GPS Lock Problems

[ItalianHunk]

So is this a big deal with the Note? I mean, do a lot of people who have the Note have this problem or is it just a handful? This may be a determining if I buy it or not cause I need it for work.

I'm on At&t.

 

[Evil.Bonsai]

So is this a big deal with the Note? I mean, do a lot of people who have the Note have this problem or is it just a handful? This may be a determining if I buy it or not cause I need it for work.

I'm on At&t.

I would say it's a small minority.

 

[eaiello1086]

I don't use my GPS very often on the phone, but when I have - I did indeed have some major issues with it locking on. Actually, it never even came close to locking on and marked me as driving in fields half a mile away. I haven't tried it in awhile so I might attempt it today after work. Evil.Bonsai - I notice you're in Austin. Is there an actual brick and mortar Samsung store you're going to? I was going to call Samsung up about my screen which I'm convinced has a bad coating or something, but if there is a place I can actually go... cool. Wherever you're going it seems the people are helpful?

 

[stringfiend]

stringfiend, do you still have airplane mode on overnight. Did you see if leaving it off made any difference? Just a thought, maybe you already tried that.

I remember you said it worked after a factory reset, but after a day GPS went awol again with airplane mode left on overnight. Not sure if llama may be a small culprit? Not sure, maybe auto settings may be messing around with it?

I stopped doing the airplane thing at night but I was still having problems. Actually, after doing the warranty exchange I have had some really mixed results. It won't usually get a lock if I'm just on gmaps but I found a routine that seems to work 100% for the past few days: Open GPS status, reset GPS, download AGPS, toggle gps off then back on... lock within 15 seconds every time. Once GPS status locks Gmaps has no problems. We will see if this keeps working!

 

[Evil.Bonsai]

I don't use my GPS very often on the phone, but when I have - I did indeed have some major issues with it locking on. Actually, it never even came close to locking on and marked me as driving in fields half a mile away. I haven't tried it in awhile so I might attempt it today after work. Evil.Bonsai - I notice you're in Austin. Is there an actual brick and mortar Samsung store you're going to? I was going to call Samsung up about my screen which I'm convinced has a bad coating or something, but if there is a place I can actually go... cool. Wherever you're going it seems the people are helpful?

at&t warranty location, at 183/Burnett. I've only been there once, and it seem they 'might' be giving me a line about finding errors in the ICS code and fixing them, as the phone still has issues. I will be going back later this week.

 

[eaiello1086]

at&t warranty location, at 183/Burnett. I've only been there once, and it seem they 'might' be giving me a line about finding errors in the ICS code and fixing them, as the phone still has issues. I will be going back later this week.

Thanks, E.B. AT&T is my provider but I didn't get the phone through them. I forgot to try my GPS after work last night. It's hard to remember to ask for directions for a route you drive every day!

I'll try tonight and if it doesn't work, I'll complain somewhere.

 

[didier26]

Dear All,

So first I do not have a Samsung Galaxy Note but a Samsung galaxy Tab but I experienced the same problem. I am using Sygic on my tablet and suddenly it was impossible to use it because Sygic was unable to lock satellite.

I finally found out what was the problem. I simply uninstall the update of google Map, turned off and restarted the tablet and now Sygic locks satellite in about 4 seconds!!

I hope it will help.

 

[NeoGrandizer]

Interesting. My GPS just acted wonky now. It would lock then lose the lock and wouldn't lock on again. Happened with all my GPS apps. Google Maps, Sygic, Navigon and NDrive. Weird as it was working fine before.

The odd thing is that this happened when I left GPS on indefinitely. I normally turn it off when not in use but had it on as I was away on vacation. I turned GPS off and restarted my Note. Now everything's working fine again.

Maybe an issue with it being left on 24/7?

 

[atea]

Anyone else? Same issue

I bought 2 unit Samsung galaxy (s3 for me & s note for my wife). Really disappointed both can't lock GPS. Compare to my Nokia lumia 610. It lock almost instantly...


Really upset.

 

[dean128]

I exchanged my Note about one month ago because among other issues, GPS was never accurate. My new Note has Gingerbread and all the issues I had with my original Note do not exist. I don't know if ICS was the problem or if it was the hardware itself.

I'm not upgrading to ICS. W hen I use GPS Test, it usually shows 12 or more satellites in use. My old Note would barely lock onto three satellites and it wouldn't hold the lock.

 

[NeoGrandizer]

I exchanged my Note about one month ago because among other issues, GPS was never accurate. My new Note has Gingerbread and all the issues I had with my original Note do not exist. I don't know if ICS was the problem or if it was the hardware itself.

I'm not upgrading to ICS. W hen I use GPS Test, it usually shows 12 or more satellites in use. My old Note would barely lock onto three satellites and it wouldn't hold the lock.

It sounds like some Notes don't adapt well to the ICS update. It even looks as if the ICS exposed some critical flaws in the Note never noticed before by some users who were on GB. So it's hard to tell if it's hardware, software or a little of both that is causing the issues.

Just glad to see your Note is working out for you. As long as it does what you need it for, that's the important part even if it means skipping ICS.

 

[Evil.Bonsai]

I did not go back, as I posted above. Since that time, it's actually worked more-or-less normally. I was using Apex launcher, but since taking it in to the ATT service center, I've been loathe to do anything but 'use' it. No customizations or fancy launchers. just 2 screens, a couple widgets. GPS is working and I want it to stay that way.

