Instant Firmware Update Using Samsung Kies

**Brainerd** · 08-25-2012, 04:33 PM

I've seen posted this information elsewhere, but I thought it deserved it's own thread.

Like many of us, once I heard that an OTA was rolling out, I would go to my phone's settings and check for the firmware update. I would impatiently check for it...over and over and over.

Well, after reading a post about using Kies to do the update, I thought I would give it a try.

NOTE: this is a Kies application and not the Kies Air that works in your Internet browser.

Here is the link to the software:

Installing Kies on you computer does take a veeeeery loooong time. It is easily a 2 beer install. Once installed, I opened the program on my computer, plugged in my SGIIE4GT, via USB, and Kies told me there was an update available. I accepted the update and it was a 1.5 beer download and update process.

Even though the updates have sucked, this is a much better than waiting for the OTA. Once they issue the next bug update that fixes FH13, I'll also do it via Kies.

**boXerrumble** · 08-25-2012, 05:20 PM

Originally Posted by Brainerd

I've seen posted this information elsewhere, but I thought it deserved it's own thread.

Like many of us, once I heard that an OTA was rolling out, I would go to my phone's settings and check for the firmware update. I would impatiently check for it...over and over and over.

Well, after reading a post about using Kies to do the update, I thought I would give it a try.

NOTE: this is a Kies application and not the Kies Air that works in your Internet browser.

Here is the link to the software:

Installing Kies on you computer does take a veeeeery loooong time. It is easily a 2 beer install. Once installed, I opened the program on my computer, plugged in my SGIIE4GT, via USB, and Kies told me there was an update available. I accepted the update and it was a 1.5 beer download and update process.

Even though the updates have sucked, this is a much better than waiting for the OTA. Once they issue the next bug update that fixes FH13, I'll also do it via Kies.

I'm not sure what makes you say FH13 still needs fixed.

I wiped cache/data before updating, and dare I say this is EL-29 stable.

**Hawaiian_Geek** · 08-25-2012, 07:23 PM

Thanks for posting the link for the Samsung Kies! I'll have to install it later this evening!

**davis.rob** · 08-25-2012, 09:20 PM

Originally Posted by boXerrumble

I'm not sure what makes you say FH13 still needs fixed.

I wiped cache/data before updating, and dare I say this is EL-29 stable.

I'm still having issues with Bluetooth (and I think many other people are too). It'd be nice to get those fixed.

But having said that, I'm not as negative about this ICS update as others seem to be. I did a Factory Reset after the first update and have enjoyed ICS for the most part. Except in my car trying to listen to music and answer the phone.

And ... very nice being able to download updates immediately using Kies.

**dj ozone** · 08-25-2012, 09:32 PM

Kies also offers a backup/restore option for all your phones data...I did this before I updated just in case...

**Slydragon** · 08-26-2012, 09:44 PM

My laptop or PC will not see my phone. I can plug it into the USB and it will charge but not show on kies or even as a drive like my old G1 did. I tried 3 different USB wires and kies would see my wife's and kids G1 phone but only charge my G2 phone. After about 2 hours of Googling and trying everything short of a full phone reboot, I just gave up.

**Hawaiian_Geek** · 08-26-2012, 10:08 PM

Originally Posted by wicked_co

My laptop or PC will not see my phone. I can plug it into the USB and it will charge but not show on kies or even as a drive like my old G1 did. I tried 3 different USB wires and kies would see my wife's and kids G1 phone but only charge my G2 phone. After about 2 hours of Googling and trying everything short of a full phone reboot, I just gave up.

That's weird. Have you tried rebooting your G2 & pc's then plugging in the usb into your pc's?

**Slydragon** · 08-26-2012, 10:48 PM

Originally Posted by Hawaiian_Geek

That's weird. Have you tried rebooting your G2 & pc's then plugging in the usb into your pc's?

Yup even took out the SD card did the menu on the phone to set the USB to PDA mode check and unchecked debug mode just to name a few. I thought maybe I just have 3 bad wires but they work fine on the 3 G1 I tried.

**Hawaiian_Geek** · 08-26-2012, 11:46 PM

do you have the Samsung USB drivers installed?

**Slydragon** · 08-27-2012, 12:18 AM

Originally Posted by Hawaiian_Geek

do you have the Samsung USB drivers installed?

Yup and reinstalled them a few times, I just got it to work. I rebooted my phone back to stock to see if maybe that would help as it did for my Galaxy Tab with Kies. Well it didn't and I was so frustrated I just jam the USB plug into my phone with with some force and my laptop then pick it up and Kies updated it.

This is a new phone from Sprint less than 2 weeks old as my old G2 was all mess up after the ics update, I guess the USB port maybe bad. I have to get it check out.

**Hawaiian_Geek** · 08-27-2012, 12:34 AM

Originally Posted by wicked_co

Yup and reinstalled them a few times, I just got it to work. I rebooted my phone back to stock to see if maybe that would help as it did for my Galaxy Tab with Kies. Well it didn't and I was so frustrated I just jam the USB plug into my phone with with some force and my laptop then pick it up and Kies updated it.

This is a new phone from Sprint less than 2 weeks old as my old G2 was all mess up after the ics update, I guess the USB port maybe bad. I have to get it check out.

Good to see you got it working. Yuh, have Sprint store check out the USB port.
I just got a refurbished G2 and I gotta say so far all is good with ICS FH18 though. My first G2 was messed up from first ICS update. I was gonna have the Sprint store downgrade back to Gingerbread but so far the battery life is good and I'm not having heat issues or freezing. I'm gonna wait a few days before deciding on installing the FH13.

