Help GPS Problems

[Dabrador]

Up until two days ago, my GPS worked perfectly. Start up Maps and the GPS would lock onto satellites and give me an accurate position. Yesterday, I checked Weatherbug (uses GPS for location) and it said I was in a city in Florida (i'm in Ohio). Strange I thought, so I restarted and got an accurate reading. Immediately after that I started up Maps and the GPS could not lock onto satellites. It kept searching. Finally, that night, it started working again.

Well today, it's doing it again. It won't lock on to get an accurate position.

Like I said, everything was fine since I got the phone on launch day. Two days ago, the problems started.

Anyone else experiencing problems or have any suggestions for fixing it? Thanks.

 

[tezzer]

I've had this same problem- the GPS won't get a fix (even if I'm outdoors in clear skies), and on the maps screen it shows my position moving in a straight line to the northeast no matter what I'm actually doing, or hang on "searching for gps". Magically some number of hours later it starts working properly again.

Anybody have any ideas what's going on?

 

[superdesi]

Get the app gps status to check (duh) your phones gps status. Also, I've heard that 'drawing' the figure eight with your phone calibrates the gps system. Another way (one thats harder to conceptualize) to calibrate gps is spinning it on all three axes (X,Y,Z). One way someone explained this was to first lie your phone one its back and spin 3x. then lie your phone on its side (i.e the camera button or the USB micro charger side) and spin 3x and finally stand your phone up on its chin (so have it in portrait mode) and spin 3x.

I've heard the above methods help re calibrate gps on Droids and help you align to the right satellites.

 

[Dabrador]

The GPS Status app is not picking up any satellites...it just keeps searching.

Here's something strange that I noticed...for the past three days, the GPS would not work early in the day, but for some reason it works late in the day. I wouldn't think too much of this but given the time stamp issue with the camera, I'm not ruling out anything.

Anyone else having problems?

 

[Dabrador]

Here's an update...

I read a couple of other posts that mention the "figure 8" thing. I turned on Google Maps. Sure enough, the GPS couldn't lock in. While the GPS was still searching and the Maps app was still opened, I held the Droid in my hand and did the figure 8 motion about 4 times.

Turned the screen on and the GPS had locked in. I'm not sure what that figure 8 motion actually does, but it worked.

 

[gpsmapper]

What has worked for me (sometimes) is to kill all apps that use GPS. If that doesn't work, reboot. I'll try the figure 8 next time it happens though.

 

[mancow]

I had happen once (maps showed I was driving across Mexico). I uninstalled and reinstalled GPS Status and it has been fixed ever since.

 

[roylive]

Check your settings, wireless & Networks and make sure your not in the Airplane mode - I had a similiar problem and when in that mode gps doesn't work - hope that helps

 

[tezzer]

The figure 8s are how you calibrate the magnetometer (compass), not the gps system

There has bee some conjecture on another board that some of Verizon's cell towers (especially towers bought from other companies) are sending out improper A-GPS message. (Normally, GPS can take as much as 6-12 minutes to get a first fix. If the cell tower tells you where you are and which satellites you should be able to see, that can cut the fix time to less than a second). If so, the problem could be solved by Verizon at a network level or by Google at a software level.

I've also got GPS Status. Next time my GPS goes out (it's back on again now) I'll try uninstalling it.