S4 Lollipop disaster.

[robuk360]

Hey everyone,

My Galaxy S4 received and ota update over the weekend to lollipop and since then my phone is useless. I hope someone can give me advice on how to fix these issues or even revert back to kitkat.

Here are some of the problems and irritations:

The built in txt message app doesn't work. I can't open any txt new or old. I have installed a 3rd party app for the time being, but why should I have to.

Notification led doesn't work, even though it is turned on. No blue flashing light for me anymore. This is one of the features I've always found extremely useful. I now have to unlock the phone to see if I have any messages.

You can't see the little notification icons at the top of the lock screen anymore. Another useful feature gone.

System sounds, alarms, ringtones randomly become quiet and the phone requires a reboot to get them back to normal volume levels. A bit of a pain when wanting to wake up.

The internet and system menu's constantly stop responding.

Phone screen goes black and requires battery being pulled.

I can't see what time my next alarm is set for in the lock screen anymore, more of an irritation than a bug I know.

The interface looks like a childs toy. I really dislike it.

Anyway that's all I can think of right now, any help or advice would be fantastic as it's driving me mad and people think I'm being ignorant, but I'm simply unaware of any messags etc.

Rob.

[63johnw · Accepted solution]

Hi, first thing to try is a factory reset, always advisable after a Samsung firmware update.

[robuk360]

Hi,
I was hoping to avoid a factory reset as I use my phone heavily for work. Do we have concrete proof that a reset will fix things like the message app problem and notifications? Ideally I would like to revert to kitkat as I find lollipop hideous and more of a downgrade. Is there a guide or any way to do it?

Thanks

Rob.

[zimo_girl_87]

i've had the same thing happen to me. I'm reluctant to do a factory reset as I have alot of apps and information on my phone that wont transfer well to my laptop to be reinstalled. I have even tried going into the phone root menu and clearing a cache that was suggested to me by a friend, but did nothing. I need to undo the update as I have various text messages I gan no longer access which I need to be able to reffer back to information purposes.

[hrym]

When you log back into Google, there'll be a "restore" option which should put back your settings and apps.  There are also apps that will back up content such as SMS and call logs, and I think there are ones that will handle app settings as well.

Also have a look at Kies Air, which can copy a lot of things over wifi.   It's on the Kies page of the Samsung website.

[HELENBECK]

When you log back into Google, there'll be a "restore" option which should put back your settings and apps. There are also apps that will back up content such as SMS and call logs, and I think there are ones that will handle app settings as well.

Also have a look at Kies Air, which can copy a lot of things over wifi. It's on the Kies page of the Samsung website

Hi

Can you tell me how to do this? Don't know if i'm being a bit thick here but i'm not sure how to log back into Google, I believe my device did this automatically but I can't see a restore option.

I want to avoid a reset too so if this restore helps i'd rather try that first.

Thanks

[hrym]

The restore comes after the reset, I'm afraid - or, to be strictly technical, after you've deleted your Google account, which happens in the rest process.

What'll happen when you restart the phone is that it'll prompt you to sign back into Google and there'll be a "restore" tick-box option which will re-load your apps (all the Ones in My Apps, including any you may not have on that device, btw) and some basic settings.

If you're having problems after a Lollipop update, I'm afraid a reset is going to be the only way forward, but do make sure you've backed up content and sync'd your calendar and contacts first - then they'll come back as part of re-signing-in.

[robuk360]

I decided to do a factory reset last night. I backed everything up using kies first and made sure any documents/photos etc were copied to my pc first. After the reset I used kies to restore everything. I'd say 90% of apps/settings/docs etc were restored. The built in text message app now works and all previous messages are present thanks to kies. It still looks like a child's toy, but it works. No crashing yet either. Notifications work better, including the led, but not in silent mode, apparently this is a feature now!

Anyway, it looks like a factory reset is the only option. Good luck.

Rob.

[hrym]

Samsung devices in particular seem to need a factory reset after a firmware update.   I've suggested another approach - restart the device before updating, which will reduce the amount of memory overhead and resource use by app caches and running processes.  I'd be interested to hear from anyone who tries this.

It does seem that Samsung have done something to silent mode in a recent update.