Database Users

Vibrant Google Maps Problem

I've had my Vibrant since launch day and coming from the G1, I'm absolutely blown away.
I do have on gripe though and that's with Google Maps.
At first, like many, I have/had GPS problems (poor/slow/no connectivity) which was seemingly somewhat corrected by the fix in this forum (thanks!).
I'm still having another problem though. About 1 out of every three times I open google maps, the phone begins to locate via GPS then freezes (zero functionality). A few seconds later the screen is black with the soft keys lit up. I've had this happen upwards of 20-30 times now. Holding the power button to kill the phone is necessary. The reason it seems like Google maps is not other GPS app has done this.
Today, using navigation, it was working good, until I lost GPS signal (due to river bluffs), and Maps never re-acquired the GPS signal, although a quick check using GPS status revealed a full lock. I had to close (task manager style) maps and re-do the navigation. Then it worked fine again until all of a sudden it locked like usual and completely froze. Hard re-boot, reopen maps, froze, hard re-boot, reopen maps, froze....and this happened 4 times before I was finally able to get in and kill the navigation request. Of course by this time I had missed my turn by about 2 miles.
I also thought it was latitude (before today's incident), since I had never used latitude on my G1; but the girlfriend got a Vibrant (her first smart phone) so we tried out latitude for kicks. But after trying it with Latitude on and off, there doesn't seem to be any ties as if will freeze both ways.
I've also tried uninstalling and reinstalling the Google Maps updates three times now with no changes.
Talking with a guy at the T-Mo store today was no help, other than he said a fix was coming within days to correct the GPS connectivity issue. For my problem though, which the phone faithfully recreated in-store to him (much to my pleasure) he recommended a new phone.
I'm not too crazy about getting a new device or doing a master reset (since I've heard this has helped some folks), so I thought I would ask for any suggestions from this fine community.
Any help or ideas would be appreciated.
EDIT: Just enabled SkyHook out of curiosity, and I haven't been able to replicate this problem yet since doing so. Even doing an immediate operation upon opening Maps its ok. Inside house got a 10m lock withing 15-20 seconds every time. I'll keep trying it some more tomorrow.

I have the same exact problem and it just recently started... want to see if anyone else has a fix or an idea.
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timafey said:
I have the same exact problem and it just recently started... want to see if anyone else has a fix or an idea.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
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Same exact problem? Frozen with black screen shortly after opening?

Have you both tried a reset? This is due to the GPS because the phone will get overwhelmed when it can't get a GPS lock.

I have noticed when my wifi is on I cannot receive a gps lock. Once I turn off wifi the gps is functional and will lock quickly; ~10 secs. I still may only lock 2-3 satellites indoors and accuracy is about 20'.
Also I am using the stock GPS settings.
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I had the issue with google maps and gps when turning gps on will freeze the phone and if it happened that the phone screen is locked you are sol.haven't had the issue since the reset though.
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I had this problem as well. Maps and sometimes Navigation would lock up my phone entirely, just as you described. I did a Factory Reset and that fixed the freezing problem, but my GPS problem was still there. I finally did an exchange and the new phone seems to be working better. I'm crossing my fingers that it will remain that way.

Same exact problem here. It happens with and without the GPS fix applied. I think the only solution is to wait and hope Samsung addresses the bigger GPS issue as I am sure it is all related.
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I have the exact same issues with my phone locking up.
I'm going to do a master reset when I get home from work. If that doesn't work, I'm going to exchange the device at T-Mobile (and hopefully extend my 14-day period, while we wait for the firmware fix).
I love this phone, but if these problems can't be fixed, I'll go back to the stone age.
I'll report back with the master reset / phone swap success rate on my end.

Ditto here. Happened to me last night.
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+1 here. Although I never had a problem with Google Maps/Navigation. It's My Tracks that caused the phone to lock up when recording a track.

medler said:
I have noticed when my wifi is on I cannot receive a gps lock. Once I turn off wifi the gps is functional and will lock quickly; ~10 secs. I still may only lock 2-3 satellites indoors and accuracy is about 20'.
Also I am using the stock GPS settings.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
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I have the same issue with "use wireless networks" enable. And wifi turned on... Something wrong with gps and wireless... I have applied the fix...
Now with wireless off I still have an issue:
Gps Test is taking 20-30 seconds when GPS has not been used in awhile. After the first lock, it then only takes 2-5 seconds for a lock.
So what's going with then initial lock?

yeah, the screen turns black and cant do anything... So Factory reset seems to fix the problem? is that the general consensus?

