Develop Bugs

Desire Froyo 2.2 update. GPS fix issues.

Hello All.
I know this has been covered a little before through the search but im still after some advice.
I "upgraded" from my n85 to the HTC desire last week. I imediatly got the 2.2 update on there OTA and all was well and good. However i appear to be having issues with regards to getting a gps fix.
A-GPS apears to work fine and i can get a position on googlemaps within a a min. All well and good if it actually showed my proper location. So im sat there waiting for a gps fix. I.e. last night i was sat there for 10 mins on the moors in the car, frweezing my knackers off, and still nothing!
Sooo
if i reboot the phone i can get a gps fix within a min or so. But i have to do this if i want to use the gps which seems a bit rubbish to be frank and ive got the iphone boys laughing at me because theres fixes straight away.
So what am i doing wrong? how can i get a good fix from the off? Its spoiling anotherwise good phone.

I have this problem in Google Navigation also. As you say, after rebooting the phone it finds a fix pretty much straight away.
This is my biggest annoyance with the phone right now and I hope they fix it soon. Prior to 2.2 I didn't have this problem at all so I am sure it is a software problem.

Hmm i'm afraid there is nothing really to fix. My Desire gets a GPS-Fix out of any situation straight away within 3-5 seconds (outdoors of course)...

Maybe a different radio would sort out this problem? I`ve heard talk of different radios being better for some and not for others, Trial and error I supose.
O and my GPS fix seems rather slow too.

I also have significant delays in getting a GPS fix. I do not recall if it was the same behavior before I did the HTC OTA FroYo update.
I also notice that I never get very good "signal strength" (as measured with the app GPS Test) from any of the satellites, even when I DO have a fix.

Hello.
I recently bought a secondhand HTC Desire and I am having the same issue.
It has stock 2.2 on it and it can not get any GPS fix whatsover.
I have tried rebooting, taking sd card out and back in, taking sim card out and back in, etc. without any luck.
I have tried apps such as GPS Status, GPS essentials and GPS Test and they all either are stuck at searching for ever or show 0 visable and 0 used satellites.
How can I fix this issue? It is rather important. If I install one of the various custom 2.3 ROMs will it fix the issue?

There isn't Desire with vanilla Android. If it has stock FroYo, then it's custom ROM.

Terepin said:
There isn't Desire with vanilla Android. If it has stock FroYo, then it's custom ROM.
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Click to collapse
Sorry, my mistake.
I meant it has the official 2.2 Froyo with HTC Sense as far I can tell. The previous owner must have upgraded it to that.
Anyway, is there any way to get my GPS working?

Try to root, s-off then update the radio to the latest. Search the forums for info on how to do that. It's rather easy if you're a little versed with computers.

TVTV said:
Try to root, s-off then update the radio to the latest. Search the forums for info on how to do that. It's rather easy if you're a little versed with computers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Done. Still doesn't work.

That's weird. It may be a hardware issue, then. Get GPS Status from the Market, install it and see what's going on under the hood. Does the phone "see" the satellites but can't get a fix or does it not "see" any satellites at all?

its not difficult understand if there is an hardware fault or not
run the latest froyo ruu, go out of ur house, enable internet connection, enable gps, open gmaps...after few seconds u should get ur exactly position with a possible error of 1/2 meters
if even after some minutes, and even in different locations/city, it doesn't show ur correct position, call htc and sent it to service with warranty.
solved

0 satellites seen and 0 satellite fixes.
According to the previous owner it didn't have the GPS problem before the 2.2 ota update, which would make me think it is software related.

Never trust the seller. Of course he/she will not admit that the product they've sold you has/has had issues. I would return it, to be honest.

[Q] GPS Not detecting any satellites

Okay, recently I had an issue where on my Evo the GPS would not detect any satellites at all. When I use applications that require the gps such as google maps and gps status the gps icons blinks indicating it's in use, but I never get any signal. On gps status no satellites show up. Currently I'm using sense 4.22 rom, I also tried with 4.24 and cyanogenmod and still no luck. I also tried the sense fix with the ##gpsclx# (something like that I think) and still no luck. Any suggestions?

have you tried that yet?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1132412
worked for me and seems to work for a lot of folks..

Okay I'm going to try that right now

madflasher said:
have you tried that yet?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1132412
worked for me and seems to work for a lot of folks..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay tried one of the drivers, still didn't work, I'm going to try wiping everything and re-installing the 4.22 rom

I've run into the same problem myself.
I've been switching between cm7 nightlies and mik's. Initially things worked just fine, but in the last day it won't get a lock. All I get is a flashing gps icon.
Tried the different drivers floating around, gpsclrx, etc. Not sure what to do at this point either.

