IMPORTANT UPDATE - RISK OF HARD BRICK WITH ICS UPGRADE:
So, last night I updated to the new official ICS release firmware from Samsung. I was coming from the leaked ICS repack, so it was a riskier and more difficult proposition than it might be for people who are still on Gingerbread. I managed it in the end, but not without some tribulation in the form of bootloops at a couple of junctures in the two-part flash.I was just starting to think about getting down to writing my guide for you all when I was alerted to this thread at XDA (via Chainfire on Twitter). The thread is a dire warning about a bug in the firmware that can result in a hard brick. If you're not familiar a hard brick means your phone is dead without chance of recovery. Dead. Without. Chance. Of. Recovery.
The thing is that the bug is unpredictable, and short of abstaining from flash there is no way to protect yourself from it. This seems to apply mostly to unofficial methods of installing ICS and the use of CWM recovery, but there are ominous and thus far unsubstantiated reports of hard bricks with the official update too. For that reason I will not be producing a guide for flashing to the ROM at this time, and will also be removing my instructions for flashing to the Chinese repack once I'm done with this post. Naturally once the issue is resolved you can expect a guide for safely flashing up to ICS here at AndroidNZ, but for the meantime I can only recommend that you remain on Gingerbread until it rolls out to you officially. Sorry folks, but there it is.
How do i downgrade need urgent response please.
ReplyDeleteFlash a stock ROM from here - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1424997 - in Odin.
DeleteIn relation to which to choose I'd recommend one earlier than the KL* firmwares, since those are easily Rooted with the CF Root method (no increase to binary flash counter, that's not hard and fast any more though since you can remove the yellow triangle with Triangle Away from Chainfire).
DeleteI have a galaxy note which I bought from the UAE, Do I use the UAE firmware even though the versions in "phone information" don't exactly match?
DeleteHow long after flashing would the device brick? I have had it on my device for 48 hours.
ReplyDeleteI think the main risk is at the time you flash it, or if you use CWM recovery.
DeleteThanks for your reply. So if my device is working fine now I should have nothing to worry about?
DeleteI downgraded it my phone now i get force application error help.
ReplyDeleteWhat is a flash counter
When I had that problem I wiped cache and everything was ok again. Flash counter tells Samsung how many times the system has been changed (flashed).
DeleteI upgraded thru kies. (from oz) it failed on a Mac twice. I got a recovery code and then sorted things out on win 7 Kies. for quite a while i thought i had bricked my week old Note. ICS is working fine.
ReplyDeleteYes, official update should be OK.
DeleteI've upgraded my Note to ICS ... it hasn't gone belly up yet.
ReplyDeleteBefore the upgrade, I had all the Applications' apps in a number of folders. After the upgrade, the apps are no longer in folders.
Question: Can I restore those folders?
why not upgrade from the phone it self application (software update )???
ReplyDeleteI mentioned the problem is in relation to unofficial avenues for installing ICS, you *should* be fine with the official update via Kies (or OTA if your present stock firmware supports it).
DeleteI have quations:
ReplyDeleteCan any Samsung Galaxy Note (independently of it be an international version or not, international unlocked, US unlocked, ATT unlocked, from any countyr, etc) be updated to Ice cream Sandwich?
Thanks
I have cwm unintentionally. I used the sdcard method to root my international note which required the install of cwm to install root file but when booted again it had stock recovery. The other file in the package was franco kernel which also required cwm to be installed again but if you use this kernel the cwm recovery remains and you lose stock recovery. I updated to ics OTA without any problems but am now worried about the cwm recovery. Is there a way to fix this without doing an odin flash of of ics again (probably gingerbread then OTA ics). I don't want to go to all that hassle again but may have to if I want to get rid of cwm recovery. ANY ideas people?
ReplyDeleteWell I am in the middle of downloading a firmware update on Kies for my Galaxy Note! I think it may be ICS! Finally NZ may be getting their Ice Cream Sandwich update for Galaxy Note owners!! The update did not appear on OTA though..
ReplyDeleteI am from Australia originally but now live in Thailand. I find it hard to believe (but I do) that NZ got the official ICS update some 2 months after Thailand.
ReplyDeleteThere is absolutely no problem upgrading but after upgrading you need to be careful. I used the sdcard package (CWM.zip, Cwm-SuperSU.zip and franco Kernel - flash CWM.zip from stock recovery, reboot to recovery and it will now be cwm recovery, flash cwm-SuperSU.zip, then flash franco Kernel, reboot phone and check root priveleges). This is all done on 4.03 btw. Download latest franco Kernel (v6) and AbyssNotekernel42CWTouchOriginalLogo.zip. Flash updated franco kernel then reboot phone. The Abyss kernel should always be used for anything involving a wipe on the phone. Franco kernel is safe (cap erase disabled) as are most of the modern kernels but check before using. Another common kernel that is used is Speedmod (current version is k3-6). To use abyss recovery (touch only- no hard keys) just flash it before carrying out any important activity - you have to reboot recovery from cwm menu to get it to work. It is a safe recovery and when you have finished using it and rebooted the phone it will revert back to cwm recovery - cwm is fine for flashing and backup but not for system resets (use Abyss). Also you will need to use Abyss to restore any backup (it still uses cwm but a safe version).
As long as you remember to do this as above you should not have a brick problem with ICS and ICS custom roms.