Bravia KD-55AF9 wont run apps

[MrWoverine]

Hi,

I've had my Bravia 55-AF9 since Christmas 2018. It's been great tbh.

But for more than a year, I've not been able to update the system s/w or run any apps from the Home screen.

The reason apps don't run is down to an andriod / java exception on application boot.

To get some logs out of the TV, I switched on developer tools, and connected over Wifi using adb.

Via this route, I can navigate the OS directory structure on the TV from my laptop and pull down debug files.

Here are the kind of crashes being reported:

----------------------------------------------------------------

02-09 23:12:09.833 +0000 11114 11114 W ziparchive: Zip: inflate zerr=-5 (nIn=0xe532c900 aIn=0 nOut=0xdd366422 aOut=29470)
02-09 23:12:09.833 +0000 11114 11114 W .gms.persisten: Zip open failed: Failed to extract 'classes2.dex' from '/data/app/com.google.android.gms-dO-mkkeaC9_2m4DrqeGt3w==/base.apk!classes2.dex': Zlib error
02-09 23:12:09.861 +0000 11114 11114 W ziparchive: Zip: didn't find signature at start of lfh, offset=7192715
02-09 23:12:09.910 +0000 11114 11114 D AndroidRuntime: Shutting down VM
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: Process: com.google.android.gms.persistent, PID: 11114
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Failed resolution of: Laivt;
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: at izc.<clinit>(:com.google.android.gms@204516082@20.45.16 (080306-344294571):1)
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Native Method)
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: at android.app.AppComponentFactory.instantiateApplication(AppComponentFactory.java:50)
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: at android.app.Instrumentation.newApplication(Instrumentation.java:1120)
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: at android.app.LoadedApk.makeApplication(LoadedApk.java:1061)
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:5891)
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1100(ActivityThread.java:200)
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1656)
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:106)
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:193)
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:6718)
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:493)
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:858)
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "aivt" on path: DexPathList[[zip file "/system/framework/org.apache.http.legacy.boot.jar", zip file "/system/framework/com.android.location.provider.jar", zip file "/data/app/com.google.android.gms-dO-mkkeaC9_2m4DrqeGt3w==/base.apk"],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/data/app/com.google.android.gms-dO-mkkeaC9_2m4DrqeGt3w==/lib/arm, /data/app/com.google.android.gms-dO-mkkeaC9_2m4DrqeGt3w==/base.apk!/lib/armeabi-v7a, /system/lib]]
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: at dalvik.system.BaseDexClassLoader.findClass(BaseDexClassLoader.java:134)
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:379)
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:312)
02-09 23:12:09.911 +0000 11114 11114 E AndroidRuntime: ... 14 more
02-09 23:12:09.925 +0000 11114 11114 I Process : Sending signal. PID: 11114 SIG: 9

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

classes2.dex is an executable file format. The file is held in a zip. 

It looks like ZLib, the zip decompressor, is failing to inflate this file, so, I'm guessing the file has been corrupted somehow, perhaps truncated? 

OK so far. Well, unfortunately I have no write permissions on this device - unsurprisingly as its probably all stored on some read only CMOS, or flash. Also unfortunate is that all apps which launch require the library avit. I'm not sure quite what the contents of this lib are.

This was some debugging I did over a year ago to try to get to the bottom of why my 55AF9 was now a 'less than smart' TV. Since then I've used a PS4 and lately a PS5 as a set top box to be a replacement to the smart part of the TV. Everything works fine with this setup but it would be nice to be able to flash the TV and get it back into a usable state. I feel I might be missing out on some super modern new features. 

Very recently I re-tried updating the TV via the usual search for updates. The update downloads to 100% then... nothing. I'm assuming the update executable has crashed in the same way.

OK, my next step I think is to replace the AV card - Part No. 1-983-365-11. £59.99

Unfortunately these seem impossible to get hold of, and I'm not sure that approach would even fly, as it may need qualified serive engineer activation.

So currently I'm holding out for a out-of-warranty service quote to tell me how much it might cost to fix. I'm not holding out much hope it will be less than £600. I'll have to balance that against getting a new XR- 55A95K.

It would be nice not to have to throw my AF9 away though as its still an excellent TV. If only I could boot the whole OS from a USB drive, that would be a solution (of course I've tried factory reset, and flashing from USB many times).

Do I have a question? 😉

Perhaps someone on this forum has some insite into ways for fixing this corruption. Or even whether its a H/W v S/W issue?

Many thanks

[Piscie]

@MrWoverine, I'm not really sure if debugging the OS directory was a good idea from the begging 😕 Have you tired the factory data reset from the TV settings? and what is the current software version on your TV? and what exactly happens when trying to update the software with an external USB stick memory? 

[MrWoverine]

Hi,

Android Kernel Version 4.9.125
#1 Fri Jun 12 2020

Thanks for your response.

Yes I tried updating via USB long ago. I tried recently after your suggestion, just in case by magic it might have fixed itself. Unfortunately it does the same thing.

You get the update file being read off the USB stick. A progress bar is shown, which takes about 10 mins to get to 100%. (It's a large update file). Then the screen flashes for about a microsecond and an error is shown. 

'An error occurred during the update, please removed the USB'.

That's it.

Looks to me like the executable that performs the update using the downloaded image crashes on start-up in the same way as every other app.

I went through this with Sony support services on the phone way back when. They said contact an after sales service company to look into the issue. I did that as well, and no joy. After sales services don't seem that interested in trying to fix it. I guess as its not trivial to source the parts. 

So, what I was hoping for I guess was someone to come along and say, Ah, yes, the OS runs on a CMOS chip 'blah' which is surface mounted on the AV card, so you are correct, if you replace card 'XyZ' then you'll be back in business. Something like that.

I'm just regarding it as a fun challenge to see how far I can get towards fixing this TV. £90 for a new card is better than £2K for a whole new TV, and the AF9 is a nice OLED TV so it would be a shame to have to ditch it.

Thanks