HTC decides to skip Android 4 4 4 update OTA based on 4 4 3 security fix coming soon

International version of the HTC One M8 is currently running Android 4.4.2 (1.54.401.10) but this will change very soon. According to the confirmed information, the new over-the-air (OTA) update with Android 4.4.3 will start rolling out late next week for the 0P6B10000 variant of the HTC One M8 with the following CID numbers: 

HTC__001, HTC__E11, HTC__102, HTC__203, HTC__405, HTC__Y13, HTC__304, HTC__A07, HTC__002, HTC__016, HTC__032, HTC__J15, HTC__M27, HTC__A48, HTC__K18.

What we know so far is that the update will be tagged as 2.2x.401.x and together with Android 4.4.3 it will bring slightly updated HTC Sense UI (HTC SDK API: 6.25) but the version of the launcher will remain 6.0, at least officially.

• ro.build.id=KTU84L
• ro.build.version.release=4.4.3
• ro.com.google.gmsversion=4.4_r4
• HTC SDK API: 6.25 (current latest M8 software is based on SDK 6.17) ---> this might indicate improved HTC Sense version
• kernel version is still 3.4.0

Apart from the OS itself, almost every part of the firmware will be updated too.

• Hboot: 3.18.0.0000
• Radio: 1.19.21331147A1.09G
• OpenDSP: 38.2.2-00542-M8974.0311

Why no Android 4.4.4 yet? Because HTC decided to include the security fixes known from Android 4.4.4 in their 4.4.3 release. For some reason this must be easier for the HTC if such path was chosen.

Also, whats worth to mention is that M8 owners who re-locked their previously unlocked devices using htcdev.com, after the Android 4.4.3 update might need to generate new unlock_code.bin token to unlock the device again. Apparently the identifier token wont be the same after the incoming OTA.

There are also some few more surprises coming from the HTC in the incoming update but we cant reveal it yet! :)

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HTC ROM Update Utility RUU variants explanation

Owners of HTC devices might be a little confused when it comes to understanding the current method of numbering used by HTC to mark their software updates. Here you can find a short explanation of this matter.

First of all, we all know that HTC sells their devices all over the world. Every carrier and region of the world has some more or less different "local settings". By "local settings" I mean things like: emergency call numbers, languages, time-zone settings, network settings, carriers branding, GPS settings and more. Because of that each software for even the same device must be different.

Secondly, even the same device might use different hardware related to the region of the world. For example, HTC One is available in at least 6 different hardware configurations. One of the main difference is modem version. GSM version of the HTC One uses MDM8215 chip and LTE variant has MDM9215. Verizon (US) is known to have MDM9615. So thats already 3 different versions of the same device.

Every HTC update has the following numbering structure:

a.bb.ccc.d

a - the first number of the software. Normally it doesnt increase very often, but when it does, it usually means newer Android version.

bb - this number is also a software number. Increasing bb number means some more or less major update based on the same Android version, but sometimes it might even bring newer version of the HTC Sense.

ccc (also cc or cccc) - this is the number of the region/carrier. It has nothing to do with the software itself being newer or older. More details below.

d (sometimes dd) - the third part of the software version (the fourth one in the RUU name). Usually indicates some minor update with some hot fixes.

Example: 3.20.401.3

So basically, when you are interested in the software version, you should look at a.bb.d (3.20.ccc.3) because ccc (401) means only the region/carrier variant of the software.

Here is the list I was able to gather of possible RUU variants:

a.bb.61.d - Orange UK (United Kingdom)

a.bb.65.d - Orange CH (Switzerland)

a.bb.69.d - Orange PL (Poland)

a.bb.73.d - Orange FR (France)

a.bb.75.d - Orange ES (Spain)

a.bb.110.d - T-Mobile UK (United Kingdom)

a.bb.111.d - T-Mobile DE (Germany)

a.bb.112.d - T-Mobile AT (Austria)

a.bb.113.d - T-Mobile CZ (Czech Republic)

a.bb.118.d - T-Mobile PL (Poland)

a.bb.161.d - Vodafone UK (United Kingdom)

a.bb.163.d - Vodafone FR (France)

a.bb.165.d - Vodafone IT (Italy)

a.bb.166.d - Vodafone CH-DE (Switzerland - Germany)

a.bb.168.d - Vodafone GR (Greece)

a.bb.169.d - Vodafone AT (Austria)

a.bb.206.d - O2 UK (United Kingdom)

a.bb.207.d - O2 DE (Germany)

a.bb.401.d - World Wide English (WWE)

a.bb.415.d - Arabic (UAE/Middle East)

a.bb.468.d - Turkey

a.bb.497.d - Morocco

a.bb.498.d - WWE Brightpoint US (United States)

a.bb.502.d - Cingular US (United States)

a.bb.531.d - T-Mobile US (United States)

a.bb.631.d - Rogers Canada (WWE)

a.bb.651.d - Sprint US (United States)

a.bb.661.d - Telus WWE (Canada)

a.bb.666.d - Bell Canada

a.bb.707.d - Asia (WWE)

a.bb.708.d - Asia HK (Hong Kong)

a.bb.709.d - Asia TW (Taiwan)

a.bb.720.d - Asia (India)

a.bb.728.d - Virgin AU (Australia)

a.bb.751.d - Chunghwa Telecom (Taiwan)

a.bb.771.d - Hutchison 3G UK (United Kingdom)

a.bb.777.d - ?

