gps fix but for how long? - Epic 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I have 2 epics that had working gps before the update and now both don't work so well. Sprint said it should be working and to reinstall the apps. I downloaded gps status and was getting no sats and even cleared the cash. Nothing on both phones and it sems like its harde every time to get nav to work. I now found the fix, reboot your phone from the 3 button and reboot now. I did that and instant lock in seconds, is there any explination for this and why does the lock get worse day by day till no lock. This is the second time I had to reboot phone in 3 days to get the nav going.

Related

[Q] GPS not working after manual OTA update to 2.2

HI all, I am new to android
Followed the excellent tutorials in this forum and upgraded to 2.2 using a file downloaded directly from a HTC link (sorry cant find right now)
Everything is superb but the gps cant get a fix. It has been a few days and I tried various things like restarts, remove battery, clear sky, leave google maps running for long, checked it is enabled in settings etc.
What to do?
What should be the correct version information after the 2.2 update? (in case i installed a beta/incomplete version)
Please help this new droid get back on its feet
I am sorry I have no solution, but I have the same issue. This has nothing to do with 2.2 I think, because it happened all of a sudden. At least it felt like it happened jus like that. I have been using 2.2 for a long time and used GPS. Only recently I noticed the issue.
from my post here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=7773080&postcount=9
It worked for me! I went to the roof as today is a bright day and used Tricorder app's Geo tab. Touched on it to show satellite.
It kept trying to connect to satellite. The tricorder app shows some satellites as green. Presumably as they are chosen to calculate location. It didn't finally lock-on till it was showing 12 satellites and 4 of them were green. I noticed that I had to remove the jelly cover and :
1. Stand still, she how many satellites it shows signals. In a few seconds it will stop detecting new ones.
2. It it hasn't locked on then move around a bit and change some orientation then step 2 again
3. Repeat above till it latches to atleast 4 green or 12 total signals (dont know which one works the 12 signals or 4 green)
and after that it easily updates even indoors for me.
I usually get a fix in the first minute, usually under 30 seconds. But this time no satellites were showing, not even after 15 minutes. I switched roms and it's working fine again.
I think I must have messed up something by reflashing multiple times. (I was trying to get the bios boot image to work, but sadly no avail )
I've just updated to voda standard 2.2 rom OTA this morning
1st thing I've noticed is the gps is a no go, no sats in view at all.
(using gps test the 'on button' only stays yellow too)
I've not 'messed' with my phone at all other than the standard updates
I must admit I've not tried a hard reset yet but I think that's going to be the last hopeful resort otherwise it's going back for a replacement

Navigation, "Searching for GPS" constantly? ? ?

When trying to use google maps & the built in turn by turn navigation it will load up then just say searching for gps & it never locks on & doesn't give me the voice guided turn by turn anymore. Google maps is up to date, gps is on & showing in the status bar, & I have tried in numerous locations with the same result. Am I alone on this one?
This has happened to me a few times with diff ROMs even. GPS test app shows that there are sufficient sats in view but the system never locks in. Next day it works fine.
Could be radio or kernal related. Try clearing data and cache. Probly wont help but can't hurt.
Do you open maps first then navigation? For some reason, when I open just navigation, it will do what you say and never lock on. Get to navigation by typing the address in to maps and then hitting driving navigation.
does the same in mine no matter what... i dunno what to do. running incredibly re engineered rom (newest one)
Driving around while trying to get a lock can cause it to take a little longer... Cloudy skies can do this also. Being inside a building can also interfere.
If you just have standalone GPS turned on, well that's your problem right there. The other two assist in getting a GPS lock alot quicker. The other two that I'm talking about is Google's and VZW's Location Services. Those two will also help get a better and more precise position aswell.
NOTE: Navigation. If this was a fresh/wipe install or you get stuck at "Checking Navigation Availability" do the following:
1) Turn on GPS
2) Start Maps
3) When prompted turn on WiFi (do not need to connect to any)
4) Map should then show approximate location
5) Get out of maps
6) Reboot
6) Start Navigation
I think this stuff is all on the right track. Here's my method (I get the same thing on a de-sensed stock rom):
I think Google Maps has the ability (not so great) to 'block' itself via using huge amounts of resources whereas the GPS doesn't use much resource and needs a helper app to get itself oriented the first time. Once oriented it is fine.
The one I use is a free market tool called "GPS Status" by EclipSim. It takes ~3 seconds to get a fix. So you start GPS (via power widget settings, whatever) and start GPS Status, wait a little while and you can see it locking onto satellites, and when it says first fix = ~3 seconds or ~30 seconds, (it depends on some unknown conditions), then close it and you can use navigation because it knows where it is.
Worth a shot. I've been doing that since the 'dawn of droids'.
I completely unrooted my phone and no matter what I do it will not get a GPS lock. I deleted Google maps and redownloaded it, uninstalled updates, tried every combination of settings in location, etc. and nothing.
I tried on my wife's stock incredible also and it immediately locks on to her location and starts the turn by turn navigation without any issues.
I think there was something wrong with the internal GPS chip/locator in the phone itself. I contacted Verizon and they are sending me out another replacement. Hopefully this one works properly.
Thanks for all the replies guy's but it looks like the phone is just defective.
read on another thread to wipe dalvik cache. So I tried it and it works. After initial wipe, GPS quickly acquired satellites and locked on.

