[Q] GPS problems? - Focus General

I purchased my Focus from AT&T when it was released on November 8th.
Since then, I've been having some issues with the GPS functionality.
For instance, yesterday I traveled around 40 miles, taking a couple hours, and the whole time the AT&T Navigator app was telling me that my GPS signal was too weak.
When I would try to use Bing maps, my "current location" was widely off - sometimes it was showing me hundreds of miles away.
This continued, even after turning the phone off/on.
Later that evening, I received 4 or 5 text messages, some that had been sent hours ago. At that point I tried AT&T Navigator and Bing maps, and both were reporting my location correctly.
What I'm trying to determine is whether the problem is a)an OS issue, b) an AT&T service issue (perhaps related to the text message delay), or c) a hardware issue.
If it's a hardware issue, I would like to get the phone replaced with another one.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.

Related

Problems with inbuilt GPS

Hello,
I have Google maps and Tom Tom 7 installed on my Touch HD, but im having problems. The GPS seems to take ages to initialise and then when it does, it keeps dropping. When I go into the GPS settings in tom tom, its finding more than 3 satalites so in theory it should be fine....
I just wondered if anyone else has this issue or possible is my device faulty? Any feedback is appreciated.
Thanks
Cb25
I never have this problem with tomtom and iguidance. maybe your unit is faulty
what rom and radio version do you have? maybe changing radio version will solve the problem
Stupid question now but how do I find out the version of my rom or version?
Did you update the satellites with QuickGPS before u tried?!
I had the same problem with tomtom, it seemed to be fine when i disabled agps in settings
I experience this issue whenever i don't soft reset my phone after 3-4 days.
It takes longer than usual to get the satellite, and whenever it does, it keeps dropping. A soft reset fixes it up.
Inbuilt GPS
Thanks for that Psygnosis84! I was using Route 66 and could only get 1-2 or 0 satellites. I had used the GPS download program to update the ephemeris about 12 hours ago so it was not that! After a few hours of 0 satellites, I came home and my TomTom One found plenty and I've been struggling to figure out what in the heck could be wrong with the inbuilt GPS.
I did a soft reset and there they are again! So thanks for the advice! Boy, this is not a good sign about the inbuilt GPS if we have to do this regularly!
BTW: I have a (free) test program called GPS test (see http://classic.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=24687) and that was the ONLY way I could find out the COM port/BAUD rate for the GPS. When I rang HTC, they said "Oh, we just see if Google Maps works!" Would you believe it!!! Fortunately this program told me the GPS was on COM4 at 9600 BAUD.
Are there any other useful programs out there for testing/using the GPS? I am using Route 66 for road navigation and it is pretty good. I was told it has more up to date maps than CoPilot 7. I am also using Memory-Map for off road navigation and that is a really excellent (intuitive) program.
I've made it a habit that whenever my battery runs low after 2 days using it, i just soft reset it and then charge it.
I'm using radio 1.09.25.14 so it would be great to hear from people using the other radios to see if they are experiencing the same thing.
Regardless of QuickGPS being up to date and even AGPS turned off, after 3 days it just goes a bit crazy. I'm wondering why a soft reset fixes it up, could it just be a software problem?
Mine is driving me around the bend.
Using TomTom 7, it works fine for a time and then the GPS stops working. Exiting and restarting TomTom always brings it back. Time scale is random, it can work for hours before going tits up.
I've tried three different Roms, five different radios, two different versions of TomTom 7, AGPS is disabled, GPS mode set to 1.
It's starting to look like a hardware problem.
Psygnosis84 said:
I experience this issue whenever i don't soft reset my phone after 3-4 days.
It takes longer than usual to get the satellite, and whenever it does, it keeps dropping. A soft reset fixes it up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's like every other Windows operating system. You have to reboot it at least once a week. Technicians go through training to learn to tell people, "Please reboot your computer", before any other troubleshooting
Hi Everyone.
I think I'm suffering the same problem as originally stated.
I'm using TT6 Nav (with WVGA Tool) which I originally bought for my N95 and used for 18month without much problem.
Using the HTC internal GPS I can establish a position easily but once I'm on the move, even down my road with between 6-9 satellites visable the GPS signal will drop out and come back several times per minute.
GoogleMaps works absolutely fine with the internal GPS.
I get the feeling this might be some sort internal comms issues between the GPS device and the TT6 rather then the GPS sat' signal itself.
I have an external GPS receiver (because it has much better battery life) so will attempt to use that but it's not as straight forwards as the N95 to configure so I'll build up some enthusiasm and see how it goes.
oliwatts said:
Hi Everyone.
I think I'm suffering the same problem as originally stated.
I'm using TT6 Nav (with WVGA Tool) which I originally bought for my N95 and used for 18month without much problem.
Using the HTC internal GPS I can establish a position easily but once I'm on the move, even down my road with between 6-9 satellites visable the GPS signal will drop out and come back several times per minute.
GoogleMaps works absolutely fine with the internal GPS.
I get the feeling this might be some sort internal comms issues between the GPS device and the TT6 rather then the GPS sat' signal itself.
