To Everyone Who IS/WAS Having GPS Problems

[jmreed97]

Here is a pic of a lock on 6 satellites... I haven't seen 7 since this morning but as they say Pics or it didn't happen. Still 6 disproves the 5 satellite hardware limit.

Edit 7/26: Locked on 8 satellites this morning...

 

[Rockinfigs]

Here is a link that worked for me. Pretty much the same stuff with a few changes.

GPS Settings: Performance Options (improvement) - xda-developers

ive tried every setup and this setup works great for me..

 

[Dalepa]

I've wasted the weekend trying to find a way around the GPS bug and power drain problem which I believe are related.

I've had so many random results, I'm not sure if any of the changes made any real difference.

Looks to me like low reception triggers a bug of some sort, causing the gps hardware or software to hangup or go into a race condition and is probably the cause of the rapid battery drain I've also been having.



It's ashamed that they rushed this hardware out the door, it going to cost lots if they don't release a fix next week

 

[meadrealty]

Here is a pic of a lock on 6 satellites... I haven't seen 7 since this morning but as they say Pics or it didn't happen. Still 6 disproves the 5 satellite hardware limit.

how do I access this screen view so far only seen Sats on "position Test"
thanks

 

[contradictions]

My GPS worked great when I bought it last weekend, but then by midweek it stopped functioning. I used the GPS Status app to confirm that it was seeing Sats, but it just wouldn't lock on to them. So, finally on Sunday I powered off the phone and removed the battery. After waiting a few seconds, I put the phone back together and powered it up, and within seconds of starting I had working GPS again. I didn't change any settings, just restarted the phone to get mine to work.

 

[jmreed97]

how do I access this screen view so far only seen Sats on "position Test"
thanks

This was a GPS test app found in the market. It's free and gives a more visual display of what info the GPS is getting.

 

[jmreed97]

So I just got off the phone with Samsung support.I told them about my GPS issue. I was put on hold while the support guy spoke to his supervisor about my problem. When he came back at first he pretended this was an issolated incident and said he would pass on my info to their technicians to see if there is a fix. I then started asking questions and made it known that I was well aware of the widespread GPS problems with the Captivate and Vibrant. They didn't even bother with the standard troubleshooting of take out the battery, reboot, etc.

He assured me that there will be a firmware/software update to address this problem. He would not give me a time-frame. He also assured me the issue is not hardware related. He also assured me that Samsung will be supporting the Galaxy S phones more than they have with past phones (I never got a firmware update for the Samsung Jack in the year and a half I owned it). **Note: this was probably a low level employee so he may not actually know anything.

Let's see what happens. I doubt they will have it in a week.

I told him that if there was no ETA on the fix within 25 days (what's left of my 30 window), I will be returning my phone to AT&T.

Everyone who is having GPS problems should call and threaten to take their phone back if an update isn't available soon! Then they might push this update more quickly. Their number is1-888-987-HELP and it doesn't take much time (my entire call, holding included, was less than 10 minutes).

 

[jmreed97]

Almost forgot... I found a free app in the market that may be helpful to those of you who are just getting long lock times but have otherwise accurate GPS. It's called GPS Assist. It basically caches your last known GPS position when it is on.

still playing with it to see how well it works.

 

[ace35]

I Am Having Difficulties Obtaining An Accurate Location Fix. How Can I Increase The Accuracy On My SGH-i897 (Captivate) Phone?=

seems to be there curent answer to the problem

 

[jmreed97]

Already using that... It quickly gives my a 1 mile wide circle. Works for searching what is nearby in google maps but Not accurate enough for navigation. And it's not GPS it inaccurate locating based on the Cell Phone towers near by.

On the bright side... at least there is acknowledgment that the GPS is not working on it's own. Now the question is, will they fix it.

 

[mach330]

do you think my issue of lattitude telling me I'm somewhere else could fix this? i would think that even the "wireless network" option should work right? I don't want to leave gps on all the time.

 

[jmreed97]

do you think my issue of lattitude telling me I'm somewhere else could fix this? i would think that even the "wireless network" option should work right? I don't want to leave gps on all the time.

GPS is an on-demand service. Your phone only uses it when an application calls for it. If it is working properly you would only need the wireless network option if you were indoors with no windows (most GPS enabled phones will still pick up a location even then). Also the wireless network option is very inaccurate.

 

[BlueCalx]

So I just got off the phone with Samsung support.I told them about my GPS issue. I was put on hold while the support guy spoke to his supervisor about my problem. When he came back at first he pretended this was an issolated incident and said he would pass on my info to their technicians to see if there is a fix. I then started asking questions and made it known that I was well aware of the widespread GPS problems with the Captivate and Vibrant. They didn't even bother with the standard troubleshooting of take out the battery, reboot, etc.

He assured me that there will be a firmware/software update to address this problem. He would not give me a time-frame. He also assured me the issue is not hardware related. He also assured me that Samsung will be supporting the Galaxy S phones more than they have with past phones (I never got a firmware update for the Samsung Jack in the year and a half I owned it). **Note: this was probably a low level employee so he may not actually know anything.

Let's see what happens. I doubt they will have it in a week.

