Chromecast no longer works after firmware upgrade to 1.56.264660.

[Richard_]

About a week ago, my Chromecast Ultra stopped being available for casting. I looked and noticed it had upgraded the firmware to 1.56.264660. Prior to the upgrade, everything worked fine. It is still available in the Home app - I can reboot it from the app and have even factory reset the device. But I can't cast - It shows up with the message "Available for specific video sites." It doesn't even work with YouTube or Google TV. I've have also noted the ambient mode no longer works correctly. 

I have noticed it is also generating an insane amount of traffic - it will make around 10,000 DNS lookups in just a  few minutes to various Google related sites - time.google.com etc. 

I have children and do use DNS filtering to keep them safe online, so devices cannot go around my DNS service. The device is getting answers to all the DNS queries from the DNS service. None of the request are being blocked - so that should allow them to work. However, Google DNS servers are not available to any device within my network so they are forced to use the DNS service that filter's adult content and other abusive material.

Anyone else having issues with the Chromecast since the latest firmware?

[RevSoul]

I happen to notice the same 3 weeks ago too. There goes casting my out of market nhl games to my tv...

[Jay_Mann]

I have the same issue and my Chromecast Ultra isn't working anymore and it's useless now. I've tried everything but it is corrupted. I am able to setup the device without actually seeing any setup PIN on TV (what Google Home app asks) but the screen remains blank and nothing is connected to TV. I can connect to it via Google Home and see the screen pictures changing but it does not cast anything.

The actual official latest firmware for Chromecast Ultra should be 1.50.250947 and 1.56.264660 not mentioned anywhere. The key question is that how can I set it back to the official level?

[Jeran]

Hey there Jay_Mann,

If you take a look at the current Chromecast production firmware version, the most current version is 1.50.250947. Let me just ask you a couple of questions about what's happening:

• What is the model number of your Chromecast?
• In the Google Home app, does it show 1.56.264660 as your Chromecast firmware version?
• What version of Google Home are you using?
• Have you already attempted a Factory Data Reset on the Chromecast?

I look forward to your response! Also, if you had any other questions or concerns, please let me know.

Best regards,

Jeran

[Shock]

I have similar problem, some feature broken after update.

Mine is Chromecast 3rd Gen.

My firmware version is 1.56.275994 [screenshot]

[muhammadashraf]

Mine have chromecast 2 but after said firmware i m not able to coonect to 5ghz network

[ashwinexe]

Hey! I'm facing the exact issue!

Any solutions yet?

[raza16]

I had the same firmware... it is booting fine, only if video is casted we can't see except cutting pixelated cutting distored video... we tried to reset, changing hdmi port same story... 

[Drick]

In the Google home app it displays 1.56.264660

Everything on  the home app is up-to-date 

And I've done a factory reset and full reboot 2 times still cuts my videos at like 30sec after the start and starts showing ambient screen 

[Legendor]

Hey D, I have had these issues pop up recently on my chromecast as well. Same 1.56.X firmware, and every youtube video I would watch would last 30 seconds, and then shows ambient screen. I was able to fix the issue last night. For me, I had to disable band-steering between the 2.4/5GHz Wi-fi networks and then connect to the new 2.4 Ghz network. I went into my ATT Wi-fi modem/router settings, and changed the name of my Wi-fi 2.4 Ghz to be different than the Wi-fi 5 Ghz network. If you have ATT Internet, try splitting your 5Ghz/2.4Ghz networks apart, and then connect to the 2.4. If you don't have ATT, maybe you can still check your modem for these settings.

[S0urceror]

Legendor, I am interested, did changing the Wifi settings also change the firmware to a supported version?

[Legendor]

I have the Chromecast 3rd Gen, and my firmware did not change after I changed the Wifi settings. My firmware version is 1.56.275994. 

[Jeran]

Hey everyone,

If you have already attempted the basic troubleshooting, which involves rebooting and/or Factory Resetting those Chromecast devices, and you're still experiencing this issue, would you be willing to submit feedback via the Google Home app with logs enabled? Under the description, you can just put "Unable to cast 1.56". This will help our engineering team look deeper into this issue.

