[Q] GPS works well, but dies randomly - Galaxy S I9000 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Ok, I started a new thread for this, because it seems to be a unique problem.
(Sorry if there is a thread already, I couldn't find it)
I recently updated the SGS to the official 2.2.1 via KIES.
The GPS used to be a piece of excrement before, with the upgrade it got really good: sees 6-11 satellites, finds fix in 5-20 seconds.
BUT
from time to time it just plainly dies. The symptoms are the following: no satellites, no fix, in GPS Test it shows only one satellite after 30-40 seconds, but its location on the "radar" screen is glued to the North sign.
I think it clearly shows that it's not a simple case of not getting signal, but something at the system-level.
The weird thing is, that it only gets better with 2 or 3 restarts. Only one usually doesn't help
At first I thought that the RAM sweep I generally use in the Samsung Task Manager did something to the GPS driver, but I stopped using that, and the problem resurfaced after a couple of days.
I'm at a loss. Any ideas?

Related

Is my Tilt (GPS) possessed???

I've been using my at&t tilt with tomtom flawlessly since I purchased it earlier this year. A few weeks back while visiting the cemetary (paying respect to some past relatives), I tried using tomtom to help plot down where some of the graves were located.
After waiting a few minutes for the gps to acquire a signal, it eventually got 1 bar, but showed my location about 220+ km(~150 miles) off! It would also show my travelling speed to be incredibly fast (like the speed of a plane), but would eventually slow down to drving speed and it would show me driving along a road... I never watched it long enough to see where exactly it was going (or where it was going to end!?)
Keep in mind this is in a cemetary, no where near any obstructing trees or buildings, nothing but blue sky. I tried turning the radio off (airplane mode) and back on a few times, reloading tomtom etc, but everytime it would show the same thing, starting back somewhere flying really fast...
So geez, I thought that was kinda eerie.. so later that day (and away from the cemetary) I tried it again and it seemed to work OK. But lately I've noticed this intermittent behaviour again, and the only resolution I've found was to simply do a soft-reset and everything would appear to work ok. Has anyone else had this similar issue?
Is it simply:
a) a gimped up qualcomm chipset, or
b) a bug in the OS/driver/stack, or
c) or is my phone posessed???!

[Q] GPS after the JP0 update

Hi all,
just wanted to know whether you experienced any GPS improvements after the update?
Mine seems to be functioning a a lot better, however, it turns off by itself after like 10-15min of use. The little satellite dish disappears and I lose GPS tracking even though the GPS is turned on in the notification bar. I have to turn it off then on and it starts working again but it's annoying as hell.
Anyone else experiencing this?
GPS test
I used it today for about 1,5 hour, while driving.
It took a few minutes to start up. It was pretty precise in nav mode.
I lost the GPS signal one time, where I also lost the data connection. (At the time i was also playing with the phone.
Over all a good experience.
Tried yesterday, found satellites instantly, can keep gps lock, but still have some accuracy issue.
i used it on the way to work today with track booster and it seemed much better
however i tried again on the way home to test and lost data connection
once you loosed connection you dont seem to be able to get it back you have to restart the phone which is annoying
i will not say its fixed untill i have used it more and got consistant result
Just as bad as ever here, not locking many sats and still keeps losing them.
I can def use the phone for turn by turn navigation now, which is a massive plus.
But after working flawlessly for a couple min, it loses the GPS connection and doesn't even attempt to reconnect.
I then switch GPS off, then back on and it's working again.
This has got to be a software glitch.
still very bad. sometimes it simply cannot get a lock at all. this happens away from buildings and under clear sky. sometimes it gets a lock instantly but loses it quite quickly.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I have the feeling that my gps is now with froyo better. Now i have more sattelits but works good enough with eclair.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Better, but still unacceptable.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
66 secs first sat fix.
Locked on 7 sats.
For me, waaaay much better with Froyo.
used mine on the way home from work and was a little better but still jumped around when stationary

