How To Install Firmware for HTC One (m7)

There are many firmware flashing guides available for the HTC One (m7) floating around the Internet, and on the XDA Developers site, but I have found many of them to be lacking in clarity, or a few even to be missing crucial steps.

Because of these deficiencies, I have created my own Firmware Flashing Guide for the HTC One. This guide is designed for the 2013 model year HTC One, also referred to as the M7. The new, 2014 model, referred to as the M8, follows similar steps, but it is important that you do not attempt to flash these firmware files that are designed for the M7 

Requires S-Off

In order to install firmware on your HTC One (other than waiting for the official OTA), it must be “s-off”. You also need to know how to use ADB and Fastboot. If you don’t know what this means, then you should stop here, and do more research about your device and how to flash things, because you are not ready to be flashing firmware. This is an advanced procedure, and not something that an Android novice should attempt.

Also, I am not responsible for any damage to your device so you follow this guide and install these firmware files at your own risk. I am merely providing the steps required to do so, using an unlocked, s-off, M7_UL model. These steps are only for the single-SIM GSM variants. If you have a dual-SIM version, or one of the CDMA versions from Sprint or Verizon, then do not continue, as these firmware files will brick your device.

Ok, with all the warnings out of the way, we’re ready to continue on. Reminder, you must be s-off to continue with these steps. If you don’t have s-off, you won’t be able to install any of these firmware files. Download links for firmware files are below the step-by-step instructions. Keep in mind that these firmware files will wipe your device, including your sdcard. So make sure you back up everything before proceeding. 

Step-By-Step

Open a Command Prompt (Windows) or Terminal (Mac) window and change into your ADB directory if necessary.

cd adb

Reboot your device into the bootloader:

adb reboot bootloader

Now you need to put the device into fastboot mode:

fastboot reboot-bootloader

Now you need to put the device into OEM flash mode:

• fastboot oem rebootRUU

At this point, you should see a silver HTC logo appear on your device’s screen.

Now you’re going to flash the firmware file.

Make sure your device is positioned such that it will not fall off the table and disconnect it’s USB cable. Do not disconnect, power off, or push buttons on your device while the firmware is flashing. Interrupting the firmware flash can brick your device.

fastboot flash zip firmware.zip

You will get a response that looks something similar to this:

sending 'zip' (71868 KB)...
OKAY [ 4.936s]
writing 'zip'...
(bootloader) zip header checking...
(bootloader) zip info parsing...
(bootloader) checking model ID...
(bootloader) checking custom ID...
(bootloader) start image[hboot] unzipping for pre-update check...
(bootloader) start image[hboot] flushing...
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,hboot,0
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,hboot,99
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,hboot,100
(bootloader) ...... Successful
FAILED (remote: 90 hboot pre-update! please flush image again immediately)
finished. total time: 6.410s

 IMPORTANT!!! Repeat the same exact command again. You will notice the flash says “FAILED” and an instruction to “flush the image again immediately”. This is a typo by HTC, it means to flash the image again.

You can easily get the command again by pressing the UP key on your keyboard.

fastboot flash zip firmware.zip

Now you will get something like this:

sending 'zip' (71868 KB)...
OKAY [ 4.884s]
writing 'zip'...
(bootloader) zip header checking...
(bootloader) zip info parsing...
(bootloader) checking model ID...
(bootloader) checking custom ID...
(bootloader) start image[adsp] unzipping & flushing...
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,adsp,0
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,adsp,100
(bootloader) ...... Successful
(bootloader) start image[cir] unzipping & flushing...
(bootloader) ...... Successful
(bootloader) start image[rpm] unzipping & flushing...
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,rpm,0
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,rpm,100
(bootloader) ...... Successful
(bootloader) start image[sbl1-1] unzipping & flushing...
(bootloader) signature checking...
(bootloader) verified fail
(bootloader) ..... Bypassed
(bootloader) start image[sbl1-2] unzipping & flushing...
(bootloader) signature checking...
(bootloader) verified fail
(bootloader) ..... Bypassed
(bootloader) start image[sbl1-3] unzipping & flushing...
(bootloader) signature checking...
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,sbl1-3,0
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,sbl1-3,100
(bootloader) ...... Successful
(bootloader) start image[sbl2] unzipping & flushing...
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,sbl2,0
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,sbl2,100
(bootloader) ...... Successful
(bootloader) start image[sbl3] unzipping & flushing...
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,sbl3,0
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,sbl3,100
(bootloader) ...... Successful
(bootloader) start image[tp] unzipping & flushing...
(bootloader) ...... Successful
(bootloader) start image[tz] unzipping & flushing...
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,tz,0
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,tz,100
(bootloader) ...... Successful
(bootloader) start image[radio] unzipping & flushing...
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,radio,0
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,radio,26
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,radio,53
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,radio,79
(bootloader) [RUU]WP,radio,100
(bootloader) ...... Successful
OKAY [ 39.601s]
finished. total time: 44.485s

The status bar on your phone will likely not go all the way to 100%. This is normal. The last little bit is actually the device rebooting. But at this point, the update pauses to allow you to view the log and correct any potential errors before rebooting. Look at the second-to-last line of the process. If you see the result status “OKAY” you are good to go.

Reboot your device:

fastboot reboot

To verify your new firmware version, reboot the device again into the bootloader:

adb reboot bootloader

And then use this command to get the version numbers:

fastboot getvar all

The result will look something like this (your version numbers may vary, serial number and IMEI number have been edited out for privacy):

INFOversion: 0.5
INFOversion-bootloader: 1.55.0000
INFOversion-baseband: 4A.21.3263.04
INFOversion-cpld: None
INFOversion-microp: None
INFOversion-main: 3.62.401.1
INFOversion-misc: PVT SHIP S-OFF
INFOserialno: HTXXXXXXXX
INFOimei: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
INFOmeid: 00000000000000
INFOproduct: m7_ul
INFOplatform: HBOOT-8064
INFOmodelid: PN0713000
INFOcidnum: HTC__001
INFObattery-status: good
INFObattery-voltage: 4034mV
INFOpartition-layout: Generic
INFOsecurity: off
INFObuild-mode: SHIP
INFOboot-mode: FASTBOOT
INFOcommitno-bootloader: dirty-bb768ae1
INFOhbootpreupdate: 11
INFOgencheckpt: 0
all: Done!

The firmware is the line that reads INFOversion-main: 3.62.401.1. This means I have the 3.62.401.1 firmware, which is the WWE firmware from the Android 4.3 with Sense 5.5 update.

Download Links

These files were not created by me, and I am not responsible for their content. You should always verify the contents of a firmware file before flashing. Again, this is not something a novice should do. You should know how to extract the contents of these files to verify against your device’s CID and MID.

These firmware files will wipe your sdcard, although you can remove the tzdata images from the zip to preserve the sdcard contents. These firmware files are ONLY for the HTC One M7 single-SIM GSM models. Do not try to install these files on the dual-SIM or CDMA variants, or you could end up with a very expensive door stop.

Firmware Version (latest version first) – Download Link

5.11.401.10 – http://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=23487008491966091

4.19.401.11 – http://goo.gl/Pjhy2W

4.19.401.9 – http://goo.gl/spo8SQ

4.19.401.8 – http://goo.gl/I27j0x

3.62.401.1 – http://goo.gl/8Sr762

3.09.401.1 – http://goo.gl/iVaW1W

2.24.401.1 – http://goo.gl/Hn0QHJ

2.17.401.1 – http://goo.gl/ek04rM

1.29.401.12 – http://goo.gl/NscQmy

1.20.401.1 – http://goo.gl/EoG9gM