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Chromecast 2 doesnt connect to wifi 5 ghz band

muhammadashraf
Community Member

My chromecast second generation was connected with 5 GHz wifi network but it disconnected suddenly and i am never able to connect with 5 ghz network the network doesnt show up on google home app, 

85 REPLIES 85

Bryce
Community Member

I'm having the same issue, it's disconnected itself and won't detect 5 Ghz wifi  when I try to reconnect. 

hiluke
Community Member

Any chance your firmware is on the preview version 275994? (You might need to connect the Chromecast to a 2.4GHz network to check this). 

It looks like a defect was introduced in this latest firmware that prevents the device from connecting to 5GHz channels in the upper range (i.e. ch 149-165). Whereas if you can configure your router to a lower end 5GHz channel (i.e. 36-48), the Chromecast will connect.

I ran into the same problem last week. Across 2 households, I've had 5 Chromecast v2, 3 Home Minis, and 1 Home all disconnect for this very reason - changing the 5GHz channel to 48 or connecting the devices to the 2.4GHz network has worked around the problem, however is not a long term fix. In my environment, I get much better connectivity with the higher 5GHz channels.

thanks for your reply, yes i was opt in for beta program and my chromecast was updated to latest beta firmware, although I have removed my device from beta program but I am not sure how to get the lower workable firmware

I don't think there is a way to downgrade firmware, even by unenrolling from the preview channel. We will just have to wait for another firmware update from Google to fix the defect.

In the interim, there are 2 workarounds (which is dependent on what you can configure in your network) - use a lower 5GHz channel (36-48), or connect the devices to your 2.4GHz network.

thanks for feedback, i am not able to connect on 5ghz wifi network even selecting lower channels, however I can connect with 2.4 GHz but the problem is with so many devices connected on 2.4 GHz, the steaming quality switches back to low and high due to traffic load on 2.4 ghz

 

I found disabling auto channel select (on the vodafone Technicolor wifi modem) allowed my chromecast to see both my 2.4G and 5G beacons.

Jeran
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey there,

Did you have any more questions or need any additional help?

Just checking up,
Jeran
 

thanks for checking, the problem is not solved, it seems google testing team has still not realized the problem that has caused by their faulty firmware. do you know exactly how to make my device compatible with 5 ghz network

hiluke
Community Member

Thanks Jeran. This is a broken firmware - with no solution (e.g. roll back) available for the end user.

Imagine if your TV manufacturer pushed out a new firmware that stopped you from watching HD TV channels - sure there might be workarounds where you can still watch SD, or stream the channels, but that's not the product that you bought.

Any idea how to raise it with Google? I logged a ticket through support over a week ago but haven't had any progress.

Jeran
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

For sure! The best way to let the Google engineering team know about this issue is by submitting feedback via the Google Home app with logs enabled. In the description, you could put something along the lines of "CCT3 5GHz Wi-Fi Issue", then they can look into it deeper into this. I will also bring up the issue so that they are aware.

 

Best regards,

Jeran

i did already but nothing happens. 

In addition to my support ticket, I too have now submitted 3x feedback for the three device types (Chromecast 2, Google Home Mini and Google Home) that I am aware of that this firmware has broken.

It's a very simple problem to replicate, so they shouldn't really need logs.
1. Set your 5GHz WiFi to channel 161 (or any channel in 149-165).
2. Try to connect a device running firmware 275994.
3. It won't be able to detect your 5GHz WiFi.

it seems like google is trying to kill this product in order to force customer to buy new hardware, we have seen this in past for example apple iPhone which forced older phones to perform below their capabilities. 

Jeran
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

If you've already done so, no worries! What it does is it sends the error logs from your devices to the engineering department, so they have more information on what is exactly happening. Just to be transparent, it may take them some time to analyze the issue, work on a fix, and release it.

 

Best regards,

Jeran

Darisabbah
Community Member

I have the same concept, first when i purchased the chrome cast, i was able to connect to both 5 and 2.4 hz, suddenly 2.4

stopped connecting but it appears in the list of wifi whats is the matter 

thank you in advance 

Jeran
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey there,

Did you have any more questions or need any additional help?

Thank you,
Jeran
 

hiluke
Community Member

Any indication as to how long a fix will take, or alternate resolution? The two workarounds are not really viable solutions in my environment.

Jeran
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

I don't have any information from the engineering team as of yet, unfortunately. We'll provide updates as soon as we are able. As for the workarounds, really the only viable one at the moment if connecting the device to the 2.4GHz network, which I understand is not a good solution for everyone.

 

I'll keep the thread open for the time being.

 

Best regards,

Jeran

hiluke
Community Member

The update from Google with the support ticket I raised a month ago is that investigation for this issue is closed as this is the intended behaviour, and to use a channel in the 36-140 range.

 

Seriously...?

 

The devices have been working properly on the higher range channels for years without issues. I appreciate that some of the affected devices are no longer sold, but some are still actively available for purchase from Google (e.g. CC Gen 3). To cripple them now and say its intended behaviour is poor.

Based on this, maybe Google need to update their technical specs to specify the limited 5GHz frequencies supported, otherwise it's false and misleading advertising.

