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GraceFromGoogle
Community Member

Issues with linking your Stadia Controller?

Linking your Stadia controller to a screen

You need to link your Stadia Controller to a screen before you can use it to play. In order to play on a TV with Chromecast, a mobile device, or on web with Chrome, you’ll need to use a linking code to link your Stadia Controller wirelessly.

What is a linking code?

To let your Stadia Controller know which screen you want to play on wirelessly, you’ll need to enter a linking code for that screen. The linking code lets you easily change which screen your controller is linked to. Each screen will have its own unique linking code that will rarely change. 

Enter linking codes from left to right, one button at a time. Linking codes are 4-5 characters long and consist of only Up, Down, Left, Right, A, B, X, Y.

Here is a sample of what a linking code looks like. The code for your screen will be different. 

 

GraceFromGoogle_0-1574126629952.png

How to link with a Chromecast

  1. Press the Stadia button for one second to turn on your Stadia Controller. The controller will vibrate. If you have not previously setup the controller with Wi-Fi, you can follow the instructions here.
  2. As soon as the status light blinks white, enter the linking code displayed on your Chromecast Ultra in Ambient Mode.
  3. It can take up to 15 seconds for the entered linking code to be recognized. If the link was successful, the controller will vibrate and Stadia will launch on your Chromecast Ultra. The status light on your controller will turn solid white when it is linked to the screen.

 

Note: If the status light blinks orange, it means the controller can’t connect to Wi-Fi. Open the controller menu in the Stadia app to set up the controller with Wi-Fi. If you need to change the Wi-Fi on your Chromecast, use the Google Home app.

17 Kudos
116 Replies
McLaurinMan
Community Member

Posted this to /r/stadia and was redirected here. This heading seemingly matches my issue. Here's what I posted to Reddit: I activated my account last evening when my code arrived. My Founder's Edition arrived today. I first replaced my older Chromecast with the included Chromecast Ultra and verified successful casting from various sources. Straightforward. I next launched the Stadia app on my Pixel 3, tapped the controller icon and setup WiFi on my controller. I then entered the linking code displayed on the Chromecast. As I had not yet claimed any games, there was limited interaction I could perform; but I did verify I could open the side menu and navigate as expected. I added the Chromecast to my account in the app. I also setup a PIN for my controller. I then exited Stadia as I had other things to do. This all worked just fine. I've since claimed Destiny 2 in the Stadia app. Now that I've decided to see how it handles, I cannot get my controller to link to my Chromecast. With the controller powered off, and my Chromecast displaying the ambient screen. I press the controller button for one second, the controller vibrates, white status light illuminates and the screen displays the Stadia logo leading me to believe things are launching. Within 5 seconds, I get another controller vibration, the link code popup appears on my screen and the controller begins flashing orange. I cannot enter the link code again and connect. The Stadia app indicates the controller could not link to the screen. The Chromecast will not revert to the ambient screen after any length of timeout (would be nice). I have resetup WiFi on the controller with no change in results.
14 Kudos
Deleted User
Not applicable

I also had the exact same problem. I am hearing if you restart your phone that will allow you to go through the proper stadia controller wifi setup and should fix the issue. Hopefully we can get a response from Grace though that can clarify.
5 Kudos
Caelan
Community Member

Turn the controller off and then open up the stadia app. Then click on the controller icon and let it search for the controller. While it is doing this hold down the main stadia button and y on the controller at same time and once you see the flashing orange light, let go. It will then get picked up by the app and will take you through the connecting process
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davehoare5050
Community Member

Pressing Y and the Stadia button on the controller worked for me (didn't need the Stadia app).

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Lorenzo
Founder
Founder

Worked also for me! Thanks!

Live longe and prosper!
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RicardoReyes
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

unfortunately didn't work for me.

I was able to hold down the main stadium button, and why button at the same time until it turned orange. And I followed your instructions with the stadia app and it popped up asking if I wanted to connect it to the wi-fi. And of course it went through the Wi-Fi setup and then it asked me to enter in my password for my Wi-Fi and then it asked me to enter in a code and I did. Then it asked me to enter in the code on the tv. And I did. Then when I did, it vibrated and went to solid white but nothing on the remote would work. And then suddenly it would vibrate again and go back to a blinking orange light. It was working fine yesterday, I turned everything off to go to bed, woke up and nothing works.

Tags (1)
3 Kudos
RP0
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Just received my controller and am having the exact same issue! 

Edit: suggestion from Marco_135i worked. Had to disable Google VPN and restart Google tv

No one at Google tested this with Google VPN? :upside_down_face:

0 Kudos
BMV
Community Member

Same issue here as McLaurinMan. Please post if you have a resolution

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Maikel
Community Member

I had this problem too yesterday. I think the problem for me was actually in the chromecast. While the chromecast was updating i plugged in a internet cable which i think kind of crashed the chromecast. I had the same problems as you guys were/are having. After a factory reset of the chromecast and reconfiguring the lot everything seems to be working fine. So tldr; try and see if factory resetting the chromecast works.
0 Kudos
DigitalWaveDash
Community Member

Hi Maikel I think I have the same issue as you. I plugged in an ethernet cable while playing and after I had already set everything up through WiFi. You are saying if I just factory reset the chromecast, everything should work fine? Did you try anything else? Thanks!