 

[james27007]

Here is what I went though, hope it helps anyone else.

I had flashed the leaked ICS and that is where my issues started, GPS was ok but never what it was with GB. Well I did not need GPS much anymore, so I kinda forgot. Well I'm starting to travel for work and started using GPS again; I have flashed multiple roms/radios and such since.

Well my current rom was running JB 4.1.2 and found GPS was 100% useless, I could sit in one spot, outside on a clear So. California day for 30 minutes and never get a solid lock; reminded me of my Captivate days

Well I tried everything, every combo of Rom, Radio and gps.cofig fix that I could find and no matter what I tried, no lock period. I used my wife's unmodified not-rooted Skyrocket running ICS as a benchmark and her phone gets a 10 foot lock within 1 minute at the long end. I even used the Kies emergency recovery thing (go back to 100% stock) and still sucky GPS.

So now that I was back to 100% stock, I went to my local AT&T device warranty center and they said they need to flash the phone 1st with some tool they have from Samsung; ok maybe? Theys aid they do this flash to make sure the phone is 100% stock and so they can replace it if something is still wrong. (even with that, I still recommend resetting the flash counter, flashing the stock recovery and using Kies to return to 99.9% stock before you go in)

Well I tested it after the flash vs. the demo unit they had (both on ICS) and still no lock after 5 minutes. They gave me another Note and the GPS is AMAZING, so I left with my new phone. As I was driving home I realized the phone was on GB and my heart sank; upgrading to ICS is what I thought killed my GPS last time. Well I updated through Kies to the official ICS and my GPS, 2 days later is still perfect.

So if you are having GPS issues and had flashed the leaked ICS or any rom, your best bet may be to get it replaced.

 

[NeoGrandizer]

Well I tested it after the flash vs. the demo unit they had (both on ICS) and still no lock after 5 minutes. They gave me another Note and the GPS is AMAZING, so I left with my new phone. As I was driving home I realized the phone was on GB and my heart sank; upgrading to ICS is what I thought killed my GPS last time. Well I updated through Kies to the official ICS and my GPS, 2 days later is still perfect.

So if you are having GPS issues and had flashed the leaked ICS or any rom, your best bet may be to get it replaced.

Interesting. It's beginning to sound like some Notes already had a hardware compatibility problem to begin with. And the problem was exposed by running later ROMS of Android.

 

[james27007]

Interesting. It's beginning to sound like some Notes already had a hardware compatibility problem to begin with. And the problem was exposed by running later ROMS of Android.

I agree 100%; of course if you ask AT&T or Samsung, you get the normal "we have never heard of this issue" responce. So I agree that I think it was a hardware issue that ICS made show up, because if it was just the bad files from the leaked ICS and not a hardware issue; when I flashed back to GB OR when I did the kies emergency restore (Tools --> Firmware Upgrade and Initialization) OR when AT&T flashed it, it should have fixed it, but nope on all 3 cases.

Sorry forgot to add I even flashed back to GB before doing the emergency restore, and it still did not fix the GBS issue. Now that GPS works (and still works great today), I will not be doing anything, including rooting this phone.

 

[bubbameat]

My experience further confirms the HW issue. My gps was finicky at best with GB and un workable with ICS. ATT Support confirmed a HW issue and replaced my device today. Anybody having lock problems, should just bring it into support.

 

[tenchi71]

I agree 100%; of course if you ask AT&T or Samsung, you get the normal "we have never heard of this issue" responce. So I agree that I think it was a hardware issue that ICS made show up, because if it was just the bad files from the leaked ICS and not a hardware issue; when I flashed back to GB OR when I did the kies emergency restore (Tools --> Firmware Upgrade and Initialization) OR when AT&T flashed it, it should have fixed it, but nope on all 3 cases.

Sorry forgot to add I even flashed back to GB before doing the emergency restore, and it still did not fix the GBS issue. Now that GPS works (and still works great today), I will not be doing anything, including rooting this phone.

I bet what ever flash tool the reps @ att used was kies or odin, and not something totally custom.

Did you flash the modem back as well?

I'm wondering if the issue is related to the modem's firmware. It was updated several times during ICS developement, all of the leaked ICS roms included new modem firmware. Also, it hasn't been updated since it's official release either. Just flashing back to stock GB won't do it... You gotta flash the modem as well.

 

[bubbameat]

ATT service guy told me he was using Odin yesterday.

 

[james27007]

I bet what ever flash tool the reps @ att used was kies or odin, and not something totally custom.

Did you flash the modem back as well?

I'm wondering if the issue is related to the modem's firmware. It was updated several times during ICS developement, all of the leaked ICS roms included new modem firmware. Also, it hasn't been updated since it's official release either. Just flashing back to stock GB won't do it... You gotta flash the modem as well.

Before I went to AT&T I flashed every stock and leaked modem there was from the UCLF1 GB to UCLF6 from ICS. Plus the factory restore through KIES put the sstock ICS UCLF6 modem back. Still did not fix it, telling me it was a HW issue.

I guess, for me, this is all really moot as I am now selling my Note + everything I got for it for $350+ on eBay to get the Note 2

 

[EarlyMon]

/waves

Hi James!

 

[james27007]

/waves

Hi James!

Good to see you too

 

[debest]

how can i register my sygic app on xperia sola plz help ... :#

 

[Evil.Bonsai]

how can i register my sygic app on xperia sola plz help ... :#

Wrong forum. Go here: Sony Xperia sola - Android Forums