[Q] Galaxy S3 downgrade from android 4.3 to 4.1.2

newbee123 · Feb 4, 2014

I have a T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S3 (SGH-T999) and I made the mistake of allowing an upgrade??? to android 4.3 which has been very unstable for me. T-Mobile, Samsung, and Google all say that there are no updates to 4.3 and I can’t downgrade, so basically I’m out of luck.

Can I downgrade 4.3 to 4.1.2 without bricking my phone and hopefully without voiding my warranty? If so, please give me some instructions. I downloaded Odin 3.07 and firmware: root66_TMO_T999UVDMD5.7z. Thanks a million.

chrisram88 · Feb 4, 2014

I don't think it's possible to downgrade anymore due to Knox. There was a thread talking about it
Maybe you should check it out.

Sent from my C6916

serio22 · Feb 4, 2014

You cannot downgrade without voiding your warranty

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

jtl_777 · Feb 5, 2014

Dont flash md5root66 after update!

newbee123 said:
I have a T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S3 (SGH-T999) and I made the mistake of allowing an upgrade??? to android 4.3 which has been very unstable for me. T-Mobile, Samsung, and Google all say that there are no updates to 4.3 and I can’t downgrade, so basically I’m out of luck.

Can I downgrade 4.3 to 4.1.2 without bricking my phone and hopefully without voiding my warranty? If so, please give me some instructions. I downloaded Odin 3.07 and firmware: root66_TMO_T999UVDMD5.7z. Thanks a million.

if you flash the root66 of the md5 firmware via odin after you have already upgraded to 4.3 you will HARD BRICK your phone. Taking the 4.3 ota updates your bootloader and flashing anything other than 4.3 in odin will wreck your life.

You need to download the root66mjc firmware here:

http://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=23212708291682181

And flash it in odin. Then from there install a custom recovery and download a rom of your choosing and the compatible modem. I recommend you download the md5 modem. Then you're gonna wanna boot into recovery and flash the rom and the modem only (kernels are ok of course) JUST NO BOOTLOADERS. I don't even know if you can do that in recovery but trying to mess with the new BL will brick your face I mean phone.

pamma83 · Apr 30, 2014

full steps?

so does anyone have any full list of steps and links on where to get the modems and all to downgrade 4.3 with knox down to 4.1.2

Perseus · Apr 30, 2014

pamma83 said:
so does anyone have any full list of steps and links on where to get the modems and all to downgrade 4.3 with knox down to 4.1.2

Would you try reading the thread before posting ? Its not that long. You will see your answer provided by 3 different individuals.

pamma83 · Apr 30, 2014

Perseus71 said:
Would you try reading the thread before posting ? Its not that long. You will see your answer provided by 3 different individuals.

this thread had 4 posts before i posted and only 1 talks about what to do..where are you seeing 3 different people saying what to do and how???

and i asked where to get the modems and all.. do you see anyone saying where to get them??

Perseus · Apr 30, 2014

pamma83 said:
this thread had 4 posts before i posted and only 1 talks about what to do..where are you seeing 3 different people saying what to do and how???

and i asked where to get the modems and all.. do you see anyone saying where to get them??

I was referring to the 3 persons who responded to the OP's question similar to yours. @jtl_777's response is pointing to the 4.3 Firmware.

DocHoliday77 · Apr 30, 2014

Its more implied in this thread than stated matter of factly. This thread is several months old, and I know your question has been asked countless times in many different threads, much more recently than in this one.
I suggest you read the stickies in each section. Just by doing that you will find all firmware and modems and more. You will also find that the answer is no, you cannot downgrade your full firmware from 4.3. And you never will be able to.
If your having problems I suggest flashing the latest 4.3 build via Odin, then factory resetting. Start over clean with minimal restoring of backups (only the essentials).
Every time an update comes out there are people who have problems. The majority are solved by doing what I just said because most bugs are caused by using old data created by old apps on the new build.
Even if you could downgrade, chances are youd run into even more issues and still have to factory reset.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

pamma83 · Apr 30, 2014

DocHoliday77 said:
... You will also find that the answer is no, you cannot downgrade your full firmware from 4.3. And you never will be able to.

thanks but I read online and some youtube videos showing that people have gone from 4.3 back to 4.1.2, just trying to make the phone the way it was before any updates were done and wondering if anyone knows the proper steps without bricking the phone.

DocHoliday77 · Apr 30, 2014

They probably just flashed a rom. It is simply not possible to downgrade the firmware though.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

pamma83 · May 1, 2014

so i found this post: http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=48758977&postcount=1412 and i have the same case as Christopher4tw with a stock 4.3 T999UVUEMJC and just want to get back to T999UVDMD5 so its running the 4.1.2 version of android

so do i just download the below file, extract and flash via odin then do a wipe via recovery? If not can you please explain how to go about this so i can have 4.1.2 running on the phone

April 2013 - 4.1.2 JellyBean
Note: This is based off of the stock image TMO T999UVDMD5
Perm Mirror: Download - root66_TMO_T999UVDMD5.7z

DocHoliday77 · May 1, 2014

You cannot downgrade your firmware.
Flash an older rom with cwm or twrp if you need to be running md5

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

pamma83 · May 1, 2014

DocHoliday77 said:
You cannot downgrade your firmware.
Flash an older rom with cwm or twrp if you need to be running md5

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

so can I use this http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2276645 and flash via cwm or twrp recovery and it will make the phone run 4.1.2 without bricking or having issues with knox or does that have the bootloader issue with it as well?

DocHoliday77 · May 1, 2014

Yes, that one you can flash.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

pamma83 · May 1, 2014

DocHoliday77 said:
Yes, that one you can flash.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

great thanks so much for your help, can I flash the recovery via odin mobile app or is it safer to do it via pc?

Perseus · May 1, 2014

Safer via PC.

It is possible via Mobile Odin. But that's one of the partitions I don't want to mess with when Phone is Booted/

DocHoliday77 · May 1, 2014

If you know how to use Mobile Odin then it should be fine. I agree that its better to use pc odin if youre not familiar with Mobile Odin. However, it actually doesnt flash the recovery while booted. It flashes the flash kernel which is MO's temp recovery. It then boots to this and flashes. (So, perseus is right in that regard. But I personally love Mobile Odin and find it extremely useful and consider it safe unless you are brand new to all of this).

In fact Mobile Odin is another way you can flash 4.1.2. Itll flash the firmware, but only the system, kernel, recovery and modem. (I didnt bring this up previously because I didnt want to confuse, or go too far too fast).
If youre thinking about flashing recovery via MO, though, you can also instead just flash the rom you found. No need to flash the recovery unless you just want to. Put the rom in the update.zip slot and itll flash just fine.
If any of this is confusing, just stick with the original plan for now. The rest will come easy if you dont rush things.

One more thing, while you can usually update stock without wiping, you may find you have to factory reset after downgrading as the old system was not built for using data created on a new version.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

pamma83 · May 1, 2014

thanks for all the help.. had to do the wipe since it kept showing the samsung logo but after that it booted just fine.

edyny1 · May 2, 2014

t999L

I have tried so many times to downgrade to 4.1.2 using odin but I havent be able to. I always get an error message

[Q] Galaxy S3 downgrade from android 4.3 to 4.1.2

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