I have an external GPS receiver (because it has much better battery life) so will attempt to use that but it's not as straight forwards as the N95 to configure so I'll build up some enthusiasm and see how it goes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Turning off AGPS (HDTweak is probably the easiest way to do this) will probably solve your problem
spud_work said:
Turning off AGPS (HDTweak is probably the easiest way to do this) will probably solve your problem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you read the other posts, a few including me have that problem even with AGPS turned off.
Psygnosis84 said:
If you read the other posts, a few including me have that problem even with AGPS turned off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may have fixed my GPS dropout problem by moving TomTom 7 program files from the device memory to the SD card. I did this as an experiment two days ago and haven't had a single dropout since. Fingers crossed, it's early days but looking good. TomTom runs fine on the SD card.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=516219
Update:
Well running TomTom from the SD card didn't fix the problem, it worked fine for a couple of days and then started dropping out again.
These dropouts are totally random and may occur hours apart. Shutting down and restarting Tomtom always brings the GPS signal back.
I'm now beginning to think that the problem is in some way related to the carrier, although AGPS is switched off on my device.
My problems started on holiday a few weeks ago, with dropouts occurring whilst roaming in France and Italy, my switch to the SD card was whilst I was in Switzerland but the problem returned as soon as I got back to France and has since completely gone away now that I am back in the UK.
I tried just about everything after searching these forums for many hours and am at a complete loss, I've tried ROMs, radios, patches, registry changes, you name it, I've tried it. Now I'm back in the UK and on my home carrier (three), I can't test it as the problem has gone away but I'm pretty sure it will return the next time I cross the Channel.
I am in touch with TomTom tech support in the hope of obtaining the latest version of TT7 software that is certified for the Touch HD, but I really don't think it's a TomTom problem, so don't hold out any great hope there.
Any suggestions would be most appreciated.
have you already tried this? Enter the registry and go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/GPSIntermediateDriver/Drivers/GPSOneDevice/PollIntervall. There you set the PollIntervall to 3000 instead of 1000. With this tweak and QuickGPS turned on I got my signal after less than 10 seconds and I never lost it.
-db- said:
have you already tried this? Enter the registry and go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/GPSIntermediateDriver/Drivers/GPSOneDevice/PollIntervall. There you set the PollIntervall to 3000 instead of 1000. With this tweak and QuickGPS turned on I got my signal after less than 10 seconds and I never lost it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I've tried 5000, 3000, 1000, 500, 250 & 100.
GPS signal drops randomly.
gevans35 said:
Update:
Well running TomTom from the SD card didn't fix the problem, it worked fine for a couple of days and then started dropping out again.
These dropouts are totally random and may occur hours apart. Shutting down and restarting Tomtom always brings the GPS signal back.
I'm now beginning to think that the problem is in some way related to the carrier, although AGPS is switched off on my device.
My problems started on holiday a few weeks ago, with dropouts occurring whilst roaming in France and Italy, my switch to the SD card was whilst I was in Switzerland but the problem returned as soon as I got back to France and has since completely gone away now that I am back in the UK.
I tried just about everything after searching these forums for many hours and am at a complete loss, I've tried ROMs, radios, patches, registry changes, you name it, I've tried it. Now I'm back in the UK and on my home carrier (three), I can't test it as the problem has gone away but I'm pretty sure it will return the next time I cross the Channel.
I am in touch with TomTom tech support in the hope of obtaining the latest version of TT7 software that is certified for the Touch HD, but I really don't think it's a TomTom problem, so don't hold out any great hope there.
Any suggestions would be most appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Based on your experiece, that you have the problem in one country and not in another, I´m pretty sure it must be carrier related.
I live in Sweden and work in Denmark. I drive every day from Malmoe Sweden to Copenhagen. I have absolutely no problem on the danish side. But after passing the bridge to the swedish side, the gps signal get lost randomly. It can be lost up to approx 1 min. but always comes back, just to get lost again.
It could be some kind of interference due to the roaming - well, I dont know. I´ve tried everything. Change roms, software etc.
Can more people relate to this problem??
It seems to be okay if I lock to a particular carrier.
I spent most of last summer in France, locked my phone to Orange FR and had no problems at all. The downside is that if Orange signal is weak, the phone interrupts TomTom to ask if you want to change networks and you have to decline using small boxes whilst driving.
I was in France again in December and let it pick it's own carrier, I got dropouts again.
I'm off to France again this weekend and shall again lock the phone to Orange FR, fingers crossed.
Update:
It is to do with the phone/GPS interface.
I set it to manual on Orange F and all was fine until I noticed the GPS slowing down, then a phone message popped up asking me to choose a network (presumably because of low Orange signal), then the message disappeared, phone re connected to Orange and GPS went back to normal.
It seems that even if we disable AGPS, there is still some connection between the GPS and the phone section.

