topic Chromecast Audio no longer working in Google Home in Streaming

Chromecast Audio no longer working in Google Home

Henrik_Rosen — Tue, 07 Dec 2021 10:44:42 GMT

I'm still using a Chromecast Audio, which has worked well for the last 2-3 years, to play music over the Aux port (3.5 mm) on my kitchen speaker. It has been connected to a Group of devices in the Google Home app, consisting of three Master & Dynamic speakers with Chromecast built-in and the one Chromecast Audio. Over the last few years this has worked more or less perfectly - now and then I need to reboot a device, but generally it all works well, and I control it with the Google Home app (v.2.46.1.7), previously on a Google Pixel 4 and now on a Samsung Galaxy s21 Ultra running Android 12, OneUI 4.

Yesterday the Chromecast Audio stopped working with the rest of the Group of speakers. When I cast audio from either my podcasting app (Pocketcasts) or Youtube Music, which worked fine just two days ago, the sound plays but switches from one speaker to another at ~20 second intervals - it begins playing in only one speaker, then goes silent there and continues in 1 other speaker, etc. This has never happened before. Also, the confirmation noise played by the Chromecast Audio when I begin casting to it sounds new - has Chromecast Audio received any updates recently? I thought it was discontinued, and would not get updates.

Here's what I've tried in terms of troubleshooting:

- Powering down and restarting all the devices (Chromecast Audio, each of the three M&D speakers, and my phone) - no difference

- Removing the Chromecast Audio from the Group - this solves the problem, in the sense that the other speakers function fine when the Chromecast Audio does not interfere, but as soon as I add the speaker again, it interferes with audio playback in the entire group. When the Chromecast Audio is not in the Group, it works fine as a single speaker, and the other speakers work fine as a Group - but as soon as I add the Chromecast Audio back it interferes with playback.

- Factory resetting the Chromecast Audio, both via the Home app and via the hardware button on the Chromecast Audio, several times, with no improvement

Any additional ideas I could try?

Re: Chromecast Audio no longer working in Google Home

jens — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 00:55:15 GMT

I have a somewhat similar situation. I have two Chromecast Audios that have worked flawlessly for years, then today, nothing. When I try to connect via an app (Tidal), I hear the new chime, the icon shows a very brief connection, then it disconnects. Same thing on both Chromecast. I restarted my phone, reset my wifi, and rebooted the Chromecast. They still don't work.

Re: Chromecast Audio no longer working in Google Home

svdworkis — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 06:21:49 GMT

same here. couple things i've noticed:

* historically, for me at least, the speaker groups haven't worked well unless a genuine google device is part of the group

* i've noticed that some of my chromecast audio devices have updated their firmware to 1.56.281627. groups with these devices have this problem, not being synced but switching from one speaker in the group to another. i also have some devices that are still on older firmware 1.42.172094. groups with these devices work well.

* have have a chromecast hdmi (i think gen2? bought in 2014), on firmware 1.49.250946, groups with this device work well

* casting direct from a browser to a group of only chromecast-builtin speakers is working well

Re: Chromecast Audio no longer working in Google Home

svdworkis — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 06:34:02 GMT

same here. a few things i've noticed:

* for awhile now, only speaker groups that include a genuine chromecast device seem to work well

* i have some chromecast audio devices that have updated their firmwares to 1.56.281627. these are the groups that are broken. i have some older devices on firmware 1.42.172094. these groups are working well. i'd love to find a way to block a future update on my remaining working devices, but i don't know a good way to do that without blocking at firewall, which basically disables the device, not much help.

* i have a chromecast ultra hdmi that also causes this problem if it is in a speaker group

* i have an older chromecast hdmi (gen2? bought in 2014) that does not cause this problem in a group. i'm thinking i will buy a couple more of these.

* casting direct from web browser to a group with no google devices but only speakers with builtin chromecast seems to work ok. but, i usually cast from my phone so not a huge help.

