Want to stream audio or visual media from your smart device to the TV in your house and that too on a budget? Chromecast can provide you an affordable solution. Chromecast is basically used to mirror content from your phone, tablet or laptop to your TV so that you can view it on a much larger screen. It connects to your TV through a USB port and connects to your phone or other electronic device over the WIFI. It is basically a standard device that can be plugged through any HDMI port and you do not need a remote to control it. Moreover, you do not need a dedicated interface to control Chromecast and it is pretty easy to operate.
All you need to do is have your phone or tablet in your hand and from there you can stream media on to your TV. You can use it to not only stream audio or video content you can also mirror anything from Google photos.
How does it work?
Chromecast by Google is basically a very standard device that is compatible with most equipment generally. The way it functions is based on a pretty simple concept. The Chromecast dongle is attached to your TV through an HDMI port. It can be powered by an adapter, and through USB charger as well at times. When your Chromecast is on the same WIFI network as your phone or tablet, a compatible app will appear on your phone or other device from which you want to stream media on to the TV.
When you open the app, it will guide you to mirror your smart device’s media on to the bigger TV screen. Since the Chromecast is connected to it through the internet, the device will transmit the URL content to Chromecast and from there on the process of streaming is pretty swift. Hence we can say that the Chromecast acts as linking device between your phone and TV.
What to do if Chromecast stops working?
As we mentioned that the process of how a Chromecast works is pretty simple and generic. However like any other electronic device, it too can develop glitches or malfunction. So what to do in that case? There may be a couple of scenarios and reasons due to which your Chromecast device has stopped working all of a sudden. Let’s walk you through a few scenarios and consider what can be done in such circumstances
Restart the device- Most often than not simply restarting the device can help fix the problem. It may be in fact the first thing you can do to check if it starts working again. All you need to do is take the plug out form the power source and wait for a few minutes and then plug it back in to see if its works. If it has started working again then you are good to go, if not then you need to explore further options
Check your phone- There can be a problem with your phone or any other device, the content of which you are mirroring on the screen. You may have the WIFI turned off on your phone or the airplane mode may be on. If there has been an update installed on your phone you may need to check if you need to do a little tweaking to the settings to see if the connectivity is revived. If not anything else, then perhaps simply restarting your phone, tablet or your computer may be the quick fix you need to get your Chromecast to start working again.
Check your internet connection- Another very common problem that we face when it comes to our smart devices is connectivity issues whereby the problem lies with the WIFI router. Firstly, ensure that the Chromecast is on the same network as your device you want to connect it to. If your Chromecast is picking up a device but unable to connect to it, you can check your router to see if the WIFI is ok, as most probably that’s where the problem is. You can restart it; power it off, give it some time and plug it back in; to see if the connection has been revived.
Sometimes it so happens that the WIFI signals is not being transmitted properly to your Chromecast device especially if it is behind your TV. You can try placing the router closer to the Chromecast dongle. If that is not possible, then you can try taking it out from behind the TV and place it separately in the front through an extended wire to see if the problem is fixed. Often Chromecast comes with HDMI extender cable which you can use to place it where it can get strong WIFI signals.
Check to see if Chrome needs to be updated- This issue can occur if chrome is connected usually to the computer. If the Chromecast app button is not appearing on the screen, this may mean that the Chrome browser needs to be updated. In such an instance, updating your chrome browser to the fresher version may help resolve the issue. All you need to do is open your Chrome browser. You will see three dots on the top right corner which refer to more options.
You can click on those dots and will see the option of updating Google chrome. If that is in fact the issue, the update option will be there; if not this means your browser is already updated to the new version. Once updated, you can then click re-launch button and check to see if Chromecast is working again.
Try resetting your Chromecast device- If you have tried everything else and still Chromecast refuses to work, you may have to apply a factory reset on your device. In order to reset it to factory settings, you will need to unplug your Chromecast from the power source. There is a power button at the back of the Chromecast cast device. Press it and keep it down for around 25 seconds. After that the reset process can start. You will have to do settings for your Chromecast all over again but the data will stay intact.
These can be helpful:
Why Does The Chromecast Keep Crashing?
Why Does Chromecast Take So Long To Connect?
Hopefully by applying any of the above mentioned techniques, you may able to resolve the issue and your Chromecast will start working again.
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