Rogers Dream GPS Problem

So I've had my dream since launch day in Canada, and the gps has been working fine until about a week ago. Recently my gps mostly refuses to lock, and when it dose, google maps shows me as being roughly 600km away from where I am.
I just went out for a walk to an area with no buildings or trees to block the sky, (I have had success locking from within my apartment building before, but just to make sure...), and it took about 30 min to establish a 'lock' on my position (600km away 5 km below sea level and moving at around 150 km/h).
GPS status showed between 5 and 6 satellites that it could see the entire walk. I then installed gps test and got roughly the same. I've tried rebooting several times, as well as leaving the phone off for about an hour.
Nothing seems to clear this issue up.
I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem, and if they got it fixed?
I'm currently running a rooted phone, did that several weeks (and a few reboots) before the gps issue cropped up.
Take it far away from tall buildings. Signals can reflect off of buildings and give you incorrect readings.
I used to be able to lock under a minute, now I can't lock at all. Same here.
hmmmm, I just opened up GPS Status 2 app and I'm not getting a lock either.
I'm guessing google maps is just using phone towers to approximate where I am.
I hope Endeavour didn't crash some sattelites on it's way to the space station lol
turns out my GPS is fine. I thought it worked inside my work place but it does not. It had no issues connecting while Iw as outside.
so I got in touch with rogers technical support, they put me in touch with HTC technical support. they said that it's most likely a hardware issue, and told me to get back to rogers. rogers is now saying it's an application issue, and are directing me to talk to google.
yey rogers....
sigh...
..EDIT..
and three factory resets later I have gps again...

[Q] Its official my new vibrant no gps issue and signal is better.

I've tried every fix, every change and every hand position and the gps was still unacceptably slow and useless. After several phone calls to TMO I finally convinced them to send me a new phone.
I unpacked the new phone put my battery and sim card in booted it up clicked on google maps the gps flicked on and off about twice and then locked gps within 35 meters. Then I double checked the settings and use wireless carriers was unchecked.
Also my signal shows more bars. It still goes from 2 bars to 4 bars if i hold it by the top upside down but it was showing none (still worked) then 4?
This begs the question to me, is this a hardware issue? software? if it is soft why if they can fix on the later batches cant they fix for everyone?
New phone about:
model sgh-t959
firmware 2.1-update1
baseband T959UVJFD
kernel 2.6.29
the tech also told me to periodically do *#*#checkin#*#* on the dialer to be in the first people to get OTA updates when available. Anyone ever heard of this?
Thanks, i've been on this forum since my TMO pocket pc phone but this is my first post.
sax911
*#*#checkin#*#* or *#*#2432546#*#* is technically pinging google, sending your phones info... in the event you are on an outdated OS version you will be upgraded soon. It's not a waiting list, no one but Cyanogen goes first. then he gives google the go ahead to ship it out
For what it's worth, my phone was packaged on 8/19/10, and takes a long time to find GPS signal. I did both fixes, but ended up reverting back to Standalone mode to get semi-consistent results. Once it's locked in, it's very accurate.
sax911 said:
New phone about:
model sgh-t959
firmware 2.1-update1
baseband T959UVJFD
kernel 2.6.29
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
does anyone have anything different from this? i picked up my vibrant a couple days ago, and my info is the same as this.
my gps works fine outdoors, sometimes has trouble determining location indoors. signal indoors usually shows 0-2 bars of 3g with consistent speeds, with full bars outside.
i can't complain
^^ The one I ordered from Amazon on 8/31 and got delivered yesterday has the same firmware, version etc. Today morning tested GPS on way to office and no problems. Locked satellite in 2 secs and did good job re-routing couple times when I ignored the GPS lady. I dont know if the problem starts when you use GPS more frequently. Hope not!
mind checking the GPS settings and telling us what they are? maybe some screenshots with drocap?
That's great for you but a single anecdotal data point is not an official fix validation.
I just tried *#*#2432546#*#* on my vibrant and got no results whatsoever. I have rooted with the one click root but have not installed any roms. I did do a backup rom with Rom manager and I believe it ended up with clockworkrecovery mode. I have done nothing else. Has something occured that will make it impossible for me to get the OTA? I have gotten checkin successful in the past but now nothing. Any help is greatly appreciated.
OP, this is by no means a flame but locking on with 35 meters accuracy is EXACTLY the issue with the GPS. That's 100 feet, man. Not accurate in my book. With aGPS turned off, my mt3g gets within 2-5 meters in about 20 seconds. Do a GPS stats test and see how many sats you lock on. I'll bet 1 to 3 at best. If more, post pics.
Mine works after using that fix that's been going around. Only thing is that out takes a while for the gps to lock but otherwise its fine. I think lol.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
I got a new one, my GPS locked in 10 seconds up to five meters

