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Dear xda-developers members,
[skip the first paragraph to avoid useless chitchat]
I usually avoid posting in forums when I can't contribute to the soultion of a problem but rather ask questions. This is mostly due to me feeling stupid years on when I stumble upon my then pressing problems. Anyway:
I'm having problems with my X1, more specifically the GPS receiver. I know users have reported problems before, so I don't seem to be alone after all. Let's start out with a
Description of the problem:
No software I tried so far gets anywhere near to a fix using GPS. Google Maps reports it's searching but won't find anything, Chartcross "GPS Test" hangs on "Starting up GPS", TurboGPS sometimes displays a satellite in the very center and finally there's the "HTC GPS tool" which shows this:
The "satellites" change in rather fast succession. This can't be right, can it? So far I have not gotten any fix at all. This was the case from the very beginning (got it off ebay by the way, said to be used for about 2 months). The HTC Tool as well as TurboGPS echo some seemingly gibberish data ("$GPGSV,4,1,16,32,,,,31,,,,30,,,,29,,,*70" and counting down, less often "$GPVTG,,T,,M,,N,,K,N*2C" and things like that).
What I tried so far:
I tried multiple ROMs (R2A stock, R1A stock, 6.5 based, 6.1 based, very light ones, very heavy ones), basically all available Radio ROMs and yes, I switched off AGPS, I tried activating Bluetooth, not touching the backside as proposed by some, etc. It appears to be the X1a Version of the phone, if that is any help. COM-Ports have been switched, windows management of the device has been checked and unchecked, the baud rate has been changed to multiple values. Nothing.
I'd gladly supply you with any further information that might by useful. I think I don't need to stress how excruciatingly annoying this behaviour is. Exchanging the device is not really an option since a) I'll be in Canada in 17 days and I doubt my local dealer could fix this in the given time frame and b) I don't have the receipt - ebay, you see.
Best regards in hope of a solution...
do you try inside or outside ?
gps's generaly never get a signal inside
Nice one, but believe me, I tried outside. I tried on roofs. I tried in the streets. I tried with loads of free sky above my head. My stand alone GPS reciever (Garmin Geko 201) picks up many (at least 5) satellites in less than one minute.
@Tikurion
"The HTC Tool as well as TurboGPS echo some seemingly gibberish data ("$GPGSV,4,1,16,32,,,,31,,,,30,,,,29,,,*70" and counting down, less often "$GPVTG,,T,,M,,N,,K,N*2C" and things like that)"
Not gibberish actually, but NMEA GPS data flows, so your receiver is aquiring some data. Google NMEA if you want to understand these data sentences better.
No fix ? I have only 2 suggestions here;
1) try on hard reset with no AGPS (of course), updated QuickGPS data and a clear outdoors "line of sight"
2) the more recent radio ROM's (eg 1.11.25.76 or 1.14.25.55) do give very quick and accurate fixes if conditions in 1) above are there
ianl8888: I said seemingly, right ? What I meant was: I know it's not actually gibberish. But how do you explain me receiving the exact same values even if I'm in a cellar with absolutely no possibility of receiving anything?
I will yet again try another hard reset, although this then would be number... 15 I believe XD. AGPS is turned off already and radio rom is 1.14.25.55 at the moment. We'll see.
Thank you so far of course. Your help's always invaluable .
I dunno if it helps or not, but i had a similar problem. I found that no software could actually get a gps signal from the unit...it was like the software wasn't actually able to control/turn on the gps or something. the weird thing was that i noticed the "on the road" panel was able to get data. So, i tried running TT6 with the on the road panel running, and it worked. so then i launched google with on the road panel working, and it worked. to this day, if i want to run a gps dependent software, i must start on the road panel first. kind of weird but it works. I'm waiting for R3 to see if the problem goes away or not.
Ian
I tried what ianl8888 suggested multiple times - to no avail.
Also completelyhis: Thanks, but the On-the-Road Panel doesn't pick up anything either. Won't change status after "Determining current location".
tikurion said:
I tried what ianl8888 suggested multiple times - to no avail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like warranty time - seems your GPS antenna may be disconnected (poor or dry solder joint) ??
