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[GUIDE] How to revert to Gingerbread from ICS (or go to ICS from GB)

Atma

Extreme Android User
Dec 26, 2011
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North Carolina
I've posted this in some other threads but I keep seeing people asking about it so I'm posting its own thread. You do not need to be rooted to do this.

This is for the T-Mobile Galaxy S2 SGH-T989 phone ONLY.

Please see this guide for more instructions.

If you're running ICS and want to go back to Gingerbread:

Make sure on your phone USB Debugging is checked in Settings > Developer Options

Make a folder on your PC to put these files.

Odin 1.85 - Make a sub folder and extract Odin in it.

download this file. It is the updated stock UVLDE rom. Extract it in your folder.

You should already have Samsung USB drivers on your PC. If you don't, download and install Kies. It comes with the latest drivers.


1 - Launch Odin by double clicking the Odin3 v1.85 file. Plug your USB cable to your computer but not your phone.

2 - Power off your phone. Then hold down both volume buttons and plug the USB cable into your phone. Press the volume up button when you see this menu.

download.jpg


You will then go to the download screen.

3 - Wait for the Com port in Odin to turn yellow as in the pic. You do not need to check anything that isn't already. Just be sure that Re-Partition is NOT checked. It shouldn't be.

Odin.jpg


4 - Select PDA in Odin and browse to the stock UVLDE file you downloaded and extracted. Select it. Now press Start and Odin will flash the stock rom. When it is finished you will see a green PASS in the top section.

5 - Odin should reboot your phone. You should now be in the stock updated Gingerbread ROM.

When you reboot you may have force closes in processes. Don't Panic. :eek: This is normal. Follow the steps below.

Power off your phone again. Hold both volume buttons and the power button at the same time. When the phone vibrates, let go of the power button but keep holding both volume buttons. In a few seconds you should be in the recovery menu. Use volume buttons to move up/down and power button to select. *if power button doesn't work, use your home key*. Go to wipe data/factory reset and select it and then select yes. Next, select format cache partition and next select yes. Now select reboot.

You can also go from Gingerbread to ICS using the same method. Just use the stock ICS file instead of the Gingerbread file. Download it from one of the links at the top of this thread.
 
You're welcome. Hope it helped. :)

Well, there is one problem: I no longer seem to have access to the actual phone, my contacts list, or Gmail?

When the phone rebooted, it asked me to log into my Google Account. Since then (going on an hour) the "sync" symbol has been on in the notifications bar... but when I actually press the "Phone" or "Contact" icons, the screen goes black and then returns to the home screen. And I no longer have a Gmail app anywhere.

Help!
 
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Go to recovery.

Power off your phone. Hold both volume buttons and the power button at the same time. When the phone vibrates, let go of the power button but keep holding both volume buttons. In a few seconds you should be in the recovery menu.

Use volume buttons to move up/down and power button to select. Go to format data/factory reset and select it. Next, select format cache partition. Now select reboot and see if things are normal.
 
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Go to recovery.

Power off your phone. Hold both volume buttons and the power button at the same time. When the phone vibrates, let go of the power button but keep holding both volume buttons. In a few seconds you should be in the recovery menu.

Use volume buttons to move up/down and power button to select. Go to format data/factory reset and select it. Next, select format cache partition. Now select reboot and see if things are normal.

I see a "wipe data/factory reset" option... same?
 
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Well, it took some doing... and at one point I was afraid I had fried my SIM card (it wouldn't work with either the Galaxy S2 or my old Nexus One) but as of now, I have a stable, Gingerbread-ed phone again.

For the second time in less than five hours, Atmazzz, thanks!

(BTW, I saw your instructions earlier about rebooting the phone, but it didn't occur to me to try doing so as the phone did seem to reboot fine... it just didn't work afterwards! It's been that kind of day.)
 
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So, I did the whole ICS for my S2 and I literally hate this thing. It's bogged down my phone and opening and operating programs on it is a pain. I've read through this post, but can't find anywhere in here on how to restore back to Gingerbread from ICS if you're using a Mac. Odin doesn't work with Mac unless you install a windows option, which I'd prefer not to do. Anyone have any suggestions on this?
 
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Welcome to the forums Reedman. :ciao:

I'm afraid I can't help much with the Mac. Maybe someone will come along that has one and be able to help.

You could try a factory reset. A lot of times that will help with problems, although you would have to reload apps. Check out this thread, and disable the apps in his list that you don't use.
 
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Thank you, Atmazzz! :adore:

The incredibly lame version of ICS that Samsung/T-Mobile rolled out for the GS2 was driving me nuts (bluetooth wasn't connecting, GPS signal strength was weak, telephone reception got worse, Wifi reception got worse, memory usage & battery drain skyrocketed, etc.) and I'm VERY happy to be back in Gingerbread! :D

S
 
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Hi I installed ICS in the hope it would get rid of horrendous echo for people phoning me, but ICS is horrendous and has lost me all my 3G functionallity. I want to revert to Gingerbread but when I plug the phone into the USB port with both volume buttons pressed I just get the battery charging image on the phone and a message on the laptop saying the divice has not been recognised. I have enabled USB debugging and have Kies installed. Any ideas with what I am doing wrong?

Thanks
 
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when I plug the phone into the USB port with both volume buttons pressed I just get the battery charging image on the phone and a message on the laptop saying the divice has not been recognised.

Thanks

Hi mongalooman. Welcome to the forums. :wavey:

Is your phone the SGH-T989 or the SGH-T989D Telus?

You aren't letting go of the volume buttons before you plug in the phone? Is your phone powered off when you hold the buttons and plug it in?
 
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I went through the steps you listed to get back to GB. At the end, it do not say PASS. It said FAIL. Where do I go from there? I unplugged it from Odin bc it wasn't doing anything. The phone screen is now stuck on "Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies & try again"

Well, it won't connect to Kies and won't let me enter recovery mode in the way listed by you.

Are you able to help? Thanks.
 
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I have the at&t sgh-i777. do you have a link to the GB uvlde for that? would that fix the problem?


Hi pugdogcrazy. I hope you haven't bricked your phone flashing the wrong rom. I'm at work and don't have a lot of time to look. Try the at&t sgh-i777 forum at XDA. There might be a stock rom there although I'm not sure if you use the same procedure. Read through the threads in the development forum and maybe post in the Q&A forum and tell them your situation. I'll also look around when I get time. Also, check the AT&T root forum here.

Good luck!
 
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I have the at&t sgh-i777. do you have a link to the GB uvlde for that? would that fix the problem?

That is the problem exactly you attempted to install software on your phone that contains the wrong drivers. I hope you were rooted before you did the install. If you were check out what recovery you have if you still cwm recovery restore from your backup to fix your phone. If you have stock recovery connect the phone in download mode to the computer and install cwm recovery.

Here is your site that takes you step by step of how to fix your phone - including all files that you need for the AT&T version of the Samsung Galaxy S2 code name (Skyrocket).

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1313659

In the future please read what you are flashing because there can be extensive damage to your phone from the incorrect software being placed. I hope that you can fix it and get it back to gingerbread once you get through these steps.

Hope to have helped a little


Alex
 
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I hope that you can fix it and get it back to gingerbread once you get through these steps.

I don't know why his post showed in email and not in this thread, but he got it fixed.

I found a tutorial to root the phone using Odin. ics siyah kernel (?) is now on the phone which got it working again. So, thank you for your post and you don't have to respond to my earlier plea.
cleardot.gif
 
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