If I upgrade to 4.3, could I downgrade back to 4.2?

[johnmcd348]

OK, please forgive if it's a Noob question but I am pretty much a Noob where Android comes into play.

I've read a few things here and there about the issues with the 4.3 upgrade. I was wondering if I upgraded to 4.3 and wanted to, could I use Kies to revert back to 4.2? Is there another way to save my setup so I could go back later? If I go to 4.3, would my previous backup under 4.2 be viable? Does 4.3 wipe out my system when it updates or will my apps and contacts still be held intact?

I ask all this because the last time I did any updates was on my Windows phones and they all were clean installs, needing me to reinstall all my programs and re-sync my Contacts.

 

[Matt_Zenick]

OK, please forgive if it's a Noob question but I am pretty much a Noob where Android comes into play.

I've read a few things here and there about the issues with the 4.3 upgrade. I was wondering if I upgraded to 4.3 and wanted to, could I use Kies to revert back to 4.2? Is there another way to save my setup so I could go back later? If I go to 4.3, would my previous backup under 4.2 be viable? Does 4.3 wipe out my system when it updates or will my apps and contacts still be held intact?

I ask all this because the last time I did any updates was on my Windows phones and they all were clean installs, needing me to reinstall all my programs and re-sync my Contacts.

everything should stay it did for me but 4.3 sucks it has horible battery life and you will have a noticeable lag after the update

 

[johnmcd348]

I've been reading a lot about it and it seems to be focused around the Knox app from nearly everything I've been reading. I just got teh notification the other day on my phone and was asking earlier today how to turn off that annoying notification alert to upgrade. I think I got that part done. Odd thing now though. I was going to give it a try and decided to go through Kies to upgrade it since it syncs everything anyway. I can't get Kies to upgrade my phone. It will get to 69% and then stop. I get a notice that there was an error in the downloaded file and asks if I'd like to redownload the file.

I stopped after 2 tries. I figure someone or something was trying to tell me something.........

 

[Jude526]

I can't upgrade yet. Verizon hasn't notified. Hope when they release it all the bugs are fixed. I won't update if it has bugs. My phone runs well.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[jdub1981]

I took the att 4.3 update today and battery life is great and ive had a pretty decent experience so far. Many many new options and everything looks alot different. Yes you can go back to 4.1.2 but you need to know how to know how to use odin as well as get you a carrier specific version of 4.1.2

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk 4

 

[HypoDest]

Going back down using kies is not possible.
The official 4.3 update has a Knox secured bootloader so unlike past updates, it is also very difficult and risky to downgrade by flashing with Odin as currently all the methods trigger the Knox counter which can void warranty and can't be undone atm.

Sent from my GT-N7100

 

[HypoDest]

Don't get me wrong, the update is good. 4.3 is much smoother, has better performance and when properly configured should have better battery life than current.

The update doesn't require a clean wipe.
But without clean wipe, you may run into battery or performance hiccups so clean wipe is recommended.

Also, downgrading is trickier than upgrading, is more likely to require clean wipe and for things to go wrong, so that may not be a good solution.

Sent from my GT-N7100

 

[jdub1981]

Going back down using kies is not possible.
The official 4.3 update has a Knox secured bootloader so unlike past updates, it is also very difficult and risky to downgrade by flashing with Odin as currently all the methods trigger the Knox counter which can void warranty and can't be undone atm.

Sent from my GT-N7100

What is this knox counter you speak of? Must be new cuz ive used odin many times with absolutely zero problems.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

 

[anon(394005)]

What is this knox counter you speak of? Must be new cuz ive used odin many times with absolutely zero problems.

Found this on XDA: [Q] A question about KNOX - xda-developers

 

[jdub1981]

The pwrson asking the question has no idea what to ask and the person rep0sponding is refering to triangle counter which is not the same thing as knox. Knox and triangle are 2 very diferent things. Use odin to downgrade. This should not trigger a flash counter change but if it does it can be fixed quite quickly. 1. Root using cfautoroot which also uses odin. Takes maybe 2 minutes. 2. use triangle away to change counter to zero again. Maybe 3 minutes. 3. Reboot load up superSU (root app that installs during root process) go to option to do full unroot. Maybe 1 minute.

Att 4.3 is fine all others may have problems. Expect a future update from each carrier to fix the issues. I personally know 3 other people with att note 2 and none have problems.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk 4

 

[HypoDest]

The pwrson asking the question has no idea what to ask and the person rep0sponding is refering to triangle counter which is not the same thing as knox. Knox and triangle are 2 very diferent things. Use odin to downgrade. This should not trigger a flash counter change but if it does it can be fixed quite quickly. 1. Root using cfautoroot which also uses odin. Takes maybe 2 minutes. 2. use triangle away to change counter to zero again. Maybe 3 minutes. 3. Reboot load up superSU (root app that installs during root process) go to option to do full unroot. Maybe 1 minute.

