DII8 - back to GPS issues. - Epic 4G General

DII8 - back to GPS issues. - Epic 4G General

Anyone having major GPS issues? Seems like it was worse than before. Took forever to get a lock while I was driving, had to stop and turn off GPS/back out of Google Nav, go back in. It got a signal for about 10s then lost it.. with full bars. Anyone else having this problem?

Mine still doesn't work at all. -_-

No problems here ... I usually have it off but whenever I need it, I've always gotten a lock immediately and flawless navigation using Google Maps. Absolutely destroys battery though

Took me 15 min to get a lock on a clear day outside on a fresh reboot and still was off on my location. My touch pro 2 never had this problem.. I could use it inside a building full of metal and still get a lock.. I love the Epic but I would not use the gps in its current state of function for navigation purposes..
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

I think for many, it's still having problems on cold boots. Once it locks, it seems to be fine. I never experienced this though, I only have problems getting GPS signal inside buildings.

nimaim said:
I think for many, it's still having problems on cold boots. Once it locks, it seems to be fine. I never experienced this though, I only have problems getting GPS signal inside buildings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No the opposite is true, the problem people are reporting, including those above, are on warm starts where, on occasion, old expired ephemris data is in cache and causes problem getting a lock in otherwise good conditions.
This is much tested and there is a good workaround. By setting the Epic to cold start you overcome this problem, it is stickied as the workaround on the large epic forums elsewhere:
Enter GPS debug/settings application by typing *#1472365#
click "Setup" tab
click "position mode"
Click "starting mode
Enable "Cold Start"
Back out.

Whats the difference between warm start and hot start

mine shows me and my wife in texas half the time and we live in florida, never did it before this update. seems to be picking it up from the wifi I use in my house, as thats ATT and they are SBC and i believe they are in texas, but i never rehooked her phone up to wifi and lattitude shows her in texas at different times and the thing shows me in texas as well, its like cell triangulation doesn't work worth a damn.

nimaim said:
No problems here ... I usually have it off but whenever I need it, I've always gotten a lock immediately and flawless navigation using Google Maps. Absolutely destroys battery though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^ Same for me. Never an issue and even locks indoors. Yes it eats batteries for lunch though.
Sent from my wrist watch calculator

The GPS is worthless and can not be relied on. Yes, on occasion it does work and on that rare occasion, it seems to work well. However, on the five occasions that I have NEEDED it, it has failed me completely, NEVER locking on my location. These occasions have been outside with clear sky. When I use GPSStatus, it shows 9 sats but 0 lock. I just don't understand how it can see 9 sats and not lock at all. I have a >10 year old POS handheld GPS that with no network, no maps, no anything locks every time within one minute. Samsung must have actually had to try to f--- this up.
Yes I have applied the cold start "fix" and it has made no difference, sometimes the GPS works and most of the time (especially when I NEED it) it does not.

Using the cold start method posted by aero1, my GPS.... sometimes works. Sitting in my car on a clear day with full signal, the GPS can take up to 5 minutes to get a lock. If I'm moving, It will sometimes lock onto me but still say "searching for GPS" so it won't give me driving directions... even though it can see where I am.
In cases when it does work, it lags a LOT. Sometimes it won't update my position for a minute... which is useless if I have a turn coming up that I don't know about. It is always jumping to where I am every few seconds. Google nav on the EVO was perfectly smooth. It stuck with me around turns and never lagged. Always perfectly accurate. It is the only thing I miss from the EVO.
I've completely given up on the GPS and use my Garmin (/wrists) whenever I need something reliable

hydralisk said:
Using the cold start method posted by aero1, my GPS.... sometimes works. Sitting in my car on a clear day with full signal, the GPS can take up to 5 minutes to get a lock. If I'm moving, It will sometimes lock onto me but still say "searching for GPS" so it won't give me driving directions... even though it can see where I am.
In cases when it does work, it lags a LOT. Sometimes it won't update my position for a minute... which is useless if I have a turn coming up that I don't know about. It is always jumping to where I am every few seconds. Google nav on the EVO was perfectly smooth. It stuck with me around turns and never lagged. Always perfectly accurate. It is the only thing I miss from the EVO.
I've completely given up on the GPS and use my Garmin (/wrists) whenever I need something reliable
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same results I'm having now. Using the workaround (cold start) it's hit or miss whether I get a lock or not regardless of how many sats my phone sees.

