Do you have a Google Chromecast gen. 2 that have stopped working? You are not alone.
Did Google just Brick Chromecast Gen 2?
Just the other day my old Chromecast gen 2. stopped working. It was starting just fine, but it was not showing my normal slideshow of backgrounds. It was showing random pictures from Google. I tried a few things to get it started. First I remove the power and rebooted the device. I restarted my smartphone, but it was all the same. I even restarted my router in order to see if I could fix the issue.
At this time, I thought that maybe a factory reset would be the way to go. Once reset I followed the guide to configure my device. It finds my device just fine, until my phone should connect directly to the device and configure it to use the wi-fi SID of my phone. I tried a couple of time, but nothing worked and I went to bed.
Today I had more time to troubleshoot the issue. I tried with some of my old phones, but still no luck. I started to luck for some tips on the Internet and found this thread on Reddit. It seems that a lot of users around the world have had issues with Google Chromecast Gen 2, since the beginning of March 9th (Sunday). Now Google have comment on the issue as well.
The issue
According to info I have found at forums across the web, it turns out to be an issue with an expired certificate. This is why people around the world have issues with Chromecast Gen 2 and Chromecast audio as well. I have two newer versions of Chromecast and they are working just fine. If you want to figure out, just which version you have, I have written a post about the different Chromecast generations a while back
It seems to be an issue with the intermediate CA certificate that simply has expired. Be aware that both the Chromecast Gen 2 and the Chromecast Audio was launched back in 2015.
Intermediate CA Validity: Not Before: Mar 12 16:44:39 2015 GMT Not After: Mar 9 16:44:39 2025 GMT
Other medias have started reporting this news as well:
Update: Fix your Chromecast Gen 2.
17 March 2025: Yesterday I wrote here in this post, that Google had still not fixed the issue. That is not completely true. Actually, they have been rolling out a new firmware to fix the issue over the weekend. You can see the post from Google Community Manager here. If you have the firmware below, you have got the update.
Chromecast (2nd gen): Firmware version 1.56.467165
Chromecast Audio: Firmware version 1.56.467166
If your device has lost the access to your Wi-Fi after a factory reset, you will need to make the trick, setting the date of time on your phone back to before 9. March, 2025 and configure your device from new. Once you have got the update, you can change your date and time back to again.
13 March 2025: While we wait for Google to come up with a permanent fix, I have tested this workaround today and it works very well. I am have tested streaming from both Netflix and YouTube and it just work. It is a fix that works for Android devices.
It involving installing an app (.apk file) called Activity Manager and bypass the device authentication that check the certificate of a device. You can see full guide here
Do not factory reset your device
Well, this info is a little too late for me 🙁
I had reset my device and now I can’t configure it to use my wi-fi. If I can’t configure it to come online, it will never receive any possible fix that Google might come up with. Maybe my device is just broken for good now. Well, that was what I thought until I came across a thread about a simple fix 🙂
Just change the date of your phone or tablet back in time to before the issue was noticed. I changed my date back to March 1st and tried the guide again. Now the certificate is not expired and Now I was able to configure my device in just a minute. It connected to the Internet and started showing random photos from Google again. It also showed me the outdoor temperature, telling me that my device is online again. I am still not able to cast to the device, but now it is online and hopeful will work if Google comes up with a fix.
If you have not made a factory reset when reading this post, please don’t. It will not sort anything for you, it will just make things worse. Wait for Google to fix the issue.
Will Google Fix my Chromecast?
Well, I really hope they can come up with a fix, now that my device is back online. I know this device is 10 years old and we can’t expect electronic devices to last forever, but I really love my Chromecasts. The fact that Google have stopped selling Chromecast make my hope even stronger. I do know that Google have launched Google TV instead, but that is another product that comes with another price tag. I really don’t need that in bedroom.
Fingers crossed that Google will apply a fix in the days to come. Stay tuned. I will keep this post updated, once there is news in this case.
