[One (M9) Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Rastullah:
Hey guys,

I recently bought a used HTC One M9 DEMO UNIT from a private seller on eBay, which I'd like to convert to a normal phone. A HTC Demo App starts automatically right after boot-up that is not listed in the list of recently used apps and, therefore, cannot be killed, i.e. it's going to pop up every 2 minutes or so regardless of what else I do on the phone. This Demo App also cannot be removed, and additionally a lot of options on the settings menu are blocked. A factory wipe does not help, it only wipes all data and settings made previously, and restores everything including the Demo App to default settings.

The readme thread for One M9 phones states that I'm probably going to need S-OFF for the conversion in order to be able to change the CID. However, as the software and firmware versions of my device do not match those of any other demo unit I found on the net, I'd like to kindly ask someone with deeper knowledge to verify that I'm on the right track in the first place.

- I do need S-OFF to convert, right?

- Is this a GSM unit (as I believe it is, judging from the seller's location in Germany)?

- Can I convert directly to LineageOS or do I have to flash RUU/stock first?

- Is it possible/necessary/recommended to upgrade the firmware from 1.x to something more recent?

- Aside from that, is it generally safe to follow the conversion procedure described in post #5 of the Readme thread with this phone?

(Btw, Bootloader is unlocked via HTCDev, and a working adb/fastboot/HTC_fastboot environment is available on Linux and Windows 8.1, USB drivers are installed, HTC Sync thing not anymore).

Thanks,

Ras*

Additional questions, just out of curiosity:

1) Is it normal that booting to recovery is refused with an error message? ("Failed to boot to recovery mode. Press volume up or down to back to menu. This build is for development purposes only [...]" in red on a white HTC logo.)

2) Is it normal for such a unit that flashing or booting into TWRP 3.1.1.0-hima does not work using adb and fastboot (tried both the standard version of the tools, but also the HTC version)?

3) Could not flash RUU (RUU_HIMA_UL_N70_SENSE80_ATT_MR_NA_Gen_Unlock_4.30.617.12, from HTC website for unlocked/developer version of M9), this fails with error 127, signature error. What causes this, CID/SKU mismatch?

Information extracted from the device:

Bootloader:

*** Software status: Official ***
*** UNLOCKED ****
*** S-ON ***

Download mode:

htc_himauhl PCT S-ON
LK-1.0.0.0000
RADIO-01.01_U11440061_52a.01.50225G_2
OpenDSP-v20.2.6-00452-M8994_0216
OS-1.32.401.3
Feb 27, 2015, 15:11:23(493992)

Security checking failed NOT_FIND_SMARTIO
FILE /mnt/media_rw/ext_sd/0PJAIMP.zip
File NOT FOUND

System Info:

S/N **hidden**
IMEI: **hidden**
MB: 42E3552G07619

> fastboot getvar all

(bootloader) kernel: lk
(bootloader) product: htc_himauhl
(bootloader) version: 1.0
(bootloader) imei: **hidden**
(bootloader) version-main: 1.32.401.3
(bootloader) boot-mode: download
(bootloader) version-bootloader: 1.0.0.0000
(bootloader) mid: 0PJA10000
(bootloader) cid: HTC__002
all:
finished. total time: 0.016s

Software:

Android 5.0.2

HTC Sense 7.0

Software number 1.32.401.3

Kernel 3.10.49-g864284c

and@ABM101 #1

SMP PREEMPT

Baseband version 01.01_U11440061_52a.01.50225G_2_F

Build number 1.32.401.3 CL493992 release-keys