Yeah, I just completely wiped everything and installed a fresh rom and still nothing...could the radio's have something to do with it?

I did that too.. No go.
I restored a sense rom, did a profile update, reboot.
Surprisingly, that seemed to work. Trying all the other things, I never did the profile update. So who knows... ymmv.. Good luck!
Btw, if you're on an airave, turn that off if you can when doing the profile update.

Okay thanks I'll try that.

If you don't know what it is, you don't have one.
An airave is sprint's version of a femtocell. A mini tower that uses your cable/dsl connection and broadcasts a low power cell signal. Used for areas of no/weak signal.

gpz1100 said:
I did that too.. No go.
I restored a sense rom, did a profile update, reboot.
Surprisingly, that seemed to work. Trying all the other things, I never did the profile update. So who knows... ymmv.. Good luck!
Btw, if you're on an airave, turn that off if you can when doing the profile update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay so I just tried it, and rebooted multiple times but still a no go. What version of sense did you do it on?

I actually restored back to mik's 2.1 rom. Any sense should work though. Of course, as screwed up as this is, it could have very well been coincidence?

Hmmmm....okay, I think I'll try going back to a froyo rom and see if that works

gpz1100 said:
I actually restored back to mik's 2.1 rom. Any sense should work though. Of course, as screwed up as this is, it could have very well been coincidence?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay I don't know I'm about fed up with this. I have tried everything and nothing works. The GPS simply won't pick up signal!!!

Okay just another update, still nothing is working still says searching for GPS none of the Gps apps pick up signal, could this be a hardware issue?

Lol, okay I know I am practically talking to myself, but I just remembered something. About 2 weeks ago I went to the Sprint service center to have my back camera lens replaced. However, I haven't used the gps for a few days after that, but later that week, I noticed that it wasn't working when using my jogging app on the phone. So today I read online that someone else was having gps issue also, and it was the fact that a little connection in their gps antenna came loose. It could possibly be that while repairing it, they accidentally knocked out one of the connections to the gps antenna. I think I'll head over there tomorrow.

Good luck!
Evo HW 003
MIUI 1.6.17

Okay so I just got back from the sprint store. I told the guy about my problem. At first he insisted it was working because in Google maps it shown my location but then I informed him it was just satellite signal. Lol so anyway..after about 20 minutes they decided it just didn't work, they're ordering a replacement phone which should be in, in about a week. Lol fun stuff

Glad you're getting it resolved.
As for me, anytime I have the device connected to the airave, the gps fails to acquire any satellite signal. As soon as I kill the airave and the phone connects to a tower, gps returns. This was not the case before, but the airave has been troublesome more times than not.
Practically however, you're obviously going to make use of the gps when not home, so it's somewhat of a moot point.

Lol yeah...well at least hopefully the replacement phone will work well...now..I just have to deal with rootig that

Okay another update my phone came in early, and the GPS on this one works!!!!!! Yay!!! Lol..now i'm just waiting for a root method hahaha

GPS stopped working... any idea before i'll send it for RMA?

Hi all
Few days ago i realized that GPS on my Defy is not working anymore...
It cannot get fix in any location, and GPS status tells me that is actually sees few satellites - 3-7 but readings are not stable (they dissapear from time to time) and it can not get fix...
I am on Froyo - official.
Any ideas?
I just tried it out again - it got fix, but after 130 seconds..... ...normally on a cold start it used to get a fix in below 30 seconds....

Same issue here, stopped working Thu 21st or Fri 22nd. Couldn't get any fix. Restored to factory with no success. On Sun it was working, after a few days it got better, but sometimes the startup time is long, the signal fluctuates and the accuracy (with GPStest) jumps between 4.5m and 45 or even 98m)
Also the GPS indicator sometimes doesn't show up on the status bar while gps is working.
Official Froyo here as well.
Must be some conspiracy
Maybe to get us buy Defy+

Same problem, GPS was working until last week... On Motorola forum there are some other people, which GPS stopped working this month, what's going on? By "stopped working" I mean, that I can not get GPS fix ie. with data connection off or I need to wait 30 minutes until I get GPS fix. For those 30 minutes I see 10 satellites, but no fix. Before month I had GPS fix w/wout data in 30 seconds.

Also been reading about this on the Motor forums. I have not been having the issue (California). Bought mine in November US when they first became available. Official 2.2, T-Mo. Green lens, FWIW.

Same problem here. Bought it in January but around June it stopped being able to hold a lock on any satellites. It can see 10 satellites very easily, and it will lock for a few seconds, but then it drops all of the sats and starts over.
It stopped working on official Froyo, but no joy on CM7 either.

