topic SOLVED: NowTV app says device has been modified in Tablets

NowTV app says device has been modified

OS1111 — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 15:33:34 GMT

First post so apologies if I get anything wrong.

The nice people over at Sky / NowTV say the reason the NowTV app has stopped working with the message "Your device has been modified" is Sony's issue. Is this true? NowTV was working fine with 4.4 but following the official Sony update to 5.1 it has stopped working with that message. The device has not been "modified" in any other way. NowTV has been updated twice which apparently fixed the issue on some devices so this issue extends beyond Sony. Has anyone else come across this issue? Is there a way around it?

Is there a way of reporting bugs to Sony?

Thanks,

Re: NowTV app says device has been modified

Uliwooly — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 15:37:12 GMT

@OS1111

Have you unlocked the bootloader or rooted the device?

Also contact their support team

http://help.nowtv.com/article/Android-devices

If you’re having a few issues running the NOW TV app on your Android tablet or mobile, it could be because:

Your device has been modified or rooted – even if this was done by the manufacturer.
You bought your device outside of the UK.
It’s a Kindle Fire HD device.

Re: NowTV app says device has been modified

OS1111 — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 17:03:48 GMT

Hi uliwooly,

Thanks for getting back. The device has net been rooted nor the bootloader unlocked.

Re: NowTV app says device has been modified

Uliwooly — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 17:07:24 GMT

@OS1111

how about the second point?

Re: NowTV app says device has been modified

OS1111 — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 18:10:45 GMT

No I bought it in te UK, but it was second hand. NowTV was working when I installed it on the Android version that the device came with, 4.4 I think. Then Sony pushed and update to 5.1 and NowTV started complaining that the device has been modified. The NowTV guys have had me uninstall and re-install the app, several times! and even do a complete device reset, but NowTV persists in its belief that the device has been modified.

How can I double check that the device has not been rooted or its bootloader unlocked?

Re: NowTV app says device has been modified

Uliwooly — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 18:11:54 GMT

@OS1111

Hard to tell, you will have to contact them directly.

Are you able to use PCC?

Re: NowTV app says device has been modified

OS1111 — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 10:55:28 GMT

The device has been verified as not rooted using checker apps. Can't tell about bootloader though as I can't find any key combination that boots into recovery mode nor does "adb reboot recovery" seem to work. "adb reboot-bootloader" just results in a black screen with the indicator LED glowing a dim blue.

Re: NowTV app says device has been modified

Uliwooly — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 00:06:33 GMT

@OS1111

did you purchased this from someone else/second hand/used?

Re: NowTV app says device has been modified

OS1111 — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 08:49:28 GMT

Hi uliwooly,

It was bought it second hand.

Re: NowTV app says device has been modified

Uliwooly — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 17:30:21 GMT

@OS1111

That explains a lot, perhaps the previous user unlocked the bootloader > relocked the bootloader and since the DRM keys are gone, the app doesn't work

you could try this

turn on the bravia engine and brightness 100%

select a picture > take a screenshot > turn off Bravia Engine > take another screenshot of the same picture > compare them and post them here.

Re: NowTV app says device has been modified

OS1111 — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 17:54:58 GMT

When I got the device running Android 4.4 NowTV worked fine, it's just since Sony pushed the update to 5.1.

I'll try the pictures but not sure what I'm looking for. Would turning the Bravia Engine on have any affect on NowTV?

My attempts to boot in to recovery mode have so far failed but I believe the state of the bootloader will show up in the output there. Please could you tell me how to boot in to recovery?

Re: NowTV app says device has been modified

Uliwooly — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 18:26:13 GMT

@OS1111

There's no recovery with Xperia devices.

Re: NowTV app says device has been modified

OS1111 — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 17:34:35 GMT

Please find images attached, sorry it's taken so long

Re: NowTV app says device has been modified

Uliwooly — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 22:35:36 GMT

@OS1111

I'll check them whenever they are approved by a moderator

Re: NowTV app says device has been modified

OS1111 — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 10:51:02 GMT

I installed AVG and it detects that the device is in "High Privilege" mode and says the device has been rooted, but then doesn't explain how comes to that conclusion nor does it offer any advice. As I think I mentioned before none of the un-rooters run beacuse they say the device has not been rooted! However going through the re-root by hand instructions offered in various places I've found an "su" executable in /system/xbin. Would that alone be enough to trigger "your device has been rooted"? How do I remove it? Am I going to have to root te device in order to remove this file?!?!

Re: NowTV app says device has been modified

Uliwooly — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 02:28:35 GMT

@OS1111

You might want to contact Sony directly

you didn't posted the screenshots I've requeted

you could try this

turn on the bravia engine and brightness 100%

select a picture > wait 10 seconds > take a screenshot > turn off Bravia Engine > take another screenshot of the same picture > compare them and post them here.

Re: NowTV app says device has been modified

OS1111 — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 16:45:45 GMT

> You might want to contact Sony directly

How would I do that?

I've come to the conculsion that the offending article is the su binary in /system/xbin but I need to root the device to remove it. Is there a way of rooting the device that doesn't involve splattering su's everywhere along with busybox and a host of other things?! All I want to do is root, although I suspect reroot the device and then unroot it properly. What are the chances that Sony left a rogue su binary lying around? Other people have reported NowTV working on their device with 5.1.1 so probably unlikely.

> turn on the bravia engine and brightness 100%

I'll try this when I next log in using the tablet as it's easier.

Re: NowTV app says device has been modified

Uliwooly — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 03:24:08 GMT

@OS1111

were you able to figure it out?

Re: NowTV app says device has been modified

OS1111 — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 11:38:46 GMT

Hi uliwooly,

No, no joy yet. I'm still deciding if it's worth rooting and then unrooting the device or if that'll just cause more problems. As NowTV worked prior to Sony pushing the 5.1 update I tend to think that Sony left the su binary behind, but since others report NowTV working just fine under 5.1 I just don't know. I still don't know how to raise this with Sony as they are probbaly best placed to fix this.

I've done a full reset, is that sufficient to remove a rooted system? If not, is there a way of doing a complete wipe / re-format of the device?

I have to think that NowTV's root checking must be pretty crude as every unrooter I've so far tried says the device isn't rooted, nor can I gain elevated privileges on the device. Annoyingly AVG says the device is running with elevated priveleges but then won't say how it reached that conclusion! If it did it would probably point to why NowTV won't play anything.

SOLVED: NowTV app says device has been modified

OS1111 — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 14:32:43 GMT

It was suggested that I use the Mac Xperia Companion and do a repair which I did and it has removed all the offending su and sudaemon type of executables from the device and NowTV is happy again. This rather begs the question how did they get there in the first place?! Also why didn't doing a complete recover on the device itself wipe these files unless the image on the device was already compromised and Xperia Companion installed an uncompromised image. Anyhow I'm happy now!