Google Nest no longer displaying Photo Frame

[LoveShack1]

Two days ago I was playing Spotify on my phone when I realized there was an option to listen via my Google Nest using Google Cast. It connected perfectly and there were no issues. 

Today my husband and I realized our Nest was showing a blank white screen instead of the photo album we set up through the Photo Frame. When I tried to edit the display on our Google Home app it showed the display as “not playing” with the volume percentage as if it was still connected to Spotify. 

We have tried everything to reset it to the Photo Frame short of factory resetting it. We’ve changed the display, we’ve told it to disconnect from Spotify, we have played Spotify again through the Google Cast and then stopped and fully closed Spotify on the phone. Nothing works. All it shows is a blank white screen and the “not playing” message when we view the display through the app. It seems to think it is displaying our Photo Frame but it isn’t. Any one else had this issue or know any workarounds that won’t require a factory reset? We got the Nest when we installed an ADT system and the installer took care of linking it to our ADT system so we really do not want to mess with that if at all possible, but the blank white screen is an eyesore and extremely frustrating. 

Moderator edit: Subject updated for clarity and findability.

[Juni]

Hi LoveShack1,

Thanks for reaching out. That certainly hasn’t been easy for you. Let’s check out what’s going on. A few questions: what Nest display model are we working with? What is the distance between your Nest display and your Wi-Fi router? Are you using Android or iOS? Are you getting the same experience when you try to play music using YouTube music?

Let’s try to refresh your devices and observe if it makes a difference. First, reboot your Wi-Fi router, and once the network is back up, do the same thing to your Google Nest display. 

Regards,

Juni

[Rkmiller55]

I am having the same issue.  I rebooted the device and wifi.  no change.

[Rkmiller55]

Nothing worked until I did a FDR.  I set it up again and the photo frame is working as expected

[Juni]

Hi folks,

Rkmiller55, thanks for keeping us in the loop, and I'm happy to hear that this has been sorted out. If you need help, you can create a new thread so we can help you here in Community.

LoveShack1, you can try the steps Rkmiller55 took and let us know if they worked for you.

Best,
Juni

[DSchellenberg]

I will jump into this conversation and say that I am having the same problem.  Two of my Nest screens are now showing all white instead of the photos that used to be on the loop.  

I went through all my photos... thinking that maybe there happens to be an all-white-photo for some reason.  But couldn't find anything.

I am wondering if this problem is some files that aren't compatible for some reason.  I have .raw files in my Google Photos now.  Could that be the connection?

[Juni]

Hi DSchellenberg,

Thanks for posting. I know how it feels when something isn’t working as it should. Have you had the chance to try the steps provided here? Give it a try and let us know the result by updating this thread.

Thanks,

Juni

[MartiB]

I’m am also experiencing the white screen issue….what do I do?

[j4joy]

I am also having trouble with photo frame just showing white screen. I've tried the reboot suggested above without success. 

[Froid125]

Same issue. After reset it works for a while, bug then i get the blank screen again. 

[Lavellan]

Same issue, here one of my nest hub devices only shows white screen instead google photo albums as was before. These started a few weeks ago, If I unplug device and restart it will work fro some minutes but then same thing again

[Juni · Accepted solution]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the details you all shared. We've passed along your reports to our team, and they are aware of this behavior and investigating.

Please keep an eye on this thread for further updates. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for your patience.

Best,

Juni

[Sc597]

Hi All, I'd be grateful if anyone could suggest troubleshooting steps for me with an odd issue! I have a few Google Displays (gen 1 +2) around the house and use them to show the "Photo Frame" automated slideshow from Google Display. A few weeks ago they all started showing blank grey screens for extended periods. I thought at first I must have accidentally taken a burst photo with hundreds of shots of a foggy grey sea scene (!), but when I asked the Display when the photo was taken, and checked Google Photos on that date, there was no such photo. The Display is still fully responsive, I can swipe left and right and it just moves grey box photos across. It is clearly changing between photos as they are from different dates (if I ask it verbally). Where it gets very odd, is if I ask the Display to no longer show a particular (grey) photo, it pops up with the dialogue box to confirm the action, and on this screen shows a thumbnail of the actual normal (non-grey) photo. It seems to me like there's some sort of bug in the Display, as these are all normal photos in my Google Photo store? What slightly goes against this conclusion is if I remotely view the Display from the Google Home app, I also see the grey box in the preview on the app. Thoughts?!