Unhappily, a not all that infrequent issue with PDA's. I once spent several weeks figuring out how to dis-assemble an Eten X500, re-solder the offending joint and then re-assemble the thing. It was way out of warranty, of course.
my problem with touch HD is similar... all sats bunched on top..
i went for servicing
Well, after temporarily bricking my X1 (tried to reinstall original SPL for service the wrong way) and solving that by using the Service Updater-thingie I sent to support, hoping they will be nice with me, despite not sending the warranty card or the receipt.
Use A-GPS .. for me it even worked inside my house... ( no my house is not a box of 50cm by 50cm.. but one big farm
I love AOSP ROMs. They are the bomb-diggity. I only have one problem with them:
GPS does not work for everybody.
Let me explain the problem. When doing a long navigation, after about 20 - 30 minutes, Maps will lose the GPS signal and stay at "Searching for GPS..." until toggling GPS OFF and then ON. After it loses the signal the first time, it loses it again and again in the same fashion in about 5 minutes intervals.
Now, this is not a problem for everybody. For some people it works fine, and for the rest, we seem to be stuck with this rather irritating bug.
I do have a theory, though - I believe that there are two (or more) hardware revisions for our phones. I believe that a lot of refurbs have an older hardware revision, that run into these problems, and the newer phones have a newer hardware revision that do NOT have these issues.
What I need is someone that has reported this issue to take a logcat during a navigation and to get the results onto this thread so we can get them to a dev that may be able to fix this issue. I would do this myself, but I am out of money and only have enough gas in my car to make it back home tonight after work.
So, please, if there is anyone running an AOSP ROM (CELB and WW both have the issue) on a refurb or near launch phone, if you have the time and the resources, take a logcat of a failed navigation. It may get us closer to a cure for this bug.
DEVS: If any of you read this thread, I have an idea - if it is possible, you may want to pull apart your kernels and take a look at the part that interacts with the GPS and compare that to another kernel like zanfur's or the HTC kernel, which both have nary a problem with the GPS.
I have already tried fussing with the *.so files that are for the GPS, and they either made the problem worse or completely broke GPS.
Let's see if we can find a cure.
-SSJ
I dont think its the hardware at all. I have run into this problems are certain versions of roms but once I flash another its fine. CLB2.7 gps worked great used it from Arkansas to Florida but the gps from the Cyanogen 1.1 the gps constantly lost signal.
edgeupgx said:
I dont think its the hardware at all. I have run into this problems are certain versions of roms but once I flash another its fine. CLB2.7 gps worked great used it from Arkansas to Florida but the gps from the Cyanogen 1.1 the gps constantly lost signal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it's a hardware problem, I think it's a problem with the way that some kernels interact with different (read: older) hardware revisions.
I'm Hardware Revision 0002 according to Home > Menu > Settings > About Phone > Hardware Information.
I usually just use Google Maps to get the directions, then peek at them every once in a while to save battery.
Once I get a car mount for my phone (soon), I'm sure I'll use GPS more often though.
No troubles with any GPS I've ever done. It may be all Eris's, at random. Like when the 3g disappears and reappears and starts cycling (until you reboot the phone).
Same idea.
I have a refurb phone and while using CELB 2.7 I drop GPS signal every 20 minutes or so. When using Ivan's rom, I never drop signal.
Is anybody's working to satisfactory? Or am I the only one?
I never really used GPS till I got this device and only from the complaining here had it really got me interested . Although I use GPS maybe 3 times a year, I've made it a point to use it every drive I take to see if its still working.
I always get a lock within 5 seconds to at most a min. Stationary or moving don't matter. I've never had my phone say location not available.
My phone always sees 11 or more and only locks on to 3 or 4 once it locked 7...
When I hit navigate to then a destination it instantly finds me and routes me. While driving it every now and again has a blue circle but that's usually during lots of overpasses turns on freeways and etc. For the most part it has no circle ...
I will admit every now and again it'll lose route and not reroute so I back out and hit navigate again and back to navigating.
Its even found me in portland Oregon in the city.
So my question is, although GPS could be better I.e. faster lock, more birds to lock on and tracking while moving, it still has served its purpose and found me my way a few times when I'm lost.
On the way home I will use it again and it will find me almost instantly and navigate me all the way home...
Am I lucky? Or do others work good enough to get around, yes could be better, but is yours good enough like mine to where even if they don't fix it, its not that big of a deal cause for the most part for me it works?