Data and GPS weirdness

For the last 2 days data is sometimes unavailable, resulting in the "data call failure". I have the "always on mobile data" disabled", though I doubt this makes a difference here, since it was working just fine like that up until Sunday.
I've also noticed the GPS become active, when it shouldn't be (the only times I ever see this icon is with Sprint Navigator, Google Maps and Poynt). It is possible that the GPS has always turned at random (to to gauge location) but never saw it until the other day. I have not installed anything new, other than a few app updates.
Back when I had a BlackBerry, I would notice the same types of network oddities once every few weeks and a few folks over at CrackBerry had verified that were seeing the type of weirdness. I'd like to think that this is just something funky with Sprint's data network.
Anyways, I'm just wondering if anyone else has seen some bizarre behavior with data and gps on their Evo over the last few days. I'm in Philadelphia, PA - this may be region-specific, not sure.
I think I found the source of the GPS usuage: the CNET Scan & Shop app. Spare Parts showed me that this uses the GPS quite a bit, funny thing is - I've never used it. It's uninstalled now. I've rebooted my Evo a few times and data seems to be fine now, however it now looks like 3G is not turning off when the phone is locked like it normally does with "always on mobile data" disabled. The only other things I can think is the recent Touiter update or today's GMail update.

[Q] GPS Problems

Edit: I actually just though of something, I updated to NF1 about 2 or 3 weeks ago and the problem started happening within the past few weeks. Does the baseband control the GPS radio also?
I know this is a problem with the Note 3 across all carriers, but it also seems to be a stock software issue. I'm on an AOSP ROM so none of that really helps me. GPS will lock on to my current location, but it won't "follow" me and it loses it's connection after about a minute and then it will sporadically update my location. I noticed this for the first time last week (I've had the phone since April/May and it has worked fine up until now) when I was trying to use Maps to get to a town a half hour away. I would open Maps and it would find my exact location and give me point to point directions but before I even moved it would say "GPS Signal Lost" and wouldn't reconnect. After about 3 or 4 reboots I finally got it to lock on and follow me. One the way back I could get it to follow me at all.
I recently started playing Ingress since I work in NYC and live right outside of it so there are a ton of players, the problem is that the stupid map won't update my location so the marker usually just stays in the same location, but will spin around depending on which way I turn. It will also occasionally update my location, for example, on Sunday I was able to play for 2.5 hours because it would actually follow me for a good amount of the time, at about the 2.5 hour mark it pretty much stopped updating. I had walked 3 blocks from where it shows me at that point I got frustrated and went home. During my time where it actually "worked" it wouldn't be that accurate, I know GPS isn't accurate down to the exact foot/inch but this would be pretty far off. I'd be standing next to portal (shown by the picture) and it would say that it was 50 or 100 meters away!
I tried to play yesterday in NYC and it wouldn't even follow me at all over the course of about 5 blocks! I got frustrated and stopped playing the game. During this time I had flashed two different AOSP ROMs and neither have fixed the issue.
GPS Status shows all the correct info, except for "waiting for GPS location....". I saw that someone mentioned checking/bending the GPS contacts but I'm not sure which ones they are and don't want to screw anything up.
Does anyone else have these issues on AOSP ROMs and if so, did you manage to fix them?
I'm currently running:
C-ROM Kang v1.6 20140816
Kernel Version: 3.4.0-gd84d543
Baseband: N900TUVUDNF1

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