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Google Nest Speakers Not Updating Firmware

MrJinx
Community Member

I'm having firmware issues with several Nest speakers. I've contacted Google's help department. Unfortunately, they are completely useless. 
I see other threads with similar firmware issues. 

66 REPLIES 66

MplsCustomer
Bronze
Bronze

@MrJinx 

Google Nest entirely controls when we get firmware updates. We have one Nest Hub that is on an older firmware version; even doing a factory reset failed to update the firmware.

MrJinx
Community Member

I've been down that road. I factory-reset my speakers and no update. It's hard to believe such a faulty product is on the market. 

Dan_A
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi folks,

 

@MplsCustomer, thanks for the help.

 

@MrJinx, I’m sorry to hear that even after doing a factory reset, your Nest speakers failed to update its firmware. Before we continue, let me ask some questions to narrow things down. What Nest speakers do you have? Are the functions on the old firmware devices affected? 

 

It would really help a lot if you can send me the firmware of each device so sort things out, here’s how:

 

  1. Open the Google Home app.
  2. Touch and hold your device's tile.
  3. Tap Settings>Device information.
  4. Under "Technical information," check for Cast firmware: "X.XXX.XXXXX." If the device is on Fuchsia, check for System firmware version: "X.XXXXXXXX.X.XXXXXXX"

 

To get more details, check out this link.

Keep me posted.


Thanks,

Dan

MrJinx
Community Member

Dan_A,
with all due respect, you're wasting my time with your canned answers and worn-out request.  if you have any influence with the google team, I highly recommend they fix their firmware updates and the HOME app which is poorly built. 

here's what I posted in the forum

after many hours of work, i was able to get all of my speakers to update their firmware. your suggestion put me on the right track. 

 
after removing all the speakers from my Home, i deleted the Home. Next I created a new Home on a different WI-FI signal. 
 
after adding each speaker to the new Home and adding the speaker to the Preview program, most of the speakers updated their firmware. 
 
however, there were two that which required several reset and reboots in order to update the firmware.
 
finally, the last speaker updated its firmware after i created a new Home on the original WI-FI signal. as i mentioned, all my speakers are on the latest firmware update.
 
 

Dan_A
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi MrJinx,

 

Apologies for the inconvenience and the misunderstanding. For confirmation based on what you posted in the forum, are all your devices now working after it has been updated to its latest firmware? Are you able to give voice commands to your Nest speakers?

 

Regards,

Dan

MrJinx
Community Member

i don't bother with voice commands.

i'd settle for music from all the speakers as a group as advertised. the speaker group function does not work properly. at times, the speakers drop and require re-booting. 

in the meantime, you can stuff your voice commands, inconvenience and misunderstandings in a sock. 

Dan_A
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi MrJinx,

 

I understand. I know that this can be frustrating but don't give up on this. Let's do things further and I need your help doing it. It would help a lot for us to know if the dropping of played songs only happen on Nest devices that are on the speaker group. Could you try to have each device play a song individually and see the difference?

 

Thanks,

Dan

MrJinx
Community Member

the youtube music app does not work well with the home app. other apps, like tune-in, do not work well with home app. the home app is faulty. 

songs play on each speaker and do not drop. music drops when playing in groups esp groups with speaker pairs. it's really that simple to understand. 

I'm sure this is not the first time this issue has been reported. from my experience, the google team is not concerned. 

MrJinx
Community Member

here's the frustrating part of dealing with you and google. you are of no help. you regurgitate the same script as their support. you and the support team despite the best of intentions are of no help. 

MrJinx
Community Member

after more experimenting, i discovered group play may work with four stereo pairs. again, i say may becasue i'm experimenting. i recommend you report to your superiors and let them know that group play is limited to eight speakers. 

Dan_A
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey there,

 

Hats off to you in finding a way. All is noted and let's monitor what on the status about the steps you're doing with the group play.

 

Tell us how it goes.

 

Regards,

Dan

Dan_A
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi MrJinx,

 

I wanted to follow up and see if you still need help. Please let me know if you are still having any concerns or questions from here, as I would be happy to take a closer look and assist you further.

 

Thanks,

Dan

MrJinx
Community Member

other than filling out your form, please help me understand how you can help?

Muddi
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey MrJinx,

 

For us to further assist you we need to create a case and escalate it with the team for further investigation. Also, we need to gather some additional personal details which shouldn't be shared on the public forum that's why it is best to fill out the form.

 

Cheers,

Muddi

MrJinx
Community Member

here's my case numbers - 9-7407000033085, 3-9378000033387

you can find out what you need via that. 

i don't expect much out of you. 

Muddi
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi MrJinx,

 

Thanks for sharing the case ID. Upon checking it looks like your concern about firmware update has been resolved. Same as with playing music on audio groups and paired devices. Let us know if you have additional concerns or questions about your device, and we're glad to further assist you.

 

Cheers,

Muddi

MrJinx
Community Member

you are mistaken. playing music in audio groups and paired devices is still a problem. that ticket should have never been closed.

Muddi
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey MrJinx,

 

I'm sorry for the confusion. Just an added question: how far are your speakers from your router? How often does it happen? Does the same thing happen when you use a different music services like YouTube and Spotify?

 

Cheers,

Muddi

MrJinx
Community Member

good morning and Merry Christmas,

how often? a lot. it happens more times than it does not. issues with the pairs and groups happen more times than it does not.

i use the youtube music and tunes app. it happens to both. 

