Develop Bugs

[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

[Q] GPS problems. Can't get a fix!

Hi all,
I have the Desire HD for 2 weeks now but I've only yesterday noted the gps doesn't seem to work... It's a complete stock model, no custom roms or radio's. I'ts just never able to get a fix! Are there other people with problems like this? Could my device be broken?
I have installed a app from the market that tests the gps and it finds no satelites most of the time except one time I checked it found 4 with a very bad signal... Even then in Google Maps or the HTC Locations it didn't get a fix.
Any ideas?

Bump! I have exactly the same problem. Any Advice?

same problem

i HAD this problem, but then i left the GPS on for an entire journey. 45 minutes later it had a fix and ive never had any problems getting a fix within a minute since.
i dont think the phone knows what side of the globe its on the first time, so maybe it just needs a loooong time the first time.

Most GPS devices need to download a file known as an almanac. This determines where satellites will be at specified times.
This file can take a while to download as GPS is purely passive. I'm not sure if the DHD is A-GPS (Assisted). This will download the almanac via mobile or wifi data.
This is why sometimes the first GPS lock can take a while.

Try these two programs:
http://www.appbrain.com/app/gps-status-toolbox/com.eclipsim.gpsstatus2
http://www.appbrain.com/app/gps-test/com.chartcross.gpstest
First one is great for diagnostic so it should tell you what is wrong.

I also have the same problem, been driving for about 30mins and nothing..
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

andyharney said:
Most GPS devices need to download a file known as an almanac. This determines where satellites will be at specified times.
This file can take a while to download as GPS is purely passive. I'm not sure if the DHD is A-GPS (Assisted). This will download the almanac via mobile or wifi data.
This is why sometimes the first GPS lock can take a while.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok......DHD has A-gps as well
seeing your posts, quite amazed how you did not know this (no pun intended)

dzn said:
Hi all,
I have the Desire HD for 2 weeks now but I've only yesterday noted the gps doesn't seem to work... It's a complete stock model, no custom roms or radio's. I'ts just never able to get a fix! Are there other people with problems like this? Could my device be broken?
I have installed a app from the market that tests the gps and it finds no satelites most of the time except one time I checked it found 4 with a very bad signal... Even then in Google Maps or the HTC Locations it didn't get a fix.
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1st gps-fix is a pain, after it will all get better....search for my posts, you'll see that this has been asked several times (don't want to be a b**ch but, please use the search button as well) and in general, 1st fix takes some time, 2nd is fast (like <2 min).
At this moment, while I thought my gps fix was very bad (and as I own one, if not the, of the 1st DHD batches, it was not abnormal to think that it also had gps probs) it now fixes within 1 minute....

Problematic piece of device for me for GPS.

Got mine a cpl of days ago , downloaded the apps above but still nothing i will give it one more try.
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

kermez said:
Try these two programs:
http://www.appbrain.com/app/gps-status-toolbox/com.eclipsim.gpsstatus2
http://www.appbrain.com/app/gps-test/com.chartcross.gpstest
First one is great for diagnostic so it should tell you what is wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried both GPS apps. And immediately after that, I was able to get GPS satellite lock on within 20s.

Guys regarding the GPS, all of us we face an issue. It can not lock the satellites quickly. Especially for the people like me who are HTC HD2 owners as well. I was waiting only few seconds. (cooked rom). We MUST forget that now. It's an issue for all of the android devices. Even with the device of the Nexus. So we must live with that. Sometimes it will lock the satellites in 1 min or 30 secs, some other time in 2-3 mins. I searched also in the internet and i found so many complains regarding the GPS and hopefully not only from DHD users

f9cator said:
I tried both GPS apps. And immediately after that, I was able to get GPS satellite lock on within 20s.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I had also that problem but then red at forums that only way to lock as fast as you can satellite is to use first one for locking over internet and after that it's much easier to find satellite. Whenever you have problem with locking or need gps asap first program should provide you with fast satellite find.
Btw gps on dhd is so good that I have sold my old garmin - simply it's obsolete and now I have only to purchase official car holder.

Most of the times is more difficult to get a fix in a speeding car.
In the opposite case is generally faster to get a sat fix.

So I've been using my DHD for 3 weeks now (stock model as well, no root) and here are two issues with GPS that I noticed and have no idea what to do with it.
1. The same problem as described in first post. Every once in a while my GPS just cannot get a fix. I installed GPS Test app. Normally it finds around 6-7 satellites, they are all in use, the yellow indicator in GPS status bar goes green and my location appears on mini-map.
However there are situations when GPS Test says that there is 1 to 5 satelites in view, later on they also apper to be in use, but GPS status doesn't change to green and my actual location doesn't show. It's not a problem of visibility or my location - the GPS can get a fix today and not work tomorrow at the very same place.
I have no idea if this can be fixed, so any help appreciated.
2. This is not really an issue, just something that I find quite disturbing. I'm using this traffic app (Yandex Maps for those of you in Russia). It shows current traffic condition on the map + your current location if you have GPS. So each time I lock my DHD (press the button on the top) the GPS is immedietly switched off. So when I unlock the screen to see the map again it takes from few seconds to a minute or even more to update my current position. Sometimes it doesn't happen at all (see problem #1). I understand it's probably done to save battery but I would prefer continuously working GPS than saving battery. Is there any way to set GPS to always working mode?
Thanks in advance to everyone who can help. Cheers