Best regards,

Jeran

[Ishdemon]

Same thing.. I am not able to connect chromecast to my 5Ghz wifi anymore. Was working fine and then it automatically updated. Why are you breaking a perfectly working product 

[furkyougoogle]

---

@Ishdemon wrote:

Same thing.. I am not able to connect chromecast to my 5Ghz wifi anymore. Was working fine and then it automatically updated. Why are you breaking a perfectly working product 

---

Because they can.  The only way this is likely to get fixed –the error message makes it perfectly clear that they have broken it deliberately for their own reasons– will be for users to threaten a class action against Google for deliberately breaking a product which they sold with working functionality.  

[FVA650]

До обновления до 1.56.264660 все работало нормально. Теперь  на Wi-Fi 5 и 2,4  ГГц не может подключиться к интернету.  Сброс не помогает. Провайдер - Акадо. Через провайдера Мегафон (раздача Wi-Fi телефоном) - работает нормально, но это не удобно. Установка версии 1.56.275994 не помогла. Регион Ultra заводом установлен US, работает на  территории России.

[Георгий]

Попробуйте частоту радио bandwidth в настройках wifi 2.4ггц роутера 20 MHz поставить. Может и заработает. У меня прохожая картина с Акадо и ультра. Заработало только через репитер и соединение напрямую с хромкаст. Как только меняю частоту с 20 на другую все перестаёт работать.

[FVA650]

Спасибо за ответ. Через Wi-Fi так и не запустилась, но по витой паре подключенной к роутеру - завелась. Раньше не получалось. Теперь работает нормально в моей сети и через Акадо.

[RagewithAge]

The chromecast on the 1.56275994  will connect on 5ghz, right after a power cycle the home app would connect, but fail after a few moments. After a factory reset, I moved the chromecast to the 2.5ghz Network and it seems to work and continue to be available to all apps. 

[muhammadashraf]

mine is not even show the 5ghz network any more. 

[Shock]

Mine don't show 5ghz network anymore and no longer can cast from my mac book pro (early 2015).

[alic18]

Same here. Brand new chromecast, works fine on 2.4ghz, but fails on 5ghz. I've sent feedback. Cast Firmware version is 1.56.275994. How freakin annoying!

[theolin]

Same here. Cast Firmware version is 1.56.275994. works for a few years with 5GHz, but now only can work with 2.4GHz. reset to factory doesn't downgrade back to 1.50.xx. help.

[pappamental]

On firmware 1.56.275994 on my Chromecast 2 and can confirm the issues with 5GHz network and that connecting to 2.4GHz solves the problem for now. 👌🏻

[uthpalawe]

Same story here.  Chromecast 2 (firmware version 1.56.275994) cannot connect 5 GHz network but 2.4 GHz work. The casts suffer in quality as 2.4 GHz is not fast enough  😞

It worked fine before the upgrade.

[v-tyyli]

I suddenly got bad issues on my Chromecast (Gen 2 iirc). Constantly dropping from network, casting is impossible.

Checked the Cast fw version and it's 1.56.275994. 

[Jeran]

Hey there everyone,

I just wanted to let you all know that our engineering team is working on a fix. What we recommend everyone who is experiencing this issue do for now is file feedback with the description being "CCT3 Unable to connect to 5G" with logs enabled.

There is also currently a workaround for the issue as well! It has been reported that the Chromecast should function properly if you set your Wi-Fi channel between 36-140, not more than 140. Any channel more than 140 is not supported by the 2nd Gen Chromecast and the Chromecast Ultra with this current firmware issue.

Thank you all for your patience on this!

Best regards,

Jeran

[muhammadashraf]

I have done the reporting many times by submitting feedback, hope to see the solution soon. 

[muhammadashraf]

mine even could not connect even setting up router with lover channels on 5ghz 

[Sakolaom]

Any update?

