BUG: Android 6.0.1 reboots after enabling VPN apps

[Jecht_Sin]

I have installed via USB and tested Block This (open source) and Adguard (not together. One per time) on my KD49XD8099 with Android 6.0.1 and they simply worked great! No more annoying ads (yes, I know. Companies don't like it, especially Google, but they are perfectly legal. Also we are allowed by Android itself to install whatever we like).

The only problem is that after turning the TV off (standby) few hours, when I turn it on the television starts rebooting. Uninstalling them the television (and rebooting just in case) Android becomes "stable" again (quoted because I've got reboots even without tampering with special apps). The apps were set to enable the VPN at boot. Not that it should matter, since the reboot happens just putting the tv in standby.

Now, I do understand that an external app, not made specifically for Android TV may not work (but as I wrote they actually do the job they are made for), but if the television/Android reboots there is a (very critical) issue with the OS, not the app. To test the issue the developers just need to install the apps mentioned (again, enabling the VPN at boot).

[pedromalo]

I have a Bravia SmartTV (KD-55A1) with Android TV 8.0.0 Oreo and firmware version 6.6520 and experiencing the same problem - SmartTV reboots shortly after I connect to a VPN server with ExpressVPN (version 7.8.1).

Called ExpressVPN support which told me that they know of the problem and the development team is working on a fix - this has been some 1 month ago and still no fix to the problem 😞

You guys know what is the version of ExpressVPN since when the problem started? I might try to roll back the version of ExpressVPN to a working version..

[zer0ner0]

Last night I realized that under EXPRESSVPN version 7.11.0 my TV (XE9005) reboots exactly 30 minutes after enabling VPN. I have checked it multiple times and it is always the same. The truth is I never had such a problem before. I could enable EXPRESSVPN for whole sessions without rebooting. But it's been a long time since I had last used ExpressVPN on the TV (prior to yesterday) and I do not know which version was the last that worked properly.

Anyone with same experience lately? Or any suggestion for a properly working version?

[zer0ner0]

@pedromalo Have you rolled back to a previous working version?

[pmnmalo]

I have presently my Bravia SmartTV (KD-55A1) with Android TV 8.0.0 Oreo, firmware version 6.6520 and ExpressVPN version 7.11.0 (23406). It looks that the problem is solved - no longer rebooting immediately after connecting to the VPN service (and looks to last for more than 30 minutes). Maybe they fixed it for A1 and introduced a bug into XE9005 ? Suggest you to (1) remove ExpressVPN deleting all configurations and see if that resolves the matter; else (2) report to ExpressVPN support for them to solve it and issue a patch in the next ExpressVPN release.

[zer0ner0]

@pmnmalo Thanks for your reply. I was on firmware version 6.6520 and yesterday I updated my TV to firmware version 6.6545. I haven't checked yet if it does any difference. I will check it first and, if there is no success, I will try to uninstall the app and install it again. I have already send a message to ExpressVPN describing the problem in case it is a known issue or specific server related (I was using the Atlanta server).

[zer0ner0]

Update:

I checked again before a while, and there was no reboot. I used a 2 hours stream for testing. So I suppose that it may be something with the previous stream. I will continue checking though.

[Kuschelmonschter]

Did anybody try this with FW 6.6575 in regard to the VPN crash?

[Luigi_R]

I did a test yesterday with the new firmware. I have used both expressvpn and openvpn for android tv app. Both did not reboot the TV. ExpressVpn has is own built-in fix to prevent the crash of the OS, but I am not sure anything similar has been implemented in Openvpn for Android TV.

Remember the reboot occurs after connecting to the VPN only because you enstablish a connection just after having turned on the TV.

The way I am testing is:

1) Turn on the TV and wait a couple of minutes

2) connect to the VPN server

3) Turn off the TV and again on after few seconds

4) Wait to see if the TV reboot ( but it did not reboot)

The TV might also reboot if you are connected to a VPN server and for some reason the TV loses the connection to the router ( it does not matter whether it is via Ethernet or Wifi). Yesterday I did not think about it but I will give a try later today.

So the second way to test would be:

1) Turn on the TV and wait a couple of minutes

2) connect to the VPN server

3) Unplug the Ethernet cable from the TV and plug it back

4) Wait to see if the TV reboot

[zer0ner0]

i am trying to connect to a vpn server with expressvpn v. 9.2.2 and it is impossible. In the middle of the process the TV loses its connectivity to the internet and I have to unplug and plug the ethernet. It runs the latest firmware 6.7140 (Android 9). Anyone else with the same experience?

Update: The problem does not occur if I choose specific apps to use the VPN (through split tunnel settings). So I guess it has something to do with a connectivity setting in the OS itself.