Samsung Galaxy S2 - Got Update This Morning

[george]

This morning my Samsung Galaxy S2 prompted me to update the firmware. The phone rebooted, and then the update failed with a popup telling me update via Kies or visit a Samsung service center. I tried again and got the same thing. Grrr...

I use Mac OS Lion and there is no Kies version for me:(

Please advise.

[jackbox]

Did you root it and change the system files in any way? The system files must be unaltered in any way and you cannot have deleted any. If the system partition was modified (other than just adding root) an OTA update will fail. It checks every file (including bloat apps) to make sure nothing was changed (installing updates of bloat apps doesn't matter as the updates are on the data partition, not the system partition). If you have modded it, restore it to stock for the OTA to work. Kies will fail also if the phone is not stock.

[george]

I have stock, not rooted, nothing changed.

[george]

Hmm.. So how do I restore it to stock so i can upgrade?

[lomatopo]

Never, ever update a phone Over The Air ( OTA ).

In fact, if the phone is working fine you should not update it. Wait for others to try any new firmware.

On some models you can reboot into Recovery Mode. Then choose the appropriate option, i.e. Wipe Data/Factory Reset.

Maybe turn the phone off, remove battery, SIM and any uSD card, re-insert battery. Press and hold the Home, Volume Down and Power buttons at the same time. Wait to enter Recovery Mode, choose Factory Reset option. Not sure if this will work with the stock SGS2?

[jackbox]

A factory reset will not restore changes to the system partition. It simply wipes clean the data partition. If you modified the system partition then you need to either restore a Nandroid backup you made in advance, or search on Google on how to restore and flash back the stock rom.

[justsumhelp]

looks like kies should work with lion http://www.samsung.c.../SGH-I777ZKAATT even though it says for att galaxy the software is the same. I could never get kies working on snow leopard or a virtualbox running windows. Try this first, on a wifi connection. Settings > about phone> Software update. then try to update from there. If that fails fire up a windows computer and run kies that way. If you have no access to a windows computer, you can always bootcamp into a windows install, microsoft offers free .iso for windows 7 but they expire in 30 days, if not registered. If you have never rooted then you are on stock, shouldnt need to wipe, factory reset, or anything like that.

Hmm.. So how do I restore it to stock so i can upgrade?

[ThreeProperty]

You could use VM Ware to install windows and flash using Kies. If you have the USB drivers you could just download the firmware from Samsung and flash it with Odin Multi Downloader.

Or just take it to one of the 100 million phone shops on every corner and have them run a Kies update for you.

Three Property

[Phil Conners]

I would install Lite'ning ROM and leave the awful TouchWiz and even more awful Kies behind me! Great phone but they can't make software

[george]

looks like kies should work with lion http://www.samsung.c.../SGH-I777ZKAATT even though it says for att galaxy the software is the same. I could never get kies working on snow leopard or a virtualbox running windows. Try this first, on a wifi connection. Settings > about phone> Software update. then try to update from there. If that fails fire up a windows computer and run kies that way. If you have no access to a windows computer, you can always bootcamp into a windows install, microsoft offers free .iso for windows 7 but they expire in 30 days, if not registered. If you have never rooted then you are on stock, shouldnt need to wipe, factory reset, or anything like that.

Hmm.. So how do I restore it to stock so i can upgrade?

Thanks a lot, this link worked, so now I have KIES installed. But Kies says it's not possible to upgrade Samsung Galaxy GT-I9100. I currently have Android 2.3.3 with Gingerbead.XWKF3. If I click About on the phone while connected to WIFI it says upgrade available. but upgrade fail after reboot.

Any ideas?

[jackbox]

looks like kies should work with lion http://www.samsung.c.../SGH-I777ZKAATT even though it says for att galaxy the software is the same. I could never get kies working on snow leopard or a virtualbox running windows. Try this first, on a wifi connection. Settings > about phone> Software update. then try to update from there. If that fails fire up a windows computer and run kies that way. If you have no access to a windows computer, you can always bootcamp into a windows install, microsoft offers free .iso for windows 7 but they expire in 30 days, if not registered. If you have never rooted then you are on stock, shouldnt need to wipe, factory reset, or anything like that.

Hmm.. So how do I restore it to stock so i can upgrade?

Thanks a lot, this link worked, so now I have KIES installed. But Kies says it's not possible to upgrade Samsung Galaxy GT-I9100. I currently have Android 2.3.3 with Gingerbead.XWKF3. If I click About on the phone while connected to WIFI it says upgrade available. but upgrade fail after reboot.

Any ideas?

Search on how to flash with Odin and compatible firmware. You are probably just better off leaving what you have it on it for now. This is most likely just a maintainence update and if you are not having problems better to not update, as Samsung's can brick themselves doing an OTA update. Wait for ICS for it and then update it.

[justsumhelp]

Looks like your going to have to use windows at this point or bring it to a shop, as far as odin mentioned by another post that again is windows only, there is a cross platform open source alternative called heimdall which essentially performs the same things as odin. I doubt either are what you are looking for unless you want to fish out the exact update put out for your phone from your carrier. There is a difference in the upgrades though and I recommend doing them, 2.3.3 is dated, and contains a high Android OS bug. Most custom samsung roms are all at least 2.3.5 whereas CM builds are at 2.3.7 As far as waiting for ICS I wouldnt recommend it, it will be at least a few months before Samsung touchwiz'es it and then releases it (again also could be delayed even further by the carrier). If you want to keep your phone stock and un-rooted get access to windows, or run by the shop, should take more than a hour. Just make sure you back up everything.

looks like kies should work with lion http://www.samsung.c.../SGH-I777ZKAATT even though it says for att galaxy the software is the same. I could never get kies working on snow leopard or a virtualbox running windows. Try this first, on a wifi connection. Settings > about phone> Software update. then try to update from there. If that fails fire up a windows computer and run kies that way. If you have no access to a windows computer, you can always bootcamp into a windows install, microsoft offers free .iso for windows 7 but they expire in 30 days, if not registered. If you have never rooted then you are on stock, shouldnt need to wipe, factory reset, or anything like that.

Hmm.. So how do I restore it to stock so i can upgrade?

Thanks a lot, this link worked, so now I have KIES installed. But Kies says it's not possible to upgrade Samsung Galaxy GT-I9100. I currently have Android 2.3.3 with Gingerbead.XWKF3. If I click About on the phone while connected to WIFI it says upgrade available. but upgrade fail after reboot.

Any ideas?

[justsumhelp]

Lite'ning Rom is abandoned, but here is where someone else picked up the project http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1334124

I would install Lite'ning ROM and leave the awful TouchWiz and even more awful Kies behind me! Great phone but they can't make software

[Phil Conners]

Lite'ning Rom is abandoned, but here is where someone else picked up the project http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1334124

I would install Lite'ning ROM and leave the awful TouchWiz and even more awful Kies behind me! Great phone but they can't make software

Oh really?! That's a pity, it was one of my favorites. Well, all the best for the heir, I hope he will take good care of it. Otherwise I guess you could always install Cyanogen. I like Oxygen for HTC Desire; they also have a version for SGS2 but seem to have some stability issues so I wouldn't recommend that.