-scott

Re: Chromecast Audio no longer working in Google Home

svdworkis — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 06:34:41 GMT

same here. a few things i've noticed:

* for awhile now, only speaker groups that include a genuine chromecast device seem to work well

* i have a chromecast ultra hdmi that also causes this problem if it is in a speaker group

* i have an older chromecast hdmi (gen2? bought in 2014) that does not cause this problem in a group. i'm thinking i will buy a couple more of these.

* casting direct from web browser to a group with no google devices but only speakers with builtin chromecast seems to work ok. but, i usually cast from my phone so not a huge help.

-scott

Re: Chromecast Audio no longer working in Google Home

svdworkis — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 06:36:28 GMT

same here. a few things i've noticed:

* for awhile now, only speaker groups that include a genuine chromecast device seem to work well

* i have a chromecast ultra hdmi that also causes this problem if it is in a speaker group

* i have an older chromecast hdmi (gen2? bought in 2014) that does not cause this problem in a group. i'm thinking i will buy a couple more of these.

* casting direct from web browser to a group with no google devices but only speakers with builtin chromecast seems to work ok. but, i usually cast from my phone so not a huge help.

-scott

Re: Chromecast Audio no longer working in Google Home

svdworkis — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 20:19:58 GMT

same here. a few things i've noticed:

* for awhile now, only speaker groups that include a genuine chromecast device seem to work well

* i have a chromecast ultra hdmi that also causes this problem if it is in a speaker group. it is firmware 1.56.281627

* i have an older chromecast hdmi (gen2? bought in 2014) that previously did not cause this problem in a group. i believe last night it was an older firmware, but today i see it is 1.56.275994, and now causes this problem.

* casting direct from web browser to a group with no google devices but only speakers with builtin chromecast seems to work ok. but, i usually cast from my phone so not a huge help.

there have been reports of other problems with this firmware, but seem to be about 5ghz wifi, so seems like a different issue. https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Chromecast/Chromecast-no-longer-works-after-firmware-upgrade-to-1-56-264660/m-p/29236

also, none of these new firmwares appear in the "firmware versions & release notes" page here https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/7124014?hl=en

-scott

Re: Chromecast Audio no longer working in Google Home

Exocet55 — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 14:30:39 GMT

I have a Chromecast Audio with 8 or so LG Chromecast enabled speakers. Over the years the group has worked great until this week. mDNS, media renderers & Avahi all suggest the Google device has gone haywire attacking the other devices indiscriminately, forcing them to cut audio & reset. When I pull the Chromecast Audio out of the group; all is happy again. I hope this is only temporary insanity because I don’t feel like messing with this during the holidays & the Google Chromecast Audio drives my main stereo.

Re: Chromecast Audio no longer working in Google Home

Jos1 — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 09:52:33 GMT

Same for me, when I deleted the device connected with an old chromecast audio from the group it started working again. What’s the conclusion? Is the chromecast audio in regards to groups?

Re: Chromecast Audio no longer working in Google Home

frankman — Sun, 19 Dec 2021 10:50:39 GMT

I have the same issue. Sound in one group is switching from one to another speaker(chromate built in) every 10-20 seconds. Deleting my 2 Chromecast audios from another group solved the issue. As soon as I have one Chromecast audio in a group in the same network, the sound in the Chromecast built in speakers is switching from one to the the other all the time...

Re: Chromecast Audio no longer working in Google Home

Jeran — Mon, 27 Dec 2021 21:14:04 GMT

Hey there,

I am real sorry about the late response on this issue, but there has been a recent Firmware version (Preview Program) update on Chromecast Audio, which should be at 1.56.1. Would anyone who is experiencing this issue be willing enable/enroll the Chromecast Audio to the Preview program, which can be done through the Google Home app?

I look forward to your responses on this!