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DiscoBiscuit
Community Member

Switch the Bluetooth off on your phone :beaming_face_with_smiling_eyes:

1 Kudo
JWalton314
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Turning Bluetooth off and on worked for me

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Marco_135i
Founder
Founder

I ran into this issue and figured it out for myself. I'm using a pixel 5 on Google Fi and i use Google FI's free VPN and after disabling it i can now link my controller. It looks like if you are using a VPN it doesn't recognize your network and thinks you are on a different network than your router/home network. This works everytime. If I keep VPN enabled it doesn't work but with it off works. Hopefully this is the issue you are running into. good luck. 

1 Kudo
Clank
Community Member

same problem as the guy above
1 Kudo
Xevioso
Founder
Founder

My controller couldn't be found at all. I combined 2 of the solutions here and it worked for me. Turn off your controller. Restart your phone. Open the Stadia App and click the controller icon. After it starts searching, turn on the controller. Those steps worked for me. I was able to get the app to find my controller, and set up the WiFi and Chromecast with no problems at all. I hope that helps.
3 Kudos
FlyawayZeus5513
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Thx fam

0 Kudos
Dinn
Founder
Founder

I've had several issues with the controller not connecting and having the orange blinking light as you mentioned. I also noticed - and it may just be a coincidence - that when I use the Chromecast to actually cast things like netflix net Hulu and then go back to Stadia is usually when this happens. However I have two times reset the wifi setup on the controller and it's resolved the issue. No issues with a direct plug into Pixel 4, just with WiFi. 

 

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Becomingpark451
Community Member

I can’t actually get my controller to connect to my home WiFi network at all. I have tried resetting my WiFi( contacted my provider), and also removed any other bandwidth sharing. My speed is up to 100 mbps so it should be good enough. My chrome cast ultra connected to the WiFi network fine, it’s just the controller can’t seem to connect to my internet. I also tried getting closer to the signal by trying it next to my router( no results). In fact, I tried connecting my controller to a public WiFi network, and it worked just fine( it connected to the network successfully, while it could not access the internet because It had to go through a sign up process). I really don’t know what the problem is. Help please.

2 Kudos
unrulyRedbeard
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Bump, same issue.

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fishjuice
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

I have the same exact problem, I registered it through my old routeur in my garage. It work but when I play in the house on my main wifi, I can’t connect headphones to the control pad and I suffer a lot of controler latency, and don’t know if the latency is cause by that... If you or someone have the solution, it would be great. 

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Perkhunter
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

You need to enable WiFi Bridge on your phone on public networks. Than it works for me!

0 Kudos
loolaide
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

So I had this problem and had to turn off my guest network in my wifi in order to get everything to link correctly. I then relinked my controllers in the app (I have two controllers on one account/screen) and it worked.

I also plugged my chromecast's power brick into the router directly so it's not using the wifi network for gaming because it was dropping me beforehand.

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Izeo
Community Member

I have Problem with the Controller to find him on App. Its helful to reboot your Smartphone. Then IT works fine

0 Kudos
KingVeder
Community Member

My controller cant connect to the wifi and then loses connection with the phone.

This happens over and over with no joy, reset the net phone and factory reset the controller. 

Any ideas ?

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Becomingpark451
Community Member

Hey @KingVeder  have you tried running the setup in a different phone? I ran my setup on an I phone 7 where it didn’t work, but when I in stalled the app on a Samsung A 10 and ran the setup it worked. Try a different phone, preferably a different software.

Tags (2)
1 Kudo
KingVeder
Community Member

I got it working in the end. Left the controller on top of the router and it worked. I think you could be right about it being a phone issue though!
1 Kudo
Ctod
Founder
Founder

@Becomingpark451 @GraceFromGoogle 

BecomingPark451 thank you this fixed my issue. I have the IPhone 11 Pro, switched from pixel 2xl a month back or so. Went to connect my controllers, factory reset them, updated the app via iPhone and kept getting a service connection error. Then I booted up my 2xl, updated the app and got my controllers to connect. So thank you! It’s a shame the IOS app isn’t up to snuff. I’m sure they will get it sorted eventually. Can’t wait to play via my IOS as well. For now my old 2xl works as a great stadia console and home controller though lol.

 

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GEUS
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

that worked for me as well

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Lilphish
Community Member

I'm using a Netgear Orbi wireless router.  It has dual bands and it shows that both the controller and chromecast are connected to wifi.  They are on the same network and I can ping both devices.  In the Stadia app I get a Service Device error and then it says "Can't reach Google Services"  "The Controller is connected to the internet, but can't reach google services".  I also tried a TCP and UDP port forward to the internal Stadia controller IP as recommended in another thread and that did not help either.  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.  Google has no clue on how to fix this.  Their suggestion was to try setting up a mobile hotspot for the devices and try to connect.  I tired that just to see if it would work and it did not.

1 Kudo