Sony TV Built-In Chromecast Crashes every 5 minutes

Have been delaying starting a new subject on this Roon system related to Sonos Play 5 Grouping issues until we could resolve this issue, but in case they may be related, I will start it momentarily. Please note these issues are on the system for @Judy_Allen. I had the same Chromecast rebooting on my system @Terry_Deeb with an XBR-85xxx, but a TV firmware update corrected it. I have another XBR-65xxx on the @Terry_Deeb system that exhibits the same freezing behavior without resolution. This suggests that gravity of the issue may be more model specific.

Hi @Terry_Deeb,

Just to clarify here, you mention that you and Judy_Allen are experiencing the same behaviors here. Are these on two separate networks or are they being tested on the same network? Can you describe the current networking setup (for both if different)?

Also, just to verify, does this behavior occur regardless of the Core being used? If you use the Dell you mentioned previously is the same thing happening?

Hi Dylan,
I have lots of info for you. First a point of clarification. I am assuming that display issues would only be affected by the connectivity between the Core and the display and that the Remote devices would have no effect on these issues. Is that correct?

We are dealing with networks in two completely different locations and 6 different displays. I will give you the details of each.
First @Terry_Deeb System. This network is 192.168.1.XXX. I have a Nucleus+ connected to a to a Netgear 16 port ProSafe Gigabit Switch. That switch is connected via ethernet to the main HP ProCurve 1410-24G gigabit switch in my data room. The QNAP TS-809Pro NAS which contains my music library is also connected to that switch. I have the following displays:
Main Zone Sony XBR-85X850D (Android) - (connected to the Netgear switch) - The Built-in Chromecast randomly crashed and rebooted itself unpon installation. A TV firmware update corrected this behavior and it now works well.
Master Bedroom Sony XBR-65X930C (Android) Built-in Chromecast (it used to connect via a 50 ft cable to the HP Switch) It froze and needed manual reboot repeatedly. It is now connected to a 3 Com 8 port gigabit switch which is connected to the HP Switch. That display is now also working well.
Front Bedroom Sony XBR-52LX900 (older model Sony proprietary system) Google Chromecast Dongle connected to HDMI input and connected to network via ASUS AC-3100 WiFi Router configured as access point - connected to a Netgear ProSafe 16 port Gigagbit switch. This display has always worked perfectly. Never a crash.

Second @Judy_Allen System Judy had a test Core on a Dell Laptop connected to WiFi provided by a Spectrum Arris Cable Modem. The rebooting and freezing behavior of the displays began with the Dell Core. We also tested the Web Browser display with the Dell and the freezing behavior occurred.

I then built a ROCK with an Intel NUC7i7BNH with all of the Roon recommended peripherals. Her music library is on an internal 1TB Samsung SSD. I also turned off the Spectrum Arris built-in WiFi and installed a new ASUS AC-1700 Router (192.168.1.XXX). I transferred Judy’s Core to the ROCK.

Main Display Sony XBR-65X850D (Android) Built-In Chromecast (connected via ethernet cable to a LAN port on the ASUS-WiFi Router) - This display reboots itself and/or freezes at random intervals from 5-30 minutes. This behavior has occured with the Dell as a Core, with the ROCK as a Core with the Arris WiFi and with the ASUS WiFi. We have updated TV firmware, updated Built-Chromcast app and uninstalled all updates to the Chromecast app. Same issues in all cases.
Main Secondary Display Same TV - Google Chromecast Dongle connected to another HDMI input and to the 5G WiFi. This display does not reboot the TV, but freezes at random intervals requiring manually unplugging the TV.
Bedroom Display Samsung TV with Google Chromecast Dongle connected via HDMI and 5G WiFi. This display has always operated perfectly.

Sorry for the length of this. I have tried to include all relevant detail. Please let me know what else you need.
Terry

ADDITIONAL NOTE: on @Judy_Allen System this crashing/freezing behavior has occured on two completely different networks. Initially with the Dell Core, we were using the Arris Cable Model for DHCP and we used the internal WIFI and the LAN ports on the modem.

With the ROCK we are using the ASUS AC-1700 for DHCP and its LAN ports for the ethernet connections. Therefore, I would submit that the issues seem to be more TV related than network related.

Hi @Terry_Deeb,

Thank you for all of the information here, that is a great help. I’ve updated our report with this information and will be discussing with our senior technical team in our meeting this week. I’ll be sure to update you as soon as I have additional feedback.

Thanks Dylan. I know that the developers have their hands full and if you don’t hear it enough, you guys have an AMAZING product, one which I have hoped for, for many years.

UPDATE: Here is some new information that may be relevant.

On the @Terry_Deeb system, the XBR-65X930C (which is the same generation as the problematic @Judy_Allen system XBR-65X850D). This TV just had a firmware update. Afterward, I played Roon and the TV rebooted itself within 3 minutes. I then uninstalled the Built-In Google Chromecast App Updates (This has been reported by several users to fix the issue.) I then played Roon using this display for several hours after uninstalling the app updates without issue.

Here is another piece of information that I failed to mention before which may be relevant. On the @Judy_Allen system (which we have not been able to resolve the display crashing issues) every time the TV reboots itself, the audio blanks out for several seconds right at the time the screen goes black and again for a few seconds after the TV comes back up. Not sure what could cause this. Recall that the zone is a ROCK connected via HDMI to the Sony Receiver STR-DN1040. This audio blank-out did not occur on the @Terry_Deeb system when the TV rebooted. That Zone is a Nucleus+ connected via USB to a McIntosh MX-160 AV Processor.

Not sure if this additional info helps, but wanted to let you know in case it does.

Hi @Terry_Deeb,

Thanks for the new info!

I had a chat with the team about this and wanted to discuss next steps with you here. First, the team has been able to reproduce similar symptoms under specific networking conditions and we have a fix for this coming in an upcoming release. Once this is available it will definitely be good see how things perform. The networking conditions this resolves may not be exactly the same, but there is a chance this can improve things. I’ll let you know when this becomes available.

For additional troubleshooting, I’d like to focus on the non-TV Chromecast devices. Generally speaking we’ve found these to be more reliable in general than TVs with built-in Chromecast, so focusing on getting these up and running first will be our best option, then we can turn to the built-in Chromecasts.

Specifically, these two Displays you mentioned:

Can you confirm which Chromecast you’re using for each (gen 1, gen 2, ultra)?

Additionally, if you move the Chromecast on the Bedroom display to the Main Display, do things work okay or does that device start exhibiting the same behavior there too?

Hi @dylan,
Thank you for the info. That is great news on the upcoming release.

All three of the Google Dongles (including the working one on my older Sony) are Model #NC2-6A5 which I believe are considered Generation 2. The advertising from the various vendors is inconsistent as to that label.I will conduct the test of swapping the Bedroom and Main Secondary Display Dongles with each other and report back.

One more light bulb. On the problematic TV, it has an ethernet connection, which is the connection which would drive the Built-in Chromecast display. If my understanding is correct, the Dongle connects over WiFi. Is it possible that the WiFi connection and the ethernet connection could be conflicting with each other?
Thanks,