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Roll back firmware? Galaxy Note

C

cedricthecat

Lurker
Hi folks

First post, and I am afraid brought here as I am not happy!

I've been prompted to download a firmware update for ages, and been resolutely not doing so, but accidentally did so recently...

Then it was prompting me to install it, with no option to cancel the install, only to postpone it (by 30 mins, 1 hour or 2 hours). Getting fed up with this, thought I'd go for it, but wanted to make a backup first, so installed Kies, which simply wrecked my Network connection on my laptop! So... Uninstalled Kies, made a backup by dragging all the phone files from the Note to my laptop and went for the update.

Really didn't want to update but thought I'd go for it thinking "what's the worse that can happen? It'll only be a few minor changes"

It's not...

It's like having a new phone.....

And I didn't want a new phone....

The overall look is different, all my settings have been forgotten, it's making stupid noises, all my shortcuts have disappeared, and the keyboard on texting is ridiculous (one button for ALL punctuation). The background photo doesn't fit any more, images are fuzzy.... I'm sure the list will go on

So, is it possible to get things back to how they were, without resorting to major work? If a new firmware patch can be applied, is it possible to do an "old" one? As I have the backup files on my laptop, will this actually be of help?

(I've had a quick look at similar questions, but I'm afraid that the way back is going to be going down a path too complicated for me to follow....)

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Dave
 
Welcome to the forums :) We're glad you're here.

Firmware or Software update?

Firmware is hardware related and "Roll" back generally is not available unless you are rooted and ready to deal with the consequences. Firmware is the one thing that can mess up your phone and leave you with a brick.

Software without being rooted cannot be changed.If rooted you can simply flash a downgraded version of the software with very little consequence.

If you are not rooted the only real thing you can try is a factory reset. Since the upgraded software doesn't do a "clean" install this can cause issue's at times doing the reset would wipe your /data and /cache partitions and start it fresh.
 
Hi and thanks for replying!

TBH, not entirely sure (as I do computers more than phones) but I think it was a software update. As I said, I accidentally clicked "yes" to a download a while back, but had got fed up of the "nag" screens giving the option to delay by (IIRC) 30 mins, an hour or three hours.

Phone is not rooted (at least not if that means unlocked?) and deffo don't want to do a total reset! It's bad enough as it is without losing all my texts, photos, call logs, numbers etc! Is there not any option to "undo" in these cases? Not possible to re-install the previous software?

At the moment I can't even find out how to switch Swype back on (it's greyed out) and can see myself spending a couple of hours just to get everything more or less back to how it was before...

Sad bunny.... :(
 
Unfortunately there is no "Rollback" as there is on a computer. So you are limited in your choices
 
So if your phone updates itself to latest Firmware version 4.1.2 and you start to have issues you can not roll back to go to the more stable version?
 
You actually have a stable version. You don't get unstable releases unless you are on a Nexus, which gets everything. Just factory reset the thing.
 
For me most things work ok, but image gallery is locking up and slow. And videos on some sites with default browser stopped working. They only load up 90% and then stop.

Ideas, before a Factory reset?
 
tim ver said:
For me most things work ok, but image gallery is locking up and slow. And videos on some sites with default browser stopped working. They only load up 90% and then stop.

Ideas, before a Factory reset?
Click to expand...


Honestly your best bet is to back up everything you want to keep. is...pictures and music files and do a factory reset.
 
Ok, can I also back up game save/progress and password info for apps like twiter, ect? So I can just reinstall and bring back the back up to set settings like before with game saves.
 
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