I put it to "cold boot" and am still getting shaky results. I used it to find my way back to my apartment but it kept putting me on the road NEXT TO the highway and jumping back and forth. Did this again when I was returning from work during lunch just to see if it happened again. Yep, gonna have to lug around my Garmin from now on.
Just sad.

Try this, weird but is working for me.
I installed an app from the market called GPS test to test my GPS signal strength.
Whenever I launch GPS test and then run google navigation it locks on within 10 seconds. If I don't launch GPS test after a cold boot then it takes forever to lock on.
So far this has been working for me for a couple of days. Might be a fluke though.

othan1 said:
Same results I'm having now. Using the workaround (cold start) it's hit or miss whether I get a lock or not regardless of how many sats my phone sees.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got three epics which allow me to do extensive controlled testing.
before applying the cold start fix my results were as follows on all three when in perfect sat condensations:
a) about 75% of the time no problem with locks
b) about 20% of the time I was getting many sats seen and none locked (expired ephemeris);
b) 5% or less I was getting few sats seen where they should be seen (bad almanac)
I applied cold start method to one Epic and for several days never experienced a failure to lock. I applied cold start to second Epic and now both Epics with cold start applied have gone over two weeks without a single failure to lock. I am now testing some other methods of flushing out cache
Top me this points to main problem being cache which for me ahs disappeared with cold start -- although there are other GPS problems on epic)
Other issues -- not addressed by cold start fix -- are inherent low SNR, SNR thresholds, samsung hacking the difference between fine and coarse results (30 meter hardcoded), these can all cause problems with GPS.
That said there is absolutely a repair of the main cache problem with cold start, I now see my 3g light up every single time I invoke GPS, with non net based applications, reflecting an objective and factual assistance data download --and without cold start I often would see no data usage on invoking GPS meaning failure to pull assistance data.

Related

[TIP] GPS Issues Workaround

Obviously Samsung has no idea how to write proper drivers for Android phones running the QSC6085. I found a workaround that fixes any issues with GPS.
It's completely simple, turn off WiFi and 4G when you're trying to get a lock.
Proof 1: I stood outside in broad daylight with clear skies connected to my home's WiFi network. Using GPS Test, my phone discovered 12 satellites and made 0 connections for 3 minutes. I closed the app, disabled WiFi (used 3G) and I got a lock of 4 satellites within 15 seconds and 6 - 8 after another 15 seconds.
Proof 2: I left my house and went straight from WiFi to 4G. I got in the car and turned on Google Navigation. I set it to my destination and waited for a lock. After a minute I turned off 4G and got a lock within 15 seconds.
THIS PHONE HAS NO MAJOR GPS ISSUES. Obviously these are simple bugs and I have no doubt in my mind that Samsung is aware of these and will fix them in the next update.
Other GPS bugs I've noticed:
No matter how many satellites I have locked on, my accuracy has never gone below 30 meters.
SNR numbers are really low. According to a leaked ROM for the Vibrant, this can be fixed.

K.. I checked your tips..
3g only[Inside Apt] -- floats between 7 and 8 sat and usually 6-7 locks
Wify Only[Inside Apt] -- Solid 9 satalites and 7-8 locks
4G[no wifi] : stopped with 4 sat and 4 locks but I noticed that my 4g likes to sleep

Yes, it seems that when using WiFi, that updated ephemeris data is not being transmitted, however, it's not bulletproof - after a day or so, it'll try to lock, the 3G connection will go dormant, and it'll just sit there...

I have three epics and have been working with *#1472365# settings and testing for about a week.
I am concerned you maybe getting a false positive on repair of the main problem until you confirm, with no resets and further changes to *#1472365# (which reset the cache) that 24 hours later and in a diffident position you do lock most sats Epic sees.
There are a dozen things you can do to flush out the xtra data cache, just none that I have found that persist and to it regularly (ideally with a couple hours at most for ephmeris, and a day o r two for alamanc). Most proper aGPS implementation will also give the device a minute on warm/hot start, and if is seeing and not locking, grab new assistance data from the best source (first choice network, second birds)
I do think sammy is teid itself up in knots with drivers because of the many different agps environments Galaxy S is sold in. It goes way beyond GSM v CDMA, but also even bigger considerations, like agps data source adn methods, and even whether the device is in a unlimited data carier environment (like our epics) or not.
have you done any testing with the xtra settings themselves? seems to me that is where the rubber hits the road?.

aero1 said:
have you done any testing with the xtra settings themselves? seems to me that is where the rubber hits the road?.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only change I've made with my phone's *#1472365# settings is setting it to Cold Start to save battery. I know in testing builds of the Moment aGPS addresses were set to internal testing ones that didn't work.

No problem with GPS here. I use Navigation and CoPilot and both pick me in seconds. Navigated from the mechanics workshop today just to test it out and worked like a charm. Guess some have it and some don't.

yes me too, and further, with speedtest app, the only way i can get it to lock on a server that is near me is to have wifi on when I start the app, then it locks on my server, otherwise, it has me 1500 miles away as closest server.

LordLugard said:
No problem with GPS here. I use Navigation and CoPilot and both pick me in seconds. Navigated from the mechanics workshop today just to test it out and worked like a charm. Guess some have it and some don't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, we all have the same bug and Sprint Device team is trying to get samsung on it.
You just haven't been in a condition where it occurs, whcih is turning on GPS in a different location say 8 hours later absent flushing the cache.
The Epic doesn't properly check the cache for staleness, so everyone who uses GPS will come up on this problem eventually. It is a bug Samsugn has had before.
arashed31 said:
The only change I've made with my phone's *#1472365# settings is setting it to Cold Start to save battery. I know in testing builds of the Moment aGPS addresses were set to internal testing ones that didn't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the reason why I am asking is Epic has in that debug menu are setting to set time for attempts as well as flushing the cache manually. It would be interesting if we could get that going.
the reason I say so is cold start is a good workaround but it will murder GPS TTFF (time to first fix) in non network conditions. It will make it worse than standalone. Literally every time you start it will be a cold start and you will have to wait for almanac, which is 5 to 15 minutes if outside of network coverage. That is what I am seeing with cold workaround. I am still playings with forcing warm
Are you seeing that? with cold stat set, enable airplane mode, restart Epic, restart GPS and see what happens.

arashed31 said:
I found a workaround that fixes any issues with GPS.
It's completely simple, turn off WiFi and 4G when you're trying to get a lock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This method did not save me today, when after letting my Epic's GPS go unused for > 24 hours I tried to get a lock with WiFi and 4G disabled. Multiple satellites were visible, but only two were used. Gave up and rebooted. After which, almost immediately, I got 8 out of 9.

boomerbubba said:
This method did not save me today, when after letting my Epic's GPS go unused for > 24 hours I tried to get a lock with WiFi and 4G disabled. Multiple satellites were visible, but only two were used. Gave up and rebooted. After which, almost immediately, I got 8 out of 9.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I think the OP got hit with what hit us in all testing. That is why i am doing careful controlled tests. Since the main issue has to do with failure to consistently and properly remove expired and invalid assistance data cache lots of things may be removing that cache, for example any changes to that cause a reset.
Right now the only consistent way to remove it without user intervention is to go into the debug and set as cold start. The problem with that is it introduces a new problem affecting standalone TTFF, ie once you get outside of data range you will do worse TTFF than dedicated handlheld GPS units that keep almanac in ephemeris.
This problem is akin to some condition where the phone will freeze and not make calls if you don't use it in 24 hours but most people didn't realize there was a time consideration. 90% of the people would be saying there is no bug or that they have a fix.
to test any fix you have to:
get a gps location.
not use GPS for 12 hours or move location significantly.
do not reset or action that inadvertently fushes cache.
test again.
In every case and attempted workaroudn with this test but cold start hack I cannot get a gps fix on any of our three epics.

@aero1,
The complication in my last case is that I was in Cold Start mode. Maybe I just didn't give it enough time.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

boomerbubba said:
@aero1,
The complication in my last case is that I was in Cold Start mode. Maybe I just didn't give it enough time.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cold start set in *#, data connection on, clear sky and no fix within 30 seconds? Please say it isn't so.

aero1 said:
Cold start set in *#, data connection on, clear sky and no fix within 30 seconds? Please say it isn't so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the setting alright. I think at first I had 4G enabled when I started GPS Test. But the first thing I did was disable it, thus defaulting to 3G, with GPS Test still running.
But it's possible I didn't give it enough time to lock. I was in my car and perhaps too impatient. I may have given up and rebooted after less time than that.
Since then I have left Cold Start set, and have not experienced a no-lock error condition again. But I have rebooted a couple of times for other reasons. When I started my commute home this afternoon and started GPS Test, it was slow to lock but it came around to a full lock in a minute or so.

I've been using the GPS quite a bit this past week. I've had no problems getting a fix except for onces. It was due to the typical bug (find satellites but not connect). I went into the GpsTest shortcut and set it to Hot Start then back to Cold Start. Immediately the GPS started working again.
Switching back and forth clears the GPS cache and fixes this issue. To me, that's the only problem this phone has. As far as I know, this can be an INCREDIBLY EASY fix if anyone can go into the source and put in a way to periodically clear the cache.

GPS after the update

I think I've updated my phone with something called Kies mini... I am trying to check my location with the gps but it aint even close to where I live!!!
Everyone talks about how satellites has their gps locked on to but I have no idea how to see that... with gps test.
HELP PLEASE! It has been always showing the same location doesnt matter which city I'm on! (before the update too)...
I think once I have tested this gps fix that was around, but then I went back to normal settings (i guess)... cause it didnt work
Now it it says that I have ECLAIR.UVJI6
I am new to all this

Search the market for an app called "GPS Test". It will show you all of the information you're looking for.

Well, I'm still having GPS difficulties with the newest update (Running Bionix 1.9).
ECLAIR.UVJI6 is the newest update, so don't worry about that.

cwoodworth said:
Well, I'm still having GPS difficulties with the newest update (Running Bionix 1.9).
ECLAIR.UVJI6 is the newest update, so don't worry about that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At least I have the right update :/
tenchi-kun said:
Search the market for an app called "GPS Test". It will show you all of the information you're looking for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have GPS Test and GPS Status... The first one doest even move at all when I start the application and the second one on the bottom show it seems that is loading something forever. Where do I see the sats? Have no idea. From the second one I will guess that it could be that part that says "fix/sats" and right now is saying 0/2.
My goodness... The damn gps would so useful to stop loosing myself on the German streets
Nothing that I can do to fix it? Is there any news about if this is the last official fix for the gps?

My GPS was working great when I first odin JI6, now all of the sudden it just stop working, I try to odin it back to JI6 again and it still doesnt work so well.

I'm testing the GPS out right now. I've had the phone since wednesday, tried google maps and it's never been able to get my location. I just installed JI6 today and ran GPS test for the first time. I got 0 satellites for a couple of runs until my 3rd try where it eventually got up to 10.
Even though I get locks on GPS test, google maps/navi still can't pick up my location so it's useless =\

In my specific case, I found that the JI6 GPS update did not perform much better than the original version. Yes it was better, but certainly not as good as the JI2 update. So, I've applied the JI2 update and things seem to work much better.
Also, I've found that turning off wifi when making the initial GPS lock really helps reduce the amount of time needed to initially lock.
Good luck!

^ second that. Try to turn off wifi.

Try these maybe:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=728894
FYI - Ive had good luck changing to MS Based:
From link-
""In MS-Based mode, the network provides the satellite information to the device, based on a rough estimate of where the device is located, and the device acquires the GPS signals from the satellites and calculates its location. After the initial fix, the device operates like an autonomous GPS receiver, until the satellite information must be refreshed, at which time the device goes back to the network to update the satellite information. MS-Based mode is appropriate for applications that require the device location to be updated rapidly, such as a navigation application. Can the GPS work in autonomous mode? No, the GPS receiver requires the assistance of the network elements to acquire its initial location fix.""

i flashed bionix 1.9 and had more problems with gps than when i was running 1.5. atleast before it was sort of accurate... and found a couple sats after 2-3 minutes. but iwth 1.9... nothing and not even the correct side of the street (showed me east while i was way west). then i found someone who had a gps fix based on j12 and it was in zip so... i mounted that to me SD and reinstalled using clockwork recovery... now within seconds i get gps ... extremely accurate... AND... lock on to most of the satelites that are available. i love it!

