Question: I am trying to apply Jelly Bean firmware update on my Galaxy S2 X, but everytime I try to, Kies dies at 0% of the firmware update, without any error message.

I tried uninstalling and installing Kies again. It is up to date. I also tried running it in Windows 7 mode and XP SP3 mode (I'm on Windows 8 64-bit).

I did a factory reset of my cellphone, and still encounter the problem.

Is there any alternative or way to fix this?

Answer: 
If you're a gamer at all, you might be interested in using something like Razor Comms!  

<http://www.razerzone.com/comms>

It is a free VoIP program created by Razor that will give you an ingame overlay of your communications, including your phone. It also can do this out of game. It has a call forwarding and SMS forwarding feature that will allow you to answer calls and respond to text messages while on the computer. Even if you're not into games, the VoIP still works very well.
I former times I have used [MyPhoneExplorer](http://www.fjsoft.at/) application. It was initially released for SonyEricsson but later added android support.

You can stablish a bluetooth connection between this app and your phone.

Website: <http://www.fjsoft.at/>