[One (M7) Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] zach181:
I'll edit this post shortly with more details.

I flashed the firmwares and each gave an error but being daring (or stupid) I carried on. Flashed the recovery and it rebooted back into the same ROM. Not sure why after what you mentioned. Main thing is, it's not a brick ;)

I'll post the new getvar and the error in a moment.

Here's the new one.

D:\HTC Updates>htc_fastboot flash zip 7.19.401.22.zip
sending 'zip'... (20237 KB) OKAY
sending time = 2.500 secs
writing 'zip'... (bootloader) zip header checking...
(bootloader) shift signature_size for header checking..
(bootloader) zip info parsing...
(bootloader) checking model ID...
(bootloader) checking custom ID...
(bootloader) start image[hboot] unzipping for pre-updat
(bootloader) start image[hboot] flushing...
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,hboot,0
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,hboot,99
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,hboot,100
(bootloader) ...... Successful
FAIL90 hboot pre-update! please flush image again immed
FAILED (remote: 90 hboot pre-update! please flush image
For "hboot-preupdate" response, restart the same proced
40...
sending 'zip'... (20237 KB) OKAY
sending time = 2.500 secs
writing 'zip'... (bootloader) zip header checking...
(bootloader) shift signature_size for header checking..
(bootloader) zip info parsing...
(bootloader) checking model ID...
(bootloader) checking custom ID...
(bootloader) start image[boot] unzipping & flushing...
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,boot,0
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,boot,11
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,boot,22
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,boot,33
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,boot,44
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,boot,54
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,boot,68
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,boot,80
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,boot,91
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,boot,100
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,boot,0
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,boot,99
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,boot,100
(bootloader) ...... Successful
(bootloader) start image[recovery] unzipping & flushing
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,recovery,0
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,recovery,6
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,recovery,12
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,recovery,20
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,recovery,27
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,recovery,37
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,recovery,43
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,recovery,62
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,recovery,68
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,recovery,75
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,recovery,84
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,recovery,91
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,recovery,99
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,recovery,100
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,recovery,0
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,recovery,99
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,recovery,100
(bootloader) ...... Successful
(bootloader) start image[rcdata] unzipping & flushing..
(bootloader) [RUU]UZ,rcdata,0
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,rcdata,0
(bootloader) ...... Successful
OKAY
Flash Zip Complete
Execution time is 10(s)

NEW GETVAR

INFOversion: 0.5
INFOversion-bootloader: 1.61.0000
INFOversion-baseband: 4T.35.3218.16
INFOversion-cpld: None
INFOversion-microp: None
INFOversion-main: 7.19.401.22
INFOversion-misc: PVT SHIP S-OFF
INFOserialno: xxxxxxxxxxxxx
INFOimei: xxxxxxxxxxxxx
INFOmeid: 00000000000000
INFOproduct: m7_ul
INFOplatform: HBOOT-8064
INFOmodelid: PN0710000
INFOcidnum: 11111111
INFObattery-status: good
INFObattery-voltage: 4284mV
INFOpartition-layout: Generic
INFOsecurity: off
INFObuild-mode: SHIP
INFOboot-mode: FASTBOOT
INFOcommitno-bootloader: dirty-0e2a13e5
INFOhbootpreupdate: 11
INFOgencheckpt: 0
all: Done!
finished. total time: 0.070s