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OK, after being so annoyed with the Navigation on this phone not working, I finally found a fix that is working for me and I am in shock that what I did produced a working GPS. First, anyone who doesn't know how to take apart the black cover (not the battery cover) do a search. Next, after removing the cover, the GPS Antenna without a doubt is one right next to the power button. I found this out by putting a piece of electrical tape over every gold connector that touches an antenna, then closing the black cover, turning on the phone, running gps test, and after trying different spring connectors, I noticed I had the correct one when the app GPS Test couldn't locate any satellites. Next, I also noticed that on the inside of the cover that I took off, the one that requires six screws, there is a silver looking strip that is supposed to make contact to the connector that has a full metal top part, so when the cover goes back on, the silver strip must make contact to this negative grounding harness top. I added a bead of solder to the silver strip on the inside of the black cover so that I knew it was making contact. I believe that this is a source of everyone's problems with navigation. That strip must be a shield and the design doesn't look like it makes good contact to the connector's ground metal plate. You'll see what I mean when you open the cover.
Next, while I had the cover off, I wrapped a 30 gauge wire around the gold spring pin that connects to the GPS antenna and ran that wire down the side of the phone right along the PC Board in hopes that it extends the antenna. I just ran it like 3 inches and remember, I ran it down, not up. The GPS antenna already goes up. I put a tiny bead of solder on the wire where it contact the gold spring contact that is attached to the PC Board so that it does not come off accidentally. And believe me, it is really simple. You cannot mess anything up. Just a dab of solder is all it takes.
I put the black cover back on, and then ran the GPS test app and at one point I had 12 satellites read and used with a 7 foot accuracy!!! Next I went to the Navigation app and started playing around with different addresses and my navigation WORKED!!! I am still in awe three days later. I drove from New Jersey to Rhode Island yesterday and had the Nav running for the entire trip. Only one time did I get a small circle about the size of a half inch which lasted for 4 seconds. At that point, I was driving though a forest type side road with limited sky view.
Please try this fix for anyone who has Navigation issues with their Nexus S and let me know if it fixes it.
Dan
Awesome. Samsung should have hired you before they released the Nexus S and 1st-gen SGS phones. My Captivate never had reliable GPS. I might as well have had Ray Charles giving me directions.
Funny thing is Google nexus phones are bugged...
Nexus one multi touch bug
Nexus s compass not working...
I think the issue here is with whoever was choosing and picking the hardware that would have powered a nexus...
HTC and Samsung do not surprise me... But Google not testing the compass on a flagship phone before releasing scares me :-\
Luckily my gps works fine (i9023 here) but the broken compass create a lot of troubles with gps navigation as very often the phone thinks to be driving in the reverse direction...
The nexus one digitizer wasn't a bug. Just a crappy digitizer. It worked as it meant to. It sucked but wasn't a bug.
The GPS and compass issues for the nexus s are different as well. Some devices have crappy ones and apparently don't work. My GPS and compass works perfect on the other hand. Always has
evcz said:
Funny thing is Google nexus phones are bugged...
Nexus one multi touch bug
Nexus s compass not working...
I think the issue here is with whoever was choosing and picking the hardware that would have powered a nexus...
HTC and Samsung do not surprise me... But Google not testing the compass on a flagship phone before releasing scares me :-\
Luckily my gps works fine (i9023 here) but the broken compass create a lot of troubles with gps navigation as very often the phone thinks to be driving in the reverse direction...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have problems with navigation, even tho i hardly ever use it. However, this compass thing; I downloaded an app called Smart Compass and it works really well... Where I know it's north, the compass points north and so on. but mind you, I got my phone after companies stopped selling it so I might've gotten the last of the good batch
Could you post a photo of the finished fix so I can check if I'm going to fry something ? Thanks !
@VOLTAGEROCK:
post some photos for better help if it's possible, before and after modifications please
thanks in advance
I will but gimme a day or two. All I know is I'm on day five and its still working!
wow
Sent from my
RESSURECTED Nexus S
CM10 NIGHTIES
DmA81 said:
Could you post a photo of the finished fix so I can check if I'm going to fry something ? Thanks !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should have at the time of doing it, but I didn't know what i was doing was going to work!! Now I have to take the phone apart again, but you give me a reason to hook up my Touchstone from the Pre while the phone is open and accessible. I will do my best to put the pics up in a timely manner and in the meantime, if there's anyone out there, go to the iteardown fix it (i think that's what its called) and look at the video or pics of the Nexus being taken apart.