Reasonable GPS lock workaround w/o root

I've been having the same trouble as many have with the Epic 4G Touch's GPS. It takes forever, if ever, to get a GPS lock. I can have a GPS lock, go into McDonald's and come back out and it will be cold starting again. Ridiculous performance.
Rebooting the phone is a pain but seemed to be the only thing that worked every time. After reading a lot of different forums about this problem, I noticed a conservation that speculated that the problem wasn't specifically the GPS itself, but rather was location services. Apparently there are some more recent location services being flashed to phones and the GPS works great. It would make some sense that this is the problem because after a reboot I would think that the phone would reset location services when it turns back on. Further comments in those threads suggests that turning the phone to airplane mode and back also works around this problem.
I've been playing around with this for awhile today and it does appear that going to airplane mode and back helps the situation. I used Tasker to create a task that does this: turns on airplane mode, waits 20 seconds, turns off airplane mode, then launches GPS Test automatically. I created a widget icon for this task. I never attempt to get a GPS fix indoors. What I do is that when I walk outside on the way to the car I hit the widget. I let the phone do it's thing and by the time I get in the car and ready to go, I've had a GPS lock every time today. When I get in the car, I close GPS Test and start whatever app I want to navigate with.
So far, this method has yet to let me down. We will see how the weekend goes.
That's very interesting, I'm gonna try that and see if it helps. I also noticed that getting a lock by starting Navigation right away is almost impossible. It always helps me to Getty a lock with another app first. Telenave seems to work best for me.
This (among the countless others) workaround is fine and I thank you for it.
However I'd really like to know just what the hell is going on with the gps on these phones.
Some folks are fine with the gps working fine in any circumstances. While others have to wave dead chickens and performance some sort of incantation to get gps to be even reasonable. Still others have some issues but can work them out via flashing of modems and what not. Some had to replace their phone with another e4gt and it was fine there after. WTF?
The gps on my old GS2 i9100 was awesome. I never had to give it a second thought or worry about it losing gps lock or taking eons to get even a meager lock. This is entirely not the case with my current E4GT. Damn thing. If the update doesn't fix anything then I'm gonna replace it.
Is there just a batch of bad hardware out there? Is the gps sleeping when it shouldn't? Why does one fix seem to work for one phone but not another? Talk about manufacturer inconsistentancy, geez.
Does the sprint version of the galaxy nexus have these sorts of issues?
Heavy sigh.
Try GPS Status, it's available on the market. I just got a lock on 8/8 satellites within 5 seconds inside my apartment.
Google maps seems to take a little bit longer obtaining a GPS lock but after running GPS Status it seems much faster.
I believe that it does not require root, and the best part is that you do not have to flash back to GB, to get a lock so that you can flash ICS again.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
I would flash back....worked ever sense i did
It's my phone...any mis takes...sry
tubasteve said:
I would flash back....worked ever sense i did
It's my phone...any mis takes...sry
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why flash back when this is easier?
There is no reason to have to flash back to GB, check out this article I found with a quick google search.
http://m.lifehacker.com/5873007/how-can-i-fix-my-androids-crappy-gps
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
