yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S 4 General] elias_gabriel:
If you are having trouble doing the downgrade from Lollipop (5.0.1) to KitKat (4.4.2), like no IMEI (baseband) or directly fails when flashing via Odin, here's the solution (worked for me ;) ):

1) Download the following firmware: www.sammobile.com/firmwares/download/40444/I9500UBUGNJ1_I9500UUBGNJ1_ARO

2) Before flashing the firmware via Odin, make a full wipe to the device (works best with a custom recovery, making wipe data/cache, format system, preload, modem, internal sd card, dalvik, etc). This is the custom recovery that i used: www.mega.co.nz/#!PNZHQSRA!CCnUXXAyCX8tpvc6riBI-mfRj0U3peESpchIYGFC_XY

3) After making a full wipe, reboot into download mode and flash the downloaded firmware, it should make the process without problems.

4) When the process completes successfully (Odin says PASS), wait the device to restart till the Samsung logo appears.

5) Do a hard reboot to the recovery mode by pressing Volume up, Home and Power buttons at the same time.

6) Then make a format factory reset, finally reboot normally.

This process has worked for me, making a downgrade from the official update 5.0.1 (SER - Russia) to this official version 4.4.2 (ARO - Argentina).

Hope it works for you too. If it helped, don't forget to hit the thanks button and comment bellow :good:
[Galaxy S 4 General] martin_carpio17:
It's 100% neccesary to wipe the modem?
[Galaxy S 4 General] elias_gabriel:
No 100% necesary, but really recommended. I did it along with a full wipe and the downgrade was succesfull, without any issues :)
[Galaxy S 4 General] C00l.vishu.ar0ra:
any one tried ???
[Galaxy S 4 General] martin_carpio17:
Yes please. Another feedback would be awesome ?

At this point I'm wasting my s4 hardware with lollipop :(
[Galaxy S 4 General] skchattha:
As you said, you were on 5.0.1 official stock, how did you wipe everything as you mentioned because that can only be done by custom recovery. Did u install custom recovery on 5.0.1?

---------- Post added at 01:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:13 AM ----------

currently i am on official 5.0.1 India ROM, no custom recovery , no root, just official. How should i start? pls suggest. Just want to make sure every step is correct when doing.
[Galaxy S 4 General] elias_gabriel:
Yes, I've installed a custom recovery (CWM 6.0.50) to do all those wipes, btw if your warranty void counter is on 0 and you want to keep that, don't install this and proceed doing the common wipes on stock recovery (format data - factory reset/wipe cache), and try then flashing the recommended firmware. As I said, I recommend to wipe ALL through a custom recovery before flashing the firmware, cause my counter was in 1 and through this method i was able to do a succesfull downgrade :)
[Galaxy S 4 General] elias_gabriel:
I've uploaded the custom recovery that I used to do a full wipe. Install via Odin (only for people with warranty void counter 1, or which don't care losing warranty / set the counter to 1):

www.mega.co.nz/#!PNZHQSRA!CCnUXXAyCX8tpvc6riBI-mfRj0U3peESpchIYGFC_XY
[Galaxy S 4 General] skchattha:
Thanks a lot my friend, i will try. Fingers crossed..hope all goes well. :)

---------- Post added at 11:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:26 PM ----------

Can you also pls confirm what you all selected in Odin? Thanks
[Galaxy S 4 General] elias_gabriel:
Sorry, what do you mean exactly? Is that i don't understand the question... :confused:
[Galaxy S 4 General] codehtm:
Helpful

Thanks for sharing, this will save life of many users !!
[Galaxy S 4 General] Piyoosh_Singh:
Did this worked for you, please confirm?
[Galaxy S 4 General] elias_gabriel:
I hope so, you're welcome ;)
[Galaxy S 4 General] rinkulsk:
any one have kitkat frimware indian version? plz share on google drive!!! need it!!!