Again, I have no reason to believe that I didn't fix the problem as it's working everytime, when it wouldn't work at all before the mod. When you're looking at the phone from the back, the GPS antenna location has a letter G engraved into the black cover after the battery cover has been taken off. It's right below the electrical type tape that covers the antenna FYI.
*#*#gpsclrx#*#* always fixed my gps woes and i had a lot. no hardware mod required.
Sputnikk23 said:
*#*#gpsclrx#*#* always fixed my gps woes and i had a lot. no hardware mod required.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What does that do by the way.? Because my mod works everytime and you never have to use the code you just put up. Even though I appreciate you putting that there. Also, what type of problems were you having with your navigation? Did it work periodically? Did it never work like mine? Just curious as to the problem you had with your navigation. Thanks
Dan
I can confirm this hardware mod fixed voltages gps. He's gone thru 2 nexus s phones and both GPS would constantly lose the position every few minutes then reacquire, and show a huge circle for his position. Somehow this hardware mod fixes some design issue with the nexus s where a shielding isn't properly grounded. And also he extended the GPS antenna with a wire for good measure.
By the way it was the sprint nexus s 4g he modified.
Please post pictures to go with your narrative. I would like to try this!
O
RogerPodacter said:
I can confirm this hardware mos fixed voltages gps. He's gone thru 2 nexus s phones and both GPS would constantly lose the position every few minutes then reacquire, and show a huge circle for his position. Somehow this hardware mod fixes some design issue with the nexus s where a shielding isn't properly grounded. And also he extended the GPS antenna with a wire for good measure.
By the way it was the sprint nexus s 4g he modified.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the clarification nation, Podact.
VOLTAGEROCK said:
What does that do by the way.? Because my mod works everytime and you never have to use the code you just put up. Even though I appreciate you putting that there. Also, what type of problems were you having with your navigation? Did it work periodically? Did it never work like mine? Just curious as to the problem you had with your navigation. Thanks
Dan
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wipe gps data. not the same thing as the gps status wipe (which didn't work for me). try it, doesn't really hurt anything. seems a software code is worth a shot then opening up the phone you know?
Some ROMs it never worked. Other ROMs it was sporadic. When I would get it to work, it always eventually "lost" its ability to lock, etc.
But hey.. if you want to get all hyper-sensitive over your mod.. go for it. Was just throwing another method out there for the faint of heart.
Sputnikk23 said:
wipe gps data. not the same thing as the gps status wipe (which didn't work for me). try it, doesn't really hurt anything. seems a software code is worth a shot then opening up the phone you know?
Some ROMs it never worked. Other ROMs it was sporadic. When I would get it to work, it always eventually "lost" its ability to lock, etc.
But hey.. if you want to get all hyper-sensitive over your mod.. go for it. Was just throwing another method out there for the faint of heart.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am sensitive as I cried at your remark, and then I got really hyper and started running in circles with joy that my nav works. So I guess you're right, I am hypersensitive! Btw, I was being nothing but nice to your reply. Its OK. I forgive you.
Pics requested
Check out the pics. One of them shows some solder on the silver shielding so it makes better contact with the connector when they close back up. The other shows a 30 gauge red wire soldered to the gps pin and running down the phone. Hope this clears up what you guys need to do to get the gps to finally work on this dag gone phone.
.I've been using navigation and never had such a problems.my gps always locking under 10sec and doesn't loosing signal.
Btw i live in UK and using nav in big city.
Do a search for Nexus S 4g on sprint nav problems and you'll see a whole slew of people with problems.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using xda app-developers app
Similar to this problem for the S6 Edge:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6/help/magnetic-sensor-compass-problem-t3109583
When reboot the device, the compass/magnetic sensor is not calibrated. Once I dial the *#0*# and then chose the sensors, and rotate the phone on the 3-axis, the magnetic sensor becomes calibrated, the number 0 and red line becomes number 3 and blue line in the black circle. However, if I decide to reboot, have to do it all over again, have to rotate the phone on the 3-axis to recalibrate the magnetic sensor.
It seems like the problem still persists on the S7 Edge, am I the only one?
Thanks,
JP
I have exactly this same problem on my S7 edge in Australia from Optus - compass re calibrated then when off and on again it needs doing again every time. It looks to me as if at least some S7 edge may have inherent compass sensor or software issue. I will try and replace it via shop but they said it may take many weeks to get a replacement once returned if out of stock as they would need return it to somewhere to check it...
Shaun123 said:
I have exactly this same problem on my S7 edge in Australia from Optus - compass re calibrated then when off and on again it needs doing again every time. It looks to me as if at least some S7 edge may have inherent compass sensor or software issue. I will try and replace it via shop but they said it may take many weeks to get a replacement once returned if out of stock as they would need return it to somewhere to check it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm wondering if they are not all the same the S7 Edge, seems as if this was the case with my S6 Edge, almost everyone had this problem and Samsung wasn't doing much for it.
