to restore the device back to stock before sending it to Amazon for a refund.

I know that I could complain and send the phone back to amazon myself, but the phone is in such immaculate condition (for a used device) that I’d really like to keep it if possible.

Can anyone help me? please?

Thank you,
Craig.

The red triangle is stock recovery. Can you post a fastboot getvar all output, What custom recovery are you trying to flash. Do not relock the boot loader with a custom recovery.
 
Mar 12, 2014
9
0
The red triangle is stock recovery. Can you post a fastboot getvar all output, What custom recovery are you trying to flash. Do not relock the boot loader with a custom recovery.


Thanks. I've tried flashing CWM Touch and TWRP during my various attempts.

I always get the message that the file was sent to the phone and flashed ok,
but when I try to access recovery it still goes to the triangle (stock recovery).

The Getvar all readout is in my first post, but I ran it again just in case:

(bootloader) version: 0.5
(bootloader) version-bootloader: 1.55.0000
(bootloader) version-baseband: 4A.21.3263.04
(bootloader) version-cpld: None
(bootloader) version-microp: None
(bootloader) version-main: 3.62.401.1
(bootloader) version-misc: PVT SHIP S-ON
(bootloader) serialno: *************
(bootloader) imei: ***************
(bootloader) meid: 00000000000000
(bootloader) product: m7_ul
(bootloader) platform: HBOOT-8064
(bootloader) modelid: PN0710000
(bootloader) cidnum: HTC__102
(bootloader) battery-status: good
(bootloader) battery-voltage: 4329mV
(bootloader) partition-layout: Generic
(bootloader) security: on
(bootloader) build-mode: SHIP
(bootloader) boot-mode: FASTBOOT
(bootloader) commitno-bootloader: dirty-bb768ae1
(bootloader) hbootpreupdate: 11
(bootloader) gencheckpt: 0
all: Done!
finished. total time: 0.047s
 
Last edited:

mb_guy

Senior Member
Sep 6, 2008
483
109
Winnipeg
Thanks. I've tried flashing CWM Touch and TWRP during my various attempts.

I always get the message that the file was sent to the phone and flashed ok,
but when I try to access recovery it still goes to the triangle (stock recovery).

The Getvar all readout is in my first post, but I ran it again just in case:

(bootloader) version: 0.5
(bootloader) version-bootloader: 1.55.0000
(bootloader) version-baseband: 4A.21.3263.04
(bootloader) version-cpld: None
(bootloader) version-microp: None
(bootloader) version-main: 3.62.401.1
(bootloader) version-misc: PVT SHIP S-ON
(bootloader) serialno: *************
(bootloader) imei: ***************
(bootloader) meid: 00000000000000
(bootloader) product: m7_ul
(bootloader) platform: HBOOT-8064
(bootloader) modelid: PN0710000
(bootloader) cidnum: HTC__102
(bootloader) battery-status: good
(bootloader) battery-voltage: 4329mV
(bootloader) partition-layout: Generic
(bootloader) security: on
(bootloader) build-mode: SHIP
(bootloader) boot-mode: FASTBOOT
(bootloader) commitno-bootloader: dirty-bb768ae1
(bootloader) hbootpreupdate: 11
(bootloader) gencheckpt: 0
all: Done!
finished. total time: 0.047s

Did you try fastboot clear cache, after flashing twrp
 
Last edited:
Mar 12, 2014
9
0
Did you try fastboot clear cache, after flashing twrp


Yes, I flashed the recovery and then used the command "fastboot erase cache" (fastboot clear cache doesn't seem to do anything) . It does not report any problems at all, but it still goes to the same red triangle when i try to enter recovery. And as usual, the phone will then boot up and is completely factory reset again. I'm so confused :crying:
 

mb_guy

Senior Member
Sep 6, 2008
483
109
Winnipeg
Yes, I flashed the recovery and then used the command "fastboot erase cache" (fastboot clear cache doesn't seem to do anything) . It does not report any problems at all, but it still goes to the same red triangle when i try to enter recovery. And as usual, the phone will then boot up and is completely factory reset again. I'm so confused :crying:

I may have missed this, but what does it say in the system settings about the rom
 
Mar 12, 2014
9
0
The thing that I find so odd with this phone, is that I can't go into the bootloader without it deleting everything and effectively performing a factory reset of the phone. I don't have to do anything in there at all. Just going into the bootloader screen and rebooting is enough to cause it to do this.
 

mb_guy

Senior Member
Sep 6, 2008
483
109
Winnipeg
The thing that I find so odd with this phone, is that I can't go into the bootloader without it deleting everything and effectively performing a factory reset of the phone. I don't have to do anything in there at all. Just going into the bootloader screen and rebooting is enough to cause it to do this.

You might try fix permissions from TWRP
 

LightSpeedIII

Member
Jun 19, 2013
22
3
I would suggest attempting to get s-off via firewater using the temp root method. This should allow you to flash an RUU that has a downgraded hboot, which might fix your problems. Alternatively, if you don't want to get s-off, flash an RUU that has an updated hboot, which should do the same thing.
 
Mar 12, 2014
9
0
I would suggest attempting to get s-off via firewater using the temp root method. This should allow you to flash an RUU that has a downgraded hboot, which might fix your problems. Alternatively, if you don't want to get s-off, flash an RUU that has an updated hboot, which should do the same thing.

Thanks. I haven't tried firewater before, so I will have a read up on how to do that. Unfortunately I can't flash any ruu as things are at the moment, because fastboot oem lock command won't work for some reason. I do ultimately want to be s-off though, so I guess I will have to be careful with newer RUU's.

I will post back my results.
 
Mar 12, 2014
9
0
Thanks. I haven't tried firewater before, so I will have a read up on how to do that. Unfortunately I can't flash any ruu as things are at the moment, because fastboot oem lock command won't work for some reason. I do ultimately want to be s-off though, so I guess I will have to be careful with newer RUU's.

I will post back my results.

OK, well I knew that it wasn't going to work as soon as I executed the first "adb reboot" command. The phone rebooted as expected, but it had also performed a factory reset in the process. Despite this I continued with the instructions, managed to copy the files and obtain temp root, but then the firewater process just terminated at bottle 6. Oh well...