Another thing is I'm beggining to think its hardware and software. Reason is messing with the settings does improve or have different results, but on the other hand the gps fixes seem to give everyone different results and why would Samsung release them all with poor GPS just to supposedly fix it in a few weeks/ wouldn't it have been easier to fix then ship em out?
Who knows, no one is for sure, but I just want to know who's is atleast satisfactory like mine? Maybe I just don't have high GPS standards cause I don't use it to get 1 meter off. If I'm atleast 50 meters away I think my eyes and brain can help me find the other 50 meters.
So are you satisfied even though it needs improvements? I am. I don't think it needs fixed, but as Samsung says "optimized".
Please no there are many GPS threads comments this is a little different ...
Is your GPS useless, or does it get the job done, not how you wish, but gets it done?
Edit: this is no gps fixes. Pure stock.
Mine isn't as terrible as some people say on here, but there are definitely problems. Latitude, for instance, often falls back to network location even with a clear view of the sky. Driving, it will randomly drift far enough that the GPS goes to rerouting mode, trying to bring me back on course. And there are times that it just refuses to get a lock for 10-15 minutes, though luckily that doesn't happen too often. Definitely worst GPS performance than my G1.
But, all that being said.. Not so bad that I'm really stressing about it. I'll give Samsung/TMO a few more weeks for an update and hopefully they patch up the issues with Froyo. If not, or if the update gets delayed, I'll start tinkering with the fixes from the forums.
mine works fine too. quick to lock, navigation works perfectly. i was locking on 3-4 satellites last time i tried.
it's not very good indoors, and often has trouble determining location, but outdoors it has been completely satisfactory.
this is all with gps on, and use wireless networks off, btw. completely stock, and the compass works fine too.
Is anybody's working to satisfactory? Or am I the only one?
I never really used GPS till I got this device and only from the complaining here had it really got me interested . Although I use GPS maybe 3 times a year, I've made it a point to use it every drive I take to see if its still working.
I always get a lock within 5 seconds to at most a min. Stationary or moving don't matter. I've never had my phone say location not available.
My phone always sees 11 or more and only locks on to 3 or 4 once it locked 7...
When I hit navigate to then a destination it instantly finds me and routes me. While driving it every now and again has a blue circle but that's usually during lots of overpasses turns on freeways and etc. For the most part it has no circle ...
I will admit every now and again it'll lose route and not reroute so I back out and hit navigate again and back to navigating.
Its even found me in portland Oregon in the city.
So my question is, although GPS could be better I.e. faster lock, more birds to lock on and tracking while moving, it still has served its purpose and found me my way a few times when I'm lost.
On the way home I will use it again and it will find me almost instantly and navigate me all the way home...
Am I lucky? Or do others work good enough to get around, yes could be better, but is yours good enough like mine to where even if they don't fix it, its not that big of a deal cause for the most part for me it works?
Another thing is I'm beggining to think its hardware and software. Reason is messing with the settings does improve or have different results, but on the other hand the gps fixes seem to give everyone different results and why would Samsung release them all with poor GPS just to supposedly fix it in a few weeks/ wouldn't it have been easier to fix then ship em out?
Who knows, no one is for sure, but I just want to know who's is atleast satisfactory like mine? Maybe I just don't have high GPS standards cause I don't use it to get 1 meter off. If I'm atleast 50 meters away I think my eyes and brain can help me find the other 50 meters.
So are you satisfied even though it needs improvements? I am. I don't think it needs fixed, but as Samsung says "optimized".
Please no there are many GPS threads comments this is a little different ...
Is your GPS useless, or does it get the job done, not how you wish, but gets it done?
I'm the same, I don't use GPS that much, but when I do it works fairly well. Its not the best I've used but it gets the job done. Only once when I was driving on the freeway could it not lock on.
I remember reading that a GPS fix leaked for the Captivate and it seemed to fix the issue. And the new SGS phones coming out for Verizon and Sprint seem to have better luck with GPS.
For me too GPS locks 95% times. However Navigation is the only application that crashes my phone once in a while....and I dont like that
Mine seems OK, with the light use I've given it. Haven't tested it out with route-tracing software like some have -- but for just getting an accurate lock, it seems on par with other phones I've used. (Maybe a little slower to lock.)
I had tested my GF's Samsung Moment alongside my Vibrant many times and the Moment hooks to GPS quickly and consistently. I cannot think how Samsung could implement an inferior GPS in their flagship phone!
