Related
Some people might experience with certain GPS software.
If you look at the log of the NMEA log, you might realize that it burst out every 6-10 seconds. After that you might wait for another 6-10 sec, which is unusable for real-time navigation. If you happen to meet this trouble.
I have a way which could allow normal update intervals.
Install GPSGATE, it create virtual GPS COM PORT and re-route the NMEA data.
Install GPSGATE, just use the default settings, it create the virtual GPS port as COM 1.
Just use GPS software on COM 1 .
software url: http://franson.com/gpsgate/
Can anyone confirm this works? Ive noticed my GPS works the same way. Im using the Kaiser / TyTn II with Mapking and i notice that i also get my signbal ins bursts and NOT a smooth stream. Anyone know if this will resolve the problem?
What is the update intervals with GPSGATE ?
Do you mean GPSGATE must be run concurrently with the other software TomTom 6 for example ?
It would be a good workaround for people who encounter this GPS issue.
could this be some delicious spam?
How exactly does the OP propose that a user space application can make the hardware produce data in a smoother stream?
I call BS.
seems like BS to me too...Probably some spam Can anyone who has tried it out verify if it really works or not?..
THKS
You don't need to use other GPS software concurrently,
just use the GPSGATE and mapking will do.
Remember you have to modify the settings in mapking to use the virtual com port ( com1 default)
Not SPAM
I am not sure, this is BS.
If I am not mistaken the GPSGATE will act like a "router" (middle man) between the GPS hardware (Internal GPS of Kaiser) and the application (TomTom).
If the GPS hardware is faulty (having problem) with bursting data every 10 seconds, then the GPSGATE will also receive bursting data every 10 seconds.
So, that's useless as long as the problem is in the GPS hardware.
Gpsproxy should be able to do the same thing and its free.
GPSGate is a splitter, allowing using more than one application with the same NMEA stream. It creates another virtual GPS COM port, that's it.
GPS on the Kaiser works great and I'm on SatNav business. Aquisition time is fast, reception is great and update ratio is every 1 sec, just like any other civilian GPS receiver. GPS is NOT evaluated by the refresh rate you see on the screen, other software will give you other rate, try OZI Explorer for instance. I used Kaiser with TomTom, Destinator & Ozi, all works really great even comparing to Sirf III GPS chipset embedded devices such as Eten X500, HTC Artemis and Asus 535.
Last, Microsoft has included the same functionality of GPS Gate in WM5 and WM6 under settings. You do not need to install any additional SW, you can send "trueman 12345" (the guy who opened this thread with 2 posts history) your money directly.
Thanks RonenB for this very usefull precision !
Thanks as well RonenB, However, it does not solve the odd occasional pause in the data that we're seeing. Is this hardware or software that needs help in the Kaiser?
Actually I'm not so sure we have defined the problem accurately here.
Examining the signal from the GPS shows some interesting info.
1
A satellite is locked onto for perhaps only one or two seconds at a time.
2
Several satellites can achieve a lock but out of these a few will be lost every few seconds
3
New satellites are also acquired every few seconds.
The Result
If you are in the presence of many satellites then there is a constant dropping of some and locking onto others. This leads to no problems as there are always a few satellites locked on and data flow is smooth.
BUT
If you are in the presence of only say 2 or 3 satellites it is possible to drop these two or three (as indicated above), but no new ones are acquired. In this situation there will be a few seconds before the first 2 or 3 lock in again. Result a gap in data flow to your GPS software.
Meaning
The Internal GPS is not polling data in bursts. In other words you cannot turn up the frequency of data polling (possible baud rate adjustment maybe). The data is continuous but if there are too few satellites then there can be gaps where it drops some satellites and does not lock others.
There are various applications that can show this behaviour graphically but tomtom shows it well on the satellite view screen.
Compared to external GPS satellite locks this works in a strangely different way. You will see the bars jumping around from a lock on this one to that one continuously. Only a problem as I say when there are only a few satellites in sight.
Mike
PS - I cannot see the advantage of GPSGate in this particular situation as it is due to momentary periods when no satellite is detected.
Having said all of the above, I find the GPS perfectly adequate for general use. Perhaps if I need spot on plotting data then it might be weak. However if I need that unusual level of accuracy I would not use my phone to do it. I regularly use mine in place of my car's tomtom and the results are on a par with the full tomtom device.
mikechannon said:
Actually I'm not so sure we have defined the problem accurately here.
Examining the signal from the GPS shows some interesting info.
1
A satellite is locked onto for perhaps only one or two seconds at a time.
2
Several satellites can achieve a lock but out of these a few will be lost every few seconds
3
New satellites are also acquired every few seconds.
The Result
If you are in the presence of many satellites then there is a constant dropping of some and locking onto others. This leads to no problems as there are always a few satellites locked on and data flow is smooth.
BUT
If you are in the presence of only say 2 or 3 satellites it is possible to drop these two or three (as indicated above), but no new ones are acquired. In this situation there will be a few seconds before the first 2 or 3 lock in again. Result a gap in data flow to your GPS software.
Meaning
The Internal GPS is not polling data in bursts. In other words you cannot turn up the frequency of data polling (possible baud rate adjustment maybe). The data is continuous but if there are too few satellites then there can be gaps where it drops some satellites and does not lock others.
There are various applications that can show this behaviour graphically but tomtom shows it well on the satellite view screen.
Compared to external GPS satellite locks this works in a strangely different way. You will see the bars jumping around from a lock on this one to that one continuously. Only a problem as I say when there are only a few satellites in sight.
Mike
PS - I cannot see the advantage of GPSGate in this particular situation as it is due to momentary periods when no satellite is detected.
Having said all of the above, I find the GPS perfectly adequate for general use. Perhaps if I need spot on plotting data then it might be weak. However if I need that unusual level of accuracy I would not use my phone to do it. I regularly use mine in place of my car's tomtom and the results are on a par with the full tomtom device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I believe that it is time to explain a little bit how GPS works.
The GPS satellites are transmitting their position rapidly. However, due to homeland security issues (US did not want to allow anyone to place a receiver in a jet fighter or a missile) civilian GPS receivers are limited to aquire position every 1 second only. This is not a problem for a normal user even for civilian aviation. Thus, when you look at the NMEA stream, you will see it coming in bursts and not as rapid as normal data. Since GPS strings are quite short, it is good enough for any navigation system.
Number of satellites aquired is not an indicator to anything. Like any RF system, the engineers can tweak the noise level so that it will look to you that you are receiving X amount of satellites, the signal is on the air anyway.
What is important though is the position of the satellites. the closer to the horizon, the less useable that satellite is to calulate the position. Therefore receivers are taking the best located satellites into account and ignoring others even of they are recieved. Valid fix (position) is aquired by at least 3 satellites for 2D (X,Y) and 4 or more for 3D (with elevation).
Result is that as a user, you should not bother too much looking into the stream or number of sattelite in use as long as you can get a valid fix. The important and effective elements are hidden from the user: number of transsistors in the GPS chipset, quality of antenna etc. User can just evaluate the overall preformance.
As I wrote above, the Kaiser integrated GPS surprised me for superb preformance. I just arrived this week from Israel to Germany and could get a fix as soon as I left the underground garage. I did not loose GPS signal even once since I started using the device. That includes forests and dence city centers. Real good job by HTC here.
This is the problem i am facing:
Im using MapKing with Hong Kong 2007 maps. Getting a fix is no problem. I can normally get a fix in about 10-15 secs. When i check the status page I will normally have a connection to 5-7 satelites.
The problem is that the icon does not move smoothly when i travel. In map king your position on the map is represented by a small car icon. It jumps from location to location every 3-5 secs but does not smoothly move along. Can someone please tell me if this is the case with tomtom as well? Maybe it a problem with mapking?
phame said:
This is the problem i am facing:
Im using MapKing with Hong Kong 2007 maps. Getting a fix is no problem. I can normally get a fix in about 10-15 secs. When i check the status page I will normally have a connection to 5-7 satelites.
The problem is that the icon does not move smoothly when i travel. In map king your position on the map is represented by a small car icon. It jumps from location to location every 3-5 secs but does not smoothly move along. Can someone please tell me if this is the case with tomtom as well? Maybe it a problem with mapking?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is a Mapking problem and you should contact their support. Does not happen to me with Destinator, TomTOm and Ozi.
Ok, there is no point to argue, if you really find yourself having problem with GPS update lag, then give it a try. No harm indeed...
In HK, there are people the validity of the work around. GPS proxy might also work as well( i think it is the same principal) just i wasn't aware of this good free software before hand..
http://www11.discuss.com.hk/viewthread.php?tid=5329804&extra=page=2
(u need an account and some chinese word knowledge)
trueman12345 said:
Ok, there is no point to argue, if you really find yourself having problem with GPS update lag, then give it a try. No harm indeed...
In HK, there are people the validity of the work around. GPS proxy might also work as well( i think it is the same principal) just i wasn't aware of this good free software before hand..
http://www11.discuss.com.hk/viewthread.php?tid=5329804&extra=page=2
(u need an account and some chinese word knowledge)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quite agree it's worth trying, and the application has other uses too.
Mike
FYI: I got GPS to work easily by installing GPSViewer, opening COM4/4800baud and getting located. After that, using Google Maps was a breeze; total "trick" took me about 1 minute to figure out which is way quicker than some other workarounds on the internet.
I was driving with iGuidance for about 1 hour this morning and I'm seeing different behavoir for this bug. iGuidance also has an excellent GPS signal viewer, mine was showing 8 out of 8 sattellites, all green, all the time (they turn red when not receiving signal from a sat). My map was moving about once per second or slightly faster. The program only paused once after about 30 minutes into the trip, for about 20-30 seconds. The iGuidance program's moving arrow's color also changes color based on signal quality of the combined sattelite lock, Green for good 3D mapping, Yellow for 2D when there are minimal sats for navigating, and Red for no signal data. During this pause the arrow went Red to indicate no data.
This seems like a bug to me.
Hi guys,
After a few weeks of very limited usage of my Tilt GPS, one day I noted that any application was able to detect the GPS. After reading other posts I noted that the solution could be a hard-reset, which I did, however, even after trying several hard-resets and different radios and roms, my GPS is not being detected by GPS Test and GPS Viewer. However, I noted that when I select COM4 at 4800 kbps (disable scan and select a specific port), the GPS led flashes but I never get the GPS starting message (just a detecting GPS message). Any idea what could be wrong?... can the GPS be blocked or deactivated somehow?...
Any help would be appreciated!... Thanks!
couple things to make sure before returning your phone. When using HTC GPS tool, go into the satelite section and see if you at least picking up 1 satelite. Verify you are not inside a building and you are outside and you are giving it some time. Flash another rom and do these procedures again. If none of these work, then probably could be the phone. Good luck.
jfgarciamex said:
Hi guys,
After a few weeks of very limited usage of my Tilt GPS, one day I noted that any application was able to detect the GPS. After reading other posts I noted that the solution could be a hard-reset, which I did, however, even after trying several hard-resets and different radios and roms, my GPS is not being detected by GPS Test and GPS Viewer. However, I noted that when I select COM4 at 4800 kbps (disable scan and select a specific port), the GPS led flashes but I never get the GPS starting message (just a detecting GPS message). Any idea what could be wrong?... can the GPS be blocked or deactivated somehow?...
Any help would be appreciated!... Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to be outside to get a satellite fix. It is almost impossible to get a satellite fix indoors. You also need QuickGPS (freeware) which updates the ephermeris info and lasts 6 days. This makes a satellite fix much quicker. Try that.
GPS antenna
The UART baud rate of the GPS port should be set on 57600. Probably the communication can be done at 4800 like the SIRF chinese module but try to put the correct baud rate and see if the handshake works more fast.
Since I use the phone mostly mobile in my car, I just got one antenna from this eBay seller.
This one have full 15 feet cable so I was able to clip on trunk cover, near the rear window. The antenna connector must be fully inserted in the phone enabling the path contact and at the first insertion you need to apply more force (as usual ).
The phone will sense the current flow by feeding the antenna LNA chip so there is no such thing of mechanical device to switch antennas (internal/external).
The sattelite signal almost double and sometimes up to 10 sats can easily be locked and fast.
GPS working again!!!!.... but how????
Guys,
I'm posting as just noticed something really weird, and to be honest I can not find why the GPS is working again. In my first post as I stated, the GPS was working fine (I have an unlocked tilt with HTC ROM). Then somehow, one day the GPS did not worked anymore (I used HTC GPS Tool, and as soon I opened the port, I did not got any messages at all, it just hang! and with GPS Test the GPS was never detected! - in both cases the GPS led flashed!). Now, after giving up with hard resets, going back to the original ROM, updating QuickGPS data, etc. just yesterday, when I on was meeting playing around went to GPS Test and voila GPS was detected again!!!!... and so far is working fine... I have no clue what fixed it! and, I'm wondering if it may had something to do with my carrier... any one has faced something similar?... any idea what happened?...
Hello,
I am trying since yesterday to make my GPS working, with no success. Everytime, I got the following message:
Cannot find port com. I do not know what the problem might be. I tried all Ports (from COM 0 to COM 12, and all Baud rates). Tried 3 differents GPS applications. Memory Map tells me for Port 0 GPS communication timeout...
In addition, I tried to play with the External GPS. I tried with Manage GPS automatically on and off. Still the same..
I begin to think my GPS unit is defective...
Any ideas would be appreciate.
Thanks very much in advance,
Philippe
did you change settings in the gps control panel?
the default settings can be left alone. COM4. Baud rate should be automatically handled and unless you enabled AGPS any baud rate will do, if you enabled AGPS then I think you have to use 2400 as your Baud.
I just noticed the GPS harddware port in setting, system External GPS is not saved when you click ente.
Exemple I choose COM4, and Baud rate: 4800. I click OK. When I reclick exernal GPS, Hardware, I have got ''none for GPS hardware port. I do not know if it might be one of the reason why the GPS does not work.
Note: I just flashed the new rom: 1.35.401.3 WWE. Might it be a bug in this ROM (just question?)
Philippe
I can cofirm TomTom working with COM4 and baud 57600. Signal pickup can be time hungry, tho. Sometimes I get a fix in 20 seconds, sometimes it takes as much as 10 minutes.
no problem using mapking...
Hello,
And thanks everybody for your help. I just updated to the new Elite 1 ROM, and now it works like a charm....Very good...
I do not know if there is many francophones on this forum, but there is a new french forum about the Diamond:
http://htc-touch-diamond.forumactif.info/index.htm
Not very busy yet, but....
Cheers,
Philippe
Same problem... The tomtom 6 don't detect my integrated gps... if i chose the wired and put ports like say before, it don't work too.. Any way for detect integrated gps?
Here are exactly my setting:
Setting system External GPS:
GPS program port: COM 4
GPS hardware port: None
Baud rate: 4800
Manage GPS automatically is checked.
So open your GPS program, choose COM Port 4, and baud rate: 4800.
Should work. If not, flashthe new Elite ROM. It could help too.
Philippe
I can't flash the rom, it will make the warranty expire... And the mobile isn't mine, it's destined to be selled, i work on a gsm shop...
got exactly opposite problem - when I leave these default settings in "External GPS" CPL, the Diamond will suck my batterry within several hours, as if the GPS was still ON. have found out that if I disable all settings in this CPL, it stops sucking power (but then I can't use the GPS, obviously) - any clues or solutions?
I HAD to enable Windows Mobile manages automatic in External GPS in 'settings'. Check if it is enabled.
Disabling it made GPS never work.
Strange?
Yes, unless I restored all settings to their original values (Virtual port - COM4, HW port - None, Managed access - checked), I was not able to use the GPS. But these were exactly the settings I was having the battery drain issue with... I miss the GPS LED indication vastly...
I am have this problerm too...
Solution : make hard reset.. no more!
And all will be ok ... about GPS.
i have same proplem
i have same proplem when i updat to the new rom 1.93
I have a similar Problem.
I Updates my ROM to the new branded one from O2-Germany and since then my GPS is not working anymore. in GPSMapware I get device.exe errors and TomTom7 keeps searching and searching and so on...
The old O2 ROM has no GPS problems and every software got a loc in about 10 - 20 seconds.
But the most intresting point is that my brother has a Diamond too and no GPS problems at all.
I think I will get a new one from O2 before flashing it and loose my warrenty
Telus CDMA Diamond
I've got problem too. First Diamond I had no problem with GPS, something happened with the phone I had to exchange, and new one (phone) GPS wouldn't pickup Sat. I'm on Telus CDMA. Maybe they removed physically on the second batch of Diamonds.
My GPS doesn't work too well either. I can usually get a fix eventually when outside with a clear view of the sky but in the car it is hopeless. I use TT7 and the GPS status screen shows that the Diamond can see maybe half a dozen satellites or so but with very low signal strength. The bars stay grey for ages and then eventually three or four will turn blue and all the time the battery is draining like crazy. I also have a Holux GPSlim 256 and with that I get a fix much faster and the signal strength is much higher. I can also use it in the car with no problem.
I have to say I'm pretty disappointed with the GPS performance of the Diamond and from the number of posts in this forum from people with similar problems I would suggest that there is a design flaw or very poor quality control. I had an XDA Orbit 2 for a while and that was far superior.
Me too
my diamond have the same problem too.
it was working with the old rom's and the early new
but later with new rom's it is locked, I don't know why or how to fix it.
then I back to the last good one but still locked.
it seem's working fine, because the software is detect the gps device and also detect it on port 4 and baud speed, but without signal any more.
I used Garmin, Destenator, iGo, fanaeen, and gps test.
and I try to use all avaliable solutions
I used all diamond rom's here and used all radio version's even the hardspl I changed it too with no succeed.
any advice would be help!
thanks in advanced
Hi,
I own two diamonds and I also found problems with the GPS in both of them. Probably mine is not the same you are describing. What I get is the following:
Running TT7, the GPS works but TT7 map in the screen remains in grey color. Rarely it shows color for some seconds and l"oses signal" again. It navigates, but no messages on proximity of POIs work. Also, when driving, if TT7 is forced to recalculate (every time I do not follow the instructions), it forgets about the required destination. In the GPS configuration option within TT7 it does not show satellites, the bars are empty and the coordinates shown are grey... but showing values!
Finally, I found the reason. I use Bluefire VPN, a piece of software to connect securely to my company. The GPS and Bluefire cannot live together.
I have tried everything: TomTom 6, changing COM port (many combinations)for the GPS, A-GPS on and off... No way.
It worked perfectly in P3600. I tried many ROMS and pieces of software without problems but in the Diamond I haven't been able.
Perhaps the reason is some resident code of Bluefire. Don't know. In any case, if this is a case similar to any of you, my advice is the following:
Hard reset, install TT7 and maps and test the GPS. If it works, start installing software until it crashes.
In my case, the GPS is always dead after the soft reset required after the installation of Bluefire, and it works again after another soft reset once Bluefire is uninstalled.
Hope it helps and hope somebody can also help me solve this issue.
SOLVED
Hi guys
Here is my solution.
First you have to flash 1.13.25.24 radio rom sometimes it can be solve the problem.If not you must open your phone with Htc service manual and find gps coaxial cable and check it.Sometimes it can be pulled out.Mine antenna was unconnected and gps couldnot find any satellites.Sorry for my bad english.
Can someone please help me?
I have tried these programs:
Tomtom 6
Tomtom 7
GPSdash
BeeLineGPS
WMMiniGPS
GPS tuner
Google maps
I'm using the latest TLR ROM. My GPS setting are default. Com4 Baud rate: 4800.
Here's the problem. The programs seem to find the receiver and seem to find the satellites. (10-15). But I can get absolutely no signal at all. Indoors or outdoors.
I'm getting quite desperate
Have you used any of the tweaks for GPS? I ask as I did but my signal kept dropping - so I turned the tweak off and now it is fine.
I would also suggest using the QuickGPS application to get the Satellite information quicker
I've tried disabling agps. Didn't help. And yes I have used QuickGPS... but no luck.
Any suggestions? : [
slicker said:
Any suggestions? : [
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was it the first try? When I tried first it was 6-8 minutes. Where do you try? In the outdoor?
Have you ever used it?
TB
Do you have correct setting "GPS is managed automatically" ?
When I set to GPS is managed manually, I could not found any way to power on builtin GPS. You have to check box "GPS is managed automatically". I think, it may be point of your problem
I had the exact same issue dude... TomTom 6 didn't work so I installed TomTOm 7... still no signal... even with QuickGPS ran...
Google Maps didn't work either....
I'm not sure what I did in the end... took out the battery, set GPS to 'let windows manage automatically' and ran Quick GPS again.. then run TomTOm 7, go to the 'GPS Status' screen which shows the sat signal charts and stand in a wide open area for 5 mins.. ever since then it has worked fine
all the best.
btw you have to make sure your system date and time are accurate coz otherwise it'll be searching for Sats with a wrong reference to the Sat almanac..
Yes, it's set to manage automatically. I've been trying to get a signal by the window, I left the device just sitting there for more than a half hour and still nothing. I guess I'll have to try longer while being outdoors. Hope it helps... but thanks for your help.
I did that too and it didn't work for me. You have to be outside for the 1st time GPS fix and make sure you run QuickGPS before that. Ohh yeah use TomTom 7 to detect the signal... I find that the most reliable somehow... and be sure it's configured to use the built-in GPS receiver...
I know it feels odd... I nearly sent my unit back for warranty because I was very convinced that the patch antenna was somehow disconnected from the chip. lol.
I had the same issue at one point, due to my fiddling and inadequate hacking attempts!
see if you can track down the HTC GPS tool (it's here on XDA somewhere, but i can't find a link at the mo) and run that.
Chipset should be set to Q7200 (yes i know its actually a 7201A but it works the same) and com port to com 4.
Tap the open port button and you should see the GOS info scrolling through the grey window in the program.
If you see nothing, check the external GPS settings
program tab should be com 4
hardware tab should be non and 4800
last tab should be ticked.
if you still get no GPS info scrolling through the gps tool, then it seems you have the same problem i did. Sadly, i had to hard reset it to get it working again, but it has been perfect ever since.
FYI, this started happening once i had turned aGPS on, and even turning it off did not work for me, so if you have to hard reset, i wouldn't bother ever turning the aGPS on again.
where's the option to turn aGPS on/off?
I just remembered how I resolved my issue... I put a SIM card in I had previously been trying to use it with WiFi (to update QuickGPS) but once I had a SIM in there, the GPS worked. Could it be because I'm now using aGPS? hmm...
you need to install schaps advanced config tool to get to the setting to turn aGPS on and off again.
it seems to be off by default btw.
rhedgehog said:
you need to install schaps advanced config tool to get to the setting to turn aGPS on and off again.
it seems to be off by default btw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also kept lossing the GPS signal with this on every few seconds. So I turned it off for good
did you maybe install voip on your diamond? If so that's your problem there. Hard reset you diamond don't install voip en there you go.
It worked! Thank you all.... I had to sit for half an hour in direct sunlight but it was well worth it... I'm new to gps... do you have to do this with every new gps receiver or is this just another great feature from HTC?
I'm, having the same probelm here.
I'm on my second diamond as the first one (a HK version) had a fault with the internal speeker. On the First phone the internal GPS worked fine with both TOMTOM 6 and Google maps. The initial setup only took about 30 secs.
With the new phone (UK spec) I have tried TT7, TT6 and Google maps. I have also run quiick GPS, hard reset and enabling and disabling assisted GPS using the advanced config tool.
Is there anything else I should try or is this likely to be another hardware issue?
Solution To Gps Problem
if you installed VOIP you should hard reset...gps dead...:-( no other solution.
Help! My Diamond GPS reception is MUCH worse than on my Touch Cruise
Hi,
I've just got a Touch Diamond, and the GPS reception is absolutely appalling. I have hard-reset twice, after which I've done nothing except download a QuickGPS update, but still the signal strength and its ability to connect to satellites is completely inconsistent and unreliable, even outdoors. I CAN get a good signal occasionally, but it's very rare. Most often I get no GPS signals whatsoever, or else I get just a couple of weak greyed-out signal bars in TomTom.
I can lay my Diamond down next to my Touch Cruise (both have identical TomTom 6 software loaded from the same CAB), and the Cruise always launches the app faster, finds the GPS device faster, AND finds adequate satellites faster. The Touch Cruise has a lot of problems, but the one thing it has always been very good at is GPS, and it has NEVER failed to find adequate satellites in TomTom 6, even indoors. It always takes well under a minute to do so, too. It's surely not unreasonable to expect at least the same level of performance from the next generation of device. Why should the Diamond's GPS performance be demonstrably so much worse?!!
Nine times out of ten, my Touch Diamond will simply sit there for an hour or more with the TomTom status bar reading 'Waiting for valid GPS signal...". Quite often when I open the GPS configuration option in TT6, it shows absolutely NO SHRED of a GPS signal whatsoever, even outdoors. (My Diamond and my Cruise have identical GPS settings in both Windows and TomTom, by the way).
The annoying thing is that the Diamond's GPS HAS worked on a couple of rare occasions, and the signal strength has been at least as good as on my Touch Cruise. The Diamond is much worse at holding the signal however, and is totally and utterly unreliable for navigation. It certainly isn't the 'Ultra-sensitive GPS' that HTC's marketing promised - it's nowhere near as good as the GPS on the Cruise, which is the previous generation! The Diamond's GPS DOES work well on very rare occasions - it's just that 95 times out of 100, I'm not getting anything at all. This makes me wonder if it isn't a WM 6.1 compatibility problem or a conflict of some kind. It's almost as if Windows is having difficulty activating/waking the GPS fully. When (and if) it finally gets going, reception is actually very good.
I have also downloaded the HTC GPS Tool as someone here suggested, and it reveals the same results as TomTom - I usually get either no satellites at all, or I get two or three red satellite status bars and a message saying 'Fix not available'. It ALWAYS shows a data stream coming from COM4 though, so there doesn't seem to be any problem actually finding the GPS device. On the rare occasions when I have got a usable GPS signal, the HTC Tool then shows two or three red status bars and three or four green ones as well. During those rare periods, Google Maps can also find anything from three to ten satellites, even indoors. However, the next few times I try the Diamond's GPS, nothing will happen at all - it's suddenly as if all the satellites have fallen out of the sky.
By the way, would QuickGPS make ANY difference on the Diamond? As other have pointed out, aGPS is disabled on the Diamond by default. Aren't QuickGPS and aGPS the same thing? I don't know. But if so, surely the QuickGPS data is useless on the Diamond?
Does anyone have ANY idea how to make GPS on the Diamond work as well as it does on the Touch Cruise? Does anyone know why it doesn't already? Has anyone else done a direct comparison between the Diamond and another HTC device using the same GPS software?
I really like the Diamond, but it's incredibly frustrating that the GPS is unreliable to the point of being unusable. At the moment, I'm having to carry the Cruise for GPS navigation and the Diamond for everything else! Certainly not what I paid for. It should do this stuff straight out of the box. Since it doesn't, I can only assume my device is faulty so if I can't get it fixed by the weekend, I'm returning it for a replacement.
Thanks,
Rob.
P.S. Sorry for such a long post, but I needed to vent.
Hi there, I'm having the same problem as RH Photography.
All the programs are trying to communicate, but no fix at all. Once I got a fix, but only 4 sattelites, when in my car GPS BT had fixed to 9!
Will try hard reset and install HTC GPS tool an try to fix
GPS Questions that I haven’t seen in other threads.
Along with many of you I'm trying to get my GPS to obtain a fix faster.
I have a Tilt (8925 / TYTNII) / WM6.1 with Garmin Mobile XT (no data plan just wifi). I’ve had an issue for the past year with the GPS not locking on for up to fifteen minutes even though it appears to see up to nine good satellites. HTC replaced the mother board which includes the Qualcomm GPSone chip. This corrected most of the problems but at times it still takes a long time to lock on even though it shows satellites with good signal strength. QuickGPS comes loaded on the phone yet has no effect on how long it takes to lock on. It’s my understanding that the satellite locations are loaded in an almanac on the phone. Since this data changes it must be refreshed on a regular basis for the chip to lock on quickly. I have several questions.
1) Is the almanac / ephemeris data stored on the GPSone chip’s memory (if it has any) or does it reside in the phones memory? If it’s on the phone can it be read?
2) Does each satellite transmit at a different frequency and does the GPSone chip scan these frequencies looking for a satellite that can download the latest almanac and ephemeris data?
3) QuickGPS doesn’t seem to make any difference on my phone. Is this program what’s called “assisted GPS”? If so does QuickGPS update the GPSone’s ship data or the GPS software’s data you are using such as Google maps or Garmin? I assume it’s the GPSone’s data because the chip must send a “sentence” to your GPS software telling it that the chip has locked on to enough satellites to provide navigation. Until this happens the GPS software just waits or times out. When I look in the registry I see that enableAGPS dword is set to 00000000. Wouldn’t this have to be a one for assisted GPS to work? I tried setting it to a 1 but it didn’t make any difference.
4) I download data using QuickGPS (via wifi). How can I tell that the data is for my area or if it is being used by the GPSone chip? It’s using 193.253.42.109 which is a site in California called Geo Information. Is the almanac information global? In other words does QuickGPS provide information on all GPS satellites in every download? If I do a soft reset and then run QuickGPS and then start Garmin I don’t see any satellites for about two minutes. It then appears to load almanac data from the first satellite it sees and then a bunch of satellites pop up all at once. That’s why I don’t think QuickGPS is helping.
5) This seems to be a huge problem with our phones. Could someone write a script to poll the GPSone chip say every two hours which would in turn refresh the GPS data so that whenever we need to use the GPS it would be doing a warm start rather than a cold?
Thanks for any insight. I’m lost in more ways than one.
Frank
Im not sure whats causing ur issue! but i never thought quickgps helps. its always the usual slow gps connectivity in my phone. just thought i will add my 2 cents...
Get this http://www.visualgps.net/VisualGPSce/default.htm program. Go outdoors (not between tall building) in an open area. Run VisualGPSce, see if it locks within 2-3 minutes. Once it locks, you can try other programs.
