Develop Bugs

[Q] Big GPS problem with HTC Deisre

I have HTC Desire from 2 months. I don't remember when i check first the GPS but i think that all was OK. 2 days ago i install some GPS programs, but when i start then and they try to connect to satellites - nothing happen. I wait 4-5 minutes - nothing. Someone told me to install GPS Test from market to see did the telephone receive any GPS info from satellites. The program show that there are 8 satellites, but all stay in GRAY color (not in use). Does someone have a solution for this problem?
PS: Excuse me for my bad English.

I had the same problem and thought that my GPS unit was defective.. but it appeared that NDrive was having issues with the GPS chip and couldnt lock any sat no matter what.. On Google Maps it locked successfuly as on the GPS Test app from the Marketplace.. The only Nav App i've found to be working perfectly is Sygic Maps 10.. Its locking sat's and all is working well..
But since the GPS Test app doesnt lock on any of the satelites.. maybe you have a defective GPS unit overall.. When you connect to the sat's do you have a wi-fi connection running? because it helps since it has a-gps and it can download data for where the sats are located so it can lock on easier and faster.. if that doesnt help at all.. then send the phone back for service and get a new one...

with WiFi ON and GPS ON - it get coordinates on the 5th second, but it show that i am in the center of the city - WRONG!!!
only GPS ON - it doesn't take coordinates

I don't wish to insult your intelligence, but are you testing the GPS indoors or outdoors? It is very hard to get a GPS lock indoors. (almost impossible)

El_Zilcho said:
I don't wish to insult your intelligence, but are you testing the GPS indoors or outdoors? It is very hard to get a GPS lock indoors. (almost impossible)
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Click to collapse
I hope he did the tests outside.. or at least at his house's balcony...
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

chichoko said:
I hope he did the tests outside.. or at least at his house's balcony...
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or even a window. I got a GPS lock from the window of plane once at full speed. (on a Nokia n810)

i try it outdoor 10 meters away from any building.

When I updated my Desire to the 2.1 the gps has stopped to work. I upgraded to the 2.2, hoping there was a fix for the problem but also now the gps is not working. I tried one small utility to check the signal from the market but there was no signal detected.
I was using Copilot live 8 and the program was working good after the update but I had still the gps unable to work; inside copilot there is in the settings one utility to see if the phone is receiving signals from satellites but all was dead ________no signal.
Any suggestions?
I'd like to roll back to the version before the 2.1 where all was working but I don't know how. My phone is unbranded and unlocked from factory.

ducet1 you give me hope that i am not the only one. if someone have solution please tell.

idownload said:
ducet1 you give me hope that i am not the only one. if someone have solution please tell.
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Try to turn from WCDMA to GSM only.That worked for me.When i'm on Hspda i dont get a gps signal but on Edge i get it in 10 sec.

ducet1 said:
When I updated my Desire to the 2.1 the gps has stopped to work. I upgraded to the 2.2, hoping there was a fix for the problem but also now the gps is not working. I tried one small utility to check the signal from the market but there was no signal detected.
I was using Copilot live 8 and the program was working good after the update but I had still the gps unable to work; inside copilot there is in the settings one utility to see if the phone is receiving signals from satellites but all was dead ________no signal.
Any suggestions?
I'd like to roll back to the version before the 2.1 where all was working but I don't know how. My phone is unbranded and unlocked from factory.
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Click to collapse
I have this also, please post your software number (menu, settings, about phone, software information) mine is; 2.09.405.8

zorantoma said:
Try to turn from WCDMA to GSM only.That worked for me.When i'm on Hspda i dont get a gps signal but on Edge i get it in 10 sec.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried me too to do this but I've still no signal

cardiak said:
I have this also, please post your software number (menu, settings, about phone, software information) mine is; 2.09.405.8
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My software number is the same of your 2.09.405.8 CL218634 release-keys.
My only stupid thing was to update to the 2.1 and 2.2; before of the updates everything was perfect and also my 32GB microSD card was working better. Sometimes now I cannot find my videos or photos until I don't reboot the phone.

I don't know how to turn to GSM only, but my software number is 2.09.405.8 CL218634 release-keys.

