From what I have read online today it seems that the solution is to ‘root’ the phone, put a standard version of Android back on and that way the OTA software update option should come back – with the advantage (hopefully) that Kies won’t be needed any longer.
T-Mobile had never heard of the issue and suggested I tried the Samsung software Kies... so I have and as you have all said, it won’t even run! I have tried Windows 7 64bit and a VM with XP SP3. There are webpages with the same instructions and yet the option doesn’t exist on the phone. Why not? In your intro you say ‘…Samsung users can’t update their phones OTA (over the air) but have to do it via PC program named Samsung Kies’. via WiFi) via the option Settings > About Device > Software Update > Update… except that under About Device this Software Update option does not exist. The user guide explains that you can do this OTA (over the air i.e. Just recently got a Galaxy S3 and having read about some virus issues thought I’d update the firmware. Perfectly safe if you follow the instructions. Google instructions and read them carefully because Odin has the power to do anything, including brick your phone. Click start All Programs and down to Windows Virtual PC. Win 7 pro and ultimate have this option, I don’t think home does. If you don’t have this option then you could try installing kies on a virtual xp machine. I couldn’t upgrade my Note to 4.0.1 this way it just stuck. Stop Kiestrayagent using Task manager ( right click the task bar and choose task manager ). On my machine ( 64 bit win 7 ) this is at C:\Program Files (x86)\Samsung\Kies\ remove the. Anyhow, the way to get kies to actually stay on my screen is to edit the config file. I suspect some dll haven’t been upgraded. Net 2 framework and has been upgraded to target. So there is something about phones in particular… I’ve had a Motorola that was difficult to connect, and I never managed to gat any of my 5 Nokias to connect a second time. Somehow external hard drives work perfectly every time. But it only seems to be USB phones and serial port converters that ever hav this problem – they only ever connect once through any given port. To be fair to Kies, 33% of the problem is that it is a USB device, which means the connection is usually crap and for no obvious reason requires drivers, that you had working yesterday, to be reinstalled. It only ever connects to my phone for one session though before it needs to be reinstalled. Maybe something in that info will help you a teesy bit. The only way I managed to get the last two updates to install were by reinstalling Kies as above, and running it as administrator. In past versions of Kies I found that uninstalling Kies, and then deleting its registry keys, meant that on reinstalling (or rather, installing the newer version that is out by the time I’ve got my old version to run) got me back to working version of Kies. I can’t install ICS because it hangs or loses the connection at some point in the process before I manage to download the update to the phone. Another nice piece of coding from Samsung. This range doesn’t include Mountain Lion (released 2 months ago), even though it’s possible to “hack” the installation and force it to just work. Kies for Mac has a built in limitation whereas it won’t install on any version other than a specific range. I’m already considering a Nokia Windows phone next year and this is making my decision easier! And its this kind of frustration that means that people re-consider their buying choices next time around. I’ve tried it on 2 laptops and a desktop and none of them will work.īut it’s not just me – Kies is pretty universally known for being quite rubbish and for not connecting. Kies does include a troubleshooting option but this seems to just re-install the driver. The USB device is accepted and my phone appears in “My Computer” – I can view the drives, drag and drop files, etc.
Let me put something straight – it does connect. And because this is the only way Samsung will push updated out to the phone, I’m not sure how I’m ever going to receive ICS. Indeed, right now I’m unable to connect my phone at all. Unfortunately, it’s biggest problem is that it’s a hard task trying to get a phone to actual connect to it.
It seems to want to update itself every time I launch it – and it’s not a low update process either.Like many phones programs it allows you to connect your phone to your PC and share files, contacts, etc. You see, Samsung users can’t update their phones OTA (over the air) but have to do it via PC program named Samsung Kies. Unfortunately, I may struggle installing it. I’m sure it will be even better once the unlocked version of Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) is released. I love my Samsung Galaxy S2 – it really is a terrific phone.