[Dw33]

I have a 2nd gen chromecast and I was able to connect to 5g again after lowering the wifi channel to sub 140 (channel 48)

Hopefully the engineering team can find a permanent fix soon as my wifi strength has decreased by 1 bar on my devices but the hotfix will suffice until then.

Thanks for your help! Ill stay tuned.

[RichStenberg]

I just tried this, but ironically, since I use Google Nest mesh routers, and these do not support the ability to manually change the channel (or 2.5 GHz either, it appears, although it will be a heck of a pain to manually change numerous audio devices on my network anyway), it won't work.  At least when I came online to find a thread for others experiencing my problem, there was more than one. Oh and one other thing, our first generation home minis are not necessarily appearing as options to cast to either. After some futzing around I was able to get them to appear on my phone apps, but they still won't appear on my wife's.  And our Vizio Chromecast sound bars don't appear either. We are down to the home hub and later generation minis.  Oh, and all the Alexa devices, also ironically.

[RichStenberg]

Also, we can get our home hub to see and cast to many of the devices that our phones cannot. This is super frustrating, since most of the apps we use like Amazon HD music (which, unlike YouTube music, is compatible high def capabilities of the Chromecast) can't be run on the home hub and cast from there. I'm sure this will only get worse with the Sonos suit. Might have to rethink our whole setup.

[jouni]

I am having this problem as well, it does not help if I manually set the channel to 44. Other devices work perfectly on the wifi, just the chromecast is broken. This is horrible, I don't remember signing up for any beta testing, and now I have 1.56 vs the official version of 1.50 that worked perfectly and my device is completely broken.

[KingDozer]

I'm having a similar issue with Google Chromecast ultra but mine I can cast no problem but all of a sudden the volume goes down an mutes then disconnects from anything I'm casting not having a problem after hardline connecting through eithernet cable I factory reset it an let it update through the hardline connection seems to be fine so far 

[DrWatson]

What version of firmware did it put on it after a factory reset?

[Richard_]

I finally found a fix for my Chromecast Ultra. I unplugged, threw it out the front door into the street. After a couple cars passed, it was 100% better.

[Shane456]

I have just been able to fix the problem of the connection issues. If you unplug it and relocate it to your footpath then using a big hammer give it 10 strikes and walk back inside and go to www.any-cast.com and buy a decent dlna mirracast dongle for $50 delivered and then still using the google home app watch your streaming videos with no problems, drop outs or stuttering video. I am very happy with the device and it is a very easy interface and easy to update and repair via the PC software on the Website support actually respond to your questions and answers the question with a solution rather than "take it back to the retailer" they responded with sorry for the inconvenience please give us your contact details and we will send you a replacement. "Far-q google" pack of hypercritical animal lovers, shave your face and have a shower get out of your parents basement and do your jobs and provide a product that is not a beta prototype or something you made in 6 hours, make it work perfectly and never require firmware updates to fix the bugs. If it ain't done properly don't sell it until it is perfection. Hipster fans!

[DrWatson]

I have done something that seems to have worked for me.

I have done a factory reset of my Chromecast as changing channels to one in range didn't fix anything for me. I still got random crashes of the Chromecast even when streaming from different apps (Prime, Plex, YouTube, etc).

After the reset, it automatically updated to 1.56.275994. This time when I set it up, I connected it to the 2.4GHz network rather than the 5GHz one. It's been a few days of streaming and I haven't had a crash yet. I'd really like to use the 5GHz network, but may have to live with this until the problem is addressed. I'm sure there's a problem in the firmware's handing of 5GHz networks. 

[smartfly101]

I got a similar problem with bei Chromecast Ultra.

As long as Google DNS servers are blocked the device is completely useless, nothing works, not casting or anything.

Opening ports/dns 8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4 solves the issue.

However, I do not want anybody forcing me to use their DNS Services, regardless of whether their free or not, public or provate.

I very much dislike Google’s behavior in this regard. Stadia is already out of the question for me, and now I seriously considering switching to Amazon Alexa products for smart devices.