Skip to main content Tom's Guide Tom's Guide Search Tom's Guide View Profile Best Picks Entertainment Technology Magazines Why subscribe? The best tech tutorials and in-depth reviews Try a single issue or save on a subscription Issues delivered straight to your door or device From$12.99View MacBook Air M4 iPad Air M3 Nintendo Switch 2 Best mattress Wordle Today Entertainment Streaming Devices Google has a fix for broken Chromecasts as long as you didn't factory reset Scott Younker 13 March 2025 Leave your Chromecast plugged in When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Google) Over the weekend, Google Chromecast 2nd generation and Chromecast Audio devices gave up the ghost, much to the concsternation of many Chromecast owners. Users across the globe found that the Chromecast couldn't be authenticated when trying to connect. Google appeared surprised by the issue, but spokespeople confirmed to Tom's Guide and on Reddit and that a fix was in the works. More recent Chromecast 3rd Gen and Chromecast Ultra devices appear to have been unaffected by the issue. You may like Chromecast fail — users across the world are saying that their Chromecasts are not working The latest Google Pixel update is breaking fingerprint scanners — but there may be a fix Google is now saying that a fix is ready to go, with the patch rolling out in the next few days. Though Google isn't saying why the Chromecasts suddenly self-destructed, there is speculation that the devices' certificate expired, which caused the inability to authenticate when connecting. "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," a community manager wrote in a thread dedicated to the issue. No luck with a reset There is a slight catch to Google's fix. Sign up to get the BEST of Tom's Guide direct to your inbox. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. When the issue first popped up a number of Chromecast owners reported that they had factory reset their devices, a common trick for dealing with borked tech. However, on Monday (March 10), Google insisted that people refrain from doing that. Unfortunately, if you did factory reset your Chromecast, there's no available fix yet. Those devices cannot reconnect in their current state, which means they can't receive the update. "You may still be experiencing an issue where you cannot re-setup your device," the Google thread reads. "We are working to resolve this as soon as possible." We saw some Reddit posters and commenters on the official support thread saying they were able to manually change their smartphone date to last week or earlier, before the outage. Allegedly, this lets your phone connect to the Chromecast and reconfigure it as needed. It's a potential fix you could try if you did do a factory reset. Otherwise, keep an eye on the support thread for when an official Google fix comes through. 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