Help [SOLVED] HTC ONE M8 STUCK IN BOOT-LOOP

[Nocco13]

Hello!

The issue:
Phone is stuck in reboot
Can't enter twrp recovery

This issue occured when I did the following:
I unlocked the bootloader then I flashed twrp. Then when I tried to enter twrp via the bootloader>recovery.
It gets stuck on "entering recovery..." then the phone reboots in a loop.

So i can't enter twrp and I can't enter the phone.
I can still enter bootloader tho.
I first tried the lastest twrp version when that didn't work, I tried a few others with no success.
from: (Download TWRP for m8)

Is there anyone that knows what the issue can be?
And where do I go from here to get back to stock or get twrp to work
Thanks.

fullvar:
(bootloader) version: 0.5
(bootloader) version-bootloader: 3.19.0.0000
(bootloader) version-baseband: 1.29.214500021.12G
(bootloader) version-cpld: None
(bootloader) version-microp: None
(bootloader) version-main: 6.12.61.4
(bootloader) version-misc: PVT SHIP S-ON
(bootloader) serialno: (removed from post)
(bootloader) imei: (removed from post)
(bootloader) imei2: Not Support
(bootloader) meid: 00000000000000
(bootloader) product: m8_ul
(bootloader) platform: hTCBmsm8974
(bootloader) modelid: 0P6B10000
(bootloader) cidnum: ORANG001
(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: 76df2b54
(bootloader) hbootpreupdate: 11
(bootloader) gencheckpt: 0

 

[Hadron]

CIDnum "orange" may be a problem, since Orange RUUs (ROM Upgrade Utilities) were always tricky to find (the RUU is the official firmware package, which is what you need to return to stock). You can search, as maybe you'll be lucky. An RUU will need to be compatible with your CIDnum and the software it contains cannot be older than what is currently installed.

Maybe visit the m8 forum at xda-developers.com, since you can probably find a stock recovery there which you could flash over twrp. Apart from trying more of the twrp builds I can't think of much else.

 

[Nocco13]

CIDnum "orange" may be a problem, since Orange RUUs (ROM Upgrade Utilities) were always tricky to find (the RUU is the official firmware package, which is what you need to return to stock). You can search, as maybe you'll be lucky. An RUU will need to be compatible with your CIDnum and the software it contains cannot be older than what is currently installed.

Maybe visit the m8 forum at xda-developers.com, since you can probably find a stock recovery there which you could flash over twrp. Apart from trying more of the twrp builds I can't think of much else.

I found one RUU that I could flash, but it did not fix the issue.
It also had the exact same version etc as me.
this one --> 1.51 GB file on MEGA

Does this mean the phone is screwed?
Could it be the RUU that is damaged?
It's weird since the phone was working before I unlocked the bootloader and flashed twrp.

 

[Hadron]

It actually flashed and yet you have the same problem? An RUU will overwrite the entire firmware of the phone, so should fix a corruption that a bad recovery flash produced. If you still have the same problem then either it didn't flash or there is a hardware fault (which would be a fair coincidence if that manifested when you flashed twrp).

So are you certain it flashed? How exactly did you flash it?

 

[Nocco13]

It actually flashed and yet you have the same problem? An RUU will overwrite the entire firmware of the phone, so should fix a corruption that a bad recovery flash produced. If you still have the same problem then either it didn't flash or there is a hardware fault (which would be a fair coincidence if that manifested when you flashed twrp).

So are you certain it flashed? How exactly did you flash it?

Yes I tried alot of RUUs but only the one above would let me flash it.


First I relocked the bootloader with
fastboot oem lock fastboot reboot-bootloader

Then I did:
fastboot oem rebootRUU htc_fastboot flash zip RUU.zip
When it said "Flash Zip Complete":
fastboot reboot


I used htc_fastboot instead of normal fastboot when flashing since I got a signature error with the normal one

I followed this video:

 

[Hadron]

That sounds broadly right. As I recall the RUU flashing process ends with an error the first time (after it has pre-flashed the bootloader) after which you have to do it again. Sorry if the video already says that - I'm afraid I don't have the patience for video guides taking several minutes to say what I can read in a few seconds so can never bring myself to sit through them (I also never watch video reviews of products for the same reason - I'm afraid that influencer culture has no hold over me ).

I found a description of the process at XDA which matches my memory: [How-to][ruu] flash Rom.zip to factory. That's pretty much what you describe except you don't mention it being a 2-step process. But if it does differ from what you did then maybe that's the answer.

Most RUUs won't flash because you are S-On ("S" for "Security", an extra protection HTC build in). This will enforce all sorts of checks to ensure that it will only flash compatible RUUs, but the CIDnum check also means that RUUs that would be compatible with the hardware will be rejected because they correspond to a different carrier or region. But the plus side is that it stops you accidentally flashing an RUU for a US CDMA model, which has incompatible hardware and would not end well.

 

[Nocco13]

That sounds broadly right. As I recall the RUU flashing process ends with an error the first time (after it has pre-flashed the bootloader) after which you have to do it again. Sorry if the video already says that - I'm afraid I don't have the patience for video guides taking several minutes to say what I can read in a few seconds so can never bring myself to sit through them (I also never watch video reviews of products for the same reason - I'm afraid that influencer culture has no hold over me ).

I found a description of the process at XDA which matches my memory: [How-to][ruu] flash Rom.zip to factory. That's pretty much what you describe except you don't mention it being a 2-step process. But if it does differ from what you did then maybe that's the answer.

