Regarding an issue with Chromecast 2nd gen and Chromecast Audio

[GoogleNestTeam]

Update 3/20/25

Hey folks, 

If you previously performed a factory reset, we’re happy to report that the Google Home app update will reach all users today.

Please make sure you’re on version 3.30.1.6 for Android and 3.30.106 for iOS to set up your Chromecast (2nd gen) and Chromecast Audio. Check out this help center article if you need help updating the Google Home app.

If you’re still experiencing problems during setup, please reach out to customer support for further assistance. 

Thanks again for your patience while we worked to resolve this issue!

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Update 3/17/25:

Hi folks,

Thank you for your patience as we worked to resolve the issue with Chromecast (2nd gen) and Chromecast Audio devices. As of today, this disruption has been fixed.

If you did not perform a factory reset, your device should now function normally. If it is still not functioning as intended check the firmware version of your device by following the instructions here. If your device is not on the corresponding firmware version, please try rebooting your device to start the update process.

For users who have performed a factory reset, you will need to update your Google Home app to the latest version (3.30.1.6 for Android and 3.30.106 for iOS) to set up your Chromecast (2nd gen) or Chromecast Audio device again. The app roll out has begun and may take a few days to roll out to everyone. We’ll post a confirmation once the roll out to all users is complete.

We sincerely apologize for this disruption and any inconvenience it may have caused, and we are committed to ensuring all users are back up and running as quickly as possible.

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Update 3/14/25:

Hi everyone,

Thank you again for your patience, we have some good news - the fix should reach all users today. If your device has received the update it should be on the following firmware versions:

Chromecast (2nd gen): Firmware version 1.56.467165

Chromecast Audio: Firmware version 1.56.467166

Check the firmware version of your device by following the instructions here. If your device is not on the corresponding firmware version, please try rebooting your device to start the update process.

Please note: If you performed a factory reset during the troubleshooting process, you may still be experiencing an issue where you cannot re-setup the device. The team is working diligently to resolve this, and we will provide next steps as soon as possible.

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Update 3/13/25:

Hey everyone, thank you for your patience while we work to resolve this issue. Here’s the latest:

We have started to roll out a fix for the problem with Chromecast (2nd gen) and Chromecast Audio devices, which will be completed over the next few days. Your device must be connected to receive the update.

If you performed a factory reset during initial troubleshooting, you may still be experiencing an issue where you cannot re-setup your device. We are working to resolve this as soon as possible. Please continue to check the Community page here for updates and next steps.

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Update 3/11/25: 

Hi all,

An update on the situation: the team has identified the cause of the issue impacting Chromecast (2nd gen) and Chromecast Audio devices.

Please do not factory reset your device. If you previously performed a factory reset during troubleshooting, you may also be experiencing an issue where you're unable to re-setup your device. The team has identified the cause for this as well and is currently working on a fix.

We’re working to resolve this as soon as possible, and will keep you updated when there is more to share.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, and appreciate your patience in the meantime.

Thank you.

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Hello,

We're aware of an emerging issue impacting Chromecast 2nd gen and Chromecast Audio devices, and we are working on a fix.

Do not factory reset your device - we will keep you all updated when the fix rolls out. If you have already factory reset your device, we will provide instructions to set your device back up as soon as possible.

Thank you for your patience.

[Beitagamonal]

No puedo poner Netflix en el ordenador ya que me contaría como otro dispositivo y no tengo esa posibilidad por el tipo de suscripción. 

[Muduen]

Got the feeling...

I hoped the would compensate some how... But not gonna count on it..

[BadFlash]

compensate for what exactly ?   You probably bought this in 2015 

[Anonymous]

Why even go there? Some people are paying for their streaming service and many children use it also. 

[MPD0353]

I'm so pissed off!

[MrJazz]

This is going to cost most of us money; mainly buying non-Google replacements!

[KarenBraysh]

I agree, replacing the chrome cast is going to cost for a replacement 

[Duong1]

Can't connect to wifi 

[Anonymous]

Change the date on your phone to a date before march 9. Then try setting up your Chromecast.

[xiexiexiexie]

setting up is done, but still can't cast

[dmcr]

You have to set the date back to automatic to cast. But if you don't want to wait for a fix from Google. then you have to use one of the workarounds posted here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Chromecast/comments/1j7lhrs/the_chromecast_2s_device_authentication/

[Javicorton]

Funciona! Cambias la fecha a un día anterior (yo he puesto día 5) actualizas en Google home el chromecast, luego IMPORTANTE volver a poner el día actual y ya funciona. Muchas gracias!