 

Imagine all the people receiving the CCv3 for Christmas this year, who connect to their WiFi, update the firmware, and all of a sudden can't connect them again because 5GHz is broken. Spending Christmas trying to troubleshoot a technical issue. Guessing there might be quite a few more support requests incoming.

 

I've been using my Alexa/Amazon devices a lot more recently due to this issue - might be time to switch all of them over.

luxmik
Community Member

yeah... I'm investigating other options because I don't trust chromecast will work as it changes its behavior for no reason or warning. Thanks for raising the ticket and sharing the info here.

Hi, has there been any progress to this? I have three Chromecast 3rd generation with this problem which has rendered them useless with this firmware update.

Can you at least find out if they're working on a fix or a roll back so we can be patient? If there's no plans to fix the issue and revert back to working 5Ghz on upper channels I'll just have to replace them all with devices that actually work as intended.

 

2.4Ghz isn't a solution for me as it's a struggle to maintain a FHD stream at high bitrates and I don't have the option to change the channel in my current Router to keep them on 5Ghz.

 

Cheers

KT88
Community Member

Thanks - You have just described my Christmas… very frustrating. I even returned my chromecast to the electronic store and they replaced it, then I found the second one didn’t work. Honestly I Wasted hours trying to solve this and resetting every device in my house connected to Google home to resolve it. My Internet is on 2.5 - does that mean I need to change it to 5 Ghz ?

hiluke
Community Member

It all depends on what your router supports. Make sure you have separate network names (SSIDs) for your 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks and connect to your 2.4GHz network. 

 

I also had an unexpectantly frustrating Christmas experience because of this issue. I didn't realise the Chromecast Audio was also broken by this same issue.

I have a speaker I occasionally plug in outside connected via a Chromecast Audio. When I plugged these in over the last few days it just didn't work because it updated to firmware 1.56.281627 which is also apparently broken with this same issue.

So frustrating to have to reset and reconfigure the device to connect to the 2.4GHz network when it's worked fine for years just pluging in when I need to use it. 

juntadna
Community Member

Any update on when this is going to be fixed?  I'd like to stream in 4k over wifi.

AndRam
Community Member

Hi Jeran, I have 3 Chromecast. 2 of them got updated yesterday and lost connection to 5 GHz Wifi. The 3rd Chromecast is used occasionally. I believe it will get updated and loose 5Ghz connection if I turn it On. Is there a way to stop firmware updates permanently. Obviously Google nest team is sleeping on the job and has not fixed the month old issue.  

arcains
Community Member

Wow.  Is this already a month old issue?  This firmware release should really be paused.  My primary home device updated on 10 Dec. I figured it was buggy firmware, cos I had a spare Chromecast that hadn't updated yet.  🤔 👎 ☠️

pulkittt
Community Member

Got into this soup on 10 December. Wasted couple of hours on this before hitting this thread. Talked to my ISP, my current router doesn't support changing the channel. They would probably ship a new (or OLD :)) router (time being). Hoping the lower channels should not affect the network speeds. Fingers crossed. 

Jk8143
Community Member

I have the same issue with 2 chromecast 2s. Other works fine

JohnnyQ
Community Member

How do you downgrade firmware?  My casting is broken and unwatchable since this upgrade.

hiluke
Community Member

This issue still seems to be present in the latest firmware update my Home and Home Minis have received. Firmware 282045.

pulkittt
Community Member

Just an update, I managed to connect my Chromecast to my 5ghz connection by lowering the channel to 64 in the modem/router settings. 

I see no visible impact on internet speeds post changing the channel to 64. 

Pcooney
Community Member

HI
While yes you can change the channel ( if your router supports it) this for me lowers significantly the range and speed of my 5Ghz wifi network. So while it "works" it is not a viable solution.

My router actually warns me i will lose performance...it wasn't kidding. If I go more than 10 meters from the router it gets very patchy and slow.

This worked for myself. 

 

Not real noticeable lost in speed either 

Thanks 

JohnnyQ
Community Member

I've been fooling with this for months, even to the point of getting a commercial grade wifi access point from work and changing my ISP (which I was going to do anyway, but still).  After finding this thread, I was able to work around the problem mostly by splitting out the 2.4 and 5ghz bands on my wifi router and fooling with the channels until I find a combination that's stable.  Every now and then I get stutters and hangs and have to stop casting and restart casting from my phone to fix it.  Its disappointing to me that Google would brick millions of chromecast devices and not really care.    

PencilMiner
Community Member

Very happy to have found this thread - have been mucking around with exactly this issue for the last month across 3 x Gen 2/3 Chromecasts.

For now, the solution has been to set 5Ghz channel to 36. But the proof will be over the following days and (hopefully) weeks...

Happy to report no problems since changing the 5Ghz band channel last week!

This thread has been incredibly helpful! Both surprised and completely unsurprised Google would make a change like this with no explanation and the solution that people just use the lower channels.

I have this problem now too. Unfortunately I’m not a tech person and have no idea what you’re talking about 🤷‍♀️. There’s no way to contact Google to fix it?

Get in touch with tech support for your modem/router, they should be able to talk you through what you need to do to change the 5GHz channel..

KT88
Community Member

Do Google have tech support in Australia though? I don’t think so.