My gps works flawlessly, when I read all these threads its hard to remaster because everyone I use gps it takes a matter of seconds to lock in and route me to my destination. Even in my area of living which is outside of the city it is very vet close to where I actually am and even right on. I would be frustrated if it didn't work as I do use my gps every so often but it is precise in my experience and I'm very happy with the final product.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
I now have two GPS's in two of our cars. The primary reason for buying a GPS a while back was so I could meet up with guys that I often 4wheel with in various locations. I would get lost when somebody told me to meet them in a city that I didn't know very well. My wife saw how handy my GPS was and took it. I finally got a G1 and it was used as a backup in case the wife wouldn't let me use "My GPS".
Anyways fast forward a year or so. We bought a second GPS for her car. Why because she got the new one of course.
Now that I have 2 GPS's in my cars my phone has been well a secondary or I should say hardly ever used. However when I'm on foot and I get backwards its always been nice to know I could fire up my GPS and find my way somewhere. Lord knows I've been lost a few times in down town Seattle. Wandering around and firing up maps and then using the by foot option has saved me many times. Sure it didn't have to be accurate since all I needed to know was do I walk 3 blocks north then 1 to the west or is it 3 blocks to the west then 1 block to the north?
The Vibrant GPS works when I need it, but honestly I really wish it was a bit more like the G1. Its nearly useless when I use CardioTrainer and a few more apps.
I have had my Vibrant for about 45 days and the GPS has been awful since day one. I have tried some of the fixes which did help a little bit but I still have problems. The GPS cuts on and off so much that Cardio Trainer is pretty much useless most of the time. It has started to freeze on me while attempting to use Cardio Trainer today, which necessitated pulling the battery. The GPS normally shows me about 2 of 3 miles from where I actually am. The compass is just about totally useless. This is a wonderful phone and would be a fantastic phone if the compass and GPS just worked normally. I am starting to be concerned with the phone starting to freeze up as it has not done that in the past.
Mine worked great for a few weeks. Even though it wouldn't lock more than 3 or 4 satellites the performance was completely satisfactory. Then it got a little quirky with accuracy and my position started jumping around a lot. Then it started positioning me miles from where I actually was sometimes, causing Maps to lock up, causing the entire phone to lock up, and generally being unreliable.
Over the past week or so I've had to reboot the phone half the time I try to use the GPS in order to get it to work. I can usually get it to work at a satisfactory level eventually, but it's far from painless. I haven't tried any of the "fixes"...my GPS settings are stock.
On my first phone the GPS and phone in general was a disaster.
Once returned, my second phone is "ok" for driving assistance use, it takes awhile for a lock but it works. But I otherwise leave GPS turned off or else my phone will randomly shut down/reboot.
With trepidation I applied a no lag fix and it has turned my opinion of the phone from "meh" to wow (even though I was not even sure I had a lag problem, but little did I know).
So if GPS gets fixed and 2.2 deployed, and assuming 2.2 solves lag or a no-lag fix is implemented for 2.2, then I will be very happy. But it sure seems like a bit of grief to get to that point. Anything goes wrong down that path, and I'll focus on HTC or other devices... cause for similar past issues with hardware I never buy HP
mjpacheco said:
So if GPS gets fixed and 2.2 deployed, and assuming 2.2 solves lag or a no-lag fix is implemented for 2.2, then I will be very happy. But it sure seems like a bit of grief to get to that point. Anything goes wrong down that path, and I'll focus on HTC or other devices... cause for similar past issues with hardware I never buy HP
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Click to collapse
Add a compass fix to that list and I'm there with ya.
After applying the gps fix I haven't had a problem since. I use the gps daily and have only had 1 restart. Had my vibrant since day 1. Maybe I just got lucky.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
I completely understand the need to get the GPS fixed, but I have to honestly ask...why do so many people seem so worried about the compass?
Are there that many of you out there that wander around using the compass all the time ? Is it because of apps like Layar ?
Using a smartphone as a compass/gps on a hike is useless if you plan to be out more than a few hours so that can't be it.
Is it just the principle of the thing ... that they provide the feature so it should work properly out of the box?
I'm not trying to be a wise ass here...I'm honestly curious.
Sent from Samsung Vibrant
Stresa said:
I completely understand the need to get the GPS fixed, but I have to honestly ask...why do so many people seem so worried about the compass?