[Xalomar]

siiiiiiiii funciona perfectamente. gracias. solo cambiar fecha y reiniciar todo y volver a poner fecha 

[Dr_soultan]

Prblem

[Houssin]

Configuration 

[legend-80]

Let's see if I can fix that for you real quick

[legend-80]

Aren't we all 

[Grass-hopper]

I think all the 2nd gen devices are over 10 years old.   Most technology is obsolete in 10 years, right?  Perhaps you could thank Google for putting out a message about it, and working on a fix, rather than being mad at them.  

[Anonymous]

Shut up

[GoogleNestTeam]

Hi all,

An update on the situation: the team has identified the cause of the issue impacting Chromecast (2nd gen) and Chromecast Audio devices.

Please do not factory reset your device. If you previously performed a factory reset during troubleshooting, you may also be experiencing an issue where you're unable to re-setup your device. The team has identified the cause for this as well and is currently working on a fix.

We’re working to resolve this as soon as possible, and will keep you updated when there is more to share.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, and appreciate your patience in the meantime.

Thank you.

[Spellbounding]

The help centre literally tells people to reset the device!! 😡

[SaskatchewanD]

It might just be a useful thing to put a temporary note in place of the usual boilerplate on the help centre to the effect of “please don’t do the reset.” Web documents are wonderfully mutable!

[nickname637]

It looks like they blocked creating a support request through the Google home app for the issue as well. Piss poor support when you can't even put in a support request. It just keeps saying "Refresh this page and try again. Sorry, there was a problem with the form." SMH 

[flyingpyramid]

They know what your issue is and sent you here where they will keep you posted when your issue is fixed. That sounds like pretty good support to me. Even though you couldn't drop a ticket you still found somewhere to complain.

Thanks, Google! Keep me posted!

[Benjizac]

It took then over 24 hours to post something here. When the initial problem occurred, we were taken to a troubleshooting page which has the usual tips, including a factory reset. If I hadn't found a link to this page via an article on social media, I wouldn't have know Google has even made a statement, and couldn't create a ticket directly. Basically in limbo since Sunday, scanning around the internet trying to find a solution, unsure whether or not to chuck the device in the bin. Personally I don't think that's great support...

[BrandonGagne]

I first noticed an official statement from Google on a Reddit thread, and that was on Sunday. They didn't even have the nerve to post anything on their own web pages for days.

[bevardimus]

Seriously! I even got an email today with a link to this page. Mistakes happen, they're trying to fix an issue which will net them exactly zero dollars, and all people can do is puff out their chest with entitled bitching. Careful folks, next time they won't even bother fixing it. 

I, for one, appreciate whichever team is working on this! Thank you!

[SilentSmile]

It will net them huge drop in the shares if they don't fix it. And also will decrease the sales, so please do not say they'll fix the issue just from good will.

Nobody is attacking the developers, but the decision-makers to set an expiration date. 

[Jimariso]

Stocks have been going down regardless...

[Benjizac]

If you **bleep** something up at work, I would hope you'd try to fix it asap without asking for a pat on the back. If it also affected thousands (maybe millions) of people, I'd be keeping them up to speed as much and as often as possible. I certainly wouldn't be saying "everyone shouted at me last time I **bleep**ed up, so I'm not fixing anything this time".

I also appreciate the team on the ground trying to fix this... I know this is very much a first world problem, but I think Google's Comms on this have been poor, at best.

[Ddot]

Stop it..

What an asslick response.

[Jimariso]

Same! I just saw the email...

[BrandonGagne]

You're assuming that there will be a "next time." There was no indication on the packaging that these devices contain a digital certificate that expires after a certain date. Had I known that, I would likely not have bought it. The fact that they omitted this information is concerning, and perhaps even illegal.

If that's their attitude, "won't even bother fixing it," then what do you suppose is the likelihood of customers returning in the future to buy more products? Google sold 100 million Chromecast devices since the initial release. Maybe next time Google offers us a product, that will be our attitude: "won't even bother."

[bevardimus]

---

@BrandonGagne wrote:

There was no indication on the packaging that these devices contain a digital certificate that expires after a certain date. Had I known that, I would likely not have bought it. The fact that they omitted this information is concerning, and perhaps even illegal.