There are a number of article on the net about GPS jamming. In the US Homeland Security routinely cuts GPS and if you are a pilot you will receive an advisory. But there is this:
http://www.economist.com/node/18304246
May not be related. Also, on another pilot forum, they are blaming certain types of GPS antenna for being jammed by cell towers.

I have the same issue. It worked ok for me yesterday while driving a long distance, but lost GPS after about an hour.
I can sometimes get a good enough fix to check in on foursquare, but not often.
I'm on official tmobile us froyo and have done factory reset, but it didn't help any.
Sent from my MB525 using XDA App

tlongren said:
I have the same issue. It worked ok for me yesterday while driving a long distance, but lost GPS after about an hour.
I can sometimes get a good enough fix to check in on foursquare, but not often.
I'm on official tmobile us froyo and have done factory reset, but it didn't help any.
Sent from my MB525 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where are you located?

scrannel said:
Where are you located?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Iowa, USA. My standalone GPS device works perfectly here.
Sent from my MB525 using XDA App

My gps seem to be faulty too. In uk.
Sent from mobile.

I always read this stuff just before I buy a phone:/ So it's a wide spread issue?
Might be getting that HTC 7 pro now

tlongren said:
Iowa, USA. My standalone GPS device works perfectly here.
Sent from my MB525 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A link on a pilot forum tested (not sure if it was a phone or other device) a GPS drop-out the pilot was having consistently on the way to his airfield. He finally noticed that when he drove between two cell towers his GPS dropped signal. He retested this several times and with the same result.
John Deere is fighting a 40,000 cell tower development which would disrupt GPS on farm tractors which rely on GPS for movement. This is a Sprint deal with LightSquared.
Look around this site for more GPS woes: http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/GPS_Side_Issue_LightSquared_Broadband_204980-1.html

My gps actually worked today! Figured I'd try it going from hotel to water ski show, took about 2 minutes to get a gps signal. But once it did, it worked well and got us to our destination.
Nothing has changed with phone setup, so it's a bit inconsistent it would seem.
Will be trying it again in a few hours. Wish me luck.
Sent from my MB525 using XDA App

Mine (UK stock Froyo 2.2) was the same, with A-GPS and data and WiFi all switched off it was struggling to get a fix, intermittently.
All GPS Status/Monitor apps showed that it finds many satellites but no locking.
Yesterday I got this app GPSFix from the Android Market and it locked in 1 min. After that all apps and monitors lock without any problem. I need to try more to be sure it was due to the app...

That's interesting Aeron_11. I'm gonna give GPSFix a try. Here's the market link if anyone is interested in trying it:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.androidlab.gpsfix
The reviews seem to be very good.

GPSFix doesn't do any good for me. It's the same old story. Sees lots of satellites but can't hold a lock on any of them for more than a couple of seconds.
Running CM7

Well, I did some more tests, and I think GPSFix wasn't quite as reliable as I originally thought !
Basically it is still very intermittent. Sometimes it takes 5min or more and sometimes 1min. I think it depends on many parameters:
- I would say weather is a factor, cloudy, windy etc.
- Standing next to a wall or a building - even if not tall it blocks the direct view
- Also I find if you are moving, it will be a lot harder. Stand completely still and not just stop walking but don't move the phone about too much !
- The latest I found is the direction you are holding the phone (and possibly angle) !? Experiment and you see it picks more satellites in certain angles !
All in all, I get a fix but it just takes a long time sometime. A good GPS antenna/hardware in a phone probably is much more reliable than this (my records is 9min, which to be honest puts it pass the practical use). Although this is with all the data and WiFi and other connections switched off.
The funny thing is once it locks it won't let go !? It keeps it locked and won't drop it - accuracy is so so.
By the way, the number of satellites found is not important, it's the strength of their signal (I think it might be called SNR - some monitors show the strength and you can see that until it finds 3 or 4 satellites with 25+ SNR it won't lock.)
I'm no expert, these are just my impression/experience, that's all....

Is my GPS broken? (running stock jellybean) - UPDATE see post 6

Ive had my phone for about 2 weeks now, and the GPS is basically unusable. It takes up to 5 mins to get a lock, and sometimes it just never gets one. Even when it does, its not very accurate.
Ive read somewhere that the upgrade to jellybean caused this, and ive been running JN since i owned it, so maybe thats my problem? Anyone else experience this issue? Anyway to test if its just the software?
Id like to figure it out, so if i have to send my phone back i can. Thanks.