a.bb.841.d - Telsra WWE (World Wide English)

a.bb.862.d - Voda-Hutch AU (Australia)

a.bb.901.d - TIM IT (Italy)

a.bb.911.d - SK Telecom (South Korea)

a.bb.980.d - Optus AU (Australia)

a.bb.999.d - HTC Test RUU

a.bb.1400.d - China

a.bb.1401.d - ?

a.bb.1403.d - HTC China CMCC (China Mobile Communications Corporation)

a.bb.1540.d - HTC One U.S. Developer Edition

a.bb.1600.d - ?

a.bb.1700.d - HTC One Google Edition

The list is quite long, and Im sure there are still some some missing. If you know more variants, please let me know in the comments section.

The 401 and the 707 devices are usually the first ones that HTC prepare updates for. Carrier branded software is usually months after the WWE updates.

Finally, keep in mind that each software version is connected with the CID (Carrier ID) and MID (Model ID) of your device. That means you cant use whichever version you want, unless you have S-OFF on your device. Each ROM Update Utility.exe package will check your device details (bootloader version, MID and CID) before starting the update process.

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How to Fix a corrupted DATA partition on the HTC One

Since the HTC One was released, Ive had a few users asking me to help them fix their broken device. They couldnt boot their system or access anything on the DATA partition from inside custom recovery. Why this happens so often on the HTC One I have no idea...

Here is a short guide explaining how to fix this problem without sending the device for repair under warranty.

Short Explanation

This method can be used to fix any other partition too, just remember about changing the mount point number - from "mmcblk0p37" to the relevant one. For example, the SYSTEM on the HTC One is "mmcblk0p35". In some rare cases the mkfs.ext4 attributes (like dir_nlink or resize_inode) might change too! To get a list of all eMMC mount points on HTC devices use the command cat /proc/emmc. Never format RAW partitions! This method can be used only to format EXT4 partitions. Not following the guide properly might end in permanent damage to your device. I do not take any responsibility for that.

Some people might also find this helpful in case of need to remove the entire contents of the virtual SD-card. As long as the virtual SD-card is not a separate partition, (i.e. it is emulated space on the DATA partition [/data/media]) it cant be formatted - only wiped clean. I wrote an in-depth explanation of how the virtual SD-card works on Android here - Virtual SD card on Android.

How Do I Recognise The Problem?

When trying to mount the DATA partition from inside the custom recovery using the mount /data command you will most likely see this output: mount: mounting /dev/block/mmcblk0p37 on /data failed: Invalid argument

To be 100% sure you can check filesystem structure with the following command: /sbin/e2fsck -n -f /dev/block/mmcblk0p37

Repair Process

Note: the content of your DATA partition will be lost, including the contents of your virtual SD-card! I also assume you already have custom recovery flashed and you are a Windows user - LINUX people please amend as needed.

1. Download this mini-sdk package and extract it to c:mini-sdk
2. Download this mkfs.ext4 binary and put it into c:mini-sdk
3. Connect your device to the PC
4. Boot your device in recovery mode
5. Open a command prompt on the PC (cmd.exe), type and confirm each command with ENTER:
6. cd /d c:mini-sdk
7. adb push mkfs.ext4 /tmp
8. adb shell
9. chmod 777 /tmp/mkfs.ext4
10. /tmp/mkfs.ext4 -b 4096 -O ^huge_file,^dir_nlink,^ext_attr,^resize_inode,^extra_isize -m 0 /dev/block/mmcblk0p37

Image of the whole command in one line to avoid mistakes:

Now your DATA partition will be formatted. It is not the same as "wiping", which is only removing all or just some files from particular partition. Formatting means that the entire partition will be re-created with the above attributes. You should see the following output:

mke2fs 1.41.12 (17-May-2010)
Filesystem label=  
OS type: Linux 
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
Stride=0 blocks, Stripe width=0 blocks
1703936 inodes, 6815744 blocks
0 blocks (0.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
208 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
8192 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768,98304,163840,229376,294912,819200,884736,1605632,2654208,4096000
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (32768 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
This filesystem will be automatically checked every 25 mounts or 180 days, whichever comes first. 
Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.

