Your Chromecast gadgets vanishing from the device list is happening!
Your Chromecast gadgets vanishing from the device list is happening!
In my house I own several Google Home Mini units—one per main room—since they were more affordable than Chromecast setups with audio. They offered a convenient way to play music anywhere in the house. There’s also a Google Home Hub (v1), but it’s not having this problem. I have two Lenovo Smart Clocks and a basic Chromecast that I keep in my travel bag for hotel use, but connect to the network to confirm the issue. Recently, I switched my router to an ASUS RT-AX89X, which supports 12 streams and handles many devices well; this helped with congestion. From a Netgear Nighthawk (RAX40), the situation changed: my Google Home Mini’s stop showing up in apps like Google Home. The Home Hub behaves the same on the 2.4GHz band but works fine on 5GHz. My nVidia Shield TV Pro (2018) and two Chromecast devices with Google TV also stay visible, even when others vanish. My Vizio D-series mirrors the Hub’s behavior—visible on 2.4GHz, but disappears on 5GHz unless I switch to the Shield. They show up briefly after a router reboot or setting change, then vanish. It seems they remain connected and reachable over the network, though not castable. They still let me talk to them, control devices, and answer questions—so they’re still online and getting internet, but not appearing as castable items. This has been really annoying since it worked perfectly on both my old router (Nighthawk RAX40) and the one before that. I’ve tried many fixes: IGMP snooping, enabling multicasting, updating firmware, turning off MU-MIMO, disabling WiFi 6 on 2.4GHz, and so on. No solution seems to help. About a week ago I thought IGMP monitoring was off and they stayed visible, but after a weekend trip the issue reappeared. It only happens on the 2.4GHz band, while 5GHz devices stay active. I’m considering swapping all Home Mini units for newer 5GHz models like the Nest Mini, but that would cost more and leave my two non-5GHz clocks (one in bed, one with a child) out of the picture. I’ve already tried everything and need advice if possible.
You're asking about configuring separate SSIDs for 2.4 and 5GHz networks. I recall similar challenges with a recent router where using distinct names helped avoid conflicts. I kept the existing 2.4 network under one name and set up a new one for the 5GHz band. For devices that support both bands, switching between them caused issues, especially when they shared the same SSID. It seemed problematic to have both channels active at once or to lose connectivity altogether. If you already use separate SSIDs, disabling WPA3 might be necessary, as newer routers often only support WPA1-2 or WPA3. WPA2-3 isn't typically available and would likely compromise security.
They are on distinct networks. I'll check if WPA-3 is activated. Appreciate it!