I think the Jellybean connection was more coincidental than anything else, since a lot of people were having GPS issues (on both ICS and JB ROMs) around the time that the JB OTA began rolling out.
Try disabling "Google's location service" in the location services setting and see if that helps. If it works, then try reenabling it and try again. That seemed to resolve the issues of most people who were having GPS issues a few weeks ago.

athakur999 said:
I think the Jellybean connection was more coincidental than anything else, since a lot of people were having GPS issues (on both ICS and JB ROMs) around the time that the JB OTA began rolling out.
Try disabling "Google's location service" in the location services setting and see if that helps. If it works, then try reenabling it and try again. That seemed to resolve the issues of most people who were having GPS issues a few weeks ago.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With it enabled, i just get the huge circle, and it says my location is somewhere in there. With it disabled, i get "waiting for location", and then "your current location is temporarily unavailable."
Anything else i can try. Like i said before it works, but maybe 1 out of 10 times. Even if it worked half the time it would be useless. If i cant depend on it then its really not worth anything to me.

Try this GPS fix. It worked like a champ for me and many other people.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1789543

azanboy said:
Try this GPS fix. It worked like a champ for me and many other people.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1789543
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im not rooted.

Ok i just called google play, and asked what i should do. He suggested i do what ive already done (check and uncheck google services, factory reset), both of which had no effect on my GPS. He then told me that a fix should be coming out within the next few weeks, and it should fix it on all devices.
So right now im debating flashing a custom ROM like AOKP or something to see if that fixes it. Im a little worried about doing this to a phone that may be faulty in the first place though. Should i even bother, or should i just wait the few weeks for a fix. If googles OTA fix doesnt fix it back to google it goes.

another update: GPS now works (not sure what made it start), but it still takes forever to lock, and is extremely inaccurate. Usually when you use nav, itll tell you when a turn is coming etc, but the gps thought i was over 100yds behind were i actually was. Even when im in my house, it has no idea where i am, closest it can get in down to 3 houses wide.
Im having flashbacks to my captivate - which didnt work at all - but if a gps only works sometimes and when it does doesnt work very good - then its basically worthless. Am i really going to trust it when i need it?

GPS status from Google play store. Install it and let it download agps data. That should greatly increase accuracy and decrease lock time. You don't need root to use it.
Hope it helps
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

fix
try this download gps test from google play run then it should fix the problem 100% worked for me

GPS Issues

Sounds like I am not the only one having GPS issues with my HAM. I have tried pretty much everything to improve things but with little or no success. Just to be clear I am talking about GPS locking and accuracy not AGPS (mobile tower) or WIFI based location which seem to work fine.
Hopefully this thread will get noticed by HUAWEI and they will fix the problem which in my case is :
Inconsistent GPS locking, sometimes it locks on pretty quick < 1min other times the GPS icon in the notification bar just keep flashing.
Inaccurate GPS location when it does lock with the position jumping around.
Location and heading changes when stationary which are probably related. Looks like internal compass maybe buggy or is not getting used.
I very dependent on GoogleMap and its Navigator which is where the above issues have been identified. I tried Waze which seems to dampen the location and direction jumping a bit but the initial lock was still a problem.
Same issues in B906 and B907 roms, haven't tried B221 (trying it next but it looks like others experienced the same with this rom)
Tried:
GPS Status and Toolbox - no difference
GPS Fix - no difference
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1563226 - Used Method 2 and with SSL as suggested by member svvv - Improved AGPS and WIFI based location lock but didn't help with the GPS
Never had this problem with any of my previous 4 Androids and even my old Windows Phone worked flawlessly. Maybe its something to do with my HAM being a Chinese model and it also having GLONASS which has better coverage in the northern hemisphere. Will see if I can set it to just use just the US GPS system in the build.prop.
Its a shame that Huawei stuffed the GPS on the HAM, it would be my perfect phone otherwise, if I can't get it going reliably it will be the Galaxy Mega for me as much as I hate Touch Wiz......
Location Access enabled with both and wireless networks enabled.
Google account Location settings enabled.
2GB no NFC International Model, rooted.

