diff --git a/custom_components/nvidia_shield/connection.py b/custom_components/nvidia_shield/connection.py
index 9bdc1df..5c46702 100644
--- a/custom_components/nvidia_shield/connection.py
+++ b/custom_components/nvidia_shield/connection.py
@@ -694,6 +694,15 @@ class ShieldConnectionManager:
 
         Returns the label (possibly "") when the dump RAN, and None when it did
         not run or delivered no output at all.
+
+        The exit marker is a liveness tell, not a status code (t62 nit b): it sits
+        after a ``head`` pipeline, and the Android shell that runs this has no
+        PIPESTATUS, so ``$?`` is ``head``'s status rather than the dump's. Nothing
+        reads its VALUE — ``parse_application_label`` strips the marker line — and
+        the only property tested here is that a command which RAN leaves non-blank
+        output even when the device prints no label. That non-blankness is what
+        separates "ran, no label" from "the transport delivered nothing", which
+        this method turns into a cached negative versus a retry.
         """
         poller = self._poller
         if poller is None or not self.connected:
@@ -1110,15 +1119,6 @@ class ShieldConnectionManager:
         return cached
 
 
-        """Start at most one label fetch per watchdog cycle."""
-        if not self._app_label_requests or self._poller is None:
-            return
-        package = min(self._app_label_requests)
-        self._app_label_requests.discard(package)
-        self._tasks.append(
-            self._create_task(self._fetch_app_label(package), f"app_label_{package}")
-        )
-
     def _drain_app_label_requests(self) -> None:
         """Start at most one label fetch per watchdog cycle."""
         if not self._app_label_requests or self._poller is None: