Develop Bugs

Upgrading Radio Rom Illegal ??

Hallo,
On the dutch forum of Qtek support forum.qtek.nl there is being claimed that upgrading the radio ROM is illegal.
Since I upgraded to Radio Rom 1.04.02 a few problems I had concerning bluetooth and GSM functions are resolved
So I find it strange that solutions to problems are illegal ?
Can anyone comment on this ?
Kind regards,
Scotty

I doubt that there is any case, for it to be considered illegal.
This is especially true since you are reffering to the Qtek (similarly to the i-mate, but possibly different than other versions of the Universal): your device is similar to any other device (or PC for that matter) that you buy - you may change, alter or add to its software, I guess - as long as you don't infringe the software's copyright by distributing it, etc...
On the other hand - a company may rightly claim that a device's warrenty is void if its software was altered or changed. For example that is what most, if not all, of the cell operators claim (which is why I mentioned that the situation with the other versions of the Universal may be somewhat different).
Another point is - what the company doesn't know - can not hurt it.
and even more importantly - what you do with your fully paid-up device is up to you, and as long as the ugrade solved your problems, why care?

techDot said:
I doubt that there is any case, for it to be considered illegal.
This is especially true since you are reffering to the Qtek (similarly to the i-mate, but possibly different than other versions of the Universal): your device is similar to any other device (or PC for that matter) that you buy - you may change, alter or add to its software, I guess - as long as you don't infringe the software's copyright by distributing it, etc...
On the other hand - a company may rightly claim that a device's warrenty is void if its software was altered or changed. For example that is what most, if not all, of the cell operators claim (which is why I mentioned that the situation with the other versions of the Universal may be somewhat different).
Another point is - what the company doesn't know - can not hurt it.
and even more importantly - what you do with your fully paid-up device is up to you, and as long as the ugrade solved your problems, why care?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well.... The radio ROM in general 'governs' how the device is acting as a GSM 'client' or 'end-point'. I can imagine quite well that a bug in the radio ROM could cause havoc on a GSM cell if things go wrong, therefor I can very well imagine that at telecoms provider only wants to allow certain tested ROM's for it's device... A GSM phone remains a 2W transmitter, and is in general pre-approved by telecoms due to it being tested and accepted with a specific radio ROM version.

yes, but this should not be an issue with factory ROMs (altering may affect your license to use the network though).
the reason of this spread may be as there are some versions which are more generic (thus quite easily unlocked) than newer ones. this way downgrading is discouraged, not upgrading, in fact.

crusher said:
yes, but this should not be an issue with factory ROMs (altering may affect your license to use the network though).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I even doubt this very seriously. I bought my Magician straight from TMO with a 1.01 radio. After 3 months a regular TMO upgrade came along to radio 1.12. As I got my device on a 2 year contract after this period I can get the unlock code for free & put in any sim I like. So who's gonna stop me from using it on other networks then? And what about roaming use? I even could have bought it in a phone shop, same contract, higher price, but ... no simlock at all. Still everything perfectly legal.
Probably they know what can be done & try to discourage any changes with bold statements. To avoid any issues with your warrenty you can always flash it to a standard provider rom, before sending it back.
Maybe the only thing to worry about is a missing sim-lock, don't know whether they check it or keep track of the fact that you might have paid your provider for an unlock code. Mine for instance somehow just 'disappeared' very strange ;-).
Regards, M

[Q] Is eFUSE enabled on the Defy?

Hi guys,
I've brought up the question in a few places (on here and elsewhere) but it hasn't been a topic of discussion anywhere yet.
With the current flurry of activity in Defy development, does anyone know whether or not eFUSE is enabled on the Defy? I think this fact may be very critical in determining the future of the device. Cooked ROMs will still be limited by whatever the latest version Moto have released if eFUSE is active.
Some small part of me hopes that it is mysteriously disabled, like on the Droid..

