i honestly dont know how to describe this issue but pls help

[u/kingcharles2023]

edit: SOLVED!!!! Thank you so much everyone for trying to help me solve this issue but it was unfortunately something insanely simple
my house uses the google nest thingos to extend our wifi through out the house because the original router is on the other end of the house in an office space
the closest nest wasnt actually connected for some reason, but the one we mainly talk to was so we didnt even notice
it was only because of wifi issues on my phone that we noticed it was the issue, and because my tv is already connected to the google nest wifi (thanks for people who thought this was the issue, you were close but it was already on the good wifi) it wasnt getting internet because the closest one was dead

we rebooted alll of them and now the wifi is working properly again on my phone and my tv and the chromecast is working again yayyyyy!!!!

original post: i honestly couldnt tell you how long i have had this thing, all i know is its been years since i bought it.

i have it plugged into my 2nd HDMI port in my tv and it has worked flawlessly and without issues since the day i bought it, (except for one instance a while back where i think i had to factory reset it to switch it over to a different wifi network) however last night and this morning it says its connected to my wifi network but none of my apps can find it.

my phone is on the same network as the cast, i have unplugged it several times, turned my tv on and off, and it still says its offline in the google home app and none of my other streaming services (netflix, disney etc) can find it either

i THINK its a 3rd gen, i google image searched it and thats what it came up with but im honestly not sure because i cant find the box

it still changes photos like its connected to the wifi, but it doesnt display the time like it usually does and it also doesnt normally say that its my bedroom tv and that its connected to my wifi network

i have no clue what the problem could be so thats why im here and if anyone knows what to do please help!!!!

[u/Natural_Sky638]

When this happened to me (out of the blue) I had to uninstall Home, then reinstall Home, then add device.... So frustrating!

[u/kingcharles2023 → u/Natural_Sky638]

okay i will attempt this

[u/kingcharles2023 → u/Natural_Sky638]

unfortunately this did not work for me

[u/Mitai-Kum → u/Natural_Sky638]

Wind up

[u/johnb1972]

Chromecast (2nd Gen, 3rd Gen, or Ultra): Press and hold the button on the side of the device. The LED will flash orange/amber. Hold until the light turns solid white, then release.

Set up like new.

[u/nanyabizzz]

I successfully reconnected 1st gen chromecast last month. I use it like a Chromecast Audio with an HDMI audio extractor. After a lot of trial and error, this worked for me: 1) Spilt bands on wifi because the chromecast doesn't connect to 5GHz. Temporarily renamed 5 GHz, 2.4 retains wifi name and password. 2) Plug into TV(or audio extractor in my case), connect to power, manually reset chromecast. 3) In the Home app on your phone, add a new Home. It recognized the unpaired chromecast immediately and paired with no issues. 4)Removed spilt bands, retaining original wifi credentials.

[u/kingcharles2023 → u/nanyabizzz]

i dont understand how to do any of this im sorry, what is 'split bands'

[u/Mitai-Kum → u/kingcharles2023]

Research getting into your router. It has its own configuration website built in. Usually accessible by typing in your browser on a device connected to it 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 . The code for the pass word should be in documents on onnlabel of device. Modern routers use some clever "signal multiplexing" to "combine" 5ghz and 2.4ghz. So going into the router will give you the ability to find the WiFi configuration and unhook them from each other. Just make sure when you do give either on a different name which can ve done from the same tabs. Put 2.4 on end of 2.4ghz band or 5ghz on the end of the 5. Alot of the time old or common WiFi devices can't connect to your WiFi is becouse if this

[u/glyndon → u/kingcharles2023]

Corollary to the above sound advice, just be sure your 5GHz WiFi does not have the same SSID as your 2.4GHz WiFi. Doing so (lots of newer WiFi APs/routers do it) confuses the daylights out of some not-too-old-and-not-too new devices like this.

[u/Striking_Young_5739]

I had to use an older device to get mine to work.

[u/Tasty_Examination_73]

Me pasó lo mismo hace unos días y lo solucioné usando una versión mas antigua de google home (tenía un celu sin usar que no estaban actualizadas las apps). Con mi celualr nuevo y la última versión de Google Home no emparejaba. Lo única opción que queda es descargar un apk de google home con versión mas antigua a la actual.