I'm blue in the face over this issue. Invariably, you get "I get a lock on 12 satellites from my concrete bunker 12 feet underground" responses (not helpful, BTW), yet I can't get a lock in the wide-open spaces. UNLESS, I reboot, start up GPS Test or GPS Tracker, or bounce back and forth from airplane mode, murder a chicken, or whatever.
It's totally hit or miss with this device. Yes, I can get a GOOD lock indoors, but only after I reboot, run GPS Test, and then go back inside. Not exactly convenient when you're hurtling down the freeway at 70mph.
It's frustrating to hear of the great experiences of other users when my experience has been so inconsistent. I rely on my GPS for directions, and for tracking my morning runs. It's a real pisser when it takes 4 minutes for the GPS to finally lock, which ruins any useful statistics for Runkeeper.
I know this is just a rant, but at least I feel better.
Try what I mentioned with GPS Status from the market. It might not be a permanent fix but it will help with getting a lock on your location.
1. Download GPS Status from the market.
2. Turn on GPS.
3. Open GPS Status.
4. Bring up the menu and select tools.
5. Manage A-GPS State.
6. Turn off GPS from the toggle in the status bar.
7. Select the option to Reset.
8. Select the option to Download GPS assistance.
9. Close the application.
10. Turn GPS back on and watch it lock on.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
I had this exact same problem after 2 visits to Sprint they swapped my phone. The new one has had perfect GPS no matter what i flash. I just think there is batches of phones with faulty hardware
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
can you tell us how you did this in tasker?
thanks
jalanjkcarp said:
I've been having the same trouble as many have with the Epic 4G Touch's GPS. It takes forever, if ever, to get a GPS lock. I can have a GPS lock, go into McDonald's and come back out and it will be cold starting again. Ridiculous performance.
Rebooting the phone is a pain but seemed to be the only thing that worked every time. After reading a lot of different forums about this problem, I noticed a conservation that speculated that the problem wasn't specifically the GPS itself, but rather was location services. Apparently there are some more recent location services being flashed to phones and the GPS works great. It would make some sense that this is the problem because after a reboot I would think that the phone would reset location services when it turns back on. Further comments in those threads suggests that turning the phone to airplane mode and back also works around this problem.
I've been playing around with this for awhile today and it does appear that going to airplane mode and back helps the situation. I used Tasker to create a task that does this: turns on airplane mode, waits 20 seconds, turns off airplane mode, then launches GPS Test automatically. I created a widget icon for this task. I never attempt to get a GPS fix indoors. What I do is that when I walk outside on the way to the car I hit the widget. I let the phone do it's thing and by the time I get in the car and ready to go, I've had a GPS lock every time today. When I get in the car, I close GPS Test and start whatever app I want to navigate with.
So far, this method has yet to let me down. We will see how the weekend goes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to: rgregg504
rgregg504 said:
I had this exact same problem after 2 visits to Sprint they swapped my phone. The new one has had perfect GPS no matter what i flash. I just think there is batches of phones with faulty hardware
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, after all my research and attempts at fixing my phone; the only option left to me is replacement. I'm tired of reading forums about it (yet here I am) and it's whole thing is just silly.
I don't suppose you have any documentation on the serial number for the phone that had a ****ty GPS? It would be awesome if there could be some sort of documentation of which patch of phones is bad.