This is what the (US?) law thinks about playing with "your" phone.
It’s worth noting that the jailbreak ruling does not force Apple or other handset makers to remove copy protection from their software. Rather, those users who do choose to circumvent the protections will not be subject to criminal prosecution for the act of circumvention. In addition, the ruling only provides for jailbreaking for the use of legally-acquired software, meaning that users cannot use it as a defense for installing pirated applications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I doubt eFuse is disabled - Motorola wants you to buy a new handset if you want new software. There are too few people who woudn't buy the phone because it's locked and there is no other reason to provide an unlocked phone.
They also don't want to let others profit from updating their phones, but a planned 2011Q2 update (to 2.2) for the buggy Defy is not competitive.

Ya know what they say "Motorola screw me once shame on you screw me twice ain't going to happen".

Well then, fingers crossed they "accidentally" left it turned off like in the Droid..
Since eFUSE really doesn't sound like it's ever going to get cracked.

Passa91 said:
Well then, fingers crossed they "accidentally" left it turned off like in the Droid..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure it was an accident.
The whole point about eFUSE is that it's a chip that bricks the handset if it detects the wrong software on it.
Whilst the Motorola handsets have this chip, a fact that came out around the time of the Droid X's release, I was under the impression that it wasn't enabled.
I know there's an encrypted bootloader or something that some Motorola handsets have but I'm sure I read in one of the other sections that the Defy didn't have this.
Or maybe I'm confusing myself again...

It doesn't brick the handset, but it prevents unsigned kernels from running on the CPU I believe..
The Droid X was not the first Moto to sport eFUSE. The Milestone (GSM version of the Droid) was the first one with eFUSE enabled. The only reason they've got a Cyanogen 2.2 kernel ROM right now is because a signed Froyo ROM from Moto was leaked.

Well, if that's what the eFuse chip does, then according to this, it's apparently not enabled on the Defy.

[Q] Cant get s-off ??

Did the firewater method for S-off and it keeps saying " device has been patched by HTC, your out of luck!!!." is there any way to get by this? im new to HTC devices so im a little thrown off

elvisp0129 said:
Did the firewater method for S-off and it keeps saying " device has been patched by HTC, your out of luck!!!." is there any way to get by this? im new to HTC devices so im a little thrown off
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe htc patched the last update, so would need to downgrade but not sure how you can downgrade when s-on.

There is a Bounty thread for a fix. Check my signature.

Someone correct me, cause I'm sure I'm wrong, my idea can't be right because it seems too easy/logical...
If HTC is the one who patched out firewater, wouldn't the next stop on the logic train be to assume that they want you to s-off on the HTCdev site so they can note the warranty voided??
I've been s-off since before this device even hit the market locally, so firewater worked fine...I'm just throwing darts to try and help.
Thoughts?

Exactly, it's not that easy. HTCDev will only let you unlock the bootloader, which is enough for many things, but is not the same as S-OFF. HTC doesn't provide any official way to the public for setting the device to S-OFF.

AGKdrOId said:
Someone correct me, cause I'm sure I'm wrong, my idea can't be right because it seems too easy/logical...
If HTC is the one who patched out firewater, wouldn't the next stop on the logic train be to assume that they want you to s-off on the HTCdev site so they can note the warranty voided??
I've been s-off since before this device even hit the market locally, so firewater worked fine...I'm just throwing darts to try and help.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems that way, but I don't use logic when it comes to large corporations.

Black Antitoon said:
HTC doesn't provide any official way to the public for setting the device to S-OFF.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They should though... Why deny it just so that people go with "questionable" means to exploit a system in order to do the things they want to do with the device they paid a crap load of money for.
One would think by now that companies would realise that they'll never be "fully" in front when it comes to "battles" like these, whenever they implement a new security measure, there's already someone out there with the skills to exploit it! If they exploited it by "unofficial" means, then logically they would want to cover their tracks as well leading to a form of fraud i.e hiding flags/banners that show that you did S-OFF and Unlocked, it causes problems for other users if they were to buy a device like that(2nd hand for example) or even if you handed it in as such to HTC and they refurb and resell a device that says it's one thing where in fact it's something entirely different.
Why not grant unlocked bootloader, S-OFF AND Root access on all devices and sell it as is? You can put plenty of security warnings up to warn someone about the potential danger and/or damage they can cause if they don't use it properly.
Software related issues and/or bricks can be covered seperately with warranty(perhaps a small increase in price to cover it, if it's software related, HTC can fix it easy), hardware problems on the other hand won't necessarily come about because some wanna be couldn't read a ROM installation thread properly.
It's silly if you ask me. You should be able to buy the device with the ability to have an unlocked bootloader, root access and S-OFF, out of the box! You should then be well aware that IF something happens as a result of your own negligence that you'll have to pay a bit more to get it fixed, period. There should be a warning and agreement, if you agree to those terms then you can't cry to anyone if you mess up.
But that's my opinion though.
End of rant.