Right, so here are my thoughts and experiences while using the new JI6 update:
1) Way more accurate than the previous couple of builds that I have tried. When the GPS does lock, it usually locks onto 10/12 birds and finds my location within 5-6 meters. Not bad! Definitely not as good as when I had GPS working via one of Eugene's Franken-Twiz ROMs (between 2-3 meters), but definitely good enough for daily navigation.
2) The fix for damn sure didn't fix any of the satellite aquisition problems that our phones have been experiencing. Typically for me it will aquire satellites right off the bat about 50% of the time. Other times I'm left waiting 20+ minutes for it to get a lock.
3) Solution I have found to get a quick fix. Type in *#3214789650# (for the new JI6 update) and delete the GPS Data cache. I think it's the last button on the list. After the cache is cleared, use the top button on the list to perform a location test. I've seen this take anywhere from 30 seconds up to 2 minutes... sometimes a bit longer if I am in an area with poor signal coverage. Once I have aquired a successful lock on multiple birds, I simply back out of the application and am good to go. If I leave GPS constantly on, I have found that my phone will maintain the lock almost indef. If I turn the feature off during the day to conserve battery life I have found that it will usually aquire a lock within 30 secs or so of me turning GPS back on IF I am still in the area where I turned the feature off. If I drive to an area an hour or so away from where I turned it off, I usually have to repeat the above process to get a quick fix.
I've tried every iteration of option combinations from the lbltest menu, and have mostly been greeted by similar results, with no one option particularly speeding up the process. Based off of this I am assuming the issue probably lies with the caching of stale data on our phones, and it's inability to purge this data on it's own.
The one thing I haven't tried yet is the JI2 fix mentioned above. I might give this a whirl and see how it works!
BTW, I'm an expat working in Europe, so this might also be the cause of my slow lock times... however every other GPS I own works magnificently over here.

Moped_Ryder said:
Try these maybe:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=728894
FYI - Ive had good luck changing to MS Based:
From link-
""In MS-Based mode, the network provides the satellite information to the device, based on a rough estimate of where the device is located, and the device acquires the GPS signals from the satellites and calculates its location. After the initial fix, the device operates like an autonomous GPS receiver, until the satellite information must be refreshed, at which time the device goes back to the network to update the satellite information. MS-Based mode is appropriate for applications that require the device location to be updated rapidly, such as a navigation application. Can the GPS work in autonomous mode? No, the GPS receiver requires the assistance of the network elements to acquire its initial location fix.""
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the first "fix" for the gps? I tried once but it didnt work.

I have tried pretty much all the "fixes" I can think of and this is what I have found. No matter the source (root mods, Bionix, J12/J14/J15/J16-leaked and OTA), changing from 'standalone' to msbased helps tremendously. Also using the google server and port is much much better for faster locks and maintaining lock even if you are not in clear view of the sky (tree, buildings etc will affect you lock). I willl say the stock JFD with the msbased and google server and port was better than just about all the other ones I have tried with the stock standalone and spirint server.
IMO The OTA J16 is the fastest and most accurate (less than 10 feet everytime, less than 30sec fix everytime) that I have tried, but even that required me to use the google server and port, and also switch to msbased.

theking52 said:
i flashed bionix 1.9 and had more problems with gps than when i was running 1.5. atleast before it was sort of accurate... and found a couple sats after 2-3 minutes. but iwth 1.9... nothing and not even the correct side of the street (showed me east while i was way west). then i found someone who had a gps fix based on j12 and it was in zip so... i mounted that to me SD and reinstalled using clockwork recovery... now within seconds i get gps ... extremely accurate... AND... lock on to most of the satelites that are available. i love it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, do I need to root my phone for that?

