Help Moto Droid GPS Problems

[AE86Trueno]

Is anyone else's GPS having trouble tracking your location. It seems if I turn it off to save battery when I'm not using maps and I turn it back on it can't track me. It worked great when I first got it, now it seems it can't locate me as good. Could this be a software issue or hardware? I downloaded advanced task manager and whenever I want to end all the apps I do that instead of individually selecting which ones I want to end. Could this be messing something up? I really want my GPS to work, I'm also in the NYC area so for the most part I should have signal all the time.

 

[Corvid]

Well, I live in Indiana and my Droid believes that I'm in California. When I use applications like CellFinder or even Google Maps, it shows that I'm in California. Even the weather applications and timezone show CA information. I've changed each thing individually to my actual location, but after a few minutes when the applications auto-update, it changes back to California. I don't know what the hell is going on.

 

[AE86Trueno]

Yeah I've been researching and it seems there are some gps's that work perfectly and some that don't I might have to get a replacement droid

 

[jbert]

Is anyone else's GPS having trouble tracking your location. It seems if I turn it off to save battery when I'm not using maps and I turn it back on it can't track me. It worked great when I first got it, now it seems it can't locate me as good. Could this be a software issue or hardware? I downloaded advanced task manager and whenever I want to end all the apps I do that instead of individually selecting which ones I want to end. Could this be messing something up? I really want my GPS to work, I'm also in the NYC area so for the most part I should have signal all the time.

Something seems to be up with mine too, but only this evening. It was working fine since release day including this morning, but after work today Google Maps is showing me in Alabama yet I am in Virginia.

 

[jbert]

I started the GPS Status app and let it try to acquire a GPS location. About 10 minutes went by with no GPS satellite fix. So, I decided to check the Market for updates. ASTRO File Manager had an update to version 2.1.2. Once the update was installed, I opened GPS Status...the phone immediately acquired 8 GPS satellite fixes!!! Needless to say, I think I'll be going with another file manager app if they are going to cause issues like this.

 

[AE86Trueno]

Jbert the thing is I don't have astro. Could it be advanced task manager? That's the only thing I could think of that would be harmful

 

[jbert]

Jbert the thing is I don't have astro. Could it be advanced task manager? That's the only thing I could think of that would be harmful

I had Advanced Task Manager installed for about a week. After listening to other people's claims on this forum that it slows down the phone, I uninstalled. I don't currently have any problems with not using it, so I left it uninstalled.

Maybe give it a try and uninstall, but first check that all your apps are up to date (no updates available in the market). Like I said, I noticed an instant result when updating ASTRO. If worst comes to worst, uninstall apps and reinstall them if it doesn't fix the problem.

 

[lonz77]

I have been having trouble with my GPS for the past couple days. I found this on another forum and it worked for me. I have no idea how long it will last. I powered down the phone and removed the battery for about 15 minutes. Put it back in, went outside and powered it back up. GPS was working again. I have no idea how long it will last, but this worked for me at least temporarily

Update: still working after 2 days.

 

[keefer]

I, like others, have just had their GPS mysteriously stop working all of a sudden. With my garmin on one leg and my droid on the other (wife was driving ), the garmin was working fine and the droid pretty much not at all. GPS Status was showing 0/3 satellites.

Anyway, after much searching (and doing all the normal restart, take battery out, etc.), I saw one post suggesting to uninstall weatherbug and reboot. My GPS works perfectly again after that.

If you don't have weatherbug, then maybe some other GPS app is doing something wrong? All I know is that's worked for a few people so far. Good luck.

 

[Dochavoc]

I use Advanced Task Manager to keep exactly this from happening.

Form all accounts people have been complaining about Advanced Task Killer. I haven't noticed any issues or speed problems since installing Advanced Task manager.

What I found was that several apps did not close that were trying to use the GPS and they were interfering when my Google Navigator was trying to run. Usually powering the phone of/on would resolve this.

I use Advanced Task Manager to end all apps not on my exception list every 30 minutes.

Maps, Locale, Power Manager are all exceptions that keep my GPS working when I need it. GPS is off because Locale has it disabled then my Droid asks if I want to turn it on when I start navigating and it works fine.

For me it wasn't the phone causing the issue, it was my other apps.

 

[lonz77]

I use Advanced Task Manager to keep exactly this from happening.

Form all accounts people have been complaining about Advanced Task Killer. I haven't noticed any issues or speed problems since installing Advanced Task manager.

What I found was that several apps did not close that were trying to use the GPS and they were interfering when my Google Navigator was trying to run. Usually powering the phone of/on would resolve this.

I use Advanced Task Manager to end all apps not on my exception list every 30 minutes.

Maps, Locale, Power Manager are all exceptions that keep my GPS working when I need it. GPS is off because Locale has it disabled then my Droid asks if I want to turn it on when I start navigating and it works fine.

For me it wasn't the phone causing the issue, it was my other apps.

I don't think it was really an app problem for me. I turned off/on the phone many times and it still didn't work. What made the difference was pulling the battery several minutes. I did not have to uninstall any apps.

 

[pucklax7]

mine stopped working as of yesterday, as far as I can remember...I hadn't used it in a few days. I've uninstalled all programs, but alas I still can't find my location with gps. hmmmm

 

[hunangarden]

I had trouble last night acquiring a GPS fix. Totally clear night, and stood outside for a few minutes. Nothing. Same thing this morning.

Uninstalled WeatherBug, power cycled the phone. Now its working. I don't think there is really enough evidence to be sure WeatherBug was at issue. Maybe it just needed the power cycle.

I don't have a lot of other apps installed. I am developing a GPS based app which I've been testing on my phone. I don't think my app was at issue (been working fine on most days). Could have just been a real issue with the satellite signals.