BerndM14 said:
It's silly if you ask me. You should be able to buy the device with the ability to have an unlocked bootloader, root access and S-OFF, out of the box! You should then be well aware that IF something happens as a result of your own negligence that you'll have to pay a bit more to get it fixed, period. There should be a warning and agreement, if you agree to those terms then you can't cry to anyone if you mess up.
But that's my opinion though.
End of rant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you - in principle. The problem is that you expect users who click that "I agree" button to actually accept responsibility for their actions if they sc*** up. And often they don't.
I have seen it again and again in the Asus Transformer forums. You can download an apk from Asus to unlock the bootloader but that app also phones home and voids your warranty (which is clearly explained in the agreement). Quite a few users who mostly didn't bother to do enough research blamed Asus for providing a tool to unlock the BL, but then refused to support them if they bricked their device. Some sent it in for warranty repair and some actually succeeded - probably because the tech did not pay attention to the unlocked bootloader - basically making Asus pay for a mistake they made. These things happen and people just tend to try to find someone to blame for their own shortcomings.
So I do understand that they make it difficult - and I do agree: They can't win this game... Someone will find a way

berndblb said:
I agree with you - in principle. The problem is that you expect users who click that "I agree" button to actually accept responsibility for their actions if they sc*** up. And often they don't.
I have seen it again and again in the Asus Transformer forums. You can download an apk from Asus to unlock the bootloader but that app also phones home and voids your warranty (which is clearly explained in the agreement). Quite a few users who mostly didn't bother to do enough research blamed Asus for providing a tool to unlock the BL, but then refused to support them if they bricked their device. Some sent it in for warranty repair and some actually succeeded - probably because the tech did not pay attention to the unlocked bootloader - basically making Asus pay for a mistake they made. These things happen and people just tend to try to find someone to blame for the own shortcomings.
So I do understand that they make it difficult - and I do agree: They can't win this game... Someone will find a way
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. The main issue is the common person not doing research on these things and even IF they do some reading they don't even read properly. Most of the problems they encounter are self-made problems.
Perhaps giving an option in store for those things would be better then, like I said they could even "increase" the price a bit for the warranty/insurance IF you choose to go with an unlocked, rooted and S-OFF'd device...Oh well, pure speculation though, it's not like it'll ever happen.
Oh and you have an awesome name Bernd :good:

BerndM14 said:
Oh and you have an awesome name Bernd :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree! So do you! Also German immigrant? :victory:

berndblb said:
I agree! So do you! Also German immigrant? :victory:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes and no... Parents are Germans and came to South Africa, I was born here.

What is Knox an why do I care?

Please forgive the catchy title as well as my ignorance as while I have been around computing stuff for a long time, am kinda new to the Android stuff.
For me, I picked up a Samsung Strat II this summer, an have gotten a bit used to that, so just grabbed a 8.4 for Xmas as I have more uses for that, an would like to get that running as best as possible.
For the Strat II, I did root it with Towelroot an with no noticeable side effects, so understand the hows an why's of this.
But in reading the forums for the 8.4, have been seeing this thing about tripping the Knox from messing with the OS in anyways in regard to rooting.
From the little bit I have read, it seems to be some kind of root tripper, an would assume that voids any warranties too, but was wondering if some could explain it a bit more to me, an perhaps answer the following questions.
1: Does it in fact trip from a root an does this void the warranty?
2: This does not seem to be part of my Strat II OS, so is this something newer?
3: If indeed it is just a warranty thing, do I care once it's out of warranty? Which I think is one year?
4: Is it just a OS recording thing, or does it mess up the tab in anyway, software or hardware wise?
5: From what I have read, once tripped, its permanent an there is no way to reverse that even from a complete system reset, so is that true?
So those are just a few at the moment an again, please forgive my ignorance, but hey, if you don't ask, you don't learn.
Thanks for any help

if you used towelroot then you probably didn't trip knox, knox will trip if you use other root methods like cf-auto-root or flash custom firmwares like CM.
knox is a hardware fuse (at least on the snapdragon cpu) that once tripped cannot be undone as it actually modifies hardware kind-of like burning out a circuit and Samsung checks the flag to see if the device was tampered with and it will void warranty (though they may or may not make an exception depending on the issue like if something was hardware related they might still honor it).
TowelRoot uses a kernel exploit and doesn't mess with bootloaders ..etc , thus keeping knox happy

