htc ONE M9 slow data after OTA update

[JeffinCA]

I bought a brand new, sealed-in-box htc ONE M9 on eBay a couple years ago. While it doesn't carry the Sprint logo, it was advertised as being a Sprint phone. Additionally, I had no problem registering the phone with Ecomobile (at the time, a Sprint-only MVNO).

After the last OTA update, my data is very, very slow (0.01 Mbps, typically), even though WiFi has no problem. I have horrendous problems with MMS (especially with pictures; SMS is fine).

I spent nearly an hour in chat with htc Support following various advice for fixing the problem. None of them worked.

The support tech finally checked the IMEA I had provided and told me the phone was "made in Taiwan". I took this to mean that it is a gray market phone not intended for the US market. That seems unlikely as CDMA is only used in the United States and, as I said, it works with Sprint here in the USA.

The thing is, the phone worked just fine until the last update (4.27.651.4 took it to Android 7.0), but htc Support cannot provide me with anything other than the latest RUU for the OTA update.

The phone is not rooted and there is no custom recovery (didn't feel the need as I had enough memory to add all the apps I typically use). I tried running the RUU from my computer, but that failed (repeatedly).

I went to htcdev and found several possible binaries that I could put on the memory card and install, but I don't know how to determine which one I should use. There are two with Android 7.0, but they are both for generic, unlocked phones. There are two binaries for Sprint, but they are both Android 6.0. The unlocked Developer's Edition update with a World Wide Enabled is also V6.0 (but that seems like it would be GSM, being World Wide and all).

I'd prefer to update instead of just giving up and restoring the phone to Factory. What do you suggest?

Thanks in advance,

Jeff

 

[Hadron]

"Made in Taiwan" just means that it's a real HTC - that's where HTC are based and have their factories.

I was considering suggesting a factory reset, but from your comment on this I think I need to clarify what this means and why it might (stress might) help. A factory reset will not undo the update. All it does is wipe the phone (i.e. erase user data and user-installed apps). However, that might still help: an OTA update is a "patch" rather than a full replacement, and sometimes things might be left in the system caches that are not fully compatible. This is more likely if it is a major OS version update, as this one was. Now you can clean the system cache partition by booting into recovery mode and selecting the clear cache option from there, and if you've not done that it's worth trying. But there's another, the "ART cache", which contains parts of apps created during installation, and with stock software you cannot clear that without doing a factory reset. It is possible that doing a reset, effectively giving you a "clean start" after the update, may fix your problem. It's also possible that it won't, in which case you go through the hassle of backing-up and reinstalling for nothing. But if you were prepared to use an RUU then those would reset the phone anyway.

If you want to do a complete clean install you can download the full update from here: http://www.htc.com/us/support/htc-one-m9-sprint/news/. The download link at the bottom of the page is a full RUU for the same release you have, which is the latest software for a Sprint M9 (and the fact that you received this update confirms that yours is a real Sprint M9). There's no way of rolling back to an earlier release unless you have modified the phone to turn off software security ("S-Off" in the jargon), so a clean install of the same software is the best you can do otherwise. I'd think that there would have been many protests if this update had that effect generally, so I would think it must be a glitch in updating your particular phone.

 

[JeffinCA]

Regarding your "Made in Taiwan" explanation: It seems unlikely that htc Support would tell me that the reason my update failed is because I have a "real HTC". Far more likely they were telling me this as an explanation for why the OTA update failed.

The advice given me by htc Support included wiping the System Cache and having my service provider re-initialize the phone. Neither helped. I also cleared app memory (but not the "ART cache" as you described it).

Installing via the RUU from my PC fails, so I'd prefer one of the ZIP or TAR files I have found on htcdev.com, but I don't know which one to use as none of them seem to be the correct choice, based on their descriptions.

 

[JeffinCA]

Here's a follow-up (still with no satisfactory resolution).

I did the complete wipe back to 'Factory' (which isn't really true, because I still have the latest OTA installed). Did not have to re-configure my phone with my provider, so that's a minor plus.

Something I had never seen before are failure notifications from "Sprint ID". This app doesn't show up in the 'table of contents', but it is listed under Settings / Apps. So, I have no idea if this is new with the latest OTA or if the Block All setting under Notifications was changed.

The operational changes I have noticed after resetting to 'Factory' are:
1) My data transfer speed has doubled, from an unacceptable 0.01 Mbps to an equally unacceptable 0.02 Mbps.
2) GPS locks are much faster (okay... this I don't mind).

I am considering installing a different RUU, but don't know where to try. Sprint and htc say RUU_HIMA_WHL_N70_SENSE80_SPCS_MR_Sprint_WWE_4.27.651.4.exe (1.9 GB) is the current file to use, but it hasn't fixed things. Oddly, when I investigate https://www.htcdev.com/devcenter/downloads, there is no file for Sprint that includes Android 7.0 or 7.1. A search for ONE M9 and 7.0 results in 4 files that are all 211 MB (about 1/4 of the expected size). They are listed as follows (apologies for any formatting irregularities):

Device Carrier Region Type Kernel Android Size Description
One M9 T-Mobile NL CRC 3.10.84 v7.0 211 MB 4.30.114.12
One M9 Telstra WWE MR 1 3.10.84 v7.0 211 MB 4.30.841.1
One M9 HTC Gen Unlock MR 3.10.84 v7.0 210 MB 4.14.617.6_R
One M9 HTC Gen Unlock MR 3.10.84 v7.0 211 MB 4.19.617.1_R

I suppose it is possible that the RUU is much larger than the installed code, but I just don't know. I'd appreciate any advice.

Jeff

 

[Hadron]

The nomenclature "factory reset" can be misleading. It does not restore the original ROM, or undo any changes to system software or firmware. It restores the phone to "factory condition" only in the sense that it deletes all user-installed apps, all app data, and restores all settings to the factory defaults (technically it erases the /data and /cache partitions, and that's it). So not undoing the OTA is normal.

200MB files are either OTAs or kernel source code. The file HTC and Sprint name (RUU_HIMA_WHL_N70_SENSE80_SPCS_MR_Sprint_WWE_4.27.651.4.exe) is the same one that would be downloaded from that Sprint page I linked (at least the filename is identical). And if that's the most recent and you have actually installed it (you say "it hasn't fixed things", which to my mind suggests you did manage to install it) then you may have no other options left. RUUs cannot be used to downgrade software, so once you've installed the most recent that is it (unless you are S-Off, but that involved getting into rooting etc).

OTAs can be a bit dirty, but I'd hope that the full RUU (which is a clean install of everything, including resetting all data) would clean things up. So if you've not managed to get the RUU .exe to work, what error message did you get? There is a technique to extract a zip from the .exe, but you have to be able to run the exe part of the way to do that. If it did install successfully I'd really have nothing to offer except to go back to Sprint/HTC and tell them that their update broke your data, you've completely reset everything, done a clean install of the latest update from their own website, and it's over to them to fix what their update has broken.