---------- Post added at 04:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:43 PM ----------

followed your steps failed!!!!
[Galaxy S 4 General] elias_gabriel:
Wow, thats pretty strange, cause worked perfectly on my device. Actually i'm on this official 4.4.2 ARO ;)
[Galaxy S 4 General] rinkulsk:
I downloaded ins firmware and followed your steps but failed!! :( I want 4.4.2 kit kat can some one mirror on Google drive ?
[Galaxy S 4 General] elias_gabriel:
Have you flashed the recommended ARO firmware or another 4.4.2? One more time, this is recommended to downgrade from the russian 5.0.1, I've tested with this one, I don't know if it will work with the indian version.
[Galaxy S 4 General] rinkulsk:
But I need to be on Indian version bud!
[Galaxy S 4 General] elias_gabriel:
Let me understand... Were you on the indian/russian 5.0.1 and you want to downgrade to an indian 4.4.2? I think it's no possible, like I said, the only firmware that worked for me was the latest ARO I9500UBUGNJ1 firmware.
[Galaxy S 4 General] rinkulsk:
Am on Indian 5.0 1 and want to downgrade to kitkat
[Galaxy S 4 General] chemmutk:
guys...just now i discovered what causing the touch screen freez. its the power button. when it freezes, i pressed power button 2 to 3 times. then the screen starts responding . but after mintus of no actions, it again freezes. Does anyone know how to fix this issue? or pls redirect me to a page where this issue can be addressed... thank u
[Galaxy S 4 General] taran181:
try pit file to repartiton and flash rom official lollypop or kitkat rom.. i was also having freezing issue and rebooting issue after flashing with pit they were resolved...
[Galaxy S 4 General] Mandark52:
I think its the hardware fault or something inside the cicuit is causing the problem. The local service guy, was it a legit Samsung Service centre? If it was authorized one they might have changed the motherboard because that is what they do for every hardware problem :P . Else you can post this question in S4 Q&A section.

All the best.
[Galaxy S 4 General] chemmutk:
I have the .tar.md file of kitkat . Where will i get the pit file from ? After flashing pit file, shud i reflash tar.md file and modem.bin again ? Coz im already on kitkat n modem.bin which was flashed yesterday. And pls lemme know where can get the pit file ...thank u.

---------- Post added at 06:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:11 PM ----------

No...he wasnt an authorised samsung service guy. probably it might have stuck in bootloop after OTA update. But the service dude dint know. i was wondering what was the hadware part that he replaced.... no idea. If its a pit file issue, do u think pressing the power button few times unfreezes screen ?
[Galaxy S 4 General] Mandark52:
Bro you from India right? And from my experience the service centres in India are hopelss and the authorized service guys are very dumb. Now as you are saying that the guy wasnt an authorized technician there is a huge possibility that the guy has messed up with your phone. He EITHER have done this intentionally like to get an original spare and fitted a duplicate one OR he was a noob in the technical cases. I suggest you to get details from that dude about what he replaced and why he replaced.

And no it isnt the issue of pit file also the successive pressing of power button will never freeze or unfreeze the screen.

All the best.
[Galaxy S 4 General] azterlance28:
After the downgrade.

Hi. I just noticed something. After downgrading my phone back to Kitkat again, the font color of the text is color black which is the background color of the Kitkat right? I just can't see what I'm typing. I just notice this upon configuring my phone again. Is that suppose to happen?
[Galaxy S 4 General] Mandark52:
Well I am not actually getting the problem. Can you post a sceenie?
[Galaxy S 4 General] Jamil69:
Hello, my friend have galaxy s4 i9500 india, he has upgraded his phone to lollipop via OTA, then after some time he has gave me his phone to downgrade from lollipop to kitkat, i have downloaded indian INS firmware and flashed via odin.

But now phone is not detecting sim. Imei is lost.

Can anyone plz plz help me to recover the imei number..

Waiting.........
[Galaxy S 4 General] Mandark52:
Following these steps you'll successfully downgrade to 4.4.2

1) - Boot into RECOVERY (custom/stock) and wipe data reset.

2)- Now boot into DOWNLOAD mode (volume down + power + menu)

3)-Assuming that you have your usb drivers installed connect your phone to PC and open Odin_v3.09.

4)-Flash KitKat 4.4.2 firmware from AP.

5)-After Odin gives a PASS and your phone restarts and after completing the initialization you can see that your IMEI is nulled.

6)-Now use 7zip to open the 5.0.1 firmware .tar.md5 file and extract the MODEM.bin file from the same.

7-)Turn off your phone and boot into DOWNLOAD mode and connect your phone to PC, run Odin and flash this MODEM.bin from CP.

After this you ll get your IMEI number back.

Report back if any errors.

All the best.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Jamil69:
Can i use modem.bin you have attached in earlier post?

Thanks
[Galaxy S 4 General] Mandark52:
You MAY. But still I recommend you touse the 5.0.1 firmware as a backup step if incase anything goes wrong.