Are there that many of you out there that wander around using the compass all the time ? Is it because of apps like Layar ?
Using a smartphone as a compass/gps on a hike is useless if you plan to be out more than a few hours so that can't be it.
Is it just the principle of the thing ... that they provide the feature so it should work properly out of the box?
I'm not trying to be a wise ass here...I'm honestly curious.
Sent from Samsung Vibrant
Click to expand...
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In a word: yes.
While I don't use Layar much, it would be great if it worked. I've tried to use Google Skymaps several times and gave up due to the compass completely freaking out when I hold the phone up to, you know, look at the sky. It's nice the have a working compass for Google Maps...even if it's just for street view. Yelp taunts me with directional functionality that doesn't work, and I could go on. In general I'd like to know that apps that use the magnetometer to detect orientation (and who knows what will come along that will use that functionality) will work. I don't think that's too much to ask.
Now, I also do a lot of city navigation on foot, and having a compass to figure out which way to walk when I come up from a subway on my way to a meeting is a huge help. Seriously. At that point I don't have a GPS because I've been underground.
I've used Android devices (like the G1) that are old-ish, and I've used Android devices that are not considered high-end devices with working compasses, so yeah, on principle I expect my high-end $500 device to work at least as well as they do. Had I known about the worthless compass before I purchased the phone it would have given me pause...I probably would have at least considered another device. It bugs me that such a simple piece of functionality being broken will prevent me from using apps and features that I'd otherwise find useful on my expensive device.
Now I have a Swiss Army knife with a broken saw blade. Yeah, it's just the saw blade, but I paid for one with a working saw blade, dammit, and it wasn't cheap.
dex1701 said:
In a word: yes.
While I don't use Layar much, it would be great if it worked. I've tried to use Google Skymaps several times and gave up due to the compass completely freaking out when I hold the phone up to, you know, look at the sky. It's nice the have a working compass for Google Maps...even if it's just for street view. In general I'd like to know that apps that use the magnetometer to detect orientation (and who knows what will come along that will use that functionality) will work. I don't think that's too much to ask.
Now, I also do a lot of city navigation on foot, and having a compass to figure out which way to walk when I come up from a subway on my way to a meeting is a huge help. Seriously. At that point I don't have a GPS because I've been underground.
I've used Android devices (like the G1) that are old-ish, and I've used Android devices that are not considered high-end devices with working compasses, so yeah, on principle I expect my high-end $500 device to work at least as well as they do. Had I known about the worthless compass before I purchased the phone it would have given me pause...I probably would have at least considered another device. It bugs me that such a simple piece of functionality being broken will prevent me from using apps and features that I'd otherwise find useful on my expensive device.
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that sucks dude. i just noticed what you were saying about google sky map, mine was tripping out for a little while but then it finally settled down. can't really tell if it's pointing in the accurate direction because it's daylight
my compass has worked just fine on maps though. it always points me in the right direction, and even the compass on the "gps status" app is correct, birds locked on or not
lolcopter said:
that sucks dude. i just noticed what you were saying about google sky map, mine was tripping out for a little while but then it finally settled down. can't really tell if it's pointing in the accurate direction because it's daylight
my compass has worked just fine on maps though. it always points me in the right direction, and even the compass on the "gps status" app is correct, birds locked on or not
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If I hold the phone "just right" I can usually get the compass to work ok in things like Maps where accuracy isn't terribly important. It's still painfully slow compared to other Android devices I've used, though. Most I've seen have nearly instantaneous compass updates when you turn...on my Vibrant (both of them) I have to wait a while for it to settle down before I can tell how it's reading. When I hold it in an odd position...like you do for Skymaps...it's all over the place. Sometimes it works, but it's hard to tell unless you're manually keeping track of which way is North, which kinda defeats the purpose, eh?
dex1701 said:
If I hold the phone "just right" I can usually get the compass to work ok in things like Maps where accuracy isn't terribly important. It's still painfully slow compared to other Android devices I've used, though. Most I've seen have nearly instantaneous compass updates when you turn...on my Vibrant (both of them) I have to wait a while for it to settle down before I can tell how it's reading. When I hold it in an odd position...like you do for Skymaps...it's all over the place. Sometimes it works, but it's hard to tell unless you're manually keeping track of which way is North, which kinda defeats the purpose, eh?
