[One (M8) Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mickypoo:
I have a problem. I have a tendency to destroy phones, which is why the last 2 phones I owned has been HTC M8. They are rugged enough for me not to destroy them.

However, 10 months ago the first one had problems with the battery, so I replaced the phone because it was cheaper than replacing the battery. The second one have worked fine, but lately the USB plug is worn out, so charging is becoming a problem.

This leads me to my problem. I (ofcause) bought a 3d one. This one was hardly used, and was 1 owner phone.

As it turns out, the previous owner had made 1 mistake. He had done the factory reset, but half way through it, it ran out of power. This means that booting it up, causes loads of errors: Gapps errors, Sense Home errors, Hangout errors and finally Google play service errors.

Now, I have worked with computers from 1991-2016 (including IT support for all the major companies) so I do know how to fix something like this - if this was windows :). But since this is Android, I am a complete noob :). I am just too stubborn to give up on this phone just because it has corrupt software :). But this is a LOT more difficult than working with Windows I think :) Prior to this I have only rooted 1 phone, and that was in 2013 :). I have been working on this the last 2 days :).

So here is what I have managed to do so far:

I have unlocked bootloader through the HTC website and I can access the recovery program. Through that I have wiped cache, Ramdump, and done something like 15+ factory reset.

Through this I am able to get into the phone - sort of. I get a box asking if I want to send an Error rapport - and when I do that, I can get into the settings on the phone.

Through the settings, I have enabled developers options + enabled Debug, and disabled Fastboot.

I also tried to cleared cache on Gapps, google play services and Hangout - but that didnt help - so I disabled those things.

Now I can sort of use the phone. I cant update it, and it doesnt find the sim card. It does however connect find through wifi.

After all of that, I have been able to connect the phone to the computer though USB. I get both computer and phone to accept the connection (type in the code) and I can transfer files to the phone. It also works in HTC Sync software.

In Bootloader I can also get it to find FASTBOOT USB, so it does find something.

However, next step was that I had to root the phone using ADB and TWRP but I cant seem to get that connection working. Both programs finds no devices. So I am not able to actually root the phone.

I also tried RUU but had the same problem. Cant seem to get that connection working, so I can flash/root the phone.

Because of this, I tried to install upgraded versions of Android using an SD card. I can get the phone to read those zip files, but it always ends up with an: "Footer error" or "Verification failed".

I even tried the official HTC Android Marshmallow that you can download, but that came with the same verification error.

The only version that got close was an older version of the software on it. That one came up and said it was an older one, and aborted the installation because of that.

I have tried:

crDroidAndroid-6.0.1-20160826-m8

crDroidAndroid-7.1.2-20180117-m8-v3.8.5

crDroidAndroid-9.0-20190315-m8-v5.2

himauhl-3.10.84-perf-g09631a4

m8qlul-3.10.49-perf-g6f6e344

OTA507

So what am I asking help with? The simple answer is that I wanna install new android software - similar to reinstalling windows. The old phone had Android 5, and the first one Android 6. If I can upgrade to something newer, that would be a bonus, but I am good with "just" getting the phone to work :).

So how do I get the phone to accept that zipfile for the android software? How do I get passed that Footer Error/verification error?

Oh and please explain the steps I need to take, for complete a complete noob :). Simple steps will be greatly appreciated :)

*** Software status: Official***

** UNLOCKED ***

** Security Warning ***

M8_UL PVT SHIP S-ON

HBOOT- 3.19.0.0000

RADIO-1.29.214500021.12G

OpenDSP-v 51.2.2-00593-M8974_FO.1015

OS-6.12.401.4

eMMC-boot 2048MB

Dec 17 2015,14:15:48.0