Thanks for the reply otyg, so can I use towelroot on my 8.4, or does this not work with something like this, or with this OS?

WBFAir said:
Thanks for the reply otyg, so can I use towelroot on my 8.4, or does this not work with something like this, or with this OS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Towelroot only worked on ND1~ND3 Firmware on the tab pro 8.4 then the kernel was patched on newer firmwares--- so if your tab has a newer firmware it won't work anymore without some headaches.
Basically you need to flash the Kernel (not the full firmware) from ND3 root the tab with towelroot then swap the kernel back to the current firmware, and knox should stay at 0x0 .

One of the things that puzzles me is why did they even do this?
Seems that the customization that rooting is needed to be done for, is such a big part of why many buy these things?
Guess there is some that damage things by over clocking or something else, an then rest everything an try to claim warranty, but still gotta be a small amount as apposed to those who buy them as they can do all the software stuff to them.
Seems like they are trying to lock out a good amount of their customer base.

WBFAir said:
One of the things that puzzles me is why did they even do this?
Seems that the customization that rooting is needed to be done for, is such a big part of why many buy these things?
Guess there is some that damage things by over clocking or something else, an then rest everything an try to claim warranty, but still gotta be a small amount as apposed to those who buy them as they can do all the software stuff to them.
Seems like they are trying to lock out a good amount of their customer base.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It could be worse, the efuse(s) can be used for all kinds of things like completely locking the bootloader, luckily Samsung didn't go to that extreme

Yeah, I understand.
So by any chance otyg, do you know if regarding my question on anything else it might do, does tripping the knox do anything other then the hardfuse, an the reporting of it?
Does it effect the device in any other way?
Basically I tried the unit I have for just a little bit as I wanted to setup the basics before Xmas an make sure it would work with my WiFi, but all in all the unit ran pretty nice with just the way it was.
So I really even wonder if I want to root it, an then with this Knox thing, its deterring me even more.
But then too, I know some apps just really require it.
So kinda torn.
But if it does something else negative to the device other then what we have already discussed, might just leave it alone for the time being.
Btw, thanks for all the help so far.

There are benefits to rooting like being able to use your sdcard properly , I rooted mine, never tripped knox,
As with all rooting It's a risk if you do trip it it will probably void warranty, it could also brick your device if something goes wrong.
Another common problem I have been seeing is random reboots for people who have a tripped knox flag (this is due to software on the tablet that checks knox and somehow causes reboots, you can disable the software but still troublesome and doesn't work for everyone).
If you really want to root I would go with towelroot method, its the safest and less risk for triggering any knox problems.
you basically update your firmware to the latest version first, extract the kernel from the tar file, download the ND3 firmware extract the kernel, tar the kernel's , flash the nd3 kernel with odin, boot-up , towelroot, install supersu , reboot - switch back to download mode and re-flash the latest kernel)
Read through this thread too, some people have prepared standalone kernels to use if you don't want to do it yourself. you probably need ND3 (or ND1 will work) and K1 if your tablet is the XAR model.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2786800
^ND1 kernel
http://forum.xda-developers.com/gal...320xar1ank1-extracted-stock-firmware-t2954549
^K1 kernel

Thanks greatly otyg, will have to look into this more after the holidays, an thanks so much for the info

WBFAir said:
One of the things that puzzles me is why did they even do this?
Seems that the customization that rooting is needed to be done for, is such a big part of why many buy these things?
Guess there is some that damage things by over clocking or something else, an then rest everything an try to claim warranty, but still gotta be a small amount as apposed to those who buy them as they can do all the software stuff to them.
Seems like they are trying to lock out a good amount of their customer base.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because people mostly don't care and don't know.
If you don't like what they do, then don't support them. Stop buying their products, or buy used if you have to.
Personally, Samsung is the #1 company on my **** list, with Apple being a close 2nd, due to their policies towards their customers.
I only bought my 12.2 Note Pro because nobody else make anything in this class.
I already have Nexus 4 & 7. Xperia. And if I was shopping for a small tablet, I'd get the new Nexus (despite the HTC crappy quality lottery).
I also bought it used/refurbished, not new.