It seems as of this is the case for my wifes S4, my S6Edge and now my S7Edge.
Can anyone else confirm this? It's as easy as rebooting, then dialing *#0*# and then under Sensor...
I'm having the same problem on my S7 Edge.
Optus, Australia.
Maybe it's Exynos only, and SD don't have this issue?
My compass wasn't calibrated when I checked. Now is. Need to check if GPS works better now.
jsamuels said:
My compass wasn't calibrated when I checked. Now is. Need to check if GPS works better now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You'll loose your calibration once you reboot the phone...
How do you calibrate the sensor?
Rickyw324 said:
How do you calibrate the sensor?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You rotate your phone along the 3-axis until it's calibrated
I do not believe this is a problem or issue! You need to calibrate each time you reboot. The same thing applies to the iPhone (blah!)
chippyuk said:
I do not believe this is a problem or issue! You need to calibrate each time you reboot. The same thing applies to the iPhone (blah!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You think? It could be the case, as my S6E as well as my S4 do the same thing...
jproy12 said:
You rotate your phone along the 3-axis until it's calibrated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was simple, thank you. :good:
chippyuk said:
I do not believe this is a problem or issue! You need to calibrate each time you reboot. The same thing applies to the iPhone (blah!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never had to recalibrate on any of the three iPhones I owned. And certainly not on the 6s Plus I used before getting the s7.
jsamuels said:
Never had to recalibrate on any of the three iPhones I owned. And certainly not on the 6s Plus I used before getting the s7.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you are right about the 6s as I just tried it. I don't think I even opened the compass on my 6 but after every restart on my 5 and 5s I definitely had to re-calibrate after a restart. Might be because I was jail-broken though. No idea then, hopefully someone who knows about the actual electronics may chip in...
Hi. Has anyone had an issue with the compass being very jittery after it has been calibrated?
When I reboot the phone, the compass works fine and is stable unless I calibrate it again. It is my second S7 Edge and I have had the exact same problem on both devices...
i've read the s6 thread and did the *#0*# thing and works!
(for those too lazy to read the link, basically press *#0*# on the call screen and it will bring up the "tests" screen
press the sensor
and will see the bottom, the status of the magnetic sensor
if it's not blue and has number 3 , than it's not "calibrated"
to calibrate, do the 3-axis thing (rotate the phone on 3 axis: turn it upside down height-wise, flip from side to side length-wise, twist it depth-wise) and the sensor will turn to number 3 and colored blue line)
(to exit which ever screens, just double press "back" button on the phone)
but my question is... (for those who've done it) seems like it has to be done (calibrate) on this "test" screen? can't calibrate if it's not this test screen?
Same here. Frustrating to need to recalibrate after reboot. Was the problem ever resolved with the S6 or should I just accept and learn to live with the issue?
this (calibration loss after reboot) was the case for every android device i owned so far since years!
so this is normal, and cant and wont be fixed!
TML1504 said:
this (calibration loss after reboot) was the case for every android device i owned so far since years!
so this is normal, and cant and wont be fixed!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did not have any issues with my original HTC One, G3 or OnePlusOne. But, I guess it's going to be a fact-of-life.
Galaxy s7 edge
So i found the answer guys to fix searching for gps and gps not working. Running samsung galaxy s7 edge, also with optus but that doesnt matter. Soball you need to do is calibrate your phone, now you can download apps but if you use the built in app that comes with the s7, it works better
Step 1. Swipe the edge notifacations to bring up side display.
Step 2. Go into the settings, by touching the clog on the bottom left.
Step 3. Tick the widget for the compass, ruler.
Step 4. Go back to the home screen and swipe to bring up the side display.
Step 5. Go to the compass widget and in there, there is a calibrate button to click on and complete the calibration by spinning your phone on a axis as displayed and your done.
You wont have to redo it each time you restart like the other ways i have seen. I have contacted samsung about this, hopefully they fix this stupid issue.
So I'm having a fairly odd issue.
Sometimes my GPS will work flawlessly. Other times, it is very glitchy and spotty, for example it will only update my location after 15ish seconds instead of continously updating and showing my drive. This is happening in ALL GPS Naviation Apps. I installed my antenna in the same location my old antenna was installed which worked flawlessly. Im unsure why this is having problems. Also my new antenna is not Magnetic. It does not stick to metal.
Any tips? information?
Does anyone know? This issue is getting progressively worse and I have to completely reboot the unit for it to work again and unfortunately the unit goes on standby instead of rebooting meaning I usually have to wait at least an hour before I have GPS again...