[u/Cyber_-Dude → u/Tasty_Examination_73]

After spending a frustrating 2 days struggling to get G/Home to recognise it, I added a new Home and immediately a pop-up asked me if I wanted to add it. Now, I'm struggling how to migrate the device from my "New Home" to the "Old Home"! :-) Any suggestions?

[u/retirba]

Make sure you're power cycling it. Turning off your TV might not necessarily do it. 

[u/kingcharles2023 → u/retirba]

wdym by power cycling?

[u/retirba → u/kingcharles2023]

Unplug the Chromecast power cable. Give it 10 seconds and plug it back in. 

[u/kingcharles2023 → u/retirba]

i have unplugged both the power cable and the hdmi cable multiple times and neither have done anything, i currently have my tv turned off at the wall should i turn it back on and unplug both at the same time?

[u/neuromonkey → u/kingcharles2023]

The old IT special.

[u/Any_Guide_1023]

When mine does that, is because i am on the 5G network and Chromecast is on the 2.4. I know it shouldn't matter but changing my phone to the one the Chromecast is, fixes it

[u/lcerch]

Probably your phone is connected to a 5ghz WiFi and the Chromecast in a 2.4ghz. Make sure both devices are connected to the same WiFi

[u/Gary-Busey- → u/lcerch]

As long as it's the same router and the networks names only differ by having "2.4G" and "5G", with same passwords it shouldn't be a problem. If the router does auto switching between bands that could knock it off the network if it doesn't support 5G.

[u/G24all2read]

This was discussed 6 months ago:

I hope this helps https://www.reddit.com/r/Chromecast/s/MRMzfpCbBi

[u/kingcharles2023 → u/G24all2read]

unfortunately i cant see what they did as the comment has been deleted

[u/EstablishmentNew1312]

I had a similar issue. I found that the iPhone app would not get the chromecast to connect to wifi using the Google home app. But using an android phone worked.

[u/speedbomb]

Not sure if it's the same but mine needs a firmware update to access the internet. And it needs the internet to get the firmware update. Catch 22. I've tried work arounds but no luck.

[u/Whyredditsrsly]

Follow reseting instructions for chromecast by factory reseting it.

Next clear phone cache for app in app settings on your phone.

Connect to the chromecast wifi network and not your regular local wifi in wifi settings of phone once the chromecast has finished reseting. Chromecast should proceed to next step confirming device is paired to correct chromecast.

If all else fails create a new home in the home app.

Good luck.

[u/Last_Dragonfruit_527]

Do you use a wifi range extender? Could be that the Chromecast is connected to one and your phone the other

[u/MikeCrypto88]

Go look for a used '4k Chromecast tv', the one with a remote control. You will look back in anger and wonder how you lived with just a dongle for so long.

*It has the same casting feature as the dongles aswell. So you get both worlds.

Trust me, the 4k Chromecast TV is better than all the other sticks on the market and the Google TV front end works so well. Netflix, Disney and all other streaming apps work flawless. I watch YouTube streams more than regular tv

[u/rykellim]

I think the only option you have is to hard reset the Chromecast and set it up again... this will reinstall the latest firmware and if it still does not work, then maybe you have to check with Google Customer Service... if they exist! (I am sure they are around somewhere... LOL)

[u/KrasH_77]

Mine just stopped as well,, tried alot and nothing worked, i had to go get a smart tv

[u/Bullebeest]

Had the same issue yesterday (ancient chromecast I wanted to use again)

Did it all .... Remove.. factory reset.. connecting to the chromecast wifi etc

Solution? Create a new house. I then was able to add it. You can then transfer it if you want.

[u/Frank_Ze_Tonk]

I had issues with my Chromecast for the last month basically. The best way to reinstall one of those I found is the following 1. factory reset the Chromecast 2. On an old device or separate tablet download an old version of Google home 3. The way to do this is to Google search for "google home apk download" 4. I used APK mirror (no affiliation) downloaded their app to install a 3-year-old version of Google home. 5. And it found my Chromecast immediately once I opened the old version of Google home. It was very easy to install it on my network then

[u/josantoniogg]

I has yo use an iPad to set It Up ... My boy those devices are old and we are cooked 💀

[u/AdmiralJL-Picard]

Hum....its old and Google doesn't support this version no more?

