Troubleshooting chromecast or WiDi problems

  1. Can’t find Chromecast devices when trying to link devices to Google Home because some devices such as Roku products, Apple TV products, and Amazon Fire TV products.
  2. Smart TVs works with windows WiDi, but not Chromecast because that aren’t Android TV devices or TVs with Chromecast built-in.
  3. Make sure the Chromecast device is powered on.
  4. Make sure all devices such as TV, PC, Mac, Labtel, phone are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
  5. Make sure location services is on and location permissions is enbled for the Google Home app and phone.
  6. Make sure your firewall or security software doesn’t block chromecast.

Windows WiDi can see the Roku TV, but Chrome cast can’t

Situation: The client has Windows 10 laptop, which can use Windows Wireless Display. However, Chrome cast can’t find Roku TV. Note: New Roku supports Miracast.

Troubleshooting: 1. Based on our search, Roku products, Apple TV products, and Amazon Fire TV products aren’t using Cast technology and therefore can’t be linked to Google Home. Note: New Roku supports Miracast.

2. Update your WiFi, router,  Roku firmware.

3. Try to Enable/Disable Quality of Service (QoS) to see if that fix the problem.

4. Reset all devices: Most connectivity issues can be remedied by simultaneously restarting the ROKU device as well as the Router. You might have Roku WiFi issues during the show or movie that you’re watching stops suddenly, usually with a message such as, for example, “connecting” or “transferring.” You may also observe a message that says Roku has lost its WiFi connection. This may happen even if your Roku says it has a strong signal from your WiFi router.
In such situation rebooting the Roku can briefly resolve the issue, however if it continues returning, it is better to change the WiFi router or you can buy a new cable modem

5. Disable the train wreck that is wifi interference mitigation which causes the Roku to try to drown out nearby wifi sources. Here is how1) Start up the Roku and get to the home screen.

1)  Start up the Roku and get to the home screen.

2) Press these 10 buttons quickly: HOME-HOME-HOME-HOME-HOME-FFWD-PLAY-REWIND-PLAY-FFWD

3) Select “Wireless Secret Screen” from the menu choices

4) Select “Interference” from the menu choices.

5) Choose “None”

6.  Change Roku TV settings: I went into the Roku stick settings and changed the tv to 720. No more buffering.

7. Change WiFi channel: There is a free Windows program, WifiInfoView, which can be downloaded and run and will show all kinds of information about the wifi networks in your immediate area. Change your wifi channel to one that none of your neighbors are using. This will help both video and remote signals.

8.  Change MTU settings: This made a very noticeable improvement in my PCs network performance (changed from the default 1500 to 1492 for ATT dsl). Either my Roku 3 sets it automatically (certainly possible) or it doesn’t and my streaming performance is degraded.

9. Also check any other software and computers that may be processing your video. For example, I got much better performance by changing my PlayOn software Video Performance setting from Auto to Medium. A fast computer also helps if the computer is doing video conversion while streaming.

10. Check for wireless interference: Cordless phones, microwave ovens, or other wireless devices near your router can all cause wireless interference, so move them away from your wireless router.

11. Check any anti-virus or security software blocking the traffics.

 

How Set up Chromecast device

To configure Chromecast, please use the Google Home app that will help you to set up your Chromecast device. This includes Chromecast, wecast and Chromecast Ultra.

Before we begin, please make sure you’re using the latest version of Chrome by navigating to “Settings > About Google Chrome” and update your Chrome browser to the latest version, if necessary.

  1. Navigate to chromecast.com/setup from the Chrome browser on your computer.
    Click “Set up your Chromecast using this computer”.