Best regards,

Jeran

Re: Chromecast Audio no longer working in Google Home

svdworkis — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 02:01:48 GMT

ok i've done a factory reset on one of my chromecast audio devices. i've enabled preview and rebooted it a couple times and it still shows firmware 1.56.281627 (the same as originally, and also seemingly newer than the 1.56.1 that you mentioned), and it still has the problem. let me know if i can help more.

Re: Chromecast Audio no longer working in Google Home

frankman — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 14:00:56 GMT

Hi Jeran!

I've enrolled to preview but the Chromecast audios not getting any updates and stuck on 1.56.281627 waiting for preview firmware updates.

I can although say that i experience the same problems as soon as my home mini with firmware 1.56.282045 is sanding out the mdns broadcast for any group..

As soon as the google-cast-group mdns is coming from one of the devices with firmware version 1.56.x it stops working probably..

The only way to get everything working probably is to creat a group with only pre-1.56 devices (tex the cc-bulit in speakers), so that one of these is broadcasting the mdns for this group and thereafter adding the devices with the newer firmware to this group.

With kind regards, Frank

Re: Chromecast Audio no longer working in Google Home

beltedfiber — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 14:22:54 GMT

I'm also having a similar issue with playing on Audio Groups. When one device drops, another starts playing. There is no way to play music on all devices at once. My whole home audio has become unusable. I have a combination of Google and Vizio devices. This worked great for years and no changes were made on my end.

My initial ticket was opened with Google on 12/14/21 and is still being worked per Google support.

Re: Chromecast Audio no longer working in Google Home

Henrik_Rosen — Mon, 03 Jan 2022 07:34:59 GMT

Hi Jeran,

Tried this over the holidays and the problem remains. I don't think I got any new firmware out of it (it still says waiting for preview firmware updates) and the chromecast audio still doesn't play nice with my home group. I just wish I could go back to the old firmware and prevent it from updating - I don't know why Goggle had to break a product that they're not even selling anymore.

Re: Chromecast Audio no longer working in Google Home

Henrik_Rosen — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 07:16:23 GMT

So I have to assume that these problems are all linked to this development: https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/6/22871304/google-home-speaker-group-volume-control-changes-sonos-patent-decision

For those who haven't clicked, it says that Google will be downgrading functionality on its multizone / multiroom speakers to comply with a Sonos lawsuit. This will make handling speakers as Groups much more difficult, and Google warns that it might make other chromecast-speakers not work well with Google's own speakers (including, I guess, Chromecast Audio). It also hints that 3rd party speakers will be getting FW-upgrades, which is worrying.

It might be unrelated, but to me this fits the situation at hand - I was wondering why a discontinued product received a firmware update, and why that update made the product worse, and this would explain it. It also seems to indicate that we are unlikely to ever get help on this, as Google is intentionally breaking functionality to comply with a court decision.

Re: Chromecast Audio no longer working in Google Home

beltedfiber — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 13:55:11 GMT

The old bait and switch. Thank you for providing this info. I have followed up on my case with Google. They don't appear to be making any effort to troubleshoot and this would explain why.

Re: Chromecast Audio no longer working in Google Home

svdworkis — Sat, 08 Jan 2022 02:22:19 GMT

thx henrik. i agree, even if these cases do not imply group speakers should break as badly as they have, it could well distract from the fixes.

Re: Chromecast Audio no longer working in Google Home

Ciro — Sat, 15 Jan 2022 15:48:55 GMT

Hey Jeran, any update you may provide? Firmware 1.56.281627, made my chromecast audio useless! Can't connect to any wifi network (5GHz and 2.4GHz). This is insane. Google created the issue and no solution yet. Please give some feedback. Thank you.

Re: Chromecast Audio no longer working in Google Home

Tepidano — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 22:53:36 GMT

Three days ago, I lost all news channels from Google Home. I simply get, "Sorry I don't understand." I looked at the cast firmware and it's at 282045. Did they get rid of this option? Really, really frustrating.