All the best
[Galaxy S 4 General] wesleyuk:
hi

thanks for making the effort for us but i have a wee problem

how to install custom recovery?

anyway, i format/wipe everything via recovery mode. then went to download mode, got green android, saying downloading, do not turn off target.

i connect to PC with odin opened. nothing happening............what am i missing? the phone connected to PC fine before that. i could browse inside the phone before. i think the driver has installed before

thanks

---------- Post added at 10:32 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:30 AM ----------

update

i can see MSM8960 with yellow exclamation mark in device manager. where can i get the driver for it? thanks

---------- Post added at 11:00 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:32 AM ----------

never mind,. i installed drivers via windows updates.

downgraded to 4.4.2 fine! phone S4 feels much faster now

thank you !!!
[Galaxy S 4 General] Mandark52:
Lol! This is what I call a Self help! Glad it helped!
[Galaxy S 4 General] egemen1903:
Do not return the files without using a modem?

battery issue still unresolved?

method on the first page, I think it does not work right?
[Galaxy S 4 General] Mandark52:
Do not return files ?

Battery issue is because of improper phone use or caused when the phone is flashed during charging.

I dont know about first method but the alternative guide does work.

All the best
[Galaxy S 4 General] tdssmarty16:
Guys which is the best stock kitkat firmware accordin to you ?

considering battery and stability
[Galaxy S 4 General] dave106:
What files are in the ARO firmware linked on the original post? I'm guessing there's no sboot.bin or modem.bin inside the tar?

EDIT - downloaded it now

Interesting. The ARO contains a modem.bin, which from what we've all been hearing, would cause the no signal/IMEI etc problems as its not a Lollipop modem, but OP confirms it does. Also though, it contains both the sboot.bin AND param.bin file. Both files needed for the bootloader. So maybe this is why its works. A lot of the roms (/all?) I've downloaded, never seem to contain the param.bin, just the sboot.bin.

I have extracted the 2 files that make up the bootloader from the ARO firmware (sboot.bin and param.bin) re-TARed & MD5ed it and attached it. (Extract from the zip)

In theory, you should be able to flash this through Odin (put in the BL box). Then flash a 4.4.2 rom from any region and have no problems with modem. I'm currently downloading a 4.4.2 rom from SER so cant test this out just yet.

EDIT2 - Okay, I've flashed the 4.4.2 bootloader on my 5.0.1 install and it took. The download mode screen changed slightly, so indicated that it had flashed ok. Wouldn't boot up now, straight to recovery everytime. So just reflashed the 5.0.1 BL and booted it up normally.

EDIT3 - Flashed the 4.4.2 bootloader, then flashed Russia NJ1. Reset device and booted up, no baseband :( so didnt work. Flashed Lollipop modem to get it working again.

Confused now to why the ARO works with no additional flashing despite it having a modem.bin included in the firmware. o_O
[Galaxy S 4 General] sidharth.299:
cm11

hi,

i wanted to know if it is possible to downgrade from 5.0.1 to cm11 4.4.4 without downloading the official Samsung kitkat rom. Is it possible to just flash the kitkat bootloader and modem ???
[Galaxy S 4 General] Mandark52:
No, you need to revert to KK bootloader. And then flash the modem and hence your rom. I know why you dont want to download it.... 1.4gb of file with ****ty netspeed for free users of sammy :P

All the best

---------- Post added at 11:10 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:02 AM ----------

I am getting your point! I am still studying about it and what makes that firmware compatible. I hope the OP himself clarifies it.
[Galaxy S 4 General] sidharth.299:
yeah it is a big issue and currently i dont have a pc at hand so i was hoping if the modem and bootloader files were cwm flashable. i was on cm11 and i had only one issue that the other called was not able to hear me. rest all ril functions were working correctly on the latest od4 modem and bootloader.
[Galaxy S 4 General] egemen1903:
hi.. ı am try to last night return 4.2.2

testing now.
[Galaxy S 4 General] ankushv:
Battery Life

I too have downgraded for want of better battery . Let's see what happens .

BTW I have purchased a new stock samsung battery too yesterday .
[Galaxy S 4 General] Jamil69:
Hello, i have first flashed latest modem from a thread which i hv found on i9500 forum, but nothing changed. Then i flashed modem.bin which you hv attached in your earlier post. But no change.

But i m surprised when i rebooted the phone, my imei was back.

Thanks so much for your help.

And another thing, i havent flashed whole firmware again, i just did factory reset, and falshed modem.bin via odin, rebooted secound time, and my imei was back.

Thank so much dude... Happy [emoji4]
[Galaxy S 4 General] Mandark52:
Glad to help. The modem I attatched was of Indian INS firmware.

All the best.
[Galaxy S 4 General] kahsada001:
I'm sorry I'm new to this..