Nexus 7 LTE Deb Multitouch and GPS issue

Hi anyone experiencing multitouch and/or GPS issues?
My friend is in Canada and just bought one for me. She's coming back to Singapore in 2 weeks and is helping me test it first in Canada. The unit prompted to update when started up which she did. I'm waiting for her to reply me what build it is at now.
I told her to download the Yet Another Multitouch Test and she tried dragging her fingers around. With a single finger a red blob follows her finger around but sometimes a blue blob appears right next to it briefly. With 2 fingers, when she was dragging 2 fingers around a green blob appeared a few cm away once. She did say she noticed sometimes using it normally that it was a bit unresponsive/slow.
For the GPS, I wasn't sure how to test it. I got her to use either maps or GPS Status and Toolbox. The first time she said it looked like the gps fix was ok for 45minutes (in maps). She DID NOT REBOOT and it managed to relock. The 2nd time was on GPS Status 18 minutes. The 3rd time the fix lasted for 19 minutes. But after that one, the 4th time it couldn't find a lock even after waiting more than an hour. She was testing it indoors so I asked her to leave the gps status toolbox on while driving to have a better test. Anyone experienced this? I thought that the GPS issue was such that once you lost the status, you couldn't get it back without reboot. But my friend said the relock was successful at least twice (indoors).
I also told her to try clearing the AGPS data and refresh data using the GPS Status and Toolbox, she will try that later.
quarian said:
Hi anyone experiencing multitouch and/or GPS issues?
My friend is in Canada and just bought one for me. She's coming back to Singapore in 2 weeks and is helping me test it first in Canada. The unit prompted to update when started up which she did. I'm waiting for her to reply me what build it is at now.
I told her to download the Yet Another Multitouch Test and she tried dragging her fingers around. With a single finger a red blob follows her finger around but sometimes a blue blob appears right next to it briefly. With 2 fingers, when she was dragging 2 fingers around a green blob appeared a few cm away once. She did say she noticed sometimes using it normally that it was a bit unresponsive/slow.
For the GPS, I wasn't sure how to test it. I got her to use either maps or GPS Status and Toolbox. The first time she said it looked like the gps fix was ok for 45minutes (in maps). She DID NOT REBOOT and it managed to relock. The 2nd time was on GPS Status 18 minutes. The 3rd time the fix lasted for 19 minutes. But after that one, the 4th time it couldn't find a lock even after waiting more than an hour. She was testing it indoors so I asked her to leave the gps status toolbox on while driving to have a better test. Anyone experienced this? I thought that the GPS issue was such that once you lost the status, you couldn't get it back without reboot. But my friend said the relock was successful at least twice (indoors).
I also told her to try clearing the AGPS data and refresh data using the GPS Status and Toolbox, she will try that later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the GPS issue that was fixed with a software update. Prior to the update, when I tried to use Waze or Google navigation, it would lose the GPS lock within 15 minutes, often sooner. After the update, I have never lost GPS lock during navigation. My longest drives are about 2 hours. Tell your friend to test it during a long drive, but if you got the software update, you should be all set.
I can't comment regarding the multi touch issue, I haven't noticed any such problems on either of my N7 tablets (WiFi, and LTE), and haven't tested for it.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using xda app-developers app
multitouch problem seems very common, since I have read a lot of complaint related to the touch screen, I checked my screen as soon as I got it , and tested with Antutu which is a universal test tool, the result was frustrating as well-- UPPER PART of the screen functions insensitively compared to the lower part. It is a hardware malfunction clearly. What the hell did Asus react to it? We'll wait and see.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Well update..my friend brought the nexus 7 out for a drive. Just a normal journey, not a long one. Am I right in saying the ones with problems cannot relock without rebooting and if mine can relock without reboot it means it's got normal working GPS?
Also, the build (after the initial update) is JLS36C. Which according to this Deb thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2448352 should be the latest I think.

