I've been trying to run the software update on my phone, as well as other update ideas for nearly four weeks unsuccessfully, so I'm hoping that you guys can help me out. I've tried researching this problem on my own to no avail. My Verizon S4 (SCH-I545) is currently running Android version 4.2.2 and I believe the phone is not rooted. I don't know if this is needed also but the Baseband version is I545VRUDMI1.
Here is what I've tried thus far:
1. The first thing I tried was the regular update via the phone. I go to Settings > More > About phone, and click Software update. A pop-up appears that has "Software update" as the header with a Status = Not available, Status last checked on = Not available (more on this later), and a button that reads 'Check New' at the bottom. When I click 'Check New', it performs an update check and comes back with "Service Unavailable; Software update is temporarily unavailable. Try again later". I've tried this at least 50 times over the past month. I'm fairly sure the Verizon update service IS available so I don't know what is causing the issue.
2. This phone isn't the original S4. My wife dropped my first one so I believe the replacement I received is a refurb, however, I cannot confirm this. In researching my "cannot update" issue I believe I read somewhere that refurbs can have issues that prevents them from updating. I found at least one comment where a user encountered the same unavailable problem with their refurb and performed an FDR, and this fixed their problem. I decided to hold off on an reset for a while because I didn't want to lose my settings, homepage, etc. but finally gave in. As of today, I've done five complete factory data resets, both through the Settings menu and from the boot menu, but still haven't been able to update to 4.3. A couple of things to add- before I did the FDR, when I tried to run the software update the "Status last checked on" = 10/08/2013. After the FDR it now reads "Not available" (mentioned above in #1). I also need to note that I've unsuccessfully tried clearing cache from the boot menu numerous times and every time I get an error. I don't know why this happens but figured I should mention it.
3. My Kies fiasco. I installed Kies on my machine before performing any FDR in the hope that syncing, backing up my entire phone, and restoring it from Kies would save me time and the heartache of setting up my phone after the FDR. Unfortunately, the restore only partially worked so I lost all of my saved app and game info, and I'm still trying to get all of my settings the way I want. I wasn't able to find a way to perform the update to Android version 4.3 but I was able to update the firmware version through Kies. I don't know what the old firmware was but the current is PDA:MI1 / PHONE: MI1/ CSC:MI1 (VZW). I don't know what this info is for but Kies does confirm that this is the latest firmware for my phone.
So that's where I stand right now. I'm dreading going into a store because I'm sure they'll want me to replace the phone again and I don't want to do that. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do and what could be preventing the update? I prefer to not run anymore FDR's but will if I have too. Thanks.
Here is what I've tried thus far:
1. The first thing I tried was the regular update via the phone. I go to Settings > More > About phone, and click Software update. A pop-up appears that has "Software update" as the header with a Status = Not available, Status last checked on = Not available (more on this later), and a button that reads 'Check New' at the bottom. When I click 'Check New', it performs an update check and comes back with "Service Unavailable; Software update is temporarily unavailable. Try again later". I've tried this at least 50 times over the past month. I'm fairly sure the Verizon update service IS available so I don't know what is causing the issue.
2. This phone isn't the original S4. My wife dropped my first one so I believe the replacement I received is a refurb, however, I cannot confirm this. In researching my "cannot update" issue I believe I read somewhere that refurbs can have issues that prevents them from updating. I found at least one comment where a user encountered the same unavailable problem with their refurb and performed an FDR, and this fixed their problem. I decided to hold off on an reset for a while because I didn't want to lose my settings, homepage, etc. but finally gave in. As of today, I've done five complete factory data resets, both through the Settings menu and from the boot menu, but still haven't been able to update to 4.3. A couple of things to add- before I did the FDR, when I tried to run the software update the "Status last checked on" = 10/08/2013. After the FDR it now reads "Not available" (mentioned above in #1). I also need to note that I've unsuccessfully tried clearing cache from the boot menu numerous times and every time I get an error. I don't know why this happens but figured I should mention it.
3. My Kies fiasco. I installed Kies on my machine before performing any FDR in the hope that syncing, backing up my entire phone, and restoring it from Kies would save me time and the heartache of setting up my phone after the FDR. Unfortunately, the restore only partially worked so I lost all of my saved app and game info, and I'm still trying to get all of my settings the way I want. I wasn't able to find a way to perform the update to Android version 4.3 but I was able to update the firmware version through Kies. I don't know what the old firmware was but the current is PDA:MI1 / PHONE: MI1/ CSC:MI1 (VZW). I don't know what this info is for but Kies does confirm that this is the latest firmware for my phone.
So that's where I stand right now. I'm dreading going into a store because I'm sure they'll want me to replace the phone again and I don't want to do that. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do and what could be preventing the update? I prefer to not run anymore FDR's but will if I have too. Thanks.