Att 4.3 is fine all others may have problems. Expect a future update from each carrier to fix the issues. I personally know 3 other people with att note 2 and none have problems.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk 4

I'm well aware of the difference between the triangle counter and the Knox flag (better term than counter, my bad). The op was talking about downgrading not rooting.

The official 4.3 update has a 0x0 flag in the download mode due to the new boot loader (termed Knox flag). It is tripped into 0x1 if you Odin flash custom recovery or an older rom.

There are some workarounds and such, but the flag itself is currently irreversible, so you have to be careful and know what you are doing.

Sent from my GT-N7100

 

[jdub1981]

I'm well aware of the difference between the triangle counter and the Knox flag (better term than counter, my bad). The op was talking about downgrading not rooting.

The official 4.3 update has a 0x0 flag in the download mode due to the new boot loader (termed Knox flag). It is tripped into 0x1 if you Odin flash custom recovery or an older rom.

There are some workarounds and such, but the flag itself is currently irreversible, so you have to be careful and know what you are doing.

Sent from my GT-N7100

You may be aware but I wasnt referring to you, I was referring to the person posing the question on XDA. As far as knox is concerned if you arent an enterprise security customer ie your phone is used to connect to your place of buisness then the well being of knox does not matter. The efuse that changes is supposedly only effected by changing kernels and if you do change kernels it only disables the ability to use knox as a security credentential manager. Here is a link for rooting and knox. Simple google search found this.
https://www.samsungknox.com/en/blog...ox-enabled-devices-and-knox-warranty-void-bit

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

 

[Cletus Kanu Nwokoro]

Any solution to android smartphone screen going blank at intervals. Help everyone.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[HypoDest]

You may be aware but I wasnt referring to you, I was referring to the person posing the question on XDA.

All right. I didn't realise, I'll take that back.

As far as knox is concerned if you arent an enterprise security customer ie your phone is used to connect to your place of buisness then the well being of knox does not matter. The efuse that changes is supposedly only effected by changing kernels and if you do change kernels it only disables the ability to use knox as a security credentential manager. Here is a link for rooting and knox. Simple google search found this.
https://www.samsungknox.com/en/blog...ox-enabled-devices-and-knox-warranty-void-bit

Doesn't this also void your warranty (if service station chooses) since you can't remove your tracks.
Also,I think the flag prevents you from flashing older stock rom using odin.

Sent from my GT-N7100

 

[jdub1981]

All right. I didn't realise, I'll take that back.


Doesn't this also void your warranty (if service station chooses) since you can't remove your tracks.
Also,I think the flag prevents you from flashing older stock rom using odin.

Sent from my GT-N7100

This may very well be true as 4.3 is extremely new on att I have not played with it. I am happy with my upgrade so I wont attempt a downgrade. Im not sure if it does actually void anything. As far as I can tell the knox credential manager basically hold security keys which let you logon to a closed network by authentication. This is basically like a smart card if you are familiar with that. The only way they can tell if the efuse is burned out is by trying to input an authentication key which I doubt the average geeksquad/att type employee would have.


Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

 

[Jude526]

I got the update a couple of days ago and I like it. Battery life is still good. I like the benefits of it and the features. I don't like tho the new
"face" instead of having our "Lloyd" It is LAME LOL

 

[mfarace]

If I can ask a summary question...

I have read about knox and the counter and warranty risks. I have a Galaxy Note 2 (i605) with a bad ESN that I bought specifically to use while I live and work in Ukraine this year. I will never try to get warranty support on this phone or use it with Verizon. I have stock 4.3 installed and rooted and after I upgraded I saw what a bad idea it was, since this was a practice stepping stone (I thought) to install a custom ROM.

So, if I don't care about using the phone with Verizon or getting warranty support, am I good to go to try to downgrade to 4.1.2 so I can install clockworkmod recovery, and then go to LiquidSmooth 2.3.7 ? I am stuck right now because the bootloader is locked in 4.3 (doh!).

Thanks!!

 

[sfelden30]

mfarace Let us know if you went ahead with this and if you had any success. Thanks.

 

[UJ95x]

mfarace Let us know if you went ahead with this and if you had any success. Thanks.

He didn't reply, but I know that you can't downgrade from the official 4.3 ROM.
You might still be able to use a custom recovery to flash another ROM, but I'm pretty sure it's limited to 4.3 and newer

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running Slim Bean 4.3

 

[idoit]

HypoDest: You said
"The official 4.3 update has a Knox secured bootloader so unlike past updates, it is also very difficult and risky to downgrade by flashing with Odin as currently all the methods trigger the Knox counter which can void warranty and can't be undone atm."

Is there any progresses in de-knoxing so far?