cathardicnotion said:
Right, so here are my thoughts and experiences while using the new JI6 update:
1) Way more accurate than the previous couple of builds that I have tried. When the GPS does lock, it usually locks onto 10/12 birds and finds my location within 5-6 meters. Not bad! Definitely not as good as when I had GPS working via one of Eugene's Franken-Twiz ROMs (between 2-3 meters), but definitely good enough for daily navigation.
2) The fix for damn sure didn't fix any of the satellite aquisition problems that our phones have been experiencing. Typically for me it will aquire satellites right off the bat about 50% of the time. Other times I'm left waiting 20+ minutes for it to get a lock.
3) Solution I have found to get a quick fix. Type in *#3214789650# (for the new JI6 update) and delete the GPS Data cache. I think it's the last button on the list. After the cache is cleared, use the top button on the list to perform a location test. I've seen this take anywhere from 30 seconds up to 2 minutes... sometimes a bit longer if I am in an area with poor signal coverage. Once I have aquired a successful lock on multiple birds, I simply back out of the application and am good to go. If I leave GPS constantly on, I have found that my phone will maintain the lock almost indef. If I turn the feature off during the day to conserve battery life I have found that it will usually aquire a lock within 30 secs or so of me turning GPS back on IF I am still in the area where I turned the feature off. If I drive to an area an hour or so away from where I turned it off, I usually have to repeat the above process to get a quick fix.
I've tried every iteration of option combinations from the lbltest menu, and have mostly been greeted by similar results, with no one option particularly speeding up the process. Based off of this I am assuming the issue probably lies with the caching of stale data on our phones, and it's inability to purge this data on it's own.
The one thing I haven't tried yet is the JI2 fix mentioned above. I might give this a whirl and see how it works!
BTW, I'm an expat working in Europe, so this might also be the cause of my slow lock times... however every other GPS I own works magnificently over here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gonna try this out! cheers

finds sats but won't lock on...
I'm still having GPS problems post-update. I've never installed any custom ROMs or any custom GPS fixes other than some tweaking in the LbsTestMode menus, which I have since reverted to the default.
In the LbsTest or the GPS Test app I get the same results: the phone always finds 10-12 satellites just fine (levels in the 20s) but it never locks onto my location. GPS Test will say "In View: 10" for 20 minutes but "In Use" always stays at 0.
Anybody have any ideas here? I was really hopeful that I'd finally have a functioning GPS after this update.

00sivan said:
exact same issue. drive an hour away and the gps is hosed unless you clear it and start it again.
I am also overseas. I wonder if grabbing the GPS settings from I9000 would help? Does anyone have them or know where to find them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used the GPS for hours going between statelines with JI6, no problems requiring a signal when I closed out GPS.
The_Tim said:
I'm still having GPS problems post-update. I've never installed any custom ROMs or any custom GPS fixes other than some tweaking in the LbsTestMode menus, which I have since reverted to the default.
In the LbsTest or the GPS Test app I get the same results: the phone always finds 10-12 satellites just fine (levels in the 20s) but it never locks onto my location. GPS Test will say "In View: 10" for 20 minutes but "In Use" always stays at 0.
Anybody have any ideas here? I was really hopeful that I'd finally have a functioning GPS after this update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reboot the phone, it usually works in this case.

heygrl said:
I used the GPS for hours going between statelines with JI6, no problems requiring a signal when I closed out GPS.
Reboot the phone, it usually works in this case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the thing is... mine worked in the states with the stock JFD without any problem. flawless.
it stopped working when i got overseas. and hasn't worked well since. It really seems like it ONLY works well in the states. I mean I can get it to work if I clear the data all the time, reset the phone all the time, but it's not supposed to work like that. It should just find me when i open maps like any sound person would expect from the device. can anyone contend? is anyone having flawless GPS functionality outside the US?

heygrl said:
Reboot the phone, it usually works in this case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've rebooted at least 5 or 6 times, as well as clearing the GPS cache ("Delete GPS Data" in LbsTestMode) numerous times as well. Still never gets a location lock despite seeing 10-11 satellites.

GPS Fix!