I have the same issue after doing a factory data reset. Just fyi.
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Same here. Even after factory reset, it still does the black-screen crashing act. It's quite annoying. Actually, that happened to me while typing a text message. Samsung messed up royally. The software on this phone is pure trash. I really like this phone, but the issues are just pathetic.

I'm having the same problem on my Vibrant. It has happened before and after a factory reset, before and after the GPS fix. Without the GPS fix, I couldn't even lock onto a satellite. After running Google Maps for a few minutes, the screen goes completely blank. Sometimes, it would reset itself. Sometimes, I would have to hold the power button for a few seconds to get it to reboot. Hope they fix this soon. This makes the GPS completely useless for this phone.

Etrnaly said:
I'm having the same problem on my Vibrant. It has happened before and after a factory reset, before and after the GPS fix. Without the GPS fix, I couldn't even lock onto a satellite. After running Google Maps for a few minutes, the screen goes completely blank. Sometimes, it would reset itself. Sometimes, I would have to hold the power button for a few seconds to get it to reboot. Hope they fix this soon. This makes the GPS completely useless for this phone.
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I haven't tried the factory reset, but for everything else mention my vibrant has acted the same exact way.

I've had the same issue on both the pre-release ROM and the shipped ROM. As others have said, it seems to cause problems with all of the Google Maps-based apps (Navigation, Maps, and My Tracks). You loose signal and next thing you know, black screen with the buttons lit up.
I'm waiting for an opportunity to test it with Maverick and Trimble Outdoors to see if it's just a Google-app problem or not.
Also, a master reset (aka wipe) didn't influence it one bit. About the only thing I didn't try was removing the bundled-in maps apk and replacing it with a market one.

Report these issues!
+1 Just wanted to add that everyone should report this issue (and ALL others ie. compass, GPS, dropped calls) to T-Mobile and most importantly, Samsung. I am now on hold with Samsung level 3 tech support to update my issues with the phone. The more they hear from us, the more likely they are to come out with proper fixes in a timely fashion. If these issues stay on the forums and nowhere else, we're SOL. Do it now!
UPDATE: Eric, a L3 techie, was very appreciative of the info I gave him regarding the inaccurate GPS, GPS crashing, and compass issues. He did state that these were becoming common complaints. The compass issue was said to be less popular but he was able to reproduce the inaccuracies I and many others have, so that's a good thing. He did not have any info regarding a coming fix on anything. Regarding dropped calls (which could be a radio problem) he said, as I assumed, that it is probably a service issue that T-Mo should be notified of.

I and most others have no problems with dropped calls but the only time I get that dreaded screen is when I mess with lbstestmode
Sent from my SGH-T959

Vibrant Freezes and WIFI freezes?

So I've had the vibrant freeze on me about 3 or 4 times out of the 2-3 weeks I've had it so far. It's gone black with the bottom four buttons still lit but it wouldn't shut of via the power button or respond to any other buttons either. Also, one time it froze yesterday after I did a master reset through the factory reset option. This time it froze while I was trying to do a speed test, the screen stayed on in the speed test window but buttons were once again nonresponsive. I haven't replicated it yet though. I have to pull the battery to get it restarted.
Another issue I've experienced a couple of times is the wifi would freeze when I turn it off through the power widget (my normal method of toggling wifi). It says that wifi is turning off but it stays in that state and never actually does. The green light would dim on the power widget as though it's turning off but it sticks there and under wifi info it just says it's turning off. When this happen, wifi will neither turn on nor off and just becomes unresponsive. I have to restart the vibrant to get wifi back to normal.
Anyone else experienced this or have any ideas on these problems?

Samsung Vibrant Freeze
drgnclwk said:
So I've had the vibrant freeze on me about 3 or 4 times out of the 2-3 weeks I've had it so far. It's gone black with the bottom four buttons still lit but it wouldn't shut of via the power button or respond to any other buttons either. Also, one time it froze yesterday after I did a master reset through the factory reset option. This time it froze while I was trying to do a speed test, the screen stayed on in the speed test window but buttons were once again nonresponsive. I haven't replicated it yet though. I have to pull the battery to get it restarted.
Another issue I've experienced a couple of times is the wifi would freeze when I turn it off through the power widget (my normal method of toggling wifi). It says that wifi is turning off but it stays in that state and never actually does. The green light would dim on the power widget as though it's turning off but it sticks there and under wifi info it just says it's turning off. When this happen, wifi will neither turn on nor off and just becomes unresponsive. I have to restart the vibrant to get wifi back to normal.
Anyone else experienced this or have any ideas on these problems?
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has any solution been found for this ?? i have similar freezing issues with my vibrant .. i found one possible culprit listed on another site .. there is a way to disable the TeleNavGPS app (as you cannot uninstall) .. it is supposed that this interferes with the phone to the point of complete failure

