Why won’t my Chromecast with Google TV turn on? How to troubleshoot and what to look for

Andrew Romero | Feb 13 2023 - 10:57 am PT

The beauty of the Chromecast with Google TV is that it just works – mostly. Even with a simple and straightforward design, sometimes there are issues to run into. One big one is the Chromecast with Google TV not even turning on and playing weird sounds. Here’s how to fix it.

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Google’s Chromecast with Google TV is a great little device. Depending on what model you get, you can either run it with a 4K image format or settle for something a little lower at 1080p. The HD version is great for older TVs that need a smart upgrade with Google TV.

Simple in design, there isn’t really much that can go wrong with it. There is a short HDMI cable that comes out from the body, which is powered via USB-C. Because of that, it’s pretty easy to narrow down any issues you might come into.

One issue we’ve come into recently took a little longer than we’d like to admit to solve, though the problem was extremely straightforward. This how-to will dive into that issue and how to fix it.

Chromecast won’t turn on and plays weird tones/sounds

A quick search of “Chromecast plays weird sound with blank screen” will get a lot of results that have to do with sound issues. The issue in this guide has nothing to do with sound setup; rather, it’s actually a power issue.

What happens, in this case, is that your Chromecast with Google TV is plugged into the wall and into your TV. With the TV on and your input correctly set, there is a black screen with absolutely no indication of whether or not the device is actually on. The only indication is a weird sound that plays varying high-pitched tones. It sounds sort of like a broken doorbell chime.

If you’re having the issue above, it’s easily fixable.

Unplug the Chromecast from the wall.
Take a different USB-A charging brick and replace it with what the Chromecast is using.
Power on your Chromecast.

The idea here is that using a third-party charging brick can be completely fine, so long as you’re using one with the correct voltage. The Chromecast needs 5V/1.5A, and anything less will cause it to simply play a tone or chime through the TV’s speakers. The Chromecast houses a full OS – Google TV. With that, more power is needed to accept a Bluetooth signal as well as process the tons of apps you can run on the device.

A similar situation also happens when the device is plugged into the TV’s USB port. TVs rarely have enough power to get a Chromecast functioning off of the television alone.

What’s supposed to happen is that an error message lets you know the Chromecast is underpowered. However, our testing resulted in a completely black screen and that tone being played over and over again. This was in conjunction with using a low-power charging brick combined with a TV that for some reason doesn’t show the error message.

Fortunately, the one constant in most cases is the presence of the Chromecast’s “low power” tone. If you hear that, you know what needs to be done to fix it.