AT&T S4: Downgrade back to 4.2.2?

[bmxrcer190]

So I updated my S4 on At&t to android 4.3(big mistake) and my phone is plagued with all sorts of problems. I have read that many other people are experiencing the same problems as I am with poor signal strength, inconsistant WiFi connection and poor battery life. I haven't seen any advice on how to corret the problem except to wait until Samsung or At&t fix the problem. My question is, is there anyway to downgrade back to 4.2.2? My phone is not rooted and is completely stock. I tried looking it up but I was not able to find the answer. Is there a 4.2.2 firmware that I can download on the computer and install it on my S4 or I am pretty much screwed until they come out with a new update? I did not back up my phone before installing the new update so I don't believe I am able to restore it back before the new update.

Any advice will help.

 

[Haalcyon]

Re: Downgrade back to 4.2.2?

Welcome to the forums!

You'd need to get your hands on a 4.2.2. AT&T ROM for the S4 and then you could flash it and not accept any further updates until you're ready.

 

[anon(156377)]

Re: Downgrade back to 4.2.2?

Did you get the MK2 patch? Did you do a factory reset?

Sent while enjoying a Pabst

 

[JDMARING]

Re: Downgrade back to 4.2.2?

Hi, I bought and S4 today and unfortunately it was updated and is 4.3 w/ MK2. From what Haalcyon said it almost seems like a downgrade is possible but I didn't think it was. I cannot stand touchwiz so I have a custom launcher for now but thats only a band-aid. He mentions flashing the 4.2.2 ROM but that would imply that bmxrcer190 has already been rooted with a recovery or safe trap and used superSU or something to retain his root access which he didn't mention. Anyway I have the same question, is there any way possible I can downgrade? Love the hardware, hate the software. Thanks!

 

[anon(156377)]

Re: Downgrade back to 4.2.2?

Hi, I bought and S4 today and unfortunately it was updated and is 4.3 w/ MK2. From what Haalcyon said it almost seems like a downgrade is possible but I didn't think it was. I cannot stand touchwiz so I have a custom launcher for now but thats only a band-aid. He mentions flashing the 4.2.2 ROM but that would imply that bmxrcer190 has already been rooted with a recovery or safe trap and used superSU or something to retain his root access which he didn't mention. Anyway I have the same question, is there any way possible I can downgrade? Love the hardware, hate the software. Thanks!

4.2.2 will still have TouchWiz as will any carrier-branded phone.

 

[George53]

Re: Downgrade back to 4.2.2?

I too would like to roll back to 4.2 to recover the Mobile Data toggle. After the update, I didn't notice any improvements, but I did lose 2 or 3 of the features I use most. It should be simple enough to reinstall 4.2 if someone finds a copy of it somewhere, just like reinstalling an earlier version of Windows on a PC. You would lose your data and installed software, but I am a business user and don't have very many apps installed anyway.

I suspect many of the folks unhappy with 4.3 would also roll back to 4.2 if they could. If anyone finds a copy of 4.2 for download, please post a link here.

 

[George53]

Re: Downgrade back to 4.2.2?

Forgot to mention that I also noticed a blackout problem with Chrome after updating. Not sure if anyone else has seen it, but when I have more than 2 tabs open, sometimes the data screen part of the screen will go black until I touch it. The Chrome status bar and the Samsumg notification bar are still visible, but not the bottom part that shows the Web page. This happens when opening a link in a new tab.

Anyone else have this problem?

 

[clickerman]

Re: Downgrade back to 4.2.2?

Yes, I do too. Started since 4.3. Not a real big problem for me but I do hope they fix it soon.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

 

[George53]

Re: Downgrade back to 4.2.2?

True, not a big problem, but it is a bit annoying when I'm out in the sun and can't see the screen real well to begin with, and then it goes black and a simple man like me doesn't know if it's just a really dark postmodern Web site that some Cali company threw together, or the screen has blacked out from the 4.3 bug. lol

 

[Munir23]

Re: Downgrade back to 4.2.2?

Factory reset would not help

 

[metle_geek]

You need to be rooted and find the at&t ruu and use odin from what im reading go to www.xda-developers.com to look up the threads

from my wonderfully rooted gs4 woot

 

[Darvin N Lynneal Atkeson]

Is it possible to root the phone once 4.3 update has been applied?
And does anyone know where the AT&T 4.4.4 ROM can be found?
Up until the S4 I used the Google Nexus One running Cyanogen Mod. Are there any good Mods for the S4?