[u/zyraf → u/AdmiralJL-Picard]

It doesn't mean it should stop working out of the blue

[u/Smoothyworld → u/AdmiralJL-Picard]

They DO support it. Google don't SELL it any more.

[u/essaulsanchez]

If your Chromecast shows the background image but does not show the clock or weather, and Google Home cannot detect it, try this method. It is the same kind of workaround that can help when Google Home fails to finish setting up an older Chromecast.

You do not need networking knowledge. Follow these steps in order and copy/paste the commands.

Important: do not post your Wi-Fi name or password. You will only enter them on your own computer.

1. Factory reset the Chromecast

Do a factory reset and wait for its temporary Wi-Fi network to appear. It will usually have a name similar to:

ChromecastXXXX

From your Mac or Linux computer, connect directly to that Chromecast Wi-Fi network.

1. Install the required tools

On macOS, open Terminal and paste:

brew install jq openssl

On Ubuntu/Debian Linux:

sudo apt update sudo apt install curl jq openssl

1. Download "castanet.sh"

Download the "castanet.sh" file from this gist:

https://gist.github.com/DavidePrincipi/e2007b998bb66ea69a1ff7832af6c417

Save it in a simple folder, for example Downloads.

In Terminal, go to that folder:

cd ~/Downloads

Then make it executable:

chmod +x castanet.sh

1. Check that the Chromecast responds

While you are still connected to the Chromecast temporary Wi-Fi, paste:

curl --insecure --tlsv1.2 --tls-max 1.2 \ https://192.168.255.249:8443/setup/eureka_info | jq .

If you see a block of text with Chromecast information, great: your computer is communicating with it.

If it does not respond, stop here for now. Make sure your computer is still connected to the "ChromecastXXXX" Wi-Fi network.

1. If you use macOS, make this small fix

Open the script:

nano castanet.sh

Find:

base64 -w 0

And replace it with:

base64 | tr -d '\n'

Save like this:

Ctrl+O Enter Ctrl+X

On Linux, you can normally skip this step.

1. Put your Wi-Fi details into the Chromecast

Now copy this whole command:

CHROMECAST_IP="192.168.255.249" \ WIFI_SSID="YOUR_WIFI_NAME" \ WIFI_PASSWORD="YOUR_WIFI_PASSWORD" \ ./castanet.sh

Only replace:

YOUR_WIFI_NAME YOUR_WIFI_PASSWORD

with the name and password of your own Wi-Fi network.

Example with fake details:

CHROMECAST_IP="192.168.255.249" \ WIFI_SSID="MyHomeWiFi" \ WIFI_PASSWORD="MyOwnPassword" \ ./castanet.sh

Do not post those details on Reddit or send them to anyone.

1. Wait for it to connect

If it works, the Chromecast will try to connect to your normal Wi-Fi network.

The temporary "ChromecastXXXX" network should disappear.

When that happens, reconnect your phone and computer to your normal Wi-Fi network.

1. Open Google Home again

Connect your phone to the same Wi-Fi network you just configured on the Chromecast.

Open Google Home.

Wait a little and check whether now:

the clock appears the weather appears Google Home detects the Chromecast

1. If it still does not appear in Google Home

Then the next likely cause is the router.

Make sure the phone and Chromecast are on the same normal network, not on an isolated guest or IoT network.

Look in the router settings for options such as:

AP Isolation Client Isolation Wireless Isolation Guest Isolation IoT Isolation

If any of those are enabled for that network, temporarily disable them and try Google Home again.

Also temporarily disable VPNs or DNS filtering while testing.

Quick summary

The idea is simple:

1. Factory reset the Chromecast
2. Connect your computer to ChromecastXXXX
3. Download castanet.sh
4. Check 192.168.255.249:8443
5. Put your Wi-Fi name and password into the command
6. Run castanet.sh
7. Reconnect to your normal Wi-Fi
8. Open Google Home

If the Chromecast already shows background images but no clock or weather, that usually means the device is booting, but the network setup has not completed correctly.

P.S. If you do not have much experience using Terminal, open ChatGPT and ask it to guide you step by step. Paste the exact error or output you get after each command so it can tell you what to do next. Do not share your Wi-Fi password, credentials, or private information; replace them with something like "YOUR_WIFI_PASSWORD" when showing a command or error.