Chromecast update causes BT Homehubs to reboot

[Silver Smudger]

Warning! - Chromecast firmware update causes BT HomeHubs to crash and reboot !

Two days ago I spent ages de-bugging my network and then some considerable time on the phone with BT trying to find out why my router kept crashing out. BT got me to make several config changes which got it back stable, but when I tried to reconnect my Chromecast Audio today it all started again.

Much reloading of Google Home app and resetting / substituting CCAs and mains adaptors got me nowhere, trying every trick I could see on various forums got no results either until I found this thread running on Chromecast Help Forum

Google Cast Community Team said:

Hi Everyone,


We have become aware of some Chromecast Audio users with BT Home Hub and Plus Net One routers having connectivity issues after a recent Chromecast Audio firmware update. After the update of Chromecast Audio some BT Home Hub and Plus Net routers trigger a reboot and disconnect the Chromecast Audio from the network. This issue seems to be isolated to some BT related routers. Our team has been working to address this issue quickly by adding a workaround for the BT routers in our next firmware version which is now available for download.

Since these Chromecast Audio devices can’t be connected to your router anymore to download the latest firmware, here is one possible workaround to recover from this situation:

Connect your Chromecast Audio device to a different router other than the BT Home Hub or Plus Net One. (See how to change the WiFi network my Chromecast is connected to)

Go to your Google Home app to opt into the 'Preview Program'

Wait for about 15 min to an hour and reboot your Chromecast Audio device to get the latest Preview firmware version 1.22.77272

Once on this latest Preview firmware version, you can connect your Chromecast Audio device back to your existing BT Homehub or Plus Net One router.


We understand that some of you may not have the option to use an alternate router so we are still looking at other options and will keep you posted. In the meanwhile, please contact customer support for any questions.

We apologize for the inconvenience caused by this issue.

So I am currently stuck - All 3 CCAs have broken firmware - I can't power them up and connect without crashing my router - I can't get a new firmware without connecting to the router!

I am going to try a factory reset on a CCA, and then see if I can connect using original firmware to get onto this preview program.

---

Preview Program is not available on the App ! -

Chromecast Preview Programme overview said:

If you don’t see Preview Programme, we aren’t accepting new members at this time.

From Here



So now I have just factory reset all 3 and will not try to connect to them, just wait until there is a new firmware delivery announced on the help forum.

[Heartworm]

That would explain my bthub failing a couple of days ago

[HannsG]

I was gonna buy one of these. Is it worth it?

[Heartworm]

HannsG said:

I was gonna buy one of these. Is it worth it?

I've been loving it until the problem with bt hubs, works well with our multiform.

[woots787]

Cheers, I've been on the old, slow router for the last few days and was about to throw the hh5 away! I was bored of looking at router reviews. Preview worked for me?

[HannsG]

Heartworm said:

I've been loving it until the problem with bt hubs, works well with our multiform.

I have BT infinity, so it will cause problems?

[rsv gone!]

My colleague had to bring his Chromecast in to work, to update it.

[Silver Smudger]

Well I contacted Google customer services today (click on link and they ring you back). They were not terribly helpful at first, just told me to connect to a non BT network - Like I have a selection of Internet providers to choose from at my house! - But they then rang me back and agreed to replace all 3 Chromcast. I have sent off an email with serial numbers etc, so will see how that goes.

It is interesting how many posters on the google help thread are saying that BT and Plusnet still do not know that Chromecasts have this issue, so are still replacing 'faulty' routers and sending out engineers, at the customer's cost.

[chris116]

Finally managed to sort mine out today, only taken 4 months to find a way, found the post below on a Chromecast forum.

Updated the firmware away from the borked version by using my mobile as a WiFi hotspot and connecting my tablet to it then using that to connect to the Chromecast and update the firmware as described in the post.



All working again now

[Silver Smudger]

I got three brand new CCAs in the post a couple of days after my previous post, and a refund shortly after posting the bricked ones off to Google

[TonyRPH]

It doesn't say much for the BT Router hardware though does it?

I've worked in (enterprise) networking for 20 years and can't remember a device causing issues like this.

[WinstonWolf]

TonyRPH said:

It doesn't say much for the BT Router hardware though does it?

I've worked in (enterprise) networking for 20 years and can't remember a device causing issues like this.

Their STB is woeful too, the remote control is so weak it won't work if the box is near some TVs!

[Four Litre]

Not chromecast but I had similar issues using a Kodi box. I ended up disabling the automatic 'smart setup' on the BT homehub and all is good.

[red997]

To be fair to BT, many products such as Chromecast, Chromium etc cause strange problems on various devices when they update; its then up to the device provider to fix it... or not !