**Slydragon** · 08-27-2012, 01:23 AM

Originally Posted by Hawaiian_Geek

Good to see you got it working. Yuh, have Sprint store check out the USB port.
I just got a refurbished G2 and I gotta say so far all is good with ICS FH18 though. My first G2 was messed up from first ICS update. I was gonna have the Sprint store downgrade back to Gingerbread but so far the battery life is good and I'm not having heat issues or freezing. I'm gonna wait a few days before deciding on installing the FH13.

My first phone was perfect....then one day it wouldn't turn on so I took it to Sprint and they couldn't fix it so they gave me a new one and all this was pre ICS update. The new one right off the bat was mess up, the screen didn't respond correctly and the 4G would never connect and I was now roaming in spots I never did before, GPS would never connect also. Took it back and got a new screen and the said they fix the roaming issue and it was ok until I did the ICS update.

After that the speeds on the phone were still bad compared to my original G2 and on top of that the battery kept dieing within an hour and the battery started to swell. Back I went and told them I just want another phone, which is my current one that was fine up until 2 days ago when I had it plug in all night only to be told low battery when I unplug it. thought maybe it was my fault but at work it did the same thing, took forever to charge and drained in about an hour of just web surfing and then today the kies issue. Now when I plug it into my pc I can now see it as a drive so I'm hoping it fix what ever was messing up the connection when I jammed it in. *fingers cross*

**Dickey68** · 08-27-2012, 03:13 AM

Is the new ics worth updating to? Or should I be thankful i'm still running gingerbread?

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Android Central Forums

**Brainerd** · 08-27-2012, 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by boXerrumble

I'm not sure what makes you say FH13 still needs fixed.

I wiped cache/data before updating, and dare I say this is EL-29 stable.

I guess this is one of those, "your mileage may very" kinda things. I've noticed a fair amount of posts that say FH13 has not solved all of the problems from the 1st ICS update. I'm still having much poorer battery life. I'm holding out on that, and hoping that it will just take another day or two for the new OS to get used to the battery.

**mikefour77** · 08-27-2012, 04:32 PM

A question for the crowd... My experience with FF18 has been draining and for other reasons, I need to do a factory reset.

Should I do that before or after updating to FH13?

Thoughts? Many thanks in advance.

**aust1nz** · 08-27-2012, 05:18 PM

Hey Mike - I'd suggest you do so both before and after updating to FH13! If you only choose one, though, go for the after-update reset. I performed a reset shortly after updating this morning. The reset somehow allowed my phone to sleep, which was great because it was draining about 10% of battery per hour prior to the reset. It's been a lot more reasonable since.

**redhdgirl417** · 08-27-2012, 06:59 PM

I did the update tonight via Kies on my NetBook and WOW what a difference! Faster and battery life awesome! I'm even getting 2 bars showing inside my house where I used to have none.

**planase** · 08-27-2012, 10:16 PM

Originally Posted by wicked_co

My laptop or PC will not see my phone. I can plug it into the USB and it will charge but not show on kies or even as a drive like my old G1 did. I tried 3 different USB wires and kies would see my wife's and kids G1 phone but only charge my G2 phone. After about 2 hours of Googling and trying everything short of a full phone reboot, I just gave up.

Try on the G2 Menu - Settings - Applications - Development unchecked USB Debugging. That's works for me. After that my pc recognized the phone.

Sent from my MZ604 using Xparent SkyBlue Tapatalk 2

**Solara19** · 08-28-2012, 02:24 AM

just updated via Kies...wow what a difference. My phone is back to being gingerbread fast!

**GiantJay** · 08-28-2012, 09:44 PM

I went into recovery mode and did a factory reset and wiped cache a few times and I can get about 24 hours with light usage. No trouble with WiFi or Bluetooth, just my experience.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

**GiantJay** · 08-28-2012, 09:47 PM

Also you can get the vanilla look by going to settings, apps, all, go down to twlauncher and clear default. When you hit the home key you can switch back and forth or set twlauncher as default.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

**burrrton** · 08-28-2012, 11:31 PM

Originally Posted by Dickey68

Is the new ics worth updating to? Or should I be thankful i'm still running gingerbread?

If you value your battery life, stay with GB. I used to get at least a day and a half of average use (some gaming, a lot of texts, some websurfing, etc) on GB- with FH13 doing virtually *nothing* today, I got 15 hours and it was beeping at me to shut it down or plug it in.

I did just install it last night, so maybe there was some metric @ssload of caching going on (I don't know- I'm guessing trying to give it the benefit of the doubt), but sheesh.

Otherwise, the FH13 build I'm running is rock-stable for everything I've done (including BT, GPS, etc).

**tonylmiller** · 08-29-2012, 07:37 AM

I did the update via kies last night. Took about an hour, including the kies install.

Everything is working fine.

Does kies do a good job for backup/restore?

**mikefour77** · 08-29-2012, 10:16 AM

Originally Posted by tonylmiller

I did the update via kies last night. Took about an hour, including the kies install.

Everything is working fine.

Does kies do a good job for backup/restore?

I recently used Kies to update and used it to backup and restore my call logs and text messages. Worked just fine.

My only piece of advice: I tried to backup pictures and videos using Kies and it took FOREVER..... so long in fact, that I cancelled and actually used the Kies Air app to download my pictures and videos to my computer and that took all of five minutes.

On a side note, FH13 seems much snappier to me and battery life, while not as good as GB, seems to be improved. I need to give it a few cycles to settle in, but so far I got 12 hours and that was while getting my phone set back up after a factory reset.

**tonylmiller** · 08-29-2012, 10:42 AM

Ok, so I have another related question. If I do a reset on my phone, can I selectively restore stuff with kies, like angry birds progress? Or is it all or nothing?