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true
hopefully samsung releases a fix baked into some froyo here soon. they had better do SOMETHING this month anyway
Each time I flash new ROM, I go test GPS performance with GPS Test to see whether something changed.
What I'm interested in is primarily lock on speed, and also how solid the lock to satellites is, but that's secondary. (since froyo, the locks seem pretty solid, no more sudden drops like in eclair)
What I noticed is that even with same firmware this varies quite a lot, even when I try to make the test conditions vary as little as possible (I always test it from the same spot and hold it the same way to ensure similar signal propagation. I can't control the weather, but as it's winter, it usually overcast).
So my question is, do you find you lock on speed varies a lot with same firmware and in same conditions?
Mine can vary from a few seconds (rarely) to losing the patience after few minutes of waiting for the lock! (more often)
Is this normal or am I having some weird issues?
Because if this kind of huge variation is normal, then all my testing is pointless!
Same thing here, but used to me more "consistent" with original rom (2.1 from Bell canada, can't remember wich one). Now on jl2 it takes longer to get a fix and weather seems to impact more.
same problem...
gps works extremely unconsistant.
me and my girlfriend have same phone with same firmware and 99% same apps installed. if we put the phones next to each other the gps signal is sometimes the same somethimes really different. we tried to find out how this could be but didnt find any difference. some days ago i turned my gps on as we were at the city together and it took really long to get the location. and then looke dat google latitude and holy **** my girlfriend got the cirrect position there even without taking it out the pocket and her gps was turned off lol. thats a bit scary sometimes.
now i installed gps tracker booster to stay at the same location if im indoor. otherwise it jumps from one location to another all the times and latitude says ive driven 4000km in a day just because i was at home and walked from fridge to the toilet...
I wonder if it has anything to do with hardware antenna issues. There was a thread here somewhere. It might be, and yet it might not be. I'd like to be able to check if I have this hardware issue before risking my phone and surely voding the warranty.
It does seem to be somewhat software dependent, but that isn't enough. Inconsistency proves nothing
I could also swear it's getting worse with the time. In 2.1 I used to be able to get a lock in half a minute or so in the worst case (even if it wasn't solid). In 2.2 it was better but in 2.2.1 versions it was all over the place. Usually amazing just after installing the ROM, but then going downhill. So maybe it's just worsening with time or oscillating with ROMs. I'd need days of flashing and testing to get it sorted out - possibly.
Total confusion... In the end I'll just buy a dedicated GPS with a big antenna. Exactly what I wanted to avoid by getting the Galaxy.
Well, i did a lot of testing with my Galaxy S.
The only conclusion i got is that different roms impact the time the Gps takes to aquire lock.
I also concluded that is due to GPS hardware keeps losing the sinal makes you apear in places which in reality you're not or showing that you are going across a road when you are stopped.
In this case A-GPS diminuishes your acurracy.
t1mman said:
Same thing here, but used to me more "consistent" with original rom (2.1 from Bell canada, can't remember wich one). Now on jl2 it takes longer to get a fix and weather seems to impact more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got slow fixes with JL2 too. But I am now testing "MS based" which improves lock time a lot (less than 20 seconds). I need more testing to make sure that my device is still accurate however.
bluecluster said:
Usually amazing just after installing the ROM, but then going downhill. So maybe it's just worsening with time or oscillating with ROMs.
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Exact issue here... Lately I thought that I have some kind of bad habits due to installing new roms. But now i see, that I'm not the only one with this.
nalu_pl said:
Exact issue here... Lately I thought that I have some kind of bad habits due to installing new roms. But now i see, that I'm not the only one with this.
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I had a "new" issue one time where it got all over the place so I deleted the data and redownloaded it (with GPS Status) and it fixed it. Might be that it keeps old data instead of refreshing it.
But it's not related to the time to fix
Hello,
Recently noticed my GPS barely works. If I'm out in an open field it can get medium strength locking from satellites in GPS Status. My wife has identical phone and gets the type of GPS signal I would expect to get. Side by side my phone simply cannot get much. Indoors forget about it. It use to be so good. I certainly have dropped this phone here and there but in the past it never influenced GPS. Is there any possible software/firmware side of things that could be causing it? I may have installed apps or updated apps but I didn't do any tinkering with the GPS specifically or with flashing roms or whatnot since this summer--and it worked fine then after any tinkering---this is a recent development.