What I see: (this is two portrait pictures - you can see the split screen bar)

What I get if I ask Google to no longer show that photo above:

What I see on the app when the display looks like above (it must have moved on to a single picture otherwise you'd see the portrait split screen line):

I'm not really sure what to do - I've tried power cycling them which does help for a while, they start showing photos normally but after some time - perhaps an hour or two, I'm not sure, they end up back on the grey photos. I was thinking of doing a factory reset next. Any other ideas gratefully received!

 

[Sc597]

Just by way of an update and if others have the same problem, on one display I completed a factory reset (holding the physical volume keys for 10 secs) and re-added - it hasn't shown the grey screen for a day or two. The other displays continue to show the problem. I'll leave it another couple of days then do a factory reset on the next one. That seems to be the fix based on what I've seen so far.

[Teddy2100]

I'm so glad that it's not just me having this issue, my symptoms are the same as above. I have tried factory resets as suggested on other similar issue report, and it just starts happening again after a while. Changing any photo frame settings has no impact, if I remember correctly even changing the brightness via the app had no effect. The only way I have found that seems to resolve it (but only temporarily) is to power cycle it.

[Sc597]

Thanks for posting Teddy2100, so glad to hear I'm not the only one! It hasn't reoccurred on the one I factory reset *yet* - it's been a couple of days. Same as you I usually clear it on my displays by power cycling, or I am reasonably sure they sometimes snap out of it after several hours of grey, but not 100% sure about this.

When did it start doing it with you? I think it's only been a month or so for me. Wondering if a bug has been introduced with a recent automatic update.

[Sc597]

Hmmm, looks like the displays all got a firmware update about a month ago... 12.20230611.1.67 (https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/7365257). No release notes unfortunately.

This is almost certainly the problem - a bug associated with this update - the timing matches. Can't see how this is going to get fixed unfortunately, unless by sheer luck someone from Google gets involved or it starts affecting more people.

[Russo]

Yep, I'm also having issue.. grey screen, doesn't matter what I do with the app to set the album. 😕 

[benpconnelly]

I am also having the same issue. Power cycle resolves the issue for a short period of time but the ln goes back to all photos showing grey. 

[sees2002]

same issue here also. definitely seems like the update is the problem. hopefully they will fix it soon

[JvdW]

Exactly the same problems here on a Google Nest Hub Max, a powercycle works, but only for a short period.

It does not occure yet on the Google Nest hub (2nd gen)

[Sc597]

It seems this problem is being merged in with this thread. No updates yet but good that Google might be listening!

[Muddi]

Hello Sc597,

Thanks for posting. I can confirm that your issue on your Google Nest Hub is related to the link that you've shared, so I moved your thread to a similar trending issue, and our teams are currently looking into this. You will receive all updates on this issue on the main thread, so please be sure to check it regularly for any new information.

Cheers,

Muddi

[bernardcmills]

I am experiencing exactly the same. All my displays ( i have 4) have all been working fine and now one is showing a blank grey screen. Ive equally wasted a lot of time rebooting the display and resetting it with no results. What a waste of life. I do hope google fix this

[bernardcmills]

I don’t know if this will help anyone but I tried changing. My Google displays Wi-Fi to a 5 GHz Wi-Fi signal. Previously I had been connected to a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi signal and this is when I noticed the problems. I did not realise that the Google display could connect to a 5 GHz Wi-Fi so I tried that. It’s only been a short while, but it seems to be more responsive on the photo frame seems to be displaying okay. Perhaps the developers could check to see if it’s Wi-Fi speed related. I got this idea because the Google displays appeared to be saying repeatedly that they couldn’t connect to the web. The Wi-Fi then were able to connect then they disconnected and reconnected the seem to be happening quite a lot. I don’t know if it’s the same issue, but it’s worth considering.