WBFAir said:
Yeah, I understand.
So by any chance otyg, do you know if regarding my question on anything else it might do, does tripping the knox do anything other then the hardfuse, an the reporting of it?
Does it effect the device in any other way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For this device, once you trip Knox you can no longer update firmware through the traditional methods, you have to do it manually through something like Odin or a custom recovery, as far as I can tell. Samsung recognizes that you've "modified" your device and will not let you update through official channels.

gidal said:
Because people mostly don't care and don't know.
If you don't like what they do, then don't support them. Stop buying their products, or buy used if you have to.
Personally, Samsung is the #1 company on my **** list, with Apple being a close 2nd, due to their policies towards their customers.
I only bought my 12.2 Note Pro because nobody else make anything in this class.
I already have Nexus 4 & 7. Xperia. And if I was shopping for a small tablet, I'd get the new Nexus (despite the HTC crappy quality lottery).
I also bought it used/refurbished, not new.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suspect it's to honor their high level contracts (like the govs, and fortune 500 company's) who need to keep the devices secure, knox is a good way to tell the customer their device could have been compromised, unfortunately it does effect normal users like us who like to tweak the devices a little .

otyg said:
I suspect it's to honor their high level contracts (like the govs, and fortune 500 company's) who need to keep the devices secure, knox is a good way to tell the customer their device could have been compromised
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is pretty much true, in my understanding. KNOX is aimed at enterprise users (company provided devices) as a means of ensuring the devices are kept in an "approved" or "compliant" configuration. Once a device is rooted, root can be hidden (as well as any number of changes made to the system) so it makes sense for IT departments to want a non-reversible hardware fuse to detect the device has been tampered (mainly by the employees).
Android hasn't had the widest adoption for enterprise use, mainly due to the open nature of the OS. So such security measures are an attempt at changing that perception.
Folks on here have argued that KNOX counter does not void the warranty, and its only purpose if for use along with the KNOX security software. Whether that is 100% true or not, I can't personally say.

Knox allows a device to be setup as two completely separate devices in one. One secured for business use the other for personal use. I tripped Knox immediately on mine when I rooted it.

Can i towelroot and install cm without knockig trox?

HTC One M9 Variants to avoid buying (rooting, bootloader unlock, s off)?

My LG G4 is dead and i need a good substitute ASAP on a tight budget ($200-$250 max). This pretty much limits me to 2015 era phones. Not getting another LG, Samsungs are too expensive and S6 has no microSD slot anyway. Narrowed it down to either an HTC One M9 and Moto X Force. Moto's limited development as well as an alarming number of nightmarish defective OLED displays has scared me off of it (shame as I love OLEDs).
So i'm about settled on an HTC One M9. I did my best to research any deal breaking hardware defects, any problems seem far less severe or common compared to G4 or Moto. Assuming I haven't missed anything...
So that said my question now turns to the software side- are there any carriers/variants of the M9 I should try to avoid buying? As the title says, I wish to unlock the bootloader, root, and eventually install custom roms etc. I'm prepared to pay for Sunshine if necessary provided all M9 variants are supported. I've done my best to read through as many threads and pages as I could before asking this. It SEEMS like i'd be safe buying pretty much any M9 and still be able to unlock bootloader, root and s off. Even Verizon models if i'm not mistaken? Am I correct in this assumption? I wanted to ask just to ensure I didn't miss any important caveats before buying.
I messed up buying an LG, many suffer from a motherboard defect causing unfixable bootlooping and mine finally succumbed the other day. Mine was also a region that didn't allow bootloader unlocking. I could root with some effort if I didn't mind being stuck forever on lollipop, but no custom roms and other annoying limitations.
I don't wish to repeat the same mistakes if I can avoid it, so any information regarding my query would be greatly appreciated. Any other advice or things to look out for regarding the M9 would be helpful too. Thanks very much in advance.
By the way, the version i'm looking at buying is listed as an AT&T model. From what I have seen, this variant seems to be pretty much perfect for doing all I want. But I still wanted to ask this in case I either get a different variant, or if the seller is listing the wrong version of the product. If all M9s are basically equal at this point, then I don't need to worry which kind I get.