I'm sorry I'm new to this, I already have Odin, I also have the Firmware and the Custom Recovery.. But where to put them on Odin? There are PIT, BOOTLOADER, PDA, PHONE and CSC. I watched a video on Youtube (video details at the bottom, cannot post links yet) and it shows that he has all the files to put on those areas of Odin. Do I need all of those? If so, where to get them? :(

Youtube Video:

TITLE: Samsung Galaxy S4 ( I9505 ) downgrade android 5.0 to 4.4.2

POSTED BY: FlaviusPetru71

Thank you in advance.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Mandark52:
Just follow this:

Requirements :

KK 4.4.2 firmware.(mine was: I9500XXUFNI2_I9500ODDFNI1_INU)

Lollipop 5.0.1 firmware.(mine was: I9500XXUHOAA_I9500ODDHOA2_INS)

Odin_v3.09.

7-zip.

Following these steps you'll successfully downgrade to 4.4.2

1) - Boot into RECOVERY (custom/stock) and wipe data reset.

2)- Now boot into DOWNLOAD mode (volume down + power + menu)

3)-Assuming that you have your usb drivers installed connect your phone to PC and open Odin_v3.09.

4)-Flash KitKat 4.4.2 firmware from AP.

5)-After Odin gives a PASS and your phone restarts and after completing the initialization you can see that your IMEI is nulled.

6)-Now use 7zip to open the 5.0.1 firmware .tar.md5 file and extract the MODEM.bin file from the same.

7-)Turn off your phone and boot into DOWNLOAD mode and connect your phone to PC, run Odin and flash this MODEM.bin from CP.

After successful flashing your phone will reboot and you will see that you have your IMEI number and your I9500 will be on your preferred network.

BUT the BASEBAND version will be of Lollipops firmware as we flashed its modem.

Tested and working on my I9500 with INS/INU firmware.

Thankyou and All the best!

You dont need any additional files apart from firmware and modem.bin.

Feel free to ask any question

All the best
[Galaxy S 4 General] azterlance28:
I just don't what's happening.

Hi.

I just downgrade my phone again because I hate the battery issues of Android 5.0.1.

Remember my last post which is the font color of the text is color black? Now it's fine but other of my applications seem to run weird. One application accepts text but cannot post it especially on a game(MMORPG) on chat. Then I cannot clear my browsing history and my default internet browser meets errors too.

Oh, i almost forgot. Do I usually have to default factory reset my phone twice before it actually resets? Yes, on my first try, my phone restarted but nothing happened. Well, on the second try it did.

Sigh, I don't what to do. With some functionalities I want, I don't know what OS to stick with.

Hope my phone isn't messed up.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Mandark52:
Yes you need to reset your phone.

And the the apps make sure your apps are updated with latest releases. This will solve ur problem.

All the best

Report back if any errors
[Galaxy S 4 General] kahsada001:
Thank you very much. I will try this as soon as I receive my new data cable and give a feedback. Godspeed.
[Galaxy S 4 General] taran181:
I am facing weird issue with my galaxy s4, after downgrading to kitkat my s4 starts freezing and after freezing reboot itself..

steps i did for downgrading:

1. factory reset in recovery.

2. flashed XXUFNC1 INU kitkat firmware and imei was lost... so restored my imei as i have made backup of imei.

2.flashed latest XXUFNI2 INU kitakt firmware.

3.Again factory reset my s4.

4.Installed fresh apps from Play store, which i was using in lollipop .

after using s4 with kitkat in 3-4 hrs s4 started freezing and rebooting..

so again i flashed lollipop after facing these issues.. and phone doesn't freeze and reboot itself again in lollipop and started working normally..

so again i decided to gave a try to kitkat again... and in kitkat it again started freezing and reboot..

Is it a hardware problem?? if it is a hardware problem why doesn't it freeze and reboot in lollipop..?

Help guys if you know the issue???
[Galaxy S 4 General] Mandark52:
First of all- which method did you used to downgrade?

Secondly- if you have used the alternative method(i.e. mine :P) you need to flash the modem file instead of backed up imei.

All the best

Report back for any questions.
[Galaxy S 4 General] ofabhishek:
Help guys..

I've just downgraded from latest Lollipop(which i updated via OTA) without visiting this thread and now I'm stuck on KK with No IMEI

After going through some pages of this thread I've come to know that I need modem.bin from Lollipop firmware. Can somebody upload modem.bin extracted from Lollipop ? Or redirect me to the link if its already uploaded by someone...

