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Chromecast Ultra blinking orange after factory reset

jrbedford
Community Member

I just plugged in my Chromecast Ultra (because I'm having other issues with my new Chromecast with Google TV device...), and it appears to now be unusable.

I've gone through other threads here and seen recommendations to factory reset and leave it unlocked a while, but mine has still not come back from this purgatory state.

After hard factory reset (holding physical button through two sets of blinking orange until it is solid white, then release), it will briefly show the logo on screen, then the screen turns and stays black. This appears to continue indefinitely. I've left it in this state for an hour+, with no change.

I'm on gigabit fiber internet connection and Nest WiFI, so I doubt it's taking this long to download updates... And it doesn't show that it's updating, anyway.

I've also unplugged it for a while (20 minutes at least?), and then plugged it back in also with no change.

I'm wondering if maybe an update was interrupted?

Is there a way to plug it into a computer and do some actual diagnostics or overwrite the OS? Or another hardware reset method to force an update over the air?

I cannot believe that the only solution is to unplug it for a few weeks and hope it works the next time I plug it back in...

1 Recommended Answer

jrbedford
Community Member

UPDATE: I was able to figure some things out!

I think the blinking orange was actually because something was wrong with the devices connected via the Chromecast Ultra's HDMI? (I have previously had it plugged in to an HDMI switch that outputs thru an HDMI audio extractor which pipes video to a projector and audio to my surround sound system. This has been working for years until this week.)

I tried unplugging the Chromecast from HDMI and power cycled the Chromecast, and it booted up and showed a steady white light indicator. This was new information!

  • I then guessed that I could connect to the Chromecast via the Google Home app and set it up as a new device, which did work. Yay!
  • I was also able to plug the Chromecast into a different HDMI device (but not just a different port on the same HDMI switch), and that worked, too. I.e., No more black screen being projected -- instead, it properly projected the Chromecast home screen & content. In this case, I plugged the Chromecast Ultra directly into my projector instead of into the HDMI switch that I had been using.

So, I unplugged everything (projector, HDMI switch, HDMI audio extractor, Chromecast(s), etc.) from power and other connections, and plugged them back in (w/ the Chromecast going into the HDMI switch, the output of which goes thru an HDMI audio extractor in order to pipe audio to my surround sound system because my very old projector only has one HDMI port that is not ARC).

After doing so, things worked as intended!

(I mean, the Google Home app is still a hot mess when changing which devices I cast to, and still doesn't work to cast from YouTube Music app to speaker groups that include a "Chromecast with Google TV" device which was the start of this whole mess, but that's another thread...)

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5 REPLIES 5

jrbedford
Community Member

UPDATE: I was able to figure some things out!

I think the blinking orange was actually because something was wrong with the devices connected via the Chromecast Ultra's HDMI? (I have previously had it plugged in to an HDMI switch that outputs thru an HDMI audio extractor which pipes video to a projector and audio to my surround sound system. This has been working for years until this week.)

I tried unplugging the Chromecast from HDMI and power cycled the Chromecast, and it booted up and showed a steady white light indicator. This was new information!

  • I then guessed that I could connect to the Chromecast via the Google Home app and set it up as a new device, which did work. Yay!
  • I was also able to plug the Chromecast into a different HDMI device (but not just a different port on the same HDMI switch), and that worked, too. I.e., No more black screen being projected -- instead, it properly projected the Chromecast home screen & content. In this case, I plugged the Chromecast Ultra directly into my projector instead of into the HDMI switch that I had been using.

So, I unplugged everything (projector, HDMI switch, HDMI audio extractor, Chromecast(s), etc.) from power and other connections, and plugged them back in (w/ the Chromecast going into the HDMI switch, the output of which goes thru an HDMI audio extractor in order to pipe audio to my surround sound system because my very old projector only has one HDMI port that is not ARC).

After doing so, things worked as intended!

(I mean, the Google Home app is still a hot mess when changing which devices I cast to, and still doesn't work to cast from YouTube Music app to speaker groups that include a "Chromecast with Google TV" device which was the start of this whole mess, but that's another thread...)

Jeran
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey there jrbedford,

I'm just checking up on this thread, I'm glad to see you were able to resolve this issue with your Chromecast! As for the issue with the Google Home app you linked, I would keep an eye on that other thread for any troubleshooting. In the meantime, do you have any more questions or need any additional help? 

Best regards,
Jeran

Jeran
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey jrbedford,

Do you have any more questions that we can address? If not, I'll go ahead and lock up this thread in 24 hours.

Just checking up,
Jeran

jrbedford
Community Member

It would be nice if the official support documentation included a note about this particular error code / blinking light meaning, with instruction how to fix it. I tried all of the stuff from the existing documentation about doing factory reset, leaving it unplugged, etc., and they did not resolve the issue despite having the "correct" orange blinking status light indicator.

Jeran
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey there jrbedford,

No problem at all, the Chromecast team is always fine-tuning those help center articles. If you have the time, would you be able to submit feedback regarding the issue you had via Google Home? Google takes all feedback seriously, and the more feedback they receive regarding a specific feature or article, the more likely they are to prioritize it and update it.

I look forward to your response, and if you have any other questions or concerns for me, please let me know! Otherwise, I'll lock the thread in 24 hours.

Best regards,
Jeran