[nishizawa]

This is NOT an answer for this issue. The answer is "we acknowledge the issue, the bug fix will be released in X days". I'd like to see this thread opened until there is actually a solution.

[yonoten]

Any update on the fix yet?

[Muddi]

Hey there,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have moved your thread to a similar trending issue, and our teams are currently looking into this. You will receive all updates on this issue on the main thread, so please be sure to check it regularly for any new information.

Cheers,

Muddi

[Corncob75]

Hi Muddi,

What's the link to this "main thread" about this grey screen issue?

Cheers.

[Muddi]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for sharing details about the issue here. We have moved your thread to a similar trending issue, and our teams are currently looking into this. You will receive all updates on this issue on the main thread, so please be sure to check it regularly for any new information.

Cheers,

Muddi

[Corncob75]

Where's the link to the main thread you're talking about that this thread has been moved to?

[ColleenR]

Where is the main thread??

[ColleenR]

Are your answers computer generated or what?!?
Why do you keep giving the same response when numerous people have asked what the main thread is? If you want us to follow the main thread you have to give us the link to the main thread PLEASE!!!

[bonnyem]

This has started randomly happening since many days ago. Only way of fixing it is by unplugging it and plugging it back, but then it happens again. Its happening to all of my Google Max and smaller Hubs a as well (non-google ones are working fine). Any resolution of this issue?

[Pdshedges]

I believe this was cause by the update to the weather from and/or clock display. Make a change to the display settings, save it, then revert if desired. Should clear it up. You can also update hub  and home app or when resetting by unplugging the cord, let sit for a couple minutes before reconnecting to power

[Dan1111]

The other day my home hub froze on a photo and then just showed white as if it was the picture (issue number one). I couldn't get it to move on and show other photos even after restarting the device etc, so I set it to generic photos for a week. This worked fine and it's been showing these photos.

Today I've gone back and chosen Google Photos for the display, but despite it showing this on the app and in the preview, it's still showing the generic photos on the screen.

I feel like bugs have completely taken over all Google home products. Any solutions to this one?

[Muddi]

Hello Dan1111,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have moved your thread to a similar trending issue, and our teams are currently looking into this. You will receive all updates on this issue on the main thread, so please be sure to check it regularly for any new information.

Cheers,

Muddi

[Kjw1]

You keep saying that everything is been moved to a different thread. People have asked repeatedly for a link to that thread. Could you please give us the link to the thread that you are referring to? We can't keep track of any new developments if we don't know where to go look.

[Kjw1]

Our Nest Max is 4 days old. Phots constantly freeze. Have tried to contact support. They called and we got disconnected. They had verified my callback number before the disconnect, but did NOT call back. I initiated another call request through the website. After more than 10 minutes on hold, they picked up and I was disconnected again. I was on my landline, not mobile, on all calls. HOW DO I GET SUPPORT? Unplugging Nest gives a temporary fix. Removing it from the Home app didn't help. Uninstalling the home and and reinstalling again, gives temporary fix. 

[Juni]

Hi Kjw1,

Thanks for reaching out. I apologize for the inconvenience you're experiencing. We'll work together to identify the cause of the problem and find a solution. When the photo freezes, does your Nest Hub Max screen go blank? Try the factory reset; this erases all your personalized settings and restores the factory default settings. It won’t automatically reconnect to WI-Fi, and you’ll need to set it up again. Check out the article below to know more about it.

Factory reset Google Nest or Home speakers or displays 
 

Thanks,

Juni