Thanks....
[Galaxy S 4 General] Mandark52:
Well what is the version of your Lollipop firmware?
[Galaxy S 4 General] srinu.:
please help me to downgrade my galaxy s4 i9500 from official lollipop to kitkat

Please help me to downgrade my galaxy s4 i9500 from official lollipop to kitkat. By mistake i updated my s4 to lollipop by software update through wifi. But now i realised that it's the worst update. Suddenly come back to home screen while browsing or playing. Drains my battery. Please help me to downgrade or rooting my mobile will help me?
[Galaxy S 4 General] Mandark52:
Follow this:

NOTE: This is for I9500 only and I haven't tested this on other variants. So I am not responsible for any of the damage to your phones and your curses ￼

Requirements :

KK 4.4.2 firmware.(mine was: I9500XXUFNI2_I9500ODDFNI1_INU)

Lollipop 5.0.1 firmware.(mine was: I9500XXUHOAA_I9500ODDHOA2_INS)

Odin_v3.09.

7-zip.

Following these steps you'll successfully downgrade to 4.4.2

1) - Boot into RECOVERY (custom/stock) and wipe data reset.

2)- Now boot into DOWNLOAD mode (volume down + power + menu)

3)-Assuming that you have your usb drivers installed connect your phone to PC and open Odin_v3.09.

4)-Flash KitKat 4.4.2 firmware from AP.

5)-After Odin gives a PASS and your phone restarts and after completing the initialization you can see that your IMEI is nulled.

6)-Now use 7zip to open the 5.0.1 firmware .tar.md5 file and extract the MODEM.bin file from the same.

7-)Turn off your phone and boot into DOWNLOAD mode and connect your phone to PC, run Odin and flash this MODEM.bin from CP.

After successful flashing your phone will reboot and you will see that you have your IMEI number and your I9500 will be on your preferred network.

BUT the BASEBAND version will be of Lollipops firmware as we flashed its modem.

Tested and working on my I9500 with INS/INU firmware.

Thankyou and All the best!
[Galaxy S 4 General] ankushv:
Does kk with lollipop modem give better battery life and screen on time than lollipop ?

I would like to know all your experiences before i downgrade my i9500 from lp to kk .

Sent from my GT-I9500
[Galaxy S 4 General] samecues:
Its 9500 having worst lollipop upgrade? I hace a 9505 and with lollipop custom rom muy phone go like a charm. I dont think that KitKat TW ROM does better job.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Mandark52:
I being the OP of alternative guide use Lollipop on my I9500. I got no crashes, force stops and battery drain. I get 9 to 10 hrs of battery life a day (my usage- gaming, browsing, social apps). On the other hand the modem of lollipop is not responsible for screen time on or other battery stuff. The only thing will be the network availability if you get no network from your sim then the phone will try to search for it. If it takes a long time then probably it will drain your battery. So it is recommended to keep your phone on flight mode where you are sure that you wont get any network. So conclusion kitkat with lollipop modem will not affect your battery. Just make sure you update kitkat to latest version. Any more questions are welcome.

All the best.
[Galaxy S 4 General] sidharth.299:
hi,

can anyone provide the kitkat bootloader and modem.bin file as due to my slow internet, i am unable to download the huge file from sammobile. any help is appreciated.
[Galaxy S 4 General] Mandark52:
Well you will require the modem.bin of Lollipop and not of kitkat. Also it is better to download the entire firmware which serves as backup if incase anything goes wrong. I can understand your problem I used BSNL net which provided me roughly 60kbps to download the 1.5 gigs of firmware but i didnt had any option :P

All the best.
[Galaxy S 4 General] mor_1228:
guys i have updated to lollipop but i also updated the bootloader also.

so is it possible to downgrade to kitkat now after updating bootloader to lollipop ?

the reason for my downgrade is that i purchased a selfie stick with bluetooth remote but that remote is not connecting with my s4 ( tried 10 lollipop custom roms) same error always but its connecting with every other mobile in my house even with Lollipop LG G2.

so i was thinking will it work with kitkat if i downgrade.
[Galaxy S 4 General] mor_1228:
in the same way cant we flash kitkat modem ?
[Galaxy S 4 General] Mandark52:
No. Because your bootloader has upgraded and flashing kk modem wont help
[Galaxy S 4 General] mor_1228:
so we cant downgrade bootloader ?
[Galaxy S 4 General] Mandark52:
Personally I havent tried to downgrade the bootloader because my reasons for downgrading to Kitkat were different. I dont think we can downgrade the bootloader (I may be wrong here).