2. Chrome looks for Chromecast devices that need to be set up.
Click the device that matches the Chromecast name you see on your TV. It will be something like ChromecastXXXX. Click Set Me Up.
Read Privacy & Terms > Accept.
Setup will try to automatically connect to the Wi-Fi hotspot produced by your Chromecast device. If this is successful, move to step 8.
If this isn’t successful, you need to manually connect to the Wi-Fi hotspot of your Chromecast device.
Go to your Wi-Fi menu and select the Wi-Fi network that matches your Chromecast device name.
Connect to the network. Important: Make sure you’ve successfully connected to the Wi-Fi hotspot before moving to the next step. This can take a few minutes. Note: You’ll lose your Internet connection for few minutes until setup is complete. This is expected.
Click Next.
The code on your device should match the code on your TV. If it does, click Yes.
​If it doesn’t match, click No and restart the setup process from step 5 above.
Change the name of your Chromecast by typing in a new name (ex. Living Room) or you can leave it as the default name. Choose your country. Click Looks Good.
Choose your Wi-Fi network by clicking the upside down arrow. Enter your password. Click Connect.
Setup will try to automatically connect to your Wi-Fi network. If this is successful, move to step 13.
If this is not successful, go back to your Wi-Fi menu and choose the same Wi-Fi network you picked in step 10.
Important: Make sure you’ve successfully connected to the Wi-Fi network before moving on to the next step. This can take a few minutes.
Click Next.
Once setup has successfully completed, you’ll see a list of all of your available Cast devices.
Your Chromecast is now ready to cast. You can cast from your favorite Chromecast cast-enabled mobile app or cast a tab from the Chrome browser on your computer.
Download the Google Home app to get the most out of your Chromecast.

How to configure Wecast Wireless Display

Before you configure a device to use Wecast Wireless Display, you’ll need:

Chromecast/Wecast or Android TV
The newest version of Chrome OS. Learn how to update your Chromebook software.
A TV with HDMI input

This example is based on Wecast Wireless Display Dongle. Wecast Wireless Display Dongle can be used to cast from the small screen of most Android, Windows, ISO devices to big screen.

Here is how.

  1. Connect Wechast to TV with selected HDMI and USB.

2. On the device (PC, Mac, Tablet, Phone), go to WiFi settings. Select Wecast-xxxxxx, enter the default password 12345678, and connect.

3. Open a Brower, enter Wecast default IP address 192.168.49.1. It will show WiFi and Settings. Click on WiFi.

4. Now, you have two options: Scan and Add network. Click on Scan. That will show all available wireless.

5. Now, make sure all your devices (wecast, TV and PC/Phone) are connecting to the same WiFi. On the device (Android phone in our example), go to Settings>Connected devices.

6. Tap Connected devices, then Cast.

7. It may take a few seconds to connect to Wecast.

8. Now open Chromecast or Chrome Home

9. Connect to Wecast and the TV will show the remote device screen.

In PC you may have two options to connect the PC to TV screen. I) Go to Display and then select Wireless display. 2) Click Connection icon in the low right corner and then select Connect.

 

 

Losing the Internet connection

Situation: One of network computers lost the Internet connection. The computer can still access to all network resources but the Internet. It can’t ping the Cisco ASA firewall and any public IP addresses. The ASA can’t ping the host. This is the contention: Internet—ASA—Switch—SonicWall—Switch—Host.

The SonicWal and the host can ping each other. SonicWall can see host arp table but ASA can’t.

Flush the host arp table on SonicWall fixes the problem.

 

 

Server stops working for 10 minutes everyday

One of our SQL server running on Windows 2008 R2 keeps having a problem recently. Every morning around 9 AM, the users can’t access the database and we can’t login to the SQL Server. After 10 to 15 minutes, everything is normal.

1. The backup completed around 5 AM.

2. No scheduled task running at that time.

3. The only errors message in Event Viewer is related to Software Protection service:

Log Name:      System
Source:        Service Control Manager
Date:          6/8/2018 8:45:50 AM
Event ID:      7000
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      SQLserver03
Description:
The Software Protection service failed to start due to the following error:
The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.

Log Name:      System
Source:        Service Control Manager
Date:          6/8/2018 8:45:49 AM
Event ID:      7009
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      SQLserver03
Description:
A timeout was reached (30000 milliseconds) while waiting for the Software Protection service to connect.

Log Name:      System
Source:        Service Control Manager
Date:          6/8/2018 8:39:19 AM
Event ID:      7011
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      SQLserver03
Description:
A timeout (30000 milliseconds) was reached while waiting for a transaction response from the SQLWriter service.

Any suggestion how to troubleshoot this issue?