Has your Chromecast just stopped working? You're not alone as reports flood in of problems with first-gen model

It appears that the original Chromecasts out there are running into serious problems, with a raft of reports from owners of the first-gen hardware suggesting that all is suddenly not well with their devices.

9 to 5 Google (via TechRadar) highlighted the reports from first-gen Chromecast owners on Reddit who are complaining that everything has become rather hit-and-miss with their hardware.

In the Reddit thread entitled 'Looks like Google just killed every Gen 1 Chromecast in existence' (see above), some folks report YouTube no longer works - that seems to be a common issue - or that other streaming services are failing, like HBO Max or Paramount+, while others are fine.

One Redditor observes:

"Mine also stopped working last night, the clock and weather info disappeared and all I can do is cast my phone screen from the Google home android app."

This isn't perhaps entirely expected as the original Chromecast came out well over a decade ago now, back in 2013. And Google stopped providing updates for the first-gen model of the device three years ago now.

As another Redditor argues:

"Are y'all expecting this thing to work until the earth stops rotating or something? It's been 13 years people. I'm all in for hating on companies killing off devices but after 13 years it's understandable."

Still, even if you subscribe to that point of view, having the device mysteriously hamstrung more or less overnight, before it's ushered out into the darkness, is not really the ideal approach to product deprecation.

The other point the original poster on Reddit raises is: 'How much more time until they start killing off Gen 2?'

The good news for owners of the second-gen Chromecast is that it is still officially receiving (rare) updates from Google, so in theory, there should be a good few more years on the clock yet.

We don't, of course, know for sure what's actually going on with the first-gen model here, as there's been no official word from Google. But with the product not officially supported anyway, it looks very much like the end of the road is now in sight for the first-gen Chromecast.