Help with Chromecast Audio

iramegdal

Well-Known Member
We had a power outage in last week's nor'easter. Afterwards, I went to my main floor PC and it was unable to "find" any of the three Chromecast Audio devices in my house. So I rebooted the two CCA devices on the main level and the PC was still unable to find them. Then I tired my tablet and iPhone and they both found those two, but not the one in the basement.
I then went into the basement. The PC there found the two on the main floor, but not the one in the basement. I rebooted the CCA device in the basement, and the basement PC then found all three as did the tablet and iPhone.
However, my PC on the main floor can still not find any of them. I rebooted that PC, and had no more success. Any suggestions? Once my PC can not find CCAs and therefore cannot cast, what can I do? I tired to go to "Setup", but that did not work since the PC could not find the CCA device.
 
I'm in the same situation, still.

I hope someone chimes in with some ideas.

I can't cast anymore to my CCA from my laptop either.

About 4 days ago my laptop couldn't find my CCA, rebooted the CCA (hard factory reset). Went thru the setup steps again from the PC; the setup screens found it, named it, attached it to my wifi, then my laptop couldn't find it. My Android phone did, no problem.

I even set the laptop next to the CCA; both are within 15 ft of my router. I did a speed test from the laptop over the 2.4GHz band (which is what the CCA was connecting to) - was getting 36Mbps download and 12Mbps upload consistently, so there is no 'dead spot' where the CCA is.

Chrome is up to date, the CCA is on the wifi: I can see its MAC and IP address via arp -a from the laptop and I can ping it from the laptop. And the Android phone can cast to it consistently.

Good luck!
 
I'm in the same situation, still.

I hope someone chimes in with some ideas.

I can't cast anymore to my CCA from my laptop either.

About 4 days ago my laptop couldn't find my CCA, rebooted the CCA (hard factory reset). Went thru the setup steps again from the PC; the setup screens found it, named it, attached it to my wifi, then my laptop couldn't find it. My Android phone did, no problem.

I even set the laptop next to the CCA; both are within 15 ft of my router. I did a speed test from the laptop over the 2.4GHz band (which is what the CCA was connecting to) - was getting 36Mbps download and 12Mbps upload consistently, so there is no 'dead spot' where the CCA is.

Chrome is up to date, the CCA is on the wifi: I can see its MAC and IP address via arp -a from the laptop and I can ping it from the laptop. And the Android phone can cast to it consistently.

Good luck!
I thinking
I'm in the same situation, still.

I hope someone chimes in with some ideas.

I can't cast anymore to my CCA from my laptop either.

About 4 days ago my laptop couldn't find my CCA, rebooted the CCA (hard factory reset). Went thru the setup steps again from the PC; the setup screens found it, named it, attached it to my wifi, then my laptop couldn't find it. My Android phone did, no problem.

I even set the laptop next to the CCA; both are within 15 ft of my router. I did a speed test from the laptop over the 2.4GHz band (which is what the CCA was connecting to) - was getting 36Mbps download and 12Mbps upload consistently, so there is no 'dead spot' where the CCA is.

Chrome is up to date, the CCA is on the wifi: I can see its MAC and IP address via arp -a from the laptop and I can ping it from the laptop. And the Android phone can cast to it consistently.

Good luck!
I think that I am in worse shape. The setup screen on my laptop can not find the CCA. That is a puzzle to me since another laptop, a tablet and an iPhone can find the CCA.
 
Not sure if it helps in your particular situation, but when I'm casting from Spotify from tablet, it does not see the CCA.
What I do is find a song hit play, then the cast feature becomes available. I hit pause, then select to cast to CCA and then it is all good.
 
We fiddle faddled around with chromecast. Now that it's working it does work well.

This drove me crazy: we were using, in one case, a non google power supply with the chromecast dongle. That caused it to be really messed up. It was endlessly buggy. We replace it with the google supplied power supply and it works perfect. We love chromecast.
 
Not sure if it helps in your particular situation, but when I'm casting from Spotify from tablet, it does not see the CCA.
What I do is find a song hit play, then the cast feature becomes available. I hit pause, then select to cast to CCA and then it is all good.
Hi! Using Google Music Play, I start a song, and no cast sign appears. My laptop suddenly will simply not recognize the CCAs, even though my other laptop, iPhone and tablet will. Don't know what gives. I wonder if uninstalling/reinstalling Google Chrome will solve the problem.
 
I guess it couldn't hurt. What if you cast from one of the other devices, then look on the "bad device", does it appear then?
 
Sometimes they can be fussy as to what constitutes a "network." My old router setup had two radios--2.4GHz and 5GHz--but were on the same network in the house. I ended up solving things using the CCAs on 2.4GHz and also setting the phone (used for setup) to 2.4GHz, and it all worked. After that, I could find the CCAs on the network whether the phones/tablets were on either 2.4 or 5.0 networks.
 
