diff --git a/.github/workflows/install/action.yml b/.github/workflows/install/action.yml
index 1d6c723d..d674561e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/install/action.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/install/action.yml
@@ -18,7 +18,27 @@ runs:
     - name: Install NDK
       run: |
         SDKMANAGER=$(find ${ANDROID_SDK_ROOT}/cmdline-tools -name sdkmanager -type f 2>/dev/null | head -1)
-        echo "y" | sudo ${SDKMANAGER} --install "ndk;26.1.10909125" --sdk_root=${ANDROID_SDK_ROOT}
+        NDK_PACKAGE="ndk;26.1.10909125"
+
+        # sdkmanager's download of the ~1GB NDK zip from Google's CDN occasionally comes back truncated/corrupted
+        # ("Error on ZipFile unknown archive") with no built-in retry, taking down the whole build for a purely
+        # transient network blip. Retry with cleanup between attempts: sdkmanager can otherwise resume from the
+        # same corrupted partial file instead of re-fetching, making a naive retry fail identically every time.
+        for attempt in 1 2 3; do
+          echo "NDK install attempt $attempt/3"
+          if echo "y" | sudo ${SDKMANAGER} --install "$NDK_PACKAGE" --sdk_root=${ANDROID_SDK_ROOT}; then
+            echo "NDK installed successfully"
+            exit 0
+          fi
+
+          echo "Attempt $attempt failed - clearing any partial/corrupted download before retrying"
+          sudo rm -rf "${ANDROID_SDK_ROOT}/ndk/26.1.10909125"
+          sudo find "${ANDROID_SDK_ROOT}" -maxdepth 1 -name "tmp*" -exec rm -rf {} +
+          sleep 10
+        done
+
+        echo "NDK install failed after 3 attempts"
+        exit 1
       shell: bash
 
     - name: Set ndk.dir in local.properties
diff --git a/app/src/androidTest/java/io/novafoundation/nova/balances/PezkuwiFullArchitectureBalancesTest.kt b/app/src/androidTest/java/io/novafoundation/nova/balances/PezkuwiFullArchitectureBalancesTest.kt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..221f096c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/src/androidTest/java/io/novafoundation/nova/balances/PezkuwiFullArchitectureBalancesTest.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+package io.novafoundation.nova.balances
+
+import android.content.Context
+import androidx.test.core.app.ApplicationProvider
+import io.novafoundation.nova.common.di.FeatureUtils
+import io.novafoundation.nova.core.model.CryptoType
+import io.novafoundation.nova.core_db.dao.AssetDao
+import io.novafoundation.nova.core_db.dao.MetaAccountDao
+import io.novafoundation.nova.core_db.di.DbApi
+import io.novafoundation.nova.core_db.model.chain.account.MetaAccountLocal
+import io.novasama.substrate_sdk_android.ss58.SS58Encoder.toAccountId
+import kotlinx.coroutines.delay
+import kotlinx.coroutines.runBlocking
+import kotlinx.coroutines.withTimeoutOrNull
+import org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull
+import org.junit.Test
+import kotlin.time.Duration.Companion.seconds
+
+/**
+ * Exercises the ACTUAL production balance-sync pipeline (BalancesUpdateSystem -> AssetCache/AssetDao) end to
+ * end, unlike [BalancesIntegrationTest] which bypasses it entirely via a direct low-level storage query. This
+ * is meant to answer one question with hard evidence, not speculation: does the app's real, running background
+ * sync ever write an `assets` cache row for HEZ on the Pezkuwi Asset Hub chain, for a real, well-funded account?
+ *
+ * If this test fails, the failure message + logcat (tag "BalancesDiag", plus the standard per-updater error
+ * logs already wired into BalancesUpdateSystem/FullSyncPaymentUpdater) shows exactly which decision branch or
+ * exception is responsible - not another layer of inference from silence.
+ */
+class PezkuwiFullArchitectureBalancesTest {
+
+    // Mainnet Founder account (SS58, generic substrate prefix) - verified live via @pezkuwi/api on 2026-07-09
+    // to hold a substantial non-zero, non-frozen free HEZ balance on Pezkuwi Asset Hub (180,297.80 HEZ).