Wifi causing trouble with O2X

I know that there are random reboot/freeze issues with this phone but I have noticed that my issue seems a bit different.
My phone goes into reboot loops and freezing only when I turn on the WiFi. I'm patiently waiting for the LG "update fix" but wanted some advice from the experts.
Im in afghanistan and only have until next week to return the phone. If it is a software issue then I dont mind waiting but if it is hardware then I dont want to get stuck with a 600.00 paperweight.
I know Im shooting in the dark but I really would appreciate some thoughts or advice.
BTW - I have had the same issues on custom ROM's and stock ROM's. I think I damn near flashed the phone with every possible thing i found on this board, haha.
well it seems like my issue is still isolated to wiFi. The phone has almost no reboots and very little freezes when WiFi is off. any ideas on if this is a possible hardware or software issue?
was it with every ROM you tried the same ?
It happens with every rom but I hate to get my hopes up but it seems to have start happening not as often. right now Im using this
[ROM][21/4-11]TK-ROM Vanilla + LG = true. v0.5.7 (Fr12)
couple of hours so far and it is better but not perfect.
Mine has just recently been randomly rebooting but was fine when I first got it. It never seems to reboot when I'm stationary only when I'm in the car or riding my bike. Twice it happened in the same location on the drive home from work which got me thinking it could be location related. The gps wasn't active at the time so I tried turning off wifi/cell tower location in the options. I managed a two hour bike ride with no reboots today whilst using gps tracking and listening to music. Yesterday the phone wouldn't go more than 10 minutes without rebooting.
Could it be bad location data in some mobile phone masts are making the phone crash due to a bug in the software?
Sent from my LG-P990 using XDA App