I have ran in to a number of issues but the main annoyance is the navigation voice which was great reverted to a computer generated sounding voice.
I also miss the 4G toggle.
Have noted a significant decline in battery life. Getting about half what it was before the update.
WiFi connectivity is intermittent.
Crashes though I am not sure they are related.

Thanks for any advice.
Darv

 

[UJ95x]

Is it possible to root the phone once 4.3 update has been applied?
And does anyone know where the AT&T 4.4.4 ROM can be found?
Up until the S4 I used the Google Nexus One running Cyanogen Mod. Are there any good Mods for the S4?

I have ran in to a number of issues but the main annoyance is the navigation voice which was great reverted to a computer generated sounding voice.
I also miss the 4G toggle.
Have noted a significant decline in battery life. Getting about half what it was before the update.
WiFi connectivity is intermittent.
Crashes though I am not sure they are related.

Thanks for any advice.
Darv

Yes, there are a few methods for rooting 4.3
There is no 4.4.4 since 4.3 is the latest update for the S4
There's a lot of dev support for the S4 but you'll have to flash a custom recovery, and then flash a ROM. I think someone mentioned Philz recovery is now working on 4.3 but I haven't been able to find it
SafeStrap works for sure, but the ROMs are a lot more limited

Posted via Android Central App

 

[metle_geek]

Is it possible to root the phone once 4.3 update has been applied?
And does anyone know where the AT&T 4.4.4 ROM can be found?
Up until the S4 I used the Google Nexus One running Cyanogen Mod. Are there any good Mods for the S4?

I have ran in to a number of issues but the main annoyance is the navigation voice which was great reverted to a computer generated sounding voice.
I also miss the 4G toggle.
Have noted a significant decline in battery life. Getting about half what it was before the update.
WiFi connectivity is intermittent.
Crashes though I am not sure they are related.

Thanks for any advice.
Darv

There is no at&t 4.4 yes you can root no lokidoki doesn't work no the boot loader cant be unlocked you cannot flash anything besides 4.3 and you have to use safestrap to do that no twrp no cwm LOCKED BOOT LOADER= NO CUSTOM RECOVERIES THE BEST WE CAN DO WITH ROOT IS RUN ROOT APPS IT SUCKS!!!!

from my wonderfully rooted gs4 woot

 

[ska916jedi]

So I updated my S4 on At&t to android 4.3(big mistake) and my phone is plagued with all sorts of problems. I have read that many other people are experiencing the same problems as I am with poor signal strength, inconsistant WiFi connection and poor battery life. I haven't seen any advice on how to corret the problem except to wait until Samsung or At&t fix the problem. My question is, is there anyway to downgrade back to 4.2.2? My phone is not rooted and is completely stock. I tried looking it up but I was not able to find the answer. Is there a 4.2.2 firmware that I can download on the computer and install it on my S4 or I am pretty much screwed until they come out with a new update? I did not back up my phone before installing the new update so I don't believe I am able to restore it back before the new update.

Any advice will help.

Any updates? I hate 4.3! Probably the stupidest thing I've ever done lol

 

[troshs]

There are rumors that AT&T might not give us 4.4 for a while because of them possibly working on the s5...and here I thought Apple was bad in changing up devices...I'm still hoping to see KitKat soon here.

From my S4 to you via Tapatalk

 

[Javed Mohammad]

atfer updating my s4 to 4.3 i am not able to connect to wifi at all , i tried factory data reset several times but it wont help , the wifi option is stuck between off and on like its processing after reset it turns on but after i type the password it turns off again i dont know what to do please help!

 

[metle_geek]

You need to go to a best buy and get a samsung experience person to re flash your kernel that's if you want to keep it stock

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[gly9191]

I have an non-rooted S4 SGH-I337 that updated its self (after a week of me declining the update - super pissed about that) about a month and a half ago to 4.3 . Since the update my phone is barely usable. I bought it in August 2013, and it came with 4.2.2 installed. Is there any way for me to downgrade to 4.2.2 with out rooting my phone? I have already tried a factory reset (today) and when the phone boots up for the first time,the first thing it does is "update" to 4.3. I'm even willing to go into the hell pit known as my local AT&T store and get them to do something if anyone here thinks they will/can.

 

[metle_geek]

Re he's not going to they want you on a locked boot loader without an unlock... and that updating android is it building the dalvic cache
The only thing i can tell you is to get a warranty swap and hope that referbished phone doesn't have 4.3 already
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using AC Forums mobile app