Are you running stock 2.2 from Kies? I had exactly the same problems.
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You could try backing up and doing an ODIN flash to KA6. I've had similar lockups with some builds in the past but they are fairly infrequent. Currently running stock KB1 rooted with KA6 radio and it has been smooth for a long while now.
I've tried some of the 2.2.1 Roms, but I absolutely need wifi calling so I stick with stock.
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I have the same issue. On my second Vibrant running stock 2.2. About to send this one back for warranty as well. Mine will freeze from the lock screen, either stuck on the screen and the display stays on, or the screen wont come back on from idle.

FirefighterZ said:
I have the same issue. On my second Vibrant running stock 2.2. About to send this one back for warranty as well. Mine will freeze from the lock screen, either stuck on the screen and the display stays on, or the screen wont come back on from idle.
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Have you tried another ROM? I thought my phone was broken with stock 2.2. Haven't had issues with Bionix.
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No other ROMs, I know there are a lot of good ones, but I shouldn't have to root my phone for it to work correctly. Within a week of this current Vibrant I was having these issues. I didn't purchase the Vibrant to flash ROMs, I bought it because of the specs to remain stock. On a side note..I was told after 3 warranty replacements within 90 days I will be able to get another phone from them.

FirefighterZ said:
No other ROMs, I know there are a lot of good ones, but I shouldn't have to root my phone for it to work correctly. Within a week of this current Vibrant I was having these issues. I didn't purchase the Vibrant to flash ROMs, I bought it because of the specs to remain stock. On a side note..I was told after 3 warranty replacements within 90 days I will be able to get another phone from them.
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Click to collapse
Yeah, know what you mean. It is silly that stock is just broken. Hopefully the OTA will be better than the Kies release. (Are they doing an OTA?)
Maybe they'll swap for a Nexus S.
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im rooted on android 2.2 but stock rom stock modem stock everything just root. i have had the same wif issue as the op. i just go to settings>wireless settings> wifsettings and turn on wifi that way. if you notice it will say error. 90% of the time this works and you will not have to reboot. i switch from wifi to 3g a lot. i have not figured the cause just yet but this is a work around for now.
as far as deleting the bloatware i rooted and deleted all that crap like sims, and other apps that i do not/will not ever use. there is a thread on which ones are safe to delete. be careful about deleting apps that are used by google such as google talk.

Unreal, Samsung. I wanted to sell my Vibrant, but can't get anywhere near what it's worth because of these stupid issues.
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I'm having the same problems!!!
I am now on the 3rd replacement (that's the 4th T-Mobile's Samsung Vibrant 3G!!!) and still having problems.
My phone will just be sitting on my desk at work and I'll hear it buzz a couple times. I know that buzz. It's something "Force Closing" in the background. I will pick my phone up and it will be unresponsive. It will light up the 4 buttons on the bottom of the device, but nothing else. Normally, it will then immediately start rebooting. It will go through the usual start-up screens. It will then show the status bar at the top; battery life, alarm clock, signal, 3G/WiFi, Media Scanning progress. However, the rest of the screen will be black. It will then vibrate once, then 2 more times and do it all over. It repeats this at least once for around an hour EVERY DAY!!! Other times, it will not restart on it's own and I will have to hold down the power button to manually do so.
I have also gone through ALL the troubleshooting I can imagine. All logs, history, texts, cache... EVERYTHING... has been cleared.
Please forgive me for asking, but it appears that I am to possibly root my phone for a resolution... is this true?
Also, has anyone heard of this "3 Returns Within 90 Days" policy with T-Mobile? I could easily do this with this phone. Has anyone had any luck getting them to do that?