+    private val founderSubstrateAddress = "5CyuFfbF95rzBxru7c9yEsX4XmQXUxpLUcbj9RLg9K1cGiiF"
+    private val pezkuwiAssetHubChainId = "e7c15092dcbe3f320260ddbbc685bfceed9125a3b3d8436db2766201dec3b949"
+    private val hezAssetId = 0
+
+    private val context = ApplicationProvider.getApplicationContext<Context>()
+
+    private val dbApi = FeatureUtils.getFeature<DbApi>(context, DbApi::class.java)
+    private val metaAccountDao = dbApi.metaAccountDao()
+    private val assetDao: AssetDao = dbApi.provideAssetDao()
+
+    @Test
+    fun testPezkuwiAssetHubHezBalanceActuallySyncs() = runBlocking {
+        val metaId = insertAndSelectFounderWatchAccount(metaAccountDao)
+
+        val assetRow = withTimeoutOrNull(90.seconds) {
+            while (true) {
+                val asset = assetDao.getAsset(metaId, pezkuwiAssetHubChainId, hezAssetId)
+                if (asset != null) return@withTimeoutOrNull asset
+
+                delay(2.seconds)
+            }
+            @Suppress("UNREACHABLE_CODE")
+            null
+        }
+
+        assertNotNull(
+            "No `assets` row was ever written for HEZ on Pezkuwi Asset Hub (metaId=$metaId) within 90s. " +
+                "The real BalancesUpdateSystem pipeline never completed a sync for this asset - check logcat " +
+                "tag 'BalancesDiag' and the standard FullSyncPaymentUpdater/StatemineAssetBalance error logs.",
+            assetRow
+        )
+    }
+
+    private suspend fun insertAndSelectFounderWatchAccount(dao: MetaAccountDao): Long {
+        val accountId = founderSubstrateAddress.toAccountId()
+
+        val metaAccount = MetaAccountLocal(
+            substratePublicKey = accountId,
+            substrateCryptoType = CryptoType.SR25519,
+            substrateAccountId = accountId,
+            ethereumPublicKey = null,
+            ethereumAddress = null,
+            name = "PezkuwiFullArchitectureBalancesTest",
+            parentMetaId = null,
+            isSelected = false,
+            position = 0,
+            type = MetaAccountLocal.Type.WATCH_ONLY,
+            status = MetaAccountLocal.Status.ACTIVE,
+            globallyUniqueId = MetaAccountLocal.generateGloballyUniqueId(),
+            typeExtras = null
+        )
+
+        val metaId = dao.insertMetaAccount(metaAccount)
+        dao.selectMetaAccount(metaId)
+
+        return metaId
+    }
+}
diff --git a/feature-assets/src/main/java/io/novafoundation/nova/feature_assets/data/network/BalancesUpdateSystem.kt b/feature-assets/src/main/java/io/novafoundation/nova/feature_assets/data/network/BalancesUpdateSystem.kt
index 80265626..a6753875 100644
--- a/feature-assets/src/main/java/io/novafoundation/nova/feature_assets/data/network/BalancesUpdateSystem.kt
+++ b/feature-assets/src/main/java/io/novafoundation/nova/feature_assets/data/network/BalancesUpdateSystem.kt
@@ -45,6 +45,11 @@ class BalancesUpdateSystem(
     }
 
     private suspend fun balancesSync(chain: Chain, metaAccount: MetaAccount): Flow<Updater.SideEffect> {
+        Log.d(
+            "BalancesDiag",
+            "balancesSync(${chain.name}): hasAccountIn=${metaAccount.hasAccountIn(chain)} " +
+                "isDisabled=${chain.connectionState.isDisabled} canPerformFullSync=${chain.canPerformFullSync()}"
+        )
         return when {
             !metaAccount.hasAccountIn(chain) -> emptyFlow()
             chain.connectionState.isDisabled -> emptyFlow()
@@ -89,6 +94,10 @@ class BalancesUpdateSystem(
                 try {
                     updater.listenForUpdates(subscriptionBuilder, metaAccount).catch { logError(chain, it) }
                 } catch (e: Exception) {
+                    // Was silently swallowed here with zero logging - listenForUpdates() itself is a suspend
+                    // call that can throw synchronously (e.g. FullSyncPaymentUpdater.listenForUpdates() calling
+                    // requireAccountIdIn(chain)), before ever returning a flow for the .catch{} above to guard.
+                    Log.e("BalancesDiag", "listenForUpdates() threw synchronously for ${updater.javaClass.simpleName} in ${chain.name}", e)
                     emptyFlow()
                 }
             }