[Q] Galaxy Note 4 GPS Issue (Stock)

I just swapped out my SGS3 for a Galaxy Note 4, carried by Verizon, and I'm having GPS lock issues. This phone isn't even a week old.
My phone is as stock as it comes under Verizon. I used Google Maps to drive somewhere across town and it'd place me blocks or miles in the wrong direction. It couldn't track me, either. My phone also notifies me intermittently that it's "Found my location." Lies. Though, at least it knows I'm in California, so that's a start.
I downloaded the GPS Status app to figure out what the problem was. Apparently, satellites cannot fix on my location. The app lists that 0/20 satellites have a fix on me; that number is largely unchanging. If I pull up the app while I drive, the satellites can fix on my location, but as soon as I switch to another app, like Google Maps, it loses my location lock and thinks I'm anywhere within a five mile radius. If I pull the GPS Status app up again (at times, while driving--not always), the satellites can find a lock on me. If I switch out to any other app, the satellites drop me and the process repeats. The GPS lock lasts 10-20 seconds after switching out of the GPS Status app before going to ****.
I've tried taking out and re-inserting the SIM card. No luck. I've tried factory resetting my phone. Some luck, but 16 hours later the same issues began to arise. I've tried doing both at the same time. No luck.
There is another incredibly peculiar thing that happens simultaneously: the stock Accuweather widget that comes with the Note 4 (listed as just Weather under widgets) goes all wonky. That's when I know my phone has gone from being able to acquire, and maintain, a GPS lock, to dementia-ville. And by wonky I mean that it goes from showing the time above the date above the weather above the city to showing the time on the left and the weather and my city on the right. Replacing the widget on my home screen works for a few seconds, or until I refresh the weather, and then it topples over and reports its information from left to right instead of top to bottom.
Specs: SM-N910V
Android: 5.0.1 (stock)
I'll be around to troubleshoot. Any help is appreciated.
I've also been having this problem, without data or wifi it doesn't even try to lock onto my gps location. I also see "location found" when my gps is turned OFF. I've also tried factory reseting and I've even contacted verizon tech support, to no avail they said I had to return the device but my gps worked fine before the update to lollipop so it could be a lollipop bug.
The GPS only works with wifi or data turned on. The GPS on my note 4s work very well.
gs4user4 said:
I just swapped out my SGS3 for a Galaxy Note 4, carried by Verizon, and I'm having GPS lock issues. This phone isn't even a week old.
My phone is as stock as it comes under Verizon. I used Google Maps to drive somewhere across town and it'd place me blocks or miles in the wrong direction. It couldn't track me, either. My phone also notifies me intermittently that it's "Found my location." Lies. Though, at least it knows I'm in California, so that's a start.
I downloaded the GPS Status app to figure out what the problem was. Apparently, satellites cannot fix on my location. The app lists that 0/20 satellites have a fix on me; that number is largely unchanging. If I pull up the app while I drive, the satellites can fix on my location, but as soon as I switch to another app, like Google Maps, it loses my location lock and thinks I'm anywhere within a five mile radius. If I pull the GPS Status app up again (at times, while driving--not always), the satellites can find a lock on me. If I switch out to any other app, the satellites drop me and the process repeats. The GPS lock lasts 10-20 seconds after switching out of the GPS Status app before going to ****.
I've tried taking out and re-inserting the SIM card. No luck. I've tried factory resetting my phone. Some luck, but 16 hours later the same issues began to arise. I've tried doing both at the same time. No luck.
There is another incredibly peculiar thing that happens simultaneously: the stock Accuweather widget that comes with the Note 4 (listed as just Weather under widgets) goes all wonky. That's when I know my phone has gone from being able to acquire, and maintain, a GPS lock, to dementia-ville. And by wonky I mean that it goes from showing the time above the date above the weather above the city to showing the time on the left and the weather and my city on the right. Replacing the widget on my home screen works for a few seconds, or until I refresh the weather, and then it topples over and reports its information from left to right instead of top to bottom.
Specs: SM-N910V
Android: 5.0.1 (stock)
I'll be around to troubleshoot. Any help is appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see this post is over a year old, but here's a fix in case anyone is still interested: see last post (by the_fixit_guy) in this thread .
This solution fixed the gps on my note 4 and it is working like new now. My battery life has also improved tremedously (probably because the phone isn't constantly trying to get a satellite fix).
I had the location spoof or whatever from dev settings and disabling that fixed my problems.
I had GPS issues on my Note, and that worked for me! Thanks!

Categories

Resources