I have just got the new version if Co Pilot live 8.2 and a copy of south Africa maps. Running LeeDroid 1.8b Rom. Everything working great. Even get GPS Signal inside at some parts of the house.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

yes i too can get a lock inside. outside the performance of gps lock is astonishing. literally seconds when enabling gps outside even inside car
far far faster lock than any sat nav i have had before

leecavturbo said:
yes i too can get a lock inside. outside the performance of gps lock is astonishing. literally seconds when enabling gps outside even inside car
far far faster lock than any sat nav i have had before
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Seconds after you turn it on it connects What a dream, i can not believe.

leecavturbo said:
yes i too can get a lock inside. outside the performance of gps lock is astonishing. literally seconds when enabling gps outside even inside car
far far faster lock than any sat nav i have had before
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I do have the same situation here... in seconds I get a lock.
And I live in Brazil.

Actually I noticed something similar this past weekend. We (gf and I) rented a car to up north for the weekend (Yorkshire Dales to those in the UK, beautiful place) and in the Dales network reception is quite bad (it's a national park afterall).
I was using my Desire as navigation unit using Google's app and only got GPS signal whenever I also had network signal. If the phone lost network signal the GPS wouldn't work. If I for example switched off GPS (and wifi) for when we weren't in the car, turning it back on later, still without network signal, the phone wouldn't lock onto any sattelite.
Kinda defeats the purpose of GPS no?

DaaT said:
Actually I noticed something similar this past weekend. We (gf and I) rented a car to up north for the weekend (Yorkshire Dales to those in the UK, beautiful place) and in the Dales network reception is quite bad (it's a national park afterall).
I was using my Desire as navigation unit using Google's app and only got GPS signal whenever I also had network signal. If the phone lost network signal the GPS wouldn't work. If I for example switched off GPS (and wifi) for when we weren't in the car, turning it back on later, still without network signal, the phone wouldn't lock onto any sattelite.
Kinda defeats the purpose of GPS no?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried going into airplane mode and then turning the gps on? I dont think the gps unit has anything to do with the radio of the phone :S
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

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
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Where are you located?

scrannel said:
Where are you located?
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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....

GPS is suddenly EXCELLENT!

My GPS has all of sudden started working FLAWLESSLY. I have changed nothing on my phone in the last couple of weeks. While sitting sitting in my living room today, I decided to turned on my GPS as I do often in the same spot. The only difference, instead of picking up zero satellites, I picked up at least 5 and Google maps is working great.
Has anyone else noticed sudden improved GPS?? I hope this lasts...
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App

I can't offer much historical performance, as I just got my Epic yesterday, but I was able to quickly get a gps lock at my house last night, and while driving today. I leave GPS on all the time.

I'm pretty sure this is due to me wearing my tin foil hat.
You're welcome.

Maybe this is a dumb question, but how do you check?

SRT300 said:
Maybe this is a dumb question, but how do you check?
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Click to collapse
You can do this a few ways.
1) Make sure GPS is on, and go into Google Maps. See if it finds your location when you are indoors.
2) Make sure GPS is on, and download GPS test from the market. It will tell you how many satellites you are connecting to, and how strong the lock is. It also tells the accuracy of your location, in meters.

http://www.spaceweather.com/

GPS Status & Toolbox is another great free app from the market. Tells you how fast the GPS locks in seconds, number of satellites, longitude, latitude, compass bearing, etc. It will let you clear and download A-GPS data as well which one should do regularly.

tokuzumi said:
You can do this a few ways.
1) Make sure GPS is on, and go into Google Maps. See if it finds your location when you are indoors.
2) Make sure GPS is on, and download GPS test from the market. It will tell you how many satellites you are connecting to, and how strong the lock is. It also tells the accuracy of your location, in meters.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These are the methods I use.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App

perhaps a neighbor cut down a tree which has been blocking the gps signal to your phone. haha.

Awesome!!!!
Mine says I'm at home too... Even though I'm currently at work about 10 miles away.
The GPS on this phone stinks!!!! But everything else is flawless.

I noticed a huge improvement a week or two before el29 went officially OTA. I was already running the leaked el29 modem/kernel mind you. Maybe Sammy/sprint changed something to play nice with the new release *shrugs*. Before this it would take awhile for GPS Status to lock on sats, now it usually locks in under a minute!
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App

crzchn said:
http://www.spaceweather.com/
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Click to collapse
^^this
The massive solar storm probably had a lot to do with it.

Not sure how the epic touch works, but I believe most phones do not use true GPS. The GPS module is usually assisted by the cell radio. Sprint probably improved cell coverage in your area.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

Yes the phones do use the towers as a "rough location" while searching for satellites.

and if we have no tower signal.. we get no GPS
GPS should work.. cell signal or not. boooo A-GPS.

autoprime said:
and if we have no tower signal.. we get no GPS
GPS should work.. cell signal or not. boooo A-GPS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should be able to uncheck the option to use the cell network to assist with GPS lock. I think it's under Settings, Location, or Security. It will then only use the GPS antenna to determine your location. It will probably take about a minute to get a lock, however.
I haven't tested this out, so it's all theory, but on paper, the theory should be sound.