It seems that the majority of people have absolutely no GPS issues. But I notice every time that I factory reset, I can't get a GPS lock, which is absolutely weird. I can't acquire location on GenieWidget either initially. If anyone else out there is having GPS issues or Location issues then try this.
How to fix for both:
1. Download GPS Test from the market (the free one)
Run it, and leave it running until the GPS On light turns green and it has satellites in use and tells you the meters accuracy. That means a lock. This can take a few minutes.
After this happens, GPS locks very quickly even after reboots, very weird.
Now even after this, GenieWidget still can't acquire location.
2. Turn on WiFi, but don't connect to anything, you don't have to.
When WiFi is on, go back to the GenieWidget and hit refresh.
It'll find your location even though you're not on a WiFi network.
Now disable WiFi and it'll be able to acquire your location every single time.
Weird stuff.

damn... sounds like Samsung is STILL failing with LBS. It's very frustrating on my Captivate.

I turned it on before and got a fix in about 45 seconds. About the same time as my Slide.

skinien said:
damn... sounds like Samsung is STILL failing with LBS. It's very frustrating on my Captivate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a one time issue though it seems. I think actually it all depends on getting that 'first' lock. The phone will go to sleep if you wait on maps too long. So I just use that app, go into settings, and hit Keep Awake then leave it sit til it locks. After that, I can get a lock in 1-5 seconds every time after reboots upon reboots.

It locks just as quick as my Evo, 10-15 seconds for me. I use my GPS so much if its not getting a good lock I would return the damn thing over and over until it work how it should. Even 45 seconds is a stretch...my G1 locks faster than that...

Anderdroid said:
It's a one time issue though it seems. I think actually it all depends on getting that 'first' lock. The phone will go to sleep if you wait on maps too long. So I just use that app, go into settings, and hit Keep Awake then leave it sit til it locks. After that, I can get a lock in 1-5 seconds every time after reboots upon reboots.
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Click to collapse
Quite right. There's a big difference between "cold" and "warm" GPS startup.
When the phone is brand new, or after a hard reset, it will always be a "cold" start. The phone has no clue about where it is in the world, or even if it has the correct time. So the very first thing it does is to look around and try to spot any GPS satellites. Then it tries to download the almanac data.
For GPS to lock, quite a lot of data needs to be downloaded from the satellites. This takes between 30-60 seconds uninterrupted view of at least 3 satellites. If you're moving around, the view of the satellites may be interrupted, and the phone will have to start over again. This process can be speeded up a lot with A-GPS.
After the first lock, things go much faster. The almanac data is already on the phone, and the position of the last GPS fix is known.
The thing that confuses most people is that an Android phone will try to navigate by other means when there's no GPS lock. By cell tower, or by WiFi hotspot. Cell tower gives your location instantly, but with a very large margin of error. If your position is way off, then you're not navigating by GPS, but by other, less accurate means.

I actually can't get location from the cell towers >.< But yeah my GPS is locking in 1-5 seconds now.

Still no luck with above... will not turn green just stays yellow

[Q] GPS lock issues?

Anyone else having issues getting a GPS lock? I'm sitting inside a building but my Hero would always lock here, especially after resetting the AGPS data with GPS Status program. Tried that with the Shift, and still not getting a lock even after a minute. Not sure what else to try.

Typically I keep mine turned off, but I just turned mine on and went to Maps and it locks my location in.

mine took a little while to initialize (indoors) but it locked in within 30 seconds.

No issues here. Inside my GFs apartment it locks very quick and is probably about 5-10 feet off according to google maps. My moments GPS never locked or worked so I'm extremely happy with the GPS quality on this phone.

The first lock took around a minute to get. Now it gets a solid lock in just a few seconds, if that.

A little off. Not as bad as my gfs Samsung Instinct, but it does often have me a few hundred meters from my actual location.
-NuAngel
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App

Me and my girlfriend are having constant problems with the gps lock. Seems to work when it wants and disconnects randomly.
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App

GPS is spotty for me as well. GPS Status won't even get it working for me when it won't work.
When it does work it is not as accurate as my Heroc was. Hopefully this gets some love in any updates.

GPS is great for me. The only issue I've run into is that when I go from Maps to Navigation, my SD card gets mounted as read-only for some reason.

I know a couple of days ago I tried to use my Google Maps/GPS and it couldn't get a lock on me. It was like going crazy or something. However, it was snowing and kinda foggy so maybe that had something to do with it. It worked the next day though when the sky was clear.