We need to keep tracking this "issue" to find out if its real or not. We know from the Autofocus issue that there are some weird bugs out there. But nailing them down can be challenging.

Good Luck all and keep the info coming.

 

[AMyton]

I'm also having GPS issues. I've uninstalled WeatherBug and powered down and removed the battery, but it doesn't seem to have fixed the issue. None of the other apps listed are ones that I have installed, so I'll be interested to see how this develops.

 

[zghortaman]

Same issue with the GPS software as reported above.

Have had the Droid for 3 weeks or so. Works great.

Used the GPS app to guide me to work this AM- worked great- gave me alternate routes through traffic etc.

On the way home..boom. Constantly got a message that it was trying to determine my location.

Funny thing was, it sort of knew where I was. As I drove home, Weatherbug would figure out what town I was in as I drove through different towns.

Zoinks, I said. It seems that something like Weatherbug is confusing the Google Maps app. Like there's a conflict going on here..and Weatherbug is winning.

I powered it off, and boom. It thought I was in Southern California. Not. I'm in Massachusetts. Although with winter here, I guess the Droid was trying to tell me something?

Anyways, I saw the posts in this forum, so when I got home, I removed the battery and let it sit for 20 minutes. When I powered the unit up, I got a Weatherbug Force close message. That's it. I deinstalled Weatherbug.

Went outside, told the GPS to guide me to a nearby location- and presto! It found its location directly.

Conclusion: This is some sort of software conflict, likely caused by Weatherbug. I suggest if anyone else has this problem de-install Weatherbug or any other downloaded and location-depended app and see if that helps. Oh, and go to Weatherbug's comments section in Marketplace and lodge a BIG complaint!

 

[Searchdog]

Drove from Miami to Tampa this afternoon with 2 droids in the same vehicle and only one would connect to gps. Both droids have same applications. Any ideas? Did a battery pull with no change in gps status.

 

[Debben]

Same problem here - with WIFI & GPS both on for location, the "location", when Drioid finds one, is often inaccurate by up to a couple miles, altho usually it is within 1/2 mile. I have uninstalled Weatherbug, pulled and re-inserted the battery, and it still "works" the same way - badly. If I turn off the WIFI for locations, and use just the GPS, it doesn't find any location at all - it is as if the GPS simply does not work. Yet, the notification bar shows the little satellite dish .....

 

[Debben]

Oh, and another thing, I am a former Alltel customer, and I saw a reference somewhere that there was a suspicion that in moving some data from former Alltel customers to the Verizon Droid could cause problems for some people's GPS. Anyone know anything about that?

 

[friedmal]

I find the GPS to be very inconsistent and that includes for weatherbug. Sometimes Weatehrbug knows exactly where I am then it will think O am a town or two over. Generally if I bring up the application and tell it to refresh it will again figure out where I am. Locale seems to have similar issues with using the GPS, sometimes it knows and sometimes not. When I have brought up GPS status at times it seem to have a good fix and at other times no clue. I think it may be a combination of applications and the GPS just being a bit flaky...

 

[DroidUserNew]

I was with Alltel prior to it being absorbed by Verizon. I have seen some posts that suspect a problem here... something about the GPS having to be authorized by a cell tower and the Alltel plan causes some problems with this. I don't think I experience this issue.

I have found that if I set "Advanced Task Killer" so that it does not auto start and if I don't kill the GPS applications that things go OK. If I kill GPS related apps then those apps begin not to be able to find satellites then next time I run them. I am not sure what sort of power consumption problems might occur by not killing the GPS apps... it seems like if the GPS app is not on screen that the little satellite dish icon goes away... so maybe it is not drawing power.

To remedy the situation, where no GPS apps work, I can power off and then back on (sometimes with battery removal being necessary). I use GPSTest (a Market app... which is free) to determine how many satellites are detected and the signal strength. I find if I don't get a few bars within 10 or 20 seconds then I need to reboot... and none of the other GPS apps will work for me until I reboot.

It seems like there are alot of variables (i.e. I have never had WeatherBug loaded, I am located in Central FL, etc.), so take this with a grain of salt. I hope it helps pinpoint the problem(s).

 

[Dsmallio]

for me seems to be a function of whether wifi is on for off... when its off it doesn't get my location... when on seems to get it near perfectly...

 

[DroidUserNew]

I was with Alltel prior to it being absorbed by Verizon. I have seen some posts that suspect a problem here... something about the GPS having to be authorized by a cell tower and the Alltel plan causes some problems with this. I don't think I experience this issue.

I have found that if I set "Advanced Task Killer" so that it does not auto start and if I don't kill the GPS applications that things go OK...

Just as a follow up, I removed "Advanced Task Killer" all together and have had no more problems (at least for the last week)... GPS works great! I have not noticed a huge impact on battery life... but I am usually close to a charger so I am probably not a good gauge for this.

The GPS location on google maps with satellite view is one of my favorite bells and whistles.

 

[skunkpbguy]

Same issues here, my GPS showed me flying over southern Iowa.. time to remove advanced task killer. I think my Droid worked better without!

 

[suttonman7]

I too just recently had the gps system on my moto droid stop working. As a result I removed all my applications dealing with any GPS or navigation possible. I also removed the updates to google maps. I even toggled the gps button. As stated by everyone else I also removed my battery and watched my phone as it turned into a paper weight for fifteen minutes. Unfortunately the gps system still didn't work.
Re-reading all of the posts, I read something about a GPS Test app. I figured there was nothing else i could try except restoring the factory settings, so I downloaded it. Seconds later the gps system picked up my location (after running the software) and found the nearest satellites. I then opened to the google maps software (with and without the updates) and the gps worked perfect. I'm not sure if this was any fix or if it will be any help, but it worked for me and I hope it works for anyone else.

 

[Harry-O]

Thanks that worked for me