---

I'm a software dev with certificate renewal experience, and this concept seems to be lost on some of you (understandably).  Certs need to be renewed on an annual, bi-annual, etc basis (depending on issuer).  This wasn't a maliciously planned forced-end-of-life conspiracy by the evil overlords at Google.  This was a piece of documentation (i.e. a note/reminder within the dev team to renew the cert or change the code) that slipped through the cracks over the years.  In other words, somebody on the Chromecast dev team **bleep**ed up.  I truly believe this was an honest mistake, and since it's a ten-year-old, discontinued product line with an original MSRP of $35 which reaches the end of its expected support lifecycle this year, you better believe I appreciate them taking the time to acknowledge it and work on a solution.  They could (still) easily take this opportunity to just end support for it altogether and force an entire generation of Chromecast buyers to upgrade to the latest and greatest.  Sure, they'd lose some customers to other brands like Roku, but the vast majority who are deeply embedded into the Google ecosystem would pony up for a shiny new Google TV streamer (and in the case of Chromecast Audio, there is no modern Google-branded equivalent, so no loss to them).

To summarize:

1. Have some empathy for the dev team which **bleep**ed this up.  This is either a forgotten bug, or a forgotten cert renewal.  Not a vindictive assault on customers.
2. I don't understand the sheer volume of entitlement on this thread regarding a ten-year-old, end-of-life, discontinued line of devices which cost a whopping $35 each (that's only tree-fiddy per year of use so far!)
3. Google has zero financial incentives to prioritize fixing these devices, and it hasn't even been a week since the bug was discovered.  Have some patience.
4. And finally, I have no loyalty to Google or any corporate entity, and am not licking their ass (lol, is this a new phrase?  Did that person mean kiss their ass?  or maybe boot licker?).  I am, however, heavily invested in the Google Home/Nest ecosystem, and would very much prefer to continue using my Chromecast Audio which works natively with everything else in my smart home.  So, instead of coming onto their forum and bitching about their slightly delayed effort to eliminate a bug in a product I bought 10 years ago which has worked almost flawlessly in that timespan, I came here to show them some appreciation (a foreign concept to most of you, I know, but some of us out here aren't insufferable consumerist rubes)

[jpcoook]

Very nice summary bevardimus thank you for that.  I know just enough about certs to be dangerous, but have been wondering if the problem is a server-side issue, so that all these devices can't reach some server any more, and those that reset made it even worse, but theirs too *should* ultimately be fixable using tricks like back dating your phone as some suggest here.  I have 3 Chromecast audios which I use DAILY to broadcast music around my home, and while they are long EOL I still think it's a great and undervalued device.  I even bought a refurbished one for 3x the original price when one died.  The only issue I have, like many others here, is that I wasted several hours troubleshooting, trying different source devices, etc.  I was lazy and didn't get around to a factory reset, mostly because one of mine is in the attic and hard to get to.  I got lucky there, because that was my plan for this upcoming weekend if it still didn't work!  My complaint is that @Google isn't giving us regular updates, even if just to say "hang on, we're on it, and it's harder than it looks, so give us X days to work this out".  Fingers crossed, and thanks again!

[dmcr]

Yes, nice summary indeed. SW dev here also. Their mistake was to use a 10-year intermediate certificate instead of a 20-year intermediate certificate like they used on both older and newer devices. Even the per-device certificate for these devices is a 20-year certificate. It's only the intermediate certificate that chains up to the device auth root CA that is 10-year.

So it seems reasonable to me to assume that the reason they did not have an expiration reminder in their tickler file (so that they could have avoided this 3/9/2025 problem) was because their standard practice was to always use 20-year certificates. I agree that under the circumstances they moved pretty quickly for a large organization dealing with a low priority (for them) problem, and I too am appreciative.

For those who don't want to wait for the fix rollout or who would just like more info about the technical side of this problem, there are workarounds here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Chromecast/comments/1j7lhrs/the_chromecast_2s_device_authentication/

[Ally007]

I will thank them when and if this is fixed. Oh, and I did not get their email...

[CarloT]

You don't seem to get that whatever you wrote is simply wrong?
Let me put it straight to you:

Google broke perfectly working devices to million of users worldwide.
I appreciate too when people making a mess is trying to solve the issue they made.
But this should be normal not something to celebrate.

None else here got any information by Google. Lucky you 1/149999?

If they don't fix it I can already see a class action coming.
There's nothing to blame people about +, one last consideration: when you side a big corp to go against people who are experiencing discomfort caused by that big corp.. there's something really, really wrong.

[cjbre]

Yes mistakes are happening. That is why you employ more people specalists to solve the issues in the timely manner, and you have the teams that are stable and working together for years on the same projects. I doubt that is the case with goodle where average stay with in company is 1.1-1.3 years (according to them, https://www.google.com/search?q=average+google+employmnet+time&oq=average+google+employmnet+time&gs_...) 

[FAOD]

You call that good support? What an asslicker 😂😂😂 They haven’t informed us the customers anything useful about the issue or anything relevant. Same old trash talk ”we have an issue” ”We will update you”