Try to buy a worldwide edition. It's the sim unlocked from factory with region 401 ie x.xx.401.xx firmware version.
M9 is a solid phone. The camera isn't the greatest but it does take good shots. It can get a bit hot if charging and playing games at the same time and it is more than capable of draining the battery in an hour or two if you use resource intensive games or apps. The sound is very clear and boomsound is a major player in the satisfaction this phone gives, making the speakers significantly bassier than other devices on the market. The speakers 'can' be a little quiet at full but they ALWAYS stay crystal clear with no distortion at all.
You MUST get a protector case for this device as the front of the actual phone can crack if you apply pressure, by the front camera lens is cracked on mine. Tech21 make a good sturdy case for this device but it is a tad expensive at £30 GBP.
I Don't recommend using custom roms with this device as not only is the risk of a brick significantly higher it is also going to result in a slightly slower phone than stock rooted.
The different variants of this device are essentially the same but carrier locked versions can be a prick to find software to fix stuff.
In all you've made the right choice of phone if you plan on keeping it stock but the wrong one if you plan on modding it.
Beamed in by telepathy.

Sorry, but I have to disagree with some points of the post above this one.
If you live in the US then choosing either the unlocked/dev variant or the version of your carrier is the best choice. SKU 401 is optimized for the EU (in regard to supported frequencies and some GPS configurations). And it's important that you choose the correct hardware version for your carrier's technology (Verizon & Sprint: CDMA - all other variants: GSM). The firmware of CDMA devices and GSM devices isn't interchangeable. You can't even flash Sprint firmware on a Verizon device (or vice versa) without damaging it. However, you can change from one GSM firmware to a different one if you want to (S-OFF required).
Just for having it mentioned (I know that you don't need this information but who knows who else is going to read this): The Verizon version's bootloader cannot get unlocked via HTCdev (unlike the bootloader of all other versions). You need S-OFF for unlocking the bootloader of that version. Since sunshine needs root on the latest firmware version the only way to unlock the Verizon variant on the latest firmware is an xtc clip/java card. (This may change with a future update of sunshine.) Or you try to get a pre-Nougat Verizon M9 and use the temp-root of the sunshine app.
In addition, HTC provides RUUs for its US devices. Therefore, getting back to stock is easier with one of them than with all other non-US variants.
And in regard to custom roms: They don't hardbrick your device. The worst thing that can happen is a soft-brick/bootloop and that will only happen if you try to flash a custom rom whose base is newer than your phone's firmware (and some nougat roms are even compatible with the marshmallow firmware so this happens quite rarely in the recent time).
Aside from that, my phone is as fast while I use Viper 6.1 as it has been while I was playing around with the stock rom. If there really is a difference then you need laboratory equipment for being able to detect it. And I'm pretty sure that you get the same performance on other (sense-based) custom roms, as well.
The only thing that you need to be aware of is that there are more and more reports of dying memory chips. These nand deaths happen on stock phones and on modified phones. As far as I read, no one has been able to repair such a dead device except for HTC itself. I don't know what's the cause of the problem since I know enough people whose M9's are still working fine without any issues.
Sent from my HTC One M9 using XDA Labs