Need4Camaro said:
Does anyone know? This issue is getting progressively worse and I have to completely reboot the unit for it to work again and unfortunately the unit goes on standby instead of rebooting meaning I usually have to wait at least an hour before I have GPS again...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried one of these, the GPS had problems, sometimes it's 100 yards off when at home, and sometimes it thinks I'm home when I'm 100 miles away. I tried things like clearing the cache in Google Maps and switching location services off and back on again. I wonder if Location Services has a cache that can be cleared. I thought it might be confused by my mobile hotspot, but when I set the GPS for "device only" it switched itself back to "high accuracy". I don't know if "high accuracy" means AGPS or it thinks it's near the location of the wifi hotspot.
xdamember2 said:
I tried one of these, the GPS had problems, sometimes it's 100 yards off when at home, and sometimes it thinks I'm home when I'm 100 miles away. I tried things like clearing the cache in Google Maps and switching location services off and back on again. I wonder if Location Services has a cache that can be cleared. I thought it might be confused by my mobile hotspot, but when I set the GPS for "device only" it switched itself back to "high accuracy". I don't know if "high accuracy" means AGPS or it thinks it's near the location of the wifi hotspot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I'm not the only one who has experienced this issue... What can be done about it though?
Need4Camaro said:
So I'm not the only one who has experienced this issue... What can be done about it though?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I popped the lid and found the shield of the GPS cable was soldered not only to ground, but also to the signal pad for 3G (which I do not have on mine). After reheating the solder and correcting this (by bending the cable away from the 3G signal pad), I am seeing noticeably better results in the GPS Info app. I have not yet reinstalled it in the car.
xdamember2 said:
I popped the lid and found the shield of the GPS cable was soldered not only to ground, but also to the signal pad for 3G (which I do not have on mine). After reheating the solder and correcting this (by bending the cable away from the 3G signal pad), I am seeing noticeably better results in the GPS Info app. I have not yet reinstalled it in the car.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I have two questions in this case:
#1 Can we use an External USB GPS Antenna and bypass this issue altogether?
#2 If it was a bad solder, why did my unit start acting right again after I press the reset button?
Need4Camaro said:
So I have two questions in this case:
#1 Can we use an External USB GPS Antenna and bypass this issue altogether?
#2 If it was a bad solder, why did my unit start acting right again after I press the reset button?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry but I don't have the answers. Another avenue to consider is replace the new GPS jack with one that accepts the magnetic antenna, the specs printed on the antennae look the same and DigiKey sells the jack with a cable. Currently I have an In-Dash Octacore installed in my car, the GPS goes out every couple of days but it recovers if Location Services are turned off for a few seconds.
xdamember2 said:
Sorry but I don't have the answers. Another avenue to consider is replace the new GPS jack with one that accepts the magnetic antenna, the specs printed on the antennae look the same and DigiKey sells the jack with a cable. Currently I have an In-Dash Octacore installed in my car, the GPS goes out every couple of days but it recovers if Location Services are turned off for a few seconds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this what you're talking about?
http://www.digikey.com/en/product-highlight/m/molex-connector/mmcx-microminiature-rf-connectors
Also what advantage does a magnetic receiver have over the receiver that comes with the unit?
Need4Camaro said:
Is this what you're talking about?
http://www.digikey.com/en/product-highlight/m/molex-connector/mmcx-microminiature-rf-connectors
Also what advantage does a magnetic receiver have over the receiver that comes with the unit?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the magnetic variety gps antenna, with the corresponding cable. Sometimes it works well, other times not. I'm out of ideas for this model. A USB GPS antenna may be worth trying.
GPS is weird on the new Intel units.
Need4Camaro said:
So I have two questions in this case:
#1 Can we use an External USB GPS Antenna and bypass this issue altogether?
#2 If it was a bad solder, why did my unit start acting right again after I press the reset button?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that this is a bit late, since you have apparently bricked your unit since this, HOWEVER, it probably isn't a bad idea to discuss this here in case somebody else shows up looking for something like this....
Best/easiest option for external GPS is probably going to be a BLUETOOTH GPS receiver. For example, something like a Holux M-1200. Combine that with some software that can feed the data from the bluetooth gps into Android like this; https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.mobilej.btgps and you may end up with working external GPS.
A step beyond that would be to integrate it into the system frameworks, but that would be part of a bigger job to bring up AOSP on these things... although, it may also be possible to add this feature using xposed.
Some off topic posts removed. Thanks!