Most RUUs won't flash because you are S-On ("S" for "Security", an extra protection HTC build in). This will enforce all sorts of checks to ensure that it will only flash compatible RUUs, but the CIDnum check also means that RUUs that would be compatible with the hardware will be rejected because they correspond to a different carrier or region. But the plus side is that it stops you accidentally flashing an RUU for a US CDMA model, which has incompatible hardware and would not end well.

I believe htc_fastboot does the two step automatically, since I got an error and it said it had pre flashed the bootloader, then my phone rebooted then it started flashing again which took around 10 minutes to finnish. I also get a cid error when trying other RUU's, but not this one so it actually seems compatible.

When I used the normal fastboot I got a signature error, but not with htc_fastboot
htc_fastboot is also mentioned in this guide [SOLVED] HELP! HTC ONE M8 - Bricked?

I also tried this method of using the htc update utility: [tutorial] How to get back on stock with TWRP Stock Nandroid Backups - which also seems to have successfully flashed it

So I'm sure it flashed but it still does not get past the htc logo, so I'm guessing it must have been a hardware issue. If you don't have any other ideas?
I'm not the original owner of the phone, so it could have been the previous owner that has done something.

 

[Nocco13]

I also just noticed I can't enter normal recovery anymore with the stock rom.

 

[Hadron]

Actually I used HTC's version of fastboot back when I had an HTC device, but this was still a 2-step process for me. But things may have been changed since then.

A hardware failure is always a possibility, but if the phone was working before you flashed TWRP it's odd that something should fail at that point. Not impossible - it will have been the first time that part of the storage has been written to in years, and writing is when failures will occur - but it feels unlikely. It's not as if the recovery partition will have been through very many write cycles. That said people do suffer storage errors (the XDA thread you linked mentions just this), so for whatever reason it can happen.

I'm curious that it seems to flash successfully, i.e. doesn't report errors, but still fails. But given that it does fail I'm less surprised by things like not entering recovery mode: the problem started with flashing TWRP, which would have overwritten the stock recovery, so our hope was that the RUU would fix this by overwriting TWRP and everything else. But if the RUU isn't able to fix it then the recovery partition is the area I'd least expect to work, given how the problem started.

I'm pretty short of ideas right now. The fact that the RUU will flash at all on an S-On phone means it's the right one. Did you check the hash code to make sure it downloaded correctly? Bad downloads are rare, but if it doesn't match then try downloading again (and if it still doesn't then see whether you can find another copy somewhere). Otherwise all I can think of is to try manually wiping the recovery and system partitions (e.g. fastboot erase recovery) and then running the RUU again, but I think that's a long shot: the RUU should do that sort of thing anyway. But the fact that an official TWRP image from the M8 download page and an official HTC RUU are both failing makes me more inclined to wonder whether there is a hardware problem, even if it looks like a bit of a coincidence.

 

[Nocco13]

Actually I used HTC's version of fastboot back when I had an HTC device, but this was still a 2-step process for me. But things may have been changed since then.

A hardware failure is always a possibility, but if the phone was working before you flashed TWRP it's odd that something should fail at that point. Not impossible - it will have been the first time that part of the storage has been written to in years, and writing is when failures will occur - but it feels unlikely. It's not as if the recovery partition will have been through very many write cycles. That said people do suffer storage errors (the XDA thread you linked mentions just this), so for whatever reason it can happen.

I'm curious that it seems to flash successfully, i.e. doesn't report errors, but still fails. But given that it does fail I'm less surprised by things like not entering recovery mode: the problem started with flashing TWRP, which would have overwritten the stock recovery, so our hope was that the RUU would fix this by overwriting TWRP and everything else. But if the RUU isn't able to fix it then the recovery partition is the area I'd least expect to work, given how the problem started.

I'm pretty short of ideas right now. The fact that the RUU will flash at all on an S-On phone means it's the right one. Did you check the hash code to make sure it downloaded correctly? Bad downloads are rare, but if it doesn't match then try downloading again (and if it still doesn't then see whether you can find another copy somewhere). Otherwise all I can think of is to try manually wiping the recovery and system partitions (e.g. fastboot erase recovery) and then running the RUU again, but I think that's a long shot: the RUU should do that sort of thing anyway. But the fact that an official TWRP image from the M8 download page and an official HTC RUU are both failing makes me more inclined to wonder whether there is a hardware problem, even if it looks like a bit of a coincidence.

I checked the hash and it seems to have downloaded correct. I tried "fastboot erase recovery" which gave me the following errors:
FAILED (remote: 'not allowed')
fastboot: error: Command failed
Maybe blocked by S-On

 

[Hadron]

I don't think S_On would stop that, but maybe the bootloader being locked would. I'd try with htc_fastboot as well - I just typed "fastboot" out of habit (I renamed the htc_fastboot executable to just "fastboot" on my computer).

But as I say, I think this is looking like a long shot.

 

[Nocco13]

My phone finally booted.

Steps I took to get it working:
Boot into bootloader, went to "power down"

Now I removed the SD CARD.
Plugged in my wall-charger.
When it had 30% I turned it on.
and it worked

I also flashed twrp and rooted the device without issue now.


Weird how the issue with the sd card only happened after I flashed twrp, but probably just a coincidence.


Thanks @Hadron for helping.

 

[Hadron]

Excellent. SD card being a factor is one I'd never have guessed!