Thanks for the reply from both of you. I'm surprised and happy a mod actually replied too!
My LG was locked out from installing custom roms and such, but I have experience installing some on a first gen Galaxy S (currently using it as backup in fact). I'm sure things have changed somewhat, but I am aware of the potential risks in flashing custom roms. I've bootlooped and soft bricked my device doing so more than once. I'm not a programmer, but I was able to fix them all with patience, research and the right tools/software. I assume there are also methods to deal with soft bricks and bootloops on HTC One M9 if you consider it less of a threat than a hardware brick (which my LG G4 got even without flashing anything). I appreciate the warning and advice either way.
I'm not concerned with the carrier compatibility that much. I don't have service with anyone at the moment and can use whatever. Seller says the device is a GSM unlocked AT&T device, if accurate then i'm perfectly content with using GSM networks. Listing says "new AT&T carrier overstock item", which I hope means the device is okay. It's being advertised as running 5.0 Lollipop, which I assume means the stock rom it came with when first released and also hope is an okay starting point for doing whatever rooting and customization I want.
I hope the NAND issue doesn't crop up on the one I get though, that doesn't sound good. HTC attracted me because i've seen fewer people complaining about widespread hardware defects compared to many other phones. It's difficult to find phones that are a good value, are reasonably free of serious problems and include features I deem important (microSD card support for instance, and having reasonably fast processors). My options are limited.
I'm not sure if i'll need s off. I'm new to that term and don't know much about it besides it being some sort of HTC security. Not sure what doors would open up by having s off, still researching. Assuming the model I buy is accurately listed as AT&T, it sounds like I should be able to unlock the bootloader, root, flash TWRP and even get custom roms without having s off. Am I correct? Not even sure if it's required to flash kernels such as ElementalX.

That can happen if you post in the forum of a device that's owned by a mod. Don't forget that we're normal members, as well, if we don't moderate.
If you face a soft-brick you only need to keep both volume buttons and the power button pressed until the phone reboots to its bootloader. From there on you can boot to TWRP and only need to flash a working rom or to restore a backup of a working (stock) rom and the problem should be fixed. Hard-bricks only happen if you flash a CDMA firmware on a GSM device (or vice versa) or a Sprint firmware on a Verizon device (or vice versa). The phone will still be booting but from what I observed here on xda your SIM card won't be detected, anymore, even if you re-flash your phone's original firmware. Aside from that you can "kill" this phone if you're impatient while it's installing an update and power it down during the process (there was a time when that happened quite often). Therefore, I suggest you to just let it do it's thing after you started the update process. Depending on which update you want to install it might take up to approximately half an hour and the phone might reboot (and therefore vibrate) several times.
Correct, for flashing custom recoveries/roms/kernels you don't need S-OFF on this phone (as long as it's not the Verizon variant). Take a look at the further reading section of the ReadMe thread. There's an article linked that explains S-OFF. And Sneakyghost's firmware thread in the development section should contain an explanation, as well. If I remember correctly it should be located in the 5th post. Be aware that you don't need to (re-)lock this phones bootloader like you needed to do on older HTC devices if you want to flash a RUU with S-ON as long as you use the SD card method. That's the recommended method, btw.
I personally don't use a custom kernel. They had a huge impact on my last device (the HTC One S - released in 2012) but HTC seems to be learning at least from some of its "mistakes" since the battery optimizations are much better on the M9. Therefore, I haven't been using a custom kernel since one of the early versions of ElementalX. On the other hand, that means that I can't tell you whether the current version got optimized that much that it actually has an impact, again.
In regard to the nand issue: Don't forget that 95% of the posts here get made by people who face problems with their phones whereas most people don't post if everything is working fine. That might cause that an issue seems to be more common than it actually is. And as said in my last post, I haven't seen such a dead nand in real life, yet, and I know a lot of people who own this phone.
And last but not least a little tip: Find out your phone's firmware as soon as you get it. If it's a pre-4.x version (everything before android n) then try to find the latest 3.x RUU for your SKU*. If you install that one you will save some time that would otherwise be needed for installing a huge amount of OTA updates. (A RUU only needs around 5 minutes if you use the SD card method.) You can't directly install a 4.x RUU since HTC changed the encryption keys between firmware 3.x and 4.x. Therefore, you need to install the 4.x update via the software update function of the phone since OTAs aren't encrypted. More information, some useful files and instructions can be found in the ReadMe thread. (It's a big wall-of-text but reading and understanding it is worth the time that you need for doing so.)
Edit: * = Here's a download link for the latest 3.x AT&T M9 RUU (directly from HTC's server). However, now that I think about it I actually can't tell you whether the AT&T variant already received android n...
Sent from my HTC One M9 using XDA Labs