55 AG9 Slow to startup

[JMW1967]

Hello

I bought a Sony AG9 55" in October and it has worked beautifully until recently. Now, however, when the TV has sat for some time (at least 4-5 hours) and I turn it on, I have sound but just a black screen. After 2-3 mins the screen comes to life.  The white LED is lit on the bottom of the TV.

I have factory reset twice, unplugged cord from the wall overnight, not installed 'suggested apps' after factory reset and disabled WiFi to see if that is the issue but to no avail. I have also cleared caches and data on numerous apps and disabled some but also no luck. 

Any ideas?

Thanks

Jeff

[Sean_Mc]

Hi Jeff,

Welcome to the Sony Community.

If you have tried various resets with no success, then it would be best to get in touch with the Sony Support team here who will be able to look into this.

Best wishes,
Sean

[JMW1967]

Hi Sean

Thanks, appreciate the response.

I have contacted Sony and they have stated this may be an issue that will be fixed with Android 9, which they said should be available for installation today.  They are checking back with me tomorrow to see if this has resolved the issue and I will update this thread with the results.

Thanks

Jeff 

[Sean_Mc]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the update. I've my fingers crossed that this will resolve the issue for you. 😊

Keep me posted. 

Best wishes,

Sean 

[JMW1967]

Hi Sean

Software update not available through the TV, so I loaded it via USB. Successfully updated to 9.

Unfortunately it has not cured my issue, so I will follow up with Sony Support and update this thread accordingly.

Thanks

Jeff 

[Sean_Mc]

Hi Jeff, 

Sorry to hear this didn't resolve the issue. The best thing would be to contact the support team for further help.

Best wishes,
Sean 

[DAZ517]

Hi Jeff,

We got our 55-AG9 in December and have just started experiencing the exact same symptoms as you.

Have you managed to find a solution to the issue?

I currently have an e-ticket on the Sony support site but was hoping you may have it resolved already!

Thanks,

Dario

[JMW1967]

Hi Dario

Sorry to hear you have the same issue.

I am also sorry to report that I had nothing but frustrations dealing with Sony Customer Support.  Despite me contacting them repeatedly, both by email and phone, I kept getting the run-around and empty promises of 'I promise to get back to you personally in 48 hours', only to be met by nothing and having to chase again.  All the operators read from a script and do not listen to you.

It took intervention from my retailer, Richer Sounds (brilliant by the way) to top levels of Sony UK to get any resolution.  Even they were absolutely astounded at how poor Sony was in dealing with this issue. 

In the end Sony had the audacity to say to me that as a 'gesture of goodwill' they would refund my money.  I never asked for a refund, I had asked for my TV to be repaired as it was less than 90 days into a 5 year warranty. I gave up arguing with them and accepted it.  As part of the process, Sony sent out their designated repairman (DK Audio Visual Services, also brilliant) to pick up the TV.  I can promise you that DK was equally stunned that Sony had never sent them out to repair or even diagnose the problem. He also said there is only one board in the TV and he easily could have swapped it and fixed the issue!

As I could not face the issue recurring and dealing with Sony Customer Service again, I went for the Panasonic 55" GZ2000 instead and am very happy.  However, I have had nothing but Sony TVs for a decade, so am bitterly disappointed by this matter.

I suggest you loop in your retailer if you have not already and keep hammering Sony to either refund you or send out a repairman.  They are fully aware of the problem because of my issue, so don't accept their standard 'we have escalated this to the diagnostic team' or other nonsense as it leads no where. 

Good luck!

Jeff

[DAZ517]

Hi Jeff,

Firstly, thank you for your reply!

I'm sorry to hear that you've had such a bad experience. That is really poor from Sony.

So I have just been through the support system and they suggested some basic solutions to begin with - unplug, switch off, reinstall blah blah...

Of course it didn't work, so they have suggested that they send an engineer. Great news!...

...well the TV has only gone and rectified its problem the next day... For a full week it was demonstrating the exact symptoms yours did but for the last 2 days it has been absolutely fine! 

So I'm a bit perplexed and have just parked the support ticket with Sony for now... waiting for the issue to rear its ugly head.

I can see why you moved to Panasonic - this is my second KD55AG9 (first went back with banding issues!). As epic as the tv is, it seems to have horror reliability. 

If it comes back I'll update you on how I get on with Sony/Richer Sounds.

Thanks for the advice, and enjoy the new TV.

Dario

[JMW1967]

Hi Dario

Sorry to hear you have had trouble with two of them.  That is very poor QC. 

One strange thing that happened to me that I wanted to flag to you.  Mine also fixed itself for a few days, which I could not figure out, save for one thing. When the TV would not turn on it was always after it sat for 4-8 hours (ie overnight) AND the room was cold. When it oddly fixed itself, I distinctly noted the room was very warm as it was a weekend and the wood stove was lit. 

This led me to believe it was likely a cold solder joint that ‘fixed’ itself when it warmed up. If your room was warm when yours fixed itself, this may lead credence to my theory. If it was cold, then I am just a crazy conspiracy theorist that should be sectioned. 

In any event good luck and hope it gets resolved!

Jeff