CadillacMike said:
GPS is weird on the new Intel units.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you explain this a little more?
dcman008 said:
Can you explain this a little more?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When the unit first starts, it takes a bit to find the GPS. It will find it eventually and then work fine.
Not sure why it takes it some time
CadillacMike said:
GPS is weird on the new Intel units.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've taken another look at this. I think the magnetic antenna works better than the variety supplied with the MTCD x86 units. With the one supplied I'm seeing GPS accuracy of 50-60 feet, with the magnetic about 20 after a few minutes. The thing about the Intel HUs is once it acquires GPS lock, it looks like it remembers the parameters and is much quicker next time. My unit has basically two modes, on and sleep. In sleep mode it takes about 4 milliamps. Yours may be different if it has a standby mode. Mine comes out of sleep instantly, but takes several seconds for apps to restart. As for the GPS cable, I'm using one with a pigtail termination that solders to the board:
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/rf-solutions/CBA-SMAF-OP/CBA-SMAF-OP-ND/5845760
If your board is like mine, it looks like it's designed for a board edge connector, but I haven't figured out which one that would be.
I like the app "GPS Test" from Chartcross. When I'm doing well it sees 10 satellites and uses at least half of them, with an accuracy under 30 feet.
I remember trying to use this tablet solely as a GPS for my car, it never quite worked alright, I thought it was the Lolipop upgrade then I thought it might be something wrong with the antenna hardware.
It finds my position, with approximately 100 meters precision then it keeps jumping around up to 300 meters, things gets better while moving but it has no clue what direction I'm going when I come to a stop.
I have tried many apps and tweaks to fix the GPS, none have worked. I remember the GPS working once when this tablet was new,
that's it, or maybe I was hallucinating?
In all these cases the tablet was using a stable internet connection in my car.
Tried Kitkat, Lolipop, custom and stock kernel :crying:
nitzero said:
I remember trying to use this tablet solely as a GPS for my car, it never quite worked alright, I thought it was the Lolipop upgrade then I thought it might be something wrong with the antenna hardware.
It finds my position, with approximately 100 meters precision then it keeps jumping around up to 300 meters, things gets better while moving but it has no clue what direction I'm going when I come to a stop.
I have tried many apps and tweaks to fix the GPS, none have worked. I remember the GPS working once when this tablet was new,
that's it, or maybe I was hallucinating?
In all these cases the tablet was using a stable internet connection in my car.
Tried Kitkat, Lolipop, custom and stock kernel :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So true. Gps sucks. Not accurate and takes long time to get the position.
Now i am not even able to use my tab. It always freezes within few seconds after i turn on the tab. Tried every possible solution. Used custom rom, stock rom, stock kernel, custom kernel, flashed fresh rom via apx mode nv flash. :crying:
My tab even freezes in recovery and had to hard reboot it.
Even posted a thread in xda but no solution given by ny1.
It's not so bad with Kitkat, after uninstalling everything leaving the rom completely naked with the barely essentials to not leave it glitchy the performance is acceptable.
Got 41k on Antutu, the lowest score was memory which scored 57 lol.
I suspect this tablet does not have a proper compass sensor, I've changed and resoldered the antennas but it hasn't changed anything.
Seems like a problem with drivers or hardware level.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Lol I finally sorted it out.
Who would put a compass between a couple of magnets?
Exactly, it's the magnets for the flip cover making the compass sensor utter useless.
Removing them fixes the GPS issue. They're actually inside the tablet near the upper bezels where holds the pen.
nitzero said:
Lol I finally sorted it out.
Who would put a compass between a couple of magnets?
Exactly, it's the magnets for the flip cover making the compass sensor utter useless.
Removing them fixes the GPS issue. They're actually inside the tablet near the upper bezels where holds the pen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How to remove compass
fu24 said:
How to remove compass
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You must take the magnets off, the compass is needed in order to make the GPS to work properly, get a metal object and stick it to the tablet.
That's exactly where the magnet for the flip cover is located, just carefully pry the tablet open and remove them.
There's two of them.
Please note you must take off the pen, the SD card and the flip cover to open the tablet.
You shouldn't have problems to open it up using ordinary tools such as plastic pry tool or even a credit card.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Few days ago I replaced the battery and reassemble the phone back. Everything looks normal except the Google Maps compass direction. The north and south pole are always swapped no matter how many times I recalibrated it.
Today I use an app to check the magnetic field reading and surprisingly it fixed at 2896.27 UT.... Anyone have clue to replace the part to fix it? Thanks!
That explains why my compass always seems backwards. Just got used to it and ignored the arrow. Though, I've only really noticed anything when trying to use walking directions, so i always chalked out up to having to do with being around tall buildings and not getting accurate gps readings due to that.