Make sure you GPS is set to com4 and preferably 38400 bps.
GPS coverage is not so good inside the buldings. Wood buildings are fine. Buildings and cars with UV protection and tinted glass are trouble. Also concrete walls/roof are another trouble.
Also to add, QuickGPS never helped me.
FrankCB said:
GPS Questions that I haven’t seen in other threads.
Along with many of you I'm trying to get my GPS to obtain a fix faster.
I have a Tilt (8925 / TYTNII) / WM6.1 with Garmin Mobile XT (no data plan just wifi). I’ve had an issue for the past year with the GPS not locking on for up to fifteen minutes even though it appears to see up to nine good satellites. HTC replaced the mother board which includes the Qualcomm GPSone chip. This corrected most of the problems but at times it still takes a long time to lock on even though it shows satellites with good signal strength. QuickGPS comes loaded on the phone yet has no effect on how long it takes to lock on. It’s my understanding that the satellite locations are loaded in an almanac on the phone. Since this data changes it must be refreshed on a regular basis for the chip to lock on quickly. I have several questions.
1) Is the almanac / ephemeris data stored on the GPSone chip’s memory (if it has any) or does it reside in the phones memory? If it’s on the phone can it be read?
2) Does each satellite transmit at a different frequency and does the GPSone chip scan these frequencies looking for a satellite that can download the latest almanac and ephemeris data?
3) QuickGPS doesn’t seem to make any difference on my phone. Is this program what’s called “assisted GPS”? If so does QuickGPS update the GPSone’s ship data or the GPS software’s data you are using such as Google maps or Garmin? I assume it’s the GPSone’s data because the chip must send a “sentence” to your GPS software telling it that the chip has locked on to enough satellites to provide navigation. Until this happens the GPS software just waits or times out. When I look in the registry I see that enableAGPS dword is set to 00000000. Wouldn’t this have to be a one for assisted GPS to work? I tried setting it to a 1 but it didn’t make any difference.
4) I download data using QuickGPS (via wifi). How can I tell that the data is for my area or if it is being used by the GPSone chip? It’s using 193.253.42.109 which is a site in California called Geo Information. Is the almanac information global? In other words does QuickGPS provide information on all GPS satellites in every download? If I do a soft reset and then run QuickGPS and then start Garmin I don’t see any satellites for about two minutes. It then appears to load almanac data from the first satellite it sees and then a bunch of satellites pop up all at once. That’s why I don’t think QuickGPS is helping.
5) This seems to be a huge problem with our phones. Could someone write a script to poll the GPSone chip say every two hours which would in turn refresh the GPS data so that whenever we need to use the GPS it would be doing a warm start rather than a cold?
Thanks for any insight. I’m lost in more ways than one.
Frank
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Stored in phone memory, and yes it can be read.
2. A GPS receiver calculates its position by precisely timing the signals sent by the GPS satellites high above the Earth. Each satellite continually transmits messages containing the time the message was sent, precise orbital information (the ephemeris), and the general system health and rough orbits of all GPS satellites (the almanac). The receiver measures the transit time of each message and computes the distance to each satellite. Geometric trilateration is used to combine these distances with the location of the satellites to determine the receiver's location. The position is displayed, perhaps with a moving map display or latitude and longitude; elevation information may be included.
3. QuickGPS is not Assisted GPS. QuickGPS downloads the latest satellite positions to help with a faster initial GPS fix. Assisted GPS uses your cell-phone location through cell-tower triangulation to provide a location just like a GPS receiver would. Usually not as accurate.
4. QuickGPS downloads a global catelog. The amount of satellites used for GPS aren't so numerous that it needs to download just the ones in your area. It basically downloads a text listing of all the available GPS satellites.
5. Have you tried flashing a new radio to your device? This can make a world of difference in GPS fix acquisition, especially in different areas.
Also, have you read this?
Thank you for all the info. I just found this article
I'm still not sure why QuickGPS isn't helping. While on my quest for GPS information I found this article. It answers a lot of questions. Thanks also for the link to the GPS thread. I had read it before but it didn't answer the questions I posted.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/01/assisted-gps.ars
my Tilt locks onto 4 or 5 satellites within 10-20 seconds, usually faster. I've never had a problem. It even locks onto 2 satellites when I'm in my apartment. I use quick GPS, updated via WiFi, but I haven't updated it for a couple weeks.
I'm running wm6.5, 1.7x radio.