Your DATA partition is now completely empty, so we need to copy our particular ROM zip file there:

1. Copy ROM zip file to c:mini-sdk and rename it to "rom.zip"
2. In the same command prompt window type and confirm each command with ENTER:
3. mount /data
4. mkdir -p /data/media/0
5. exit
6. adb push rom.zip /data/media/0

Copying rom.zip to the device will take a few minutes. Wait until its done. The output should be: xxxx KB/s (xxxxxxxxxx bytes in xxx.xxxs). Now you can flash rom.zip from inside custom recovery. Done!

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How To Fix Wi Fi connecting issues on the HTC One running Android 4 4 2

It turned out that HTC One users have lately some problems with connecting their devices to the Wi-Fi routers after the Android 4.4.2 update. Here we present the iconography solution of this problem.

1. Open Settings panel and click on the "Wi-Fi" tile
2. Tap on the "3 dots" menu in the upper right corner
3. From the list select "Wi-Fi Direct"
   
   
   
   
   
4. You will now see that your device is called "Android_ed2c". Tap on the "3 dots" menu in the upper right corner
5. From the list select "Rename device"
6. Replace the "Android_ed2c" with  the "HTC One" text and hit "OK" button
   
   
   
   
   
7. Done!

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How to Fix a random reboots on the HTC One M8

Some time ago I described a method to format the /data partition on the HTC One (M7) - How to: Fix a corrupted DATA partition on the HTC One. This method is suitable for more HTC devices (all with EXT4 support) and with the mkfs.ext4 tool you can format system and cache partitions as well. All you need to know is the proper /dev/block/mmcblk0pXY number of the partition you want to format.

However, formatting the partition always means that your data will be gone. On the HTC One M8 I noticed a problem, most likely caused by the wp_mod.ko module (module to disable system R/W protection). When the module is loaded too late and anything ever gets changed before the module is loaded the file-structure of the /data partition might (and probably will) get corrupted. As a result your device will reboot each time youll try to make and change on the /system partition (even if mounted as RW). So removing, copying, moving, re-naming or editing any file on a system partition will result with the following message in the kernel log (last_kmsg.txt):

Formatting the /data partition is not the best idea for some and its not needed in most cases.

Repair Process

1. Download this mini-sdk package and extract it to c:mini-sdk
2. Download this fsck.ext4 binary and put it into c:mini-sdk
3. Connect your device to the PC
4. Boot your device in recovery mode
5. Open a command prompt on the PC (cmd.exe), type and confirm each command with ENTER:
6. cd /d c:mini-sdk
7. adb push fsck.ext4 /tmp
8. adb shell
9. chmod 777 /tmp/fsck.ext4
10. /tmp/fsck.ext4 -fn /dev/block/mmcblk0p47

This will fix your /data partition and you should see the following output (numbers in the last line will be different in each case):

e2fsck 1.42.9 (28-Dec-2013)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information
/dev/block/mmcblk0p47: 19050/712704 files (2.7% non-contiguous), 2320338/2850816 blocks

Your /data partition is now fixed and you should no longer experience random reboots problem on your device (assuming that the corrupted /data partition was the source of the problem). Keep in mind that the fsck.ext4 -fn command can be used to check other EXT4 partitions on any device that has EXT4 file-system structure. All you need to know is the partition name or block number.

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Civilization 5 LAN fix

As you can probably tell from the lack of live updates, I am enjoying Civilization 5. Posts coming soon about things I liked and dont like. However, in this post I am going to explain what I had to do to get LAN play working with one copy of the game licensed to one Steam account. My copy was from Amazon but I believe this will work with Steam versions as well.

I am not sure if this counts as piracy but I dont think anyone would buy more than one copy of the game to play the occasional game at a LAN party so it isnt costing anyone any sales...

The problems I had were:

• Game not showing up in the LAN screen
• Game stopping on the "Retrieving Host Information" screen

Solution: To solve the first problem, make sure Civ is allowed through all of your firewalls (no special ports, just add an exception.

If you are having the second problem, each computer needs the Steam account to have a different nick name (read below for details)

First you need to choose a host computer and put your steam account on this computer in to offline mode. Then with each extra computer do the following

1. In Steam, open up the friends window and change your nickname to a unique name/name of the player on that computer
2. Switch Steam in to offline mode (Steam>Go offline...)
3. Start Civilization and go to LAN (in Multiplayer)
4. Hopefully at this point, Windows will ask you if you want to allow Civilization 5 through the firewall, click allow (this should resolve the first issue). If it doesnt prompt you, just add the exception through the Windows Firewall exceptions list
   

Do this for each computer setting them to a different name each time. Now go online on the host computer and change the nickname to another name. Open Civ, add Civ to the exceptions list and host the game. All players should now be able to join.

Nb, there doesnt appear to be a save option in LAN at the moment. Fortunately the game appears to auto-save every turn so just make sure you end your turn before quitting. I am assuming this is a mistake and will be patched.

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