Sometimes they can be fussy as to what constitutes a "network." My old router setup had two radios--2.4GHz and 5GHz--but were on the same network in the house. I ended up solving things using the CCAs on 2.4GHz and also setting the phone (used for setup) to 2.4GHz, and it all worked. After that, I could find the CCAs on the network whether the phones/tablets were on either 2.4 or 5.0 networks.
Thank you for the input. Unfortunately this suggestion is above my capabilities. I have a Verizon FIOS modem/router close to my laptop and to the 2 CCAs. Don't know how to adjust the Hz. They are all on the same network as far as I know.
 
My laptop suddenly will simply not recognize the CCAs

I'm wondering if this is a network problem: clashing IP addresses, etc. Have a look at the IP address table in your router.

A power glitch may well have caused a router reset, which may have caused a complete re-assignment of DHCP-allocated IP addresses. If you have any static IP addresses assigned, they may be clashing.

Also, a router reset may have changed the WiFi channel it is using. Or your neighbours have... To test if WiFi is a problem, you need to put all communicating devices near the router; no point putting CCA next to laptop if they are both a long way from the router; they talk to each other via the router, not directly.
 
I've tried a fresh install of Chrome - still not finding my CCA from the laptop.

I've checked the ARP table in my router; the MAC address of the CCA is paired to a DHCP assigned IP.

I confirmed that the arp table on my laptop matches: MAC and IP report the same pairing as the router.

I can ping the CCA IP, but Chrome cannot find it.

Sometimes the IP changes based on router or CCA reboot as it is DHCP assigned, but for every reboot my android phone picks it up and I can cast to the CCA no problem.

The laptop.....nope.

And, yes, the laptop, my android, and the CCA are on the same 2.4Ghz wifi.

I'm stumped.
 
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Got it!

So, grasping at straws, I dragged my laptop upstairs to where the router is.

Tried finding the CCA from there - nope.

But, I then tried a direct hardwire connection from the laptop ethernet to the router after disconnecting from the wifi.

My laptop then found my CCA!

Disconnected, and reconnected to wifi.

Back downstairs to my usual spot in the kitchen - was able to find and cast from the laptop.

Why this worked - no f'in idea. But I'm jamming to jazz88 again! :banana:
 
Nope.

The CCA is gone again.

I rebooted my laptop to verify that I can consistently reconnect.

Laptop failed to find the CCA.

Went back up stairs to do another hardwire/ethernet connection from the laptop to the router to find the CCA.

Chrome failed to find the CCA even hardwired.

??
 
I borrowed my wife's Win10 laptop, wifi connected, in the same spot downstairs where my laptop is.

Her laptop can find, connect, disconnect, reboot, find again no problem.

I'm stumped again.

Win7 bug?
 
I give up.

I disconnected my wife's Win10 laptop from the wifi, reconnected and then IT failed to find the CCA.

I rebooted her laptop and then it found the CCA again.

Meanwhile, my laptop can't find it regardless if it is next to the router, wifi connected or hardwired, rebooted, whatever.

I've spent the whole morning f'in with this...done.
 
While I am no techie, this does not seem logical to me. This is especially true since my tablet and my iPhone find the CCAs.
 
Very frustrating!
Agreed.

I did yet another test today.

I moved my laptop, Android phone, and CCA all within mere inches of my router upstairs. I verified that my laptop and android phone had wifi download speeds approaching 50 Mbits/sec, upload speeds around 11Mbits/sec. I confirmed that the router and laptop arp tables both listed the CCA for the same pairing of MAC to IP address. I confirmed that the laptop could ping to the CCA. Confirmed that all devices were on the 2.4Ghz band on the router.

The Android phone could successfully find and cast to the CCA, the laptop could not find the CCA.

I rebooted the laptop. Repeated speed tests and reconfirmed arp table listings and pings. Nope.

I rebooted the router. Repeated speed tests and reconfirmed arp table listings and pings. Nope.

Android phone works, laptop doesn't.

Think I'll just put a CD in my player and enjoy some music.
 
Agreed.

I did yet another test today.

I moved my laptop, Android phone, and CCA all within mere inches of my router upstairs. I verified that my laptop and android phone had wifi download speeds approaching 50 Mbits/sec, upload speeds around 11Mbits/sec. I confirmed that the router and laptop arp tables both listed the CCA for the same pairing of MAC to IP address. I confirmed that the laptop could ping to the CCA. Confirmed that all devices were on the 2.4Ghz band on the router.

The Android phone could successfully find and cast to the CCA, the laptop could not find the CCA.

I rebooted the laptop. Repeated speed tests and reconfirmed arp table listings and pings. Nope.

I rebooted the router. Repeated speed tests and reconfirmed arp table listings and pings. Nope.

Android phone works, laptop doesn't.

Think I'll just put a CD in my player and enjoy some music.

I admire your patience and persistence! But why not just stick with using the Android as the controller for the CCA?
 
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