Last Updated on April 9, 2017 by Mathew Diekhake
The Samsung Galaxy S4 belonging to the T-Mobile phone carrier network can now be restored to its stock Android 4.4.4 KitKat firmware using this tutorial. It’s also useful for those looking to upgrade from a lesser KitKat number. As you probably know, the updates rollout over the air to the notifications panel of devices. However, those looking to jump the waiting queue or revert back to stock firmware since they are with root access, can now use the following steps to update their device with the latest KitKat has to offer.
We know Android 5.0 Lollipop isn’t far away now for the Samsung Galaxy range. We know the Mountain View company looks after Motorola and a couple of nice LG devices so far including the first Google Play Edition tablet — the G Pad 8.3 otherwise known as the V500. Those preferring to install the same update automatically can stopover at Settings > About Device > Software Update > Check For updates. It doubles as a handy way to put the installation on hold when you are away from the WiFi networks since the WiFi is the preferred method over using the mobile data.
This is a help guide for advanced Android users only. It doesn’t come with as high-risk/high-reward as customizing with root access. However, things can go wrong if you are installing the file on the wrong device, if the device shuts down during proceedings before the flashing finishes and so forth. Find a family member or friend with experience if you don’t have any yet.
- Bring to mind that your phone is restoring to stock firmware, which means the efforts you took before for any unlocking of the system internals is revoked and any custom recoveries are uninstalled. The fantastic news is that we already know the firmware here is open for root access and we’ll follow-up with a guide on that later today.
- The Samsung Galaxy S4 should have enough battery power to see through the following without shutting off. You can check up on the battery level by looking at the battery icon located from the stats bar. The status bar in 4.4.4 KitKat is all white and transparent when the battery is draining. Previous version of Android including the earlier stages of KitKat haven’t transformed in into looking all white yet to better suit the overall KitKat design. However, it’s still easily recognizable since it’s always at the top of the display.
- Disable Samsung Kies from the computer you are using. Kies is helpful for installing the up to data USB drivers of you prefer doing it that way instead of downloading the file manually. However, Kies also interferes with the Odin flashing tool and that’s why we must stop it from operating until we finish the steps.
- Verify the smartphone’s model number through Settings, followed by About Phone and view the Build Number information.
- Download the Samsung USB drivers either from Kies or the official Samsung website. Alternatively, you can download it from a third-party source manually here.
- This guide works exclusively for the T-Mobile subscribers using the Samsung galaxy S4. Each US carrier has their own model number on the device. That’s why it only works for T-Mobile. Don’t try installing the file for any other network or else you can harm the device and it simply work anyway.
- Correspondingly, you ought to stop any antivirus or general security programs from running on the Windows computer. I mentioned Windows since Odin only flashes with Windows PCs, notebooks or laptops. It doesn’t work with the Apple Mac or any open source operating system such as Linux.
- It is advantageously useful to back up the data files including SMs texts, phone contacts and market apps by using Helium from the Google Play Store. Furthermore, you can back up the phone contacts by syncing them with the default Gmail account attached to the phone. Additional Google services that might interest you include Google Drive — a cloud service that offers a limited amount of free space for storing data in the cloud. It’s useful for those running out of space on the devices internal memory and don’t want to shop for a costly SD card.
- Don’t blame us if soft-bricking or hard-bricking occurs to your device since you following it at your own risk.
- Disconnect the smartphone from the computer is 15 minutes pass by without the flashing competing or if Odin displays a “fail’ message on the screen. Now remove the battery from the phone and close down the Odin application. repeat the guide once again after re-inserting the battery.
- Moreover, if a boot loop occurs, you want to get access to stock recovery mode and wipe the cache. If that doesn’t work you want to apply a full factory reset. Remember that resets do wipe the data from the ROM. That means unless you backed up the data to the internal or external storage space. The ROM is wiped and all of your information lost.
- These were all the steps you ought to take advantage of before starting with the last stage of KitKat installation guide. Now you are ready to continue on with the next stage.
How to update the Samsung Galaxy S4 for T-Mobile subscribers to M919UVUFNH7 Android 4.4.4
- Log on to a computer.
- Download the official firmware file here.
- Download Odin here.
- Extract the contents to the desktop and run the Odin app.
– rich-click the folders and select the extraction option. - Find the USB cable.
- Boot the S4 in Down load Mode
– volume down + home + power keys. - Plug the S4 into the computer USB slow with the wire.
- Wait for Odin to say ‘added’ and for the ID: COm port to change color.
- Click the AP button and upload the
M919UVUFNH7_M919TMBFNH7_TMB.tar.md5. file. - Leave the default settings.
- Do not check the re-partition box.
- Click the start button for the flashing.
- Do not touch nay buttons until it finishes.
- It reboots automatically since the “Auto reboot” box is checked.
- Disconnect safely from the computer by stopping the USB mass Storage device.