HTC M8s won't start

[bill-lancaster]

Tried to turn it on this morning after recharging (battery had gone flat).

Can only get a sort of boot screen headed 'Software Status Modified'

There is a menu system with several options but I always come back to the boot screen.

Any help would be appreciated

[thesoupdragon]

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@bill-lancaster wrote:

Thanks, I tried that earlier today.

There is a 'dump' option which produces a whole lot of info which means nothing to me except isee "E:missing bitmap oem_unlock_bg" and also "can't mount /sdcard"  (I don't have an SD card)

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It looks like your "Boot partition" has become corrupt.

The can't mount /sdcard refers to the main system storage not the external SD card slot.

Also earlier you mention at startup the phone displays the message "software status modified"

This will throw up a RED FLAG at a repairers who will assume the Phone has been ROOTED. They will refuse to repair it because of this!

My advice is to speak to HTC by Live Chat, you will be assigned an agent who you can deal with through the entire process. It's very efficient.

You can then explain everything in detail, they can make notes on your Repair instruction, so when it is sent off the phone wont get refused. (as long as you can convince the person on live chat).

You might have to accept that you will get charged for the repair unless you can convince them you haven't tried to root the phone.

Vodafone will definitely refuse repair with that message showing. They will give you a good price to fix it but will not undertake a free warranty repair.

TSD

[bill-lancaster]

Thanks you all for your very good advice.

I'll set about getting the 'phone repaired.

Happy new year to all

[drey_p]

Happy New Year to you to @bill-lancaster.  Do let us know how you get on.  I'd be interested to hear what the repair centre has to say and what they have to do to fix it. 

[hrym]

I think it's worth saying that you should never let a lithium-based battery go flat as it shortens their life considerably.   There's no memory effect and no need to condition them like cadmium ones.

I agree with thesoupdragon that your boot partitiion is probably corrupted and this is likely to be down to the battery going completely flat.  This is a bit unlucky as a lot of devices self-protect and retain a small amount of charge to try to prevent this happening.   It it does, it's a bit like a power cut on a PC - nine times out of ten you'll get away with it but, if there was a write process going on at the time, something will get corrupted (when it happened to me, I only lost Freecell...)

[bill-lancaster]

Thanks for that.

Actually I don't normally run the battery down, I just thought I'd try it this time.

A couple of things.  I thought I had a problem with the usb charger but then began to wonder if it was a problem with the phone.  Soon after that I started getting the boot screen screen thing.

The other thing is that the phone is now completely dead.  Connecting the charger results in a flashing orange charge light on the phone and the screen remains blank after pressing the on button.

Any way, the phone goes to HTC for repair tomorrow, I post any results here.

Thanks again

[bill-lancaster]

HTC repaired the 'phone under warranty.  No feedback though.

The repair service was very efficient and my M8s is working fine.

Thanks for all the advice.

[BandOfBrothers]

Hello @bill-lancaster

Try a soft reboot by turning it off and back on. 

Maybe HTC Online Chat can help and or the HTC uk support site. 

One last resort would be a Hard Reset which takes it back to its last firmware update ,but beware this deletes saved data in the phones storage. 

From a Google Search "The Fast boot option in Settings > Power must not be selected.
1. Press and hold the VOLUME DOWN button, and then press and hold the POWER button.
2. Wait for the screen with the three Android images to appear, and then release the POWER and VOLUME DOWN buttons.
3. Press VOLUME DOWN to select FACTORY RESET, and then press the POWER button."

or try searching Hard Reset for your make and model of phone. 

[bill-lancaster]

Have turned it on and off many times.  I even let the battery run down, re-charged it but got the same when I turned it on.

Have tried all the re-boot options in the menu system (in cluding factory reset).  Also tried turning it on with Volume Down.

Thanks for the online chat idea.  They are busy at the moment.

My PC is running Ubuntu (Linux type OS), is there anything I can do from there?

[drey_p]

What happens when you select Factory reset (scroll to it using the volume keys and select using the power button)?

[BandOfBrothers]

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@bill-lancaster wrote:

Have turned it on and off many times.  I even let the battery run down, re-charged it but got the same when I turned it on.

Have tried all the re-boot options in the menu system (in cluding factory reset).  Also tried turning it on with Volume Down.

Thanks for the online chat idea.  They are busy at the moment.

My PC is running Ubuntu (Linux type OS), is there anything I can do from there?

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Your Welcome. 

Please do keep trying their chat. 

Have you tried the Hard Reset option yet ?