GPS navigation issues on two devices now

I got my original Note 4 last Sunday. Since I use GPS navigation quite often, it is always one of the first things I check out when getting a new device. I found that it didn't hold a lock for long, it takes a long time to get a lock again, and when it does lock it's not accurate at all. I got an exchange today, and the same exact thing is happening with my new unit. A friend told me this would be the best place to come for help. She mentioned that rooting and custom romming might be the fix. I haven't rooted since my MyTouch 4G, and I've never used a rom. Can I get some help with that?
Also, I've tried waze instead of Google maps and that didn't help. And yes, high accuracy is turned on.
Thanks in advance!
Bump - any advice? On a different forum, someone mentioned downloading a GPS fix app from the Play Store. I did that, and I'll check it out on the way home from work. But ultimately I'd like a device with strong GPS natively. I'll try to exchange it one more time. I find it really weird that I'm the only one that seems to be having these problems!
pantlesspenguin said:
I got my original Note 4 last Sunday. Since I use GPS navigation quite often, it is always one of the first things I check out when getting a new device. I found that it didn't hold a lock for long, it takes a long time to get a lock again, and when it does lock it's not accurate at all. I got an exchange today, and the same exact thing is happening with my new unit. A friend told me this would be the best place to come for help. She mentioned that rooting and custom romming might be the fix. I haven't rooted since my MyTouch 4G, and I've never used a rom. Can I get some help with that?
Also, I've tried waze instead of Google maps and that didn't help. And yes, high accuracy is turned on.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try a full wipe
NOTE 4
BACARDILIMON said:
Did you try a full wipe
NOTE 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, on both devices.
Are you the same penguin from the a/c forums?
Sorry to hear you're still having gps issues with your replacement phone. Silly question, but is high accuracy mode selected in the location settings? Is wifi enabled?
Have you tried installing GPS Status? How many satellites can you lock onto?
DruHill said:
Are you the same penguin from the a/c forums?
Sorry to hear you're still having gps issues with your replacement phone. Silly question, but is high accuracy mode selected in the location settings? Is wifi enabled?
Have you tried installing GPS Status? How many satellites can you lock onto?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I'm the very same penguin . High accuracy mode is indeed enabled. I haven't tried it with wifi enabled, I usually disable it when I leave home to conserve battery life. I'll try keeping it enabled on my commute home tonight. I've installed GPS status and it locks on to like 13ish out of 20ish satellites (it fluctuates a bit) when I'm stationary so that's not a problem. I haven't tried seeing how many lock on when I'm driving since I don't want to fiddle with my phone that much when I'm on the road. I'm still trying to get one more replacement before my 14 days are up, but the day is approaching quickly, and none of the 7 or 8 stores in my immediate area ever have any in stock! I call every other day and I'm sure I'm driving the reps crazy lol.
I've had this same issue with my first Note 4 on TMo but replaced it last week and havent had any issues besides very occasionally having a slight hang after making a turn and the GPS not registering it for a few hundred feet.
On my first note 4 it would CONSTANTLY lose GPS signal and be wildly inaccurate (not recognizing my turns or the proper facing direction) but hopefully *knock on wood* its been fixed with my new phone. I know you've already exchanged it but...
If you find a fix, please post it here just in case
I had the same problem with the GPS, it was working only on wifi but not with the phone data. But after a full flash it is working fine again. Also, it was very laggy since the first day.
I had a thread around here for similar GPS issue.
I actually got a PM from someone called SamsungSupport.
Anyway I think this is a compass calibration issue.
I installed the GPS Status app and recalibrated the compass.
The next time I used it (yesterday), I didn't have any issues.
I don't know if it has resolved the problem and I'll keep monitoring it whenever I use GPS.
I got my second replacement yesterday, and it's even worse than my initial replacement!! It's as bad as my first device.
I chatted t-mo customer care today and they were of no help. They kept advising me to do the same troubleshooting issues I've already done. Then, I chatted Samsung care and the rep was A LOT more helpful than the previous Samsung rep I spoke with. Samsung has a remote app that you can download from the Play Store, and the Samsung rep can remote into your device and see what you're seeing. We couldn't do much at the time since I'm at work, but I'm set to chat them back right before I leave work. They're going to remote in with me and actually see the issue that I'm having while driving. HOPEFULLY a fix will come out of all this!!
Bump. I'm on my FOURTH replacement now, same issues. What is going on?? So far, I've:
Recalibrated the compass
Tightened the screws underneath the battery door (they seemed pretty tight anyway)
Samsung support reps haven't been able to work with me using the Smart Tutor (remote into my phone to see/manipulate what's on my screen) app. They always disconnect the session before I get on the road, or maybe the session just drops.
Factory resets
Clearing the cache
I got my firmware reflashed at a Samsung kiosk at Best Buy
Make sure high accuracy mode is enabled (these days I never take it off since I'm always fiddling with my GPS)
Tried a number of gps fix apps in the play store
They want me to send in the phone for repair, but I have this nagging feeling that they're going to turn it on, see that gps can indeed get a lock, and send it back. Plus, there's no guarantee that T-Mobile will have a smartphone loaner phone, since they say that those phones keep disappearing because there's only a $50 deposit, so people just take the phones (this is why we can't have nice things). Since no one else is reporting these issues, it's doubtful that Samsung is working on a software fix for it. I'm really REALLY enjoying this phone otherwise, but I NEED gps to work!!
Samsung Note 4 Issue with Waze
I just upgraded from the Note 3 to the Note 4 two days ago and I have the same issue. It took me a few hours but I figured what they have done. They have program the Note 4 for totally hands free driving and if you want to use a GPS program it will be the one they have. You have to activate CAR MODE and you will see and hear your Waze in the background come on line and start to work correctly. Then if you close their program quickly, you will see Waze running correctly for about 5 seconds and the go back to acting up without GPS signal. The GPS signal with high accuracy is tied to the CAR MODE.
TMOBILE will never offer a smartphone loaner as per policy. GPS works fine not sure what ur doing
BAD ASS NOTE 4 + BAD ASS GEAR S

Question GPS Issues

Anyone else experiencing GPS issues on the S23?
Sometimes it will work fine for a day, sometimes for a couple of hours. Then it stops.
Occasionally rebooting resolves the issue, but generally it doesn't. Yesterday I restarted and/or turned off/on 5 times without resolving. Some hours later, it just starts working again.
Looking at nmea loggers and GPS Test app, when it stops it either shows no data at all, or sometimes shows signal from just one or two and never finds any more so can't get position lock (other than network based). My old S20 right next to it will show 18-20 satellites at the same time and never faults.
I submitted a fault to Samsung. They said the uploaded system log showed nothing coming from GPS (fault was currently being exhibited) and phone will need to go back. This isn't always the case however, as sometimes it works OK.
Is there anything I can try before I send it off?
Have others had similar issues?
Try restarting in emergency mode (SOS) and do your tests.
If I were you, I would factory reset or even install firmware with Odin just to make sure everything is OK.
Send to Samsung is the last attempt.
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll give them a go and see what happens.
Calibrate your GPS in google maps. Tap your location and it had you move your phone around to increase its accuracy.

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