az_r2d1

So I was trying to use my Droid in Europe and noticed the gps completely quit working. Tried several apps and none of them were showing any locks on any satellites, not even a single bar. I figured the gps functionality was broken in the phone (it's my original phone) so figured I'd get a new one when I was back in the US. I tried it with and without wifi connections, even left it running by a window all night long with power plugged in and next morning still didn't show any bars/locks.

When I got back to the US I tried the gps and sure enough, I see tons of bars instantly and the gps is working again as it should.
My guess is that because I had no cellcoverage it would not work for some unknown reason.
I tried gps test, gps status, google maps... none worked in Europe.
tried clearing agps data, loading agps data.. same result.

any clues why ?

johnlgalt

It could have been a coincidence of your timing, b/c there have been a rash of GPS not working complaints here recently - see droid gps not working for more info.

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az_r2d1

Didn't see that, thanks. Except mine stopped working a few days after I got to europe, this was still July. Never worked until I got back to the US.

johnlgalt

Ahhh, I was thinking more recently. Not sure why it stopped, unless it is tied to having an account to log into....

takeshi

Coincidental, not causal. The GPS receiver doesn't need cell coverage.

However, IIRC, if you disabled the CDMA radio then it won't be able to obtain its initial fix. Once it has a fix you can disable CDMA and use GPS. It doesn't need actual coverage. I was trying to confirm if the Droid was sGPS or not (which would explain this) but couldn't confirm.

EDIT: It is sGPS. I couldn't find the old Droid specs page but I did find an old post of mine linking to the old specs page and confirming that it is aGPS and sGPS. sGPS means that the GPS shares the antenna with the CDMA radio. If you disable the CDMA radio then you also disable the GPS receiver's ability to use the antenna. With no antenna it will never get a fix.

The GPS receiver doesn't need to log into anything to determine location.

Last edited by takeshi; August 23rd, 2011 at 08:52 AM.

az_r2d1

Thanks for the info. I emailed the gps status developer and he told me a similar story. He said the chip used for the radio is also handling the gps. Somehow it will still work if you leave it on (no airplane mode) until you get a gps fix. Once you have a gpd fix you can switch to airplane mode and the gps will keep working.