mingonn said:
Sounds like I am not the only one having GPS issues with my HAM. I have tried pretty much everything to improve things but with little or no success. Just to be clear I am talking about GPS locking and accuracy not AGPS (mobile tower) or WIFI based location which seem to work fine.
Hopefully this thread will get noticed by HUAWEI and they will fix the problem which in my case is :
Inconsistent GPS locking, sometimes it locks on pretty quick < 1min other times the GPS icon in the notification bar just keep flashing.
Inaccurate GPS location when it does lock with the position jumping around.
Location and heading changes when stationary which are probably related. Looks like internal compass maybe buggy or is not getting used.
I very dependent on GoogleMap and its Navigator which is where the above issues have been identified. I tried Waze which seems to dampen the location and direction jumping a bit but the initial lock was still a problem.
Same issues in B906 and B907 roms, haven't tried B221 (trying it next but it looks like others experienced the same with this rom)
Tried:
GPS Status and Toolbox - no difference
GPS Fix - no difference
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1563226 - Used Method 2 and with SSL as suggested by member svvv - Improved AGPS and WIFI based location lock but didn't help with the GPS
Never had this problem with any of my previous 4 Androids and even my old Windows Phone worked flawlessly. Maybe its something to do with my HAM being a Chinese model and it also having GLONASS which has better coverage in the northern hemisphere. Will see if I can set it to just use just the US GPS system in the build.prop.
Its a shame that Huawei stuffed the GPS on the HAM, it would be my perfect phone otherwise, if I can't get it going reliably it will be the Galaxy Mega for me as much as I hate Touch Wiz......
Location Access enabled with both and wireless networks enabled.
Google account Location settings enabled.
2GB no NFC International Model, rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If ur AGPS is working fine eventually ur GPS should work fine. AGPS will use network to locate the GPS satellites.
try changing AGPS settings in the Ascend Mate secret menu *#*#2846579159#*#* under backgroundsetting

Thanks Svvv, will see what options come up. GPS usually eventually locks but it's never that accurate. Will A GPS improve this?
Sent from my HUAWEI MT1-U06 using Tapatalk

mingonn said:
Thanks Svvv, will see what options come up. GPS usually eventually locks but it's never that accurate. Will A GPS improve this?
Sent from my HUAWEI MT1-U06 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AGPS wont be that accurate as GPS...but whenever mobile cant fix a position with GPS satellites it goes for AGPS until GPS becomes active. U will not see any difference in the navigation.
Also try using GPS in the open skies mostly u wont get a fix inside a house or closed areas.

Thanks Svvv, that's what I found. Still can't believe Huawei couldn't get this right, even my wife's $50 ZTE's gps works like a dream. Searching through the P6 forums shows similar problems, not surprising given the similar hardware. I'm starting too suspect it's a hardware problem, maybe antenna related so I'm not confident of a software fix. Spent far top much time on this and I need accurate navigation so it's so long HAM. It's a shame, great phone otherwise, going too miss the battery life.....
Sent from my HUAWEI MT1-U06 using Tapatalk

GPS update. Tried B221 for a week but GPS issues were the same, positional accuracy was seemed slightly worse.
Rom was more stable than b907 though, no random reboots or system freezes bit b907 has better functionality. Very jealous of my wife's nexus 5, can't tell you how good the hardware and software is. A absolute bargain!
Can't go back to a small screen though, fingers crossed we see a nexus 6 to bridge the gap
Sent from my HUAWEI MT1-U06 using Tapatalk

mingonn said:
GPS update. Tried B221 for a week but GPS issues were the same, positional accuracy was seemed slightly worse.
Rom was more stable than b907 though, no random reboots or system freezes bit b907 has better functionality. Very jealous of my wife's nexus 5, can't tell you how good the hardware and software is. A absolute bargain!
Can't go back to a small screen though, fingers crossed we see a nexus 6 to bridge the gap
Sent from my HUAWEI MT1-U06 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
since i dont quiet use gps in phones (i'm using other gps only gadget) i'm sure there must be something missing in the HAM that prevent it having good GPS signal/system.
well, if you ever wanted to replace the HAM, still wanted the same Batt Power, big 6.1", why not go for the HAM 2 which is LTE version with many improvements over the first HAM, heard that they improve GPS too.

It is the same problem with Huwaei MT 7 - I can not believe the this company did not discover this issue in their product yet, this is what is bad about the Chinese products

Strange, all of a sudden Yesterday, it seems all the people I know with Huawei phones have no GPS (Mate 2 and P8 Lite). I checked 6 phones. Worked fine Sunday, then BOOM Yesterday (Monday) no GPS no matter what I do. Any one else having this issue? I am on Android 5.1 B322.

rekamyenom said:
Strange, all of a sudden Yesterday, it seems all the people I know with Huawei phones have no GPS (Mate 2 and P8 Lite). I checked 6 phones. Worked fine Sunday, then BOOM Yesterday (Monday) no GPS no matter what I do. Any one else having this issue? I am on Android 5.1 B322.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow so im not the only one that's weird I just did the upgrade to b322 Saturday so I though something screwed up there. have you seen any devs come up with a cause or solution?

I had the same experience with my ascend mate 2. Mt2lo3. GPS is laggy to an extreme. Maybe the Chinese GPS Data connection. web.omwtoday.com???