Then I tried a 6.6 (I think) firmware for the 0827 hardware. It ran through to 100%, and then started over, and took 30 minutes to install the firmware. Then it just hung at the end. When I rebooted, it gave me the missing system software error.
What do you mean with (I think)? Have you flashed wrong HWID firmware?
System software missing means something wrong for HWID IMO