I told him that if there was no ETA on the fix within 25 days (what's left of my 30 window), I will be returning my phone to AT&T.

Everyone who is having GPS problems should call and threaten to take their phone back if an update isn't available soon! Then they might push this update more quickly. Their number is1-888-987-HELP and it doesn't take much time (my entire call, holding included, was less than 10 minutes).

i just called them, and spoke w/ a 'level 3 android support' tech guy. I told him of the problems described here (I'm having the same issues w/ my captivate). He stated that Samsung was aware of the problem, and that it was widespread (duh).

No fixes for it at the moment, but he said that the software development guys will be or are going to have to do something about it...

 

[sremick]

Fix is coming soon, Samsung and AT&T confirmed:
http://androidforums.com/samsung-captivate/133545-official-gps-fix-being-pushed-out.html

 

[t-readyroc]

I made the changes in the original post, but still took ages to establish a position (accuracy was fine once it locked on). Then I changed from hot to cold start & it's been working nearly immediately since. Thanks for this.

 

[Dalepa]

Here's a video showing the issue and how to test/compare your galaxy s using GPS TEST app

Vibrant GPS Test: Motorola CLIQ vs TWO Vibrants initial lock - xda-developers

 

[harryzwd]

its weird how tricorder will find 10 satellites, gps test has found as many as 7, but it appears that their signal strength is never good enough to hold a lock for very long, and i've only been able to lock on to a max of 3 and only for a minute or so...then it will drop off. so its not wonder that google maps wont lock and when it does it shows me about a block away from where i really am. -frustrating-

 

[razholio]

just wanted to chime into the noise. I had spotty GPS when I got my captivate, and tried the first fix (supl settings to supl.google.com, etc) which just made things worse. I tried going from hot to cold start and that made no difference for me. I tried this one with the exception to turn off skyhook (wifi hotspot location-guessing is of no use to me), and I now get a 100m lock in about 10secs, and then a good 5m lock in another 10-20secs. I watched on google maps as I walked around my 6story building and it tracked me quite well within a meter or two.

 

[Sjla2kology101]

Has anyone tried the att maps... Google gets within 1500 meters of me... Att locked on to my exact location in about 10 seconds sitting in my living room.... Has anyone else tried this?

 

[jmreed97]

No dice for me (unless I activate wifi - which gives me skyhook).

 

[KappaG9]

You don't have to have skyhook when with wifi. Most of us here have to turn wifi on for better GPS location but skyhook stays off unless you turn it on from the gps menu

 

[KappaG9]

Has anyone tried the att maps... Google gets within 1500 meters of me... Att locked on to my exact location in about 10 seconds sitting in my living room.... Has anyone else tried this?

When i first got my phone google maps couldn't find me but AT&T maps could but it wasn't very accurate. I uninstalled it though and now google maps works good with my settings. I don't know whether removing att maps did anything or not.

 

[jmreed97]

You don't have to have skyhook when with wifi. Most of us here have to turn wifi on for better GPS location but skyhook stays off unless you turn it on from the gps menu

Maybe... but I have come to the conclusion that the LbsGPS menu does nothing (I believe it is only for testing the GPS) and is all placebo. I have changed all the settings over and over and get very random results on my Captivate as well as my wife's Vibrant. Sometimes the GPS works great, and other times not at all regardless of the settings.

And the turning on wifi in a wifi rich area does exactly what skyhook says it does:
"The Core Engine synthesizes data from Skyhook's Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS), GPS satellites and cell towers with advanced hybrid positioning algorithms. ... Skyhook maintains a worldwide database of cell tower locations, which increases Core Engine coverage area and helps improve GPS satellite acquisition time."
Source: Samsung to Put Skyhook on Mobile Devices - Midmarket from eWeek

I believe skyhook is always on when wifi is on no matter what you put in your LbsTest menu.

After all wasn't the default LbsTest setting for skyhook OFF? Why would Samsung make a deal with skyhook then deactivate it in all the Galaxy S phones?

 

[no driver]

I used My Tracks to record a drive on my wife's phone (no changes to GPS except, maybe, Skyhook enabled) and my own phone (most of the XDA recommended tweaks) this weekend. Both Samsung Captivates. My phone got us from the driveway at our house to the parking lot at our destination, all on the road. My wife's phone didn't pick up a signal until we were a couple turns away from our house and the path was frequently beside the road. I was holding both phones up in the windshield, side by side, started recording at the same time. So, I do think that the GPS settings make a difference.

That being said, some of my other solo recordings over the last few days have had me beside the road from time to time as well. I don't have a windshield mount yet so I think some of it is the phone losing GPS accuracy when it slides around on the passenger seat, gets further from the windshield, etc, but it's hard to say for sure.

And, one test run like this is not enough data to draw any firm conclusions. I had intended to do more but for some reason we didn't go too many places together this weekend, which is odd for us.

 

[prashj21]

Here is a link that worked for me. Pretty much the same stuff with a few changes.

GPS Settings: Performance Options (improvement) - xda-developers

I used the settings mentioned in this link and inside a house I was locking 8-10 satellites within a few seconds and google maps had me within 10 meters.

My GPS problem is solved, now I just need to work on the battery drain issue!