I have several issues with casting audio to Speaker Groups and stereo pairs in Speaker Groups

1. Speaker groups are not available or missing from the Favorites screen in the Home app and in the YouTube Music 'Cast To Audio' list
2. When a speaker group is selected in the Home app, only one speaker in a stereo pair plays. I've powered down the silent speaker. Sometimes that fixes the issue. Sometimes it does not.

3. In the Home app, in the Favorites screen, adding speakers or a stereo pair in the 'Cast' screen causes speakers playing to drop and disconnect. How many speakers can play at one time?

4. In the Home app, while a song is playing, in the Favorites screen, the now playing button is not available. 

MrJinx
Community Member

i have the google nest routers. three of them. the speakers are nearby one of them.

 

also, how many speakers can play music at one time?

MrJinx
Community Member

Here is a list of the speakers I have

10 Nest Speakers

3 Nest Minis

4 Home Speakers

2 Home Minis
How many can be played at the same time?

Muddi
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi MrJinx,

 

There's no limit on how many speakers you can add in a group, but the functionality of speakers will always depend on your network. Have you tried creating a new group with lesser number of speakers to check if you will experience the same thing? If not, I suggest that you do it so we can further isolate the issue. 

 

Cheers,

Muddi

MrJinx
Community Member

normally, up to four speakers can play without a problem. however, when i try more than four, the speakers drop. 

im not sure what you mean by my network. im using the google wifi devices. i have fiber speed internet. what could be wrong with my network?

MrJinx
Community Member

prior to the november firmware updates, i could play more speakers. i think there's an issue with the latest firmware. 

MrJinx
Community Member

as i mentioned i have the google wifi devices. three of them. i turned off one of them. for a short while, I had several speaker playing off of two of the google wifi devices. however, a few speakers started having problems and dropping. what kind of issues have been reported with the google wifi devices and the nest speakers?

also, when the speakers start dropping, the home app is not responsive. in order to get the home app working again, I have to go into settings and force stop the app. 

Muddi
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey MrJinx,

 

I appreciate all the information that you've shared The issue looks like connected to a network congestion, since you mentioned that it works fine when you play music on a group with small number of speakers included. Would there be a chance that you can connect 2 of your speakers directly to the main router just to test if they will have the same behavior? 

 

Cheers,

Muddi

MrJinx
Community Member

are you saying there could be a problem with the google wifi mesh devices? something about congestion from them?

Muddi
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey MrJinx,

 

It's one of the possible reasons. We can isolate the issue by connecting some of your speakers to the main router to check if they will have the same behavior.

 

Cheers,

Muddi

MrJinx
Community Member

what is the history of issues between the google wifi devices and multiple speakers?

MrJinx
Community Member

i added a new wifi 6 mesh network to my home. 

afterward, I deleted the home network and added a new home to the new wifi 6 mesh network. i was able to play music to 15 speakers before I ran into some issues. 

afterward, I paired the speakers into several stereo pairs. i can play up to seven stereo pairs before I run into issues.

it sounds like there is a limit to how many speakers can be played at once. 

MrJinx
Community Member

after i added the new wifi 6 and home to it, I noticed while speakers are playing, opening the home app causes the speakers to have issues. 

MrJinx
Community Member

as i test the new wifi 6 mesh network, four pair and 1 speaker work well but not in a group. 

MrJinx
Community Member

there are two ways to use the group function 

- create and save a group of speakers

- play a song through one set of speakers and add more speakers to the group - ad hoc group

after a few hours of testing, creating and saving a group does not work well. I've created groups of stereo pairs (up to four pairs) and had speakers drop.

when creating an ad hoc group, I can start with one speaker and add up to eight more speakers either as stereo pairs or singles. 

an unlimited amount of speakers is not possible. what do you recommend?

MrJinx
Community Member

after more test, i discovered how i can play all more than nine speakers (stereo pairs and singles). 

i have the dog-food preview version of the home app. 

when trying to play through more than nine speakers, the app causes problems. 

however, when I am able to access the old home group option, I can add speakers to a group without a problem. please see the attached pictures. 

the problem is not network congestion. it is your fault dogfood preview home app. how do I remove the dog food preview home app. 

I can add speakers to the listI can add speakers to the listClick on Shared ControlsClick on Shared Controls

Muddi
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi MrJinx,

 

We appreciate all your efforts. Regarding issues on Nest WiFi with the speaker group - we have received reported issues before and were confirmed that it's related to the network and not on the device itself. 

 

Follow the steps below on how to leave on Google Home Preview Program:

 

  1. In the Google Home app, tap the "Preview" badge at the top, or go to Settings > under "General", tap Public Preview.
  2. Tap Leave Public Preview.

 

Cheers,

Muddi

MrJinx
Community Member

i disagree. there's a problem with your nest speakers and the home preview app. unfortunately, after several attempts to leave the program, the preview home app will not stay un-installed. i opened a new ticket - Case ID 0-4159000033025. 

i'm sure you're doing your best. google tech and support beyond your efforts is terrible. 

MrJinx
Community Member

there is a problem with the google wifi devices and the number of speakers used. 

Muddi
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey MrJinx,

 

Please note that although the device is set to leave status, you would have to wait for the next production firmware to be pushed to officially exit the program. This may take a week or two. I'll check the case ID that you've provided and we'll get back to you for update.

 

Cheers,

Muddi

MrJinx
Community Member

wow, i feel like i'm being held hostage.