HDMI problem

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Discussion

98elise

Original Poster:

28,202 posts

168 months

Monday 11th November
quotequote all
I'm currently on holiday and want to plug a Chromecast into our Villa TV. The TV is hung on the wall so I don't have access to the back. There's a spare HDMI cable, but that's a male end ready for a DVD etc, but the chromecast has a wired male end for plugging in direct.

I picked up a female to female adaptor to convert the male plug, but that doesn't seem to work. The TV shows the words "Chromecast..." for a few seconds then goes blank.

Should that work or do I have a problem with the pin order effectively being reversed?

Edited by 98elise on Tuesday 12th November 18:12

EmailAddress

13,566 posts

225 months

Monday 11th November
quotequote all
Is the Chromecast getting enough power. Can you power it separately.

98elise

Original Poster:

28,202 posts

168 months

Monday 11th November
quotequote all
EmailAddress said:
Is the Chromecast getting enough power. Can you power it separately.
Yes I'm powering it from it's own mains USB.

EmailAddress

13,566 posts

225 months

Monday 11th November
quotequote all
Can you change the resolution on the Tv input channel.

Is it set at 60 maybe but you're inputting at 50.

Or Have you done a hard reboot of the Tv and Chromecast since plugging them together.

98elise

Original Poster:

28,202 posts

168 months

Monday 11th November
quotequote all
EmailAddress said:
Can you change the resolution on the Tv input channel.

Is it set at 60 maybe but you're inputting at 50.

Or Have you done a hard reboot of the Tv and Chromecast since plugging them together.
I've rebooted the chromecast, but not the TV. It's not mine so don't want to mess with it too much, plus its in Spanish

It would just be nice stick a film on in the evenings, but not crucial.

SteBrown91

2,570 posts

136 months

Monday 11th November
quotequote all
How are you powering the chromecast? With the USB in the TV or into a plug? It sounds like to me the device is not getting enough power.

I have taken firesticks abroad and used the inbuilt USB on the TV. The stick bleats that it might not be powerful enough and may experience instability but it has generally been fine. Can you not reach the HDMIs on the back of the TV? Theres normally a bit of wiggle room to plug something in.

98elise

Original Poster:

28,202 posts

168 months

Monday 11th November
quotequote all
It looks like a device problem.

I'm running in from a decent Samsung USB charger so power should be good.

I've just tried another reset and it doesn't go through the right light sequence, then a screen appears directing you to a chomecast startup issues website.

I'm going to leave it for now. I'm on holiday so shouldn't be watching TV!

98elise

Original Poster:

28,202 posts

168 months

Tuesday 12th November
quotequote all
EmailAddress said:
Is the Chromecast getting enough power. Can you power it separately.
This was the right answer but it wasn't the power supply, it was the cable.

The chromecast and cable I'm using was working perfectly well on our home TV so the only things that had changed were the external power supply, and adding the female to female adaptor.

I had a spare hour this afternoon so I did another full reset, then changed the power supply. It got slightly further into the start process before restarting.

Fortunately I found a spare micro USB cable in the case so tried that and it started up fine.


Edited by 98elise on Tuesday 12th November 18:14

EmailAddress

13,566 posts

225 months

Tuesday 12th November
quotequote all
Do I win something?

biggrin

98elise

Original Poster:

28,202 posts

168 months

Tuesday 12th November
quotequote all
EmailAddress said:
Do I win something?

biggrin
A virtual pint!

My background is fixing complex stuff so my first thought was "what's changed". The external power was an improvement, but the female to female was new hence my original question. You rightly looked at the symptoms and deduced the likely cause.

The cable hadn't been changed, but it had recently been disturbed multiple times and it's about 10 years old. Cheap cable + age + movement = broken.


Edited by 98elise on Wednesday 13th November 11:03