Hi,
I read all you guys said and after trying both the apps and refreshing my agps data manually I now get 6-7 satellites which is good I think?
So for all of you with the same problem, just stay outside for a moment and make sure you have a data-connection. Then use the GPS Status app and refresh your agps data manually. It should work... It did for me!
Ps. I think my Desire, not the HD, used to see 11 satellites? Is that possible? Does this mean 6-7 is kind of weak?

dzn said:
Hi,
I read all you guys said and after trying both the apps and refreshing my agps data manually I now get 6-7 satellites which is good I think?
So for all of you with the same problem, just stay outside for a moment and make sure you have a data-connection. Then use the GPS Status app and refresh your agps data manually. It should work... It did for me!
Ps. I think my Desire, not the HD, used to see 11 satellites? Is that possible? Does this mean 6-7 is kind of weak?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to make it clear - to manually refresh AGPS using GPS Status - you need to go to Menu->Tools->Manage A-GPS state->Download?
I'm not outside now, but will try it once I have problems getting a fix.
And yes, 11 sats is possible. 6-7 is more than enough though.

Stand still to get a fix? Harder when you are speedy, I think.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

Your movement speed has no impact on how quickly you get a lock. Remember, these satellites are in orbit traveling alot faster than your 30 - 70mph.

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.

CapGlide a nowbuy because of GPS issues?

Hello,
as my mt4g slide was stolen recently and I was dissatisfied with the inability to a) change the language of the physical keyboard and b) the keys on said keyboard I am looking into the Glide as an alternative. Obviously, there is a lot less development going on for this phone and I still cannot help, but the price of the phone is a big plus.
BUt I read of several GPS issues without any closer description what isnt working - so I ask: could those ICS GPS issues be a deterrent for me? I heavily rely on GPS on my phone for navigation and hiking. What do you say?

If you want, I can test the GPS for you. I hardly use it and haven't used it since ICS came out.
sent from my captivate glide running ICS (NardROM 0.4 Rooted)

I've used google navigation quite a few times now. Intially it takes timeto acquire a GPS fix but there are no other issues that i've encountered.

i've used gps on my glide a LOT and it's always been good.
a lot of that usage is out in the boonies, it's been very handy...
a few times i've had to turn gps off and back on 1 or 2 times to get signal....
sometimes a few dozen feet off when it says turn here....
but all that is kinda par for the gps course, yes ?
typically, i have GPS and music player going while driving, and no issues.

My GPS use to show my location here at home off by a few miles initially when first turned on & then finally moving to the correct location after a few mins. Since upgrading to ICS it starts out exactly where I am now.
sent from my Rooted SGH-I927 Stock ICS using XDA-devapp

I can't complain about the GPS on ICS either. I did have the GPS crash once the first week after flashing, but it took all of 15 seconds to reboot and fix it. I use the GPS almost daily, often for an hour or more at a time, in places ranging from downtown LA to middle of nowhere in the socal deserts, and it's always quick to lock.

A lot people forget that a GPS needs its almanac data, and that getting it (without cellular network assistance) can take 10-15 minutes. I wouldn't be surprised if it lost that data after a factory reset our simply not isn't the GPS for a while.
Sent from my Nexus S using xda app-developers app

GPS on Google Pixel 3 XL

Hi,
I'm in the UK and received my Google Pixel 3 XL October 2018 and the GPS was working fine, in January 2019 it started to be spotty, It would take a long to lock onto the satellites and now it doesn't lock on at all. I've installed GPS Test and while it can see up to 30 satellites it can't gain a lock even with AGPS downloaded. I contacted Google and have subsequently received 3 new devices but each had the same issue. Using an iPhone I get a lock straight away. I wondering whether there is a software issue or the Pixels GPS isn't particularly good at locking on
Thanks,
Matthew

Found 30 used 17, accuracy 5m, got a 3D fix in about 5 seconds.

cmlusco said:
Found 30 used 17, accuracy 5m, got a 3D fix in about 5 seconds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, its very strange, phone has been on for over an hour, no fix, every now and then it gets a partial lock onto one with about 20 SNR but then looses it, it's bright day, no clouds at all, phone has been completely reset. Another phone gets an immediate lock so I can't see it being my location.
Thanks,
Matthew

Do you use a custom ROM?

Hi,
No, it’s the stock Rom with all the updates applied to it.
Thanks,
Matthew

Then I don't see how you could have had four units with problem on GPS.
Unless you're restoring apps with an app like Titanium Backup each time?
Did you try to factory reset?

EMJI79 said:
Then I don't see how you could have had four units with problem on GPS.
Unless you're restoring apps with an app like Titanium Backup each time?
Did you try to factory reset?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Yes, I've done several factory resets and did an install of GPS Status and Toolbox from the Play Store direct. I don't understand it myself, it could be my location but another phone of mine (iPhone) picks up the satellites immediately so I am not sure what is happening.
Thanks,
Matthew

Mine worked perfectly until I went to Q. Now it locks at first, then loses it almost right away. It never locks again for that particular route. Saturday I went over 20 miles away, and it showed me right by my house... I just sent a bug report to Google. I suppose it's possible that this is a coincidence and it just happened to fail around the time I went to Q. Hopefully I'll find out!