Hi Alex, all
I have a 50PUS7303 bought in 2018. Having a load of weird problems with the menus / android subsystem which I am wondering if anyone else has experienced.
Before I start, I am on the last fw version 107.1.143 however I have tried downgrading fw versions and have been successful in getting 107.1.38 onto it but none of the others seemed to work, trying to go back to the original 2018 FW. None of the versions have fixed the problem.
Until recently it was only used to access internet-based content i.e. Disney+, Netflix or for console use (Nintendo Switch). This has worked well but recently started to lose the wifi connection, a problem I have seen documented here. That seems to be resolved, probably due to the number of times the unit has been hard-reset! Since I added an antenna things took a much darker turn!

After a hard reset it will be evident the problem exists as soon as the google ‘circles’ start whirring… after approx 2-3s they will stop and you will see glitches – black and dark grey blocks behind and sometimes in front of the image. The unit does power up but from this point on the menus and android home screen are largely obscured by what seems like pixellation or poor rendering.
I’ve created a brief youtube video, link below to try to show the problem. As you will see the screen does work, it seems like a software issue and something that the firmware doesn’t seem to touch.

As the TV is now 4+ years old I am not hopeful for a repair and will likely just continue to use it until I can afford to replace but such a shame since the screen, especially when put through blu-ray or even via internet for disney etc is pretty good, it has just become unusable (by the kids largely!) due to the problematic menus.

Any suggestions that I have not tried would be appreciated!
Well done on such a comprehensive site Alex, this is truly a superb font of knowledge. Hopefully I won’t have to refer to it again but hope someone else has something similar for the next brand of TV I go for!

Hi Alex – thanks for the really quick response. Have had the day off today so have tried what you suggested but unfortunately after the installation, I managed to do a factory reset (reinstall TV) but when I tried to upgrade via the internet the screens never refreshed, so after getting to the menu to do the upgrade the screen went blank. If I clicked back on the remote it would go back and eventually I would get back to the (glitchy) android home screen. Everything was running very slow and with frequent hangs. Tried a few more times to get the upgrade to work and even though nothing on the screen if I clicked the back button on the remote a “do you want to cancel Y/N” came up so I left it running for ages. When I came back after about an hour it was frozen on the google startup (the 4 circles). Watched it for a while and it would then go back to the Philips logo before then coming to the google logo and ad infinitum. Tried several hard resets which did not really seem to work. I have then tried an older FW (TPM171E_107.1.38.0_upgrade_loader) and this is currently showing the same thing :(

I am trying one last time with the TPM171E_107.1.143.0_upgrade_loader to see if I can get back to some semblance of operation before bed tonight otherwise will leave it off and try again tomorrow evening (working so can’t do it during the day).

Thanks again for the response… will update if anything changes!

Hi again – thanks for your ongoing support.
Tried following that and got nowhere sadly, still the same boot loop trying the 136.03 and again the 143 upgrade. One thing I did try was the oldest upgrade loader on the page (TPM171E_3.0.208_upgrade_loader) and this met with a very odd result – I ended up having 2 logos side by side as if the screen was half the size but the same behaviour in terms of boot looping!

Got it back to ‘normal’ (i.e. just bootlooping with a single logo!) by re-applying the 136 update but that hasn’t fixed the looping.
Tried now with the latest version (143) and now it just seems to be hanging on the 4 google circles… no glitching, just nothing else. Has been like that for about 10m.
After the upgrade it restarts, I see the philips logo then the 4 circles, I then take the USB stick out. I am assuming this is OK? Before I left the USB stick in and it restarted the upgrade!

Thanks again for your advice and help. I think I will now be looking for a replacement TV though!

Moin, nachdem der TV über ne Stunde lang aus war, sind es jetzt (zusammen mit anderen Geräten) 2,6W. Absolut OK. Scheinbar dauert es einfach etwas länger. Trotzdem danke.