Can anyone provide any ways to troubleshoot this? Possible the GPS chip is partially broken? I mean.. it can get signal.. just piss poor and struggles mightily. Almost can't get it in the car, loses GPS lock under tree cover, etc. Very temperamental.
Seems a little bit like 4G has also degraded but a little more unsure of that.
bump! Any help, methods to trouble-shoot between hardware/software. I tried to erase modemst1/2 see if that would jog anything, no effect.
thanks
water- said:
Hello,
Recently noticed my GPS barely works. If I'm out in an open field it can get medium strength locking from satellites in GPS Status. My wife has identical phone and gets the type of GPS signal I would expect to get. Side by side my phone simply cannot get much. Indoors forget about it. It use to be so good. I certainly have dropped this phone here and there but in the past it never influenced GPS. Is there any possible software/firmware side of things that could be causing it? I may have installed apps or updated apps but I didn't do any tinkering with the GPS specifically or with flashing roms or whatnot since this summer--and it worked fine then after any tinkering---this is a recent development.
Can anyone provide any ways to troubleshoot this? Possible the GPS chip is partially broken? I mean.. it can get signal.. just piss poor and struggles mightily. Almost can't get it in the car, loses GPS lock under tree cover, etc. Very temperamental.
Seems a little bit like 4G has also degraded but a little more unsure of that.
Click to expand...
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It's freaking Christmas, just buy yourself a new phone
Sent from my HTC One using XDA Free mobile app
tempting..and I will in a few months when my contract is up. But this was a spectacular GPS for navigating in the backcountry with downloaded maps. Would love to be able to retain that use after it is no longer a primary phone.
please, any troubleshooting suggestions would be appreciated!
I've had very few problems since switching to Waze and SlimKat. It was horrid under CyanogenMod no matter what I used.
I had been having similar problems under stock KitKat. Here's what I noticed, maybe something will help you:
Resetting aGPS data and re-downloading wouldn't help.
Sometimes GPS would never give a location with plenty of satellites locked to. I modified some build.prop stuff to give me a horribly inaccurate lock in these cases. It was also usually fixed with a reboot.
GPS status would show TONS of satellites overhead, but never be able to lock on to more than one of them. Making sure I had wifi turned on (even if I was in the middle of nowhere with no wifi signals) eliminated this problem.
Something would randomly disable the GPS while I was using it, when it turned it back on a short time later it wouldn't lock (usually due to one of the above issues). I eventually concluded it was how Google Maps and some of the new location stuff works these days. I assume it's trying to save GPS power, other programs were much better. Solution: F Google maps; I only use it as a fancy yellow pages these days. I had stuck with the old, old, version (that still supported Latitude), but had to update when I went to KK and that's when my problems started. This is just another thing that pisses me off about it. I use Waze for navigation now (though I miss lane guidance and using my own text to voice software).
Some GPS bugs can be resolved by flashing to stock firmware, getting a GPS lock and while locked on GPS, reboot straight to recovery and flash your new ROM. After doing that once I have flashed (too) many ROMs with no GPS locking or accuracy issues.
Also make sure your GPS is set to high accuracy and not battery saver.
Sent from my RAZR M on BlissPop Lollipop 5.0.2 from Tapatalk
ezdi and kronik.. thank you for suggestion. unfortunately to no avail even with full reset.
sometimes really seems like my general phone reception, wifi, gps, and data (1x/3G, 4G) are all haywire. Certainly they all work. But the data is never as strong as it should be. Often seems like it needs to be jogged (airplane mode on, then off)/dead areas--while my wife's phone is solid (same razr m but rooted with unlocked BL and stock rom). Likewise on the GPS. it can certainly find and lock satellites but in GPS Status only ever reach 'half bar' strength green.. they use to be able to lock multiple sats at max level.
It's odd...we are talking about the 'radios' of my phone, no? or mostly? I generally consider digital electronics to either function, or not. That they function at all--can receive pings from a satellite, can transmit data to and from towers... tells me the electronics are functional and this is software side. UNLESS there is some radio hardware component that is an amplifier of sorts. If that electronic was broken it would make sense why things function but appear weak/spotty.
thoughts?
aside from my contract being up in a month and what the hell next phone I should get from verizon... haha. But no I'd love to get my phone back to where it was and have a dedicated backcountry/hiking/skiing GPS... which it wouldn't be capable of now (it was..when it worked).
Cheers
bump bump