New M9 --- Bootloop/stuck after mods

Got a new M9 yesterday. Coming from a M8 where I went through several flashing sessions of firmware versions (upgrades) and a couple different ROMs (Viper, LeeDroid, GPE) over the past 1.5 years, no major issues.

With the new M9, I went through the following steps:
Unlocked the bootloader.
Used Sunshine for S-OFF.
Installed TWRP v2.8.7.8-hima.img
Did a backup.

Rebooted fine, loads original OS no issues.

Onto.....
Changing CID to 11111111
Flashed M9_2.8.617.4_NoWipe_NoRed (Developers/Unlocked firmware)
Flashed LeeDroid One M9 - V7.7.0 RC2

And this is where I ran into problems.....let the M9 sit and boot, it booted HTC logo screen, LeeDroid Logo screen, and then the updating apps screen, and finished......but it never booted correctly again. Waited 15 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour....nothing. I could always boot back to bootloader screen. It'd never boot LeeDroid. Eventually, I tried going back to recovery mode....and it went into the HTC recovery screen (not the TWRP recovery).

So....I went to download mode, and flashed the original 2.8.617.4 RUU from SneakyGhost (which has the red text warning)......and then did a factory reset......and it has started back to trying to boot LeeDroid, but it bootlooped to where the M9 will give the HTC logo screen, the LeeDroid logo screen, start and finish the updating apps screen.....will flash off the screen, then repeats the LeeDroid logo, and updating apps again...

I then put the TWRP recovery back (as it would only go to the HTC recovery). And then I flashed LeeDroid V7.7.0 RC2 again and waited.....now the M9 will power on....show me the HTC logo screen, then show nothing, but you can see the screen backlight on, then the screen backlight goes off.....and it reboots. A couple times....it's shown me the status bar (but only the right side info), with nothing else at all showing on the screen.

I just never seem to be able to get it to boot the OS completely to show me a screen after flashing....but all the TWRP and Bootloader stuff works....

Current Fastboot 'getvar all' info:

kernel: lk
product: htc_himaulatt
version: 1.0
imei: -----
version-main: 2.8.617.4
boot-mode: download
version-baseband: 01.01_U11440601_76.03.50611G_F
version-bootloader: 1.0.0.0000
mid: 0PJA11000
cid: 11111111

On the HTC download mode screen:

****Unlocked*****
htc_himaulatt PVT S-OFF
CID 11111111
LK-1.0.0.0000
Radio 01.01_U11440601_76.03.5611G_F
OpenDSP-v29.2.6.00492-M8994_0514
OS-2.8.617.4
June 26 2015, 13:47:21 (559710)

What am I missing/doing wrong?

Any ideas and help sincerely appreciated!