No gps lock on my end either. Also tried the gps status clear....nothing so far
EDIT: just opened maps for about a minute or so and it locked finally. Closed maps then opened again, locked within seconds.

Bumping this thread: I have issues with getting a GPS lock. If I open Google Maps, I'll never get a lock (at least not before the phone goes to sleep - 60 seconds). I open up GPS test, which I downloaded from the market. It gets one satellite to lock right away. Sometimes two. Then it takes forever to get 3-4 more (at least 60 seconds). I can then go into google maps, and it will get a lock within 15-20 seconds. But if I let the phone go to sleep, and open up maps again, I don't get a lock, unless I do the GPS test. And sometimes that doesn't even work. I've done the GPS Clear thing, via the epst codes (##GPSCLRX#), and that doesn't seem to do anything. I'm running the MikShiftG 1.1 rom. I'm going to make a nandroid backup, and see if that happens on a stock 2.3.3 rooted rom.

Why does my GPS STILL not work?

Loving the phone and the community here, but I'm starting to get frustrated with this thing. Before DL09, I could never get a lock. After updating to it (manually, before it was an ota), my gps worked for the first time ever. However after switching to DL30 and subsequently EB01, I can no longer achieve a lock. I thought this fix was already taken care of? How come the newer radios aren't working on my phone?
I'm currently using the EB01 radio on Superclean 2.4

You turned on all of the GPS settings (Google, verizon, standalone) and cannot get a lock?
Im getting a lock on EB01 way faster than DL09.

I'm on super clean 2.2 and I have no issues with GPS. Have you considered that your phone's GPS may be faulty? I'd exchange it.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

I leave the GPS on all the time. In most buildings it keeps the lock. I really hope that leaving it on makes it easier to live with.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

In my foray into EB01, GPS was flawless... for a day. After that I couldn't get a lock to save my life, rebooting clearing stats etc.
The difference was four friends came in from out of town with GSM android phones. We all were having issues. It is like they were kryptonite.
Of course it is ridiculous to think that one GPS would mess up another since they are passive devices. I would advise taking this as weak entertainment or with a grain of salt. DL09 is back yup normal, usually 10 seconds sometimes two minutes for a lock.
In my opinion, getting stable froyo on these units won't be so easy, and I hope we get a few timely releases until they get it right. If EB01 does go OTA, I am screaming bloody murder the moment my clock goes out of synch.
Swyped w/ XDA App. When in doubt, mumble.

try turning on your wifi network (even if your not on a wifi network) this gives you a pretty good position.

xtrimsky said:
try turning on your wifi network (even if your not on a wifi network) this gives you a pretty good position.
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For positioning, I just use the cell towers. That's fine. Its for turn-by-turn directions where I really want the GPS lock.

After 48 hours or so of uptime my GPS is definitely not as quick to fix as it was under DL09. I'm sitting in my favorite armchair looking at a fix with three satellites whereas I used to get a fix with 7 or 8 and an accuracy of 8 feet. After a reboot my fix time drops to about 15 seconds and I get a lock on 8 satellites.

these have been my experiences with Super Clean 2.x (voodoo and nonvoodoo):
- sometimes turning the GPS off from notification window and back on again will do the trick
- sometimes when the above doesn't work, turning it off and then back on again from within settings (where you need to click "agree") will be more effective. In this case I've even noticed a difference between doing this by going directly into settings vs. letting Google Nav tell me that GPS is disabled, and agreeing to let it take me to the location settings.
- bizarrely, sometimes opening "GPS Test" app (market, free) identifies satellites more immediately than Google Navigation. Then after GPS Test can see them, I go back into Google Nav and it will see the satellites right away.
- if all else fails rebooting the phone has always done it (and then doing the same dance described above)
Don't get me wrong I wish it were more stable/reliable but the above seems to do the trick. When it locks at all - it locks right away. I have just forced myself to make sure that the GPS is working before leaving the driveway, or else I run the risk of being frustrated when I need to make a snap decision to go somewhere that requires navigational aid. For me it's almost as if the Android OS isn't properly wrapping its arms around the GPS hardware than an issue of the apps locking a fix.
Last night I almost missed a flight and even went as far as to say "I really need to start bringing my old GPS around with me again". I really hope to avoid this.

Database Users

welcome