[Q] GPS Not Locking

Yes, I know there are multiple threads about this for various phones but none of that troubleshooting has fixed this for me yet.
I have a Razr M, stock. I haven't rooted it, nor unlocked the bootloader. Got it in Oct, and it worked beautifully, including GPS. Locked within seconds. Sometime during the first week of February GPS stopped working. It hasn't worked since. Inside, in a car, outside doesn't make a difference.
I have GPS status installed and it tells me helpful things like 0/22 with the first number always being 0, second number varies. I have used that app to reset the AGPS data and redownload it, no change. Also used it to calibrate the compass, no change. I have tried with Verizon and Google location services off (so just GPS on). I have turned off 4g using a different app. I have do a factory reset of the phone, and today used rsdlite to flash 4.1.2 stock.
I haven't tried any of the t/s that requires root. For example editing the settings files for default location and that kind of thing. I have done that the none root way. Turn it to airplane, reboot, reset AGPS, reboot. Make sure I am outside, turn off airplane mode. Wait five minutes. Growl in frustration.
I did drop it once, in approximately the time frame it stopped working, not sure if it coincided. I haven't blamed it on that yet because everything else works. Screen is fine, all the other radios work (cell, wifi, bluetooth), only way to notice it is a scratch in the case. I have assumed that GPS is sharing a chip and antenna with some of the rest of the radios, so their working would eliminate a hardware failure. Is that correct?
I haven't tried unlocking the bootloader and flashing a new ROM. I thought flashing stock would reflash the radio as well (.xml file has a line for modem). Is this correct? Is it worth unlocking and flashing CM10.1 just to try? I haven't done any of that with this phone, but did quite a bit with my dx, so I am comfortable with the processes.
Or do I need to bite the bullet and call Verizon about a repair, possibly not under warrenty?
Any help appreciated
JS

If your still on dead stock and your gps is not working I'd send it in for a replacement because if you unlock your bootloader kiss your warranty goodbye if if your gps problem was a defect
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Help! Time is never right on mu phone

Ive had a note 3 now for around 2 weeks, one thing that is really annoying me is the fact that my clock (both screen widgets and system clock) keep changing randomly by itself. It can jump 6 hours or 1 hour it doesnt seem to be the same every time. I have tried multiple factory resets through the setting option and also through the phones recovery menu. I have cleared cache on the clock app and the phones cache from the recovery menu, still no avail. I have been looking and seen there are others that have experienced this problem but i cannot for the life of me find a fix that doesnt involve rooting my phone. I use alot of apps that will not be compatible with a rooted device.
I have tried auto time and manual time, When its wrong if i go into airplane mode and back out it normally corrects itself for a few hours but then changes again. Sometimes i need to reboot the phone to correct the time.
Can anybody help me out??

Have you tried if the same thing happens without the SIMcard inserted? I remember a case where someone had this and the cause was a faulty SIM.

ShadowLea said:
Have you tried if the same thing happens without the SIMcard inserted? I remember a case where someone had this and the cause was a faulty SIM.
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Yeah tried leaving the sim out overnight still no joy

Have you turned GPS off? There were a few complaints the GPS would update and hink it was somewhere else in the world causing the time to change and people to miss alarms that had been set....

Tried with GPS still nothing

I had this issue on my note 2, jb 4.3.
And was the same with my note 3 on jb 4.3.
On my note 2 is still like that until now. But my note 3 the issue has gone after upgrade to KK.
Sent from N7105, DN3 with AGNi kernel.

Fingerprint hardware not available and screen locks itself immediately!

Hi everyone!
I have a OP 2 for more than one and a half years now and never had any issues with it(stayed stock...) until recently. I didnt update the phone to the latest version and was putting it off, and today in the afternoon when I tried to unlock my phone it said the 'Fingerprint hardware is not available' and after unlocking the phone with the pattern, it IMMEDIATELY LOCKS ITSELF BACK !!! after split second it just locks the screen while everything is working like connection, wifi, messages, notifications, etc. but due to this I cannot access anything on the phone, can't go to settings and switch to onscreen nav bar buttons, can't force stop/wipe cache the com.fingerprints.serviceext either, tried restarting it several times, downloaded the update but can't even install it because the phone just locks!:crying: I have no idea what would fix it and I am avoiding a full reset and wipe on the phone(also based on all i have read, dont think it would fix it anyways)
If anyone knows whats the problem or has dealt with it or knows someone who has, please help me out here on how to fix this and what to do. I did not root it or flash custom ROM's on it yet and never had a flip cover or any sort of case so literally don't know why it happened.
Thanks in advance,
Max

Hi
I had the exact same issue with mine, I was on LineageOS and could access the logs so I was able to determine it was an hardware failure.
Went to a repair shop to replace the home button, and Bam it worked again.
If you didn't flash a custom ROM it is likely an hardware issue just like I had.