My old Samsung phone had major gps issues but once I got a good lock and started using gps regularly it worked fine till I started trying out different roms. This phone gps seems to be working fine so far

I've never had a problem with GPS, but I live in an area with good cell coverage

Galaxy Nexus Inflight GPS

Hey guys,
I was on a flight today and I tried to get a GPS lock inflight but was unable to despite having 8 satellites visible. I had GPS tracking turned on, and according to the GPS, the tracker functioned correctly for only the first few miles after takeoff.
What I am suspecting is the cause of not locking is that the GNex has the barometer which it uses for a lock, but the altitude determined from the in-cabin pressure significantly differs with the actual altitude so it messes things up for the GPS.
So my question here is has anyone had any experience with using the GNex as an inflight GPS? And if not, is there a way to disable the barometer?

http://www.gps-forums.net/gps-chip-speed-altitude-restrictions-t40528.html

I was also on a flight from Germany to Morocoo and I had about 4-6 Satelites in View but no Fix!
via Google Galaxy Nexus

GPS unit limitation since commercial flights normally fly at 500+knots at 30 thousand feet(9.1km), which is well below the limit.

Mach3.2 said:
GPS unit limitation since commercial flights normally fly at 500+knots at 30 thousand feet(9.1km), which is well below the limit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also, my iPhone 3G definitely could keep up GPS wise during flights. Is it only the specific GPS inside the Galaxy Nexus or is an Android limitation?

dnlsmy said:
Also, my iPhone 3G definitely could keep up GPS wise during flights. Is it only the specific GPS inside the Galaxy Nexus or is an Android limitation?
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Click to collapse
My bet is on the GPS chip inside our Galaxy Nexus.

I managed to do that with a Nokia N95 so it's definitely possible. It was quick too.. took only 30 seconds which surprised me.
But getting a GPS fixe can be very random. For example the N95 could take 5 minutes to get a fix without A-GPS (network data) and without moving. My TomTom GPS could also take 10 minutes to get a fix while driving if it had no recent satellite (A-GPS like) data, and that was using a state of the art GPS chip (SiRF starIII).
One way that would work would be to get a fix before takeoff, the GPS still works in plane mode as it's not transmitting anything.

zapek666 said:
I managed to do that with a Nokia N95 so it's definitely possible. It was quick too.. took only 30 seconds which surprised me.
But getting a GPS fixe can be very random. For example the N95 could take 5 minutes to get a fix without A-GPS (network data) and without moving. My TomTom GPS could also take 10 minutes to get a fix while driving if it had no recent satellite (A-GPS like) data, and that was using a state of the art GPS chip (SiRF starIII).
One way that would work would be to get a fix before takeoff, the GPS still works in plane mode as it's not transmitting anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm, The galaxy nexus have a SiRF StarIV chip, so i guess it could be like what you said.:silly:

gps
I had lock during flight. It took maybe 10 minutes and I think plane was faster than that what was showing gps but it worked. GPS displayed 750km/h.

So I've been thinking that its the barometer that prevents the lock. Is there a way to disable the barometer?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

Not sure anyone reads this anymore, but I'd like to share my experience, that seems closely related.
I opened a new thread here.
Giacomo

Does a gps fix it exist for the siii?

I am having issues with gps connectivity and was wondering if a gps fix exists for this device that will up the satellite feed. I remember they had one for the epic. I didn't think I would have this issue on this phone as well but I am. It takes a few minutes for my gps to get a lock.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium

Assuming you tried GPS tuner and cleared the AGPS data then take it outside where you can see the sky and let it get a new fix?
If I remember right, there's a ## code you can go through and with your MSL code, clear all GPS stats to start it over. You'll have to dig around to find it.
Mine gets a lock in about 15 seconds to 7+ sats and is consistent all the time and quite accurate.

RealTic said:
I am having issues with gps connectivity and was wondering if a gps fix exists for this device that will up the satellite feed. I remember they had one for the epic. I didn't think I would have this issue on this phone as well but I am. It takes a few minutes for my gps to get a lock.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The gps should be much better than on the Old Epic. The problem before was that Samsung was using Google gps coding which had some major flaws. They switched to their own proprietary coding in the same way HTC did long ago and it has strengthened the gps immensly. You may have a defective unit. Only place I don't get a lock is inside old city buildings with a lot of metal and concrete (where no one is getting locks either) or in terrible signal areas.