***FIXED*** HTC Thunderbolt Google NOT Syncing AND Weather Widget WRONG LOCATION PROBLEM

[DCM*T*BOLT]

This is my first post on this site. I just registered moments ago. I registered because I have been having the same issues with my Thunderbolt that MANY PEOPLE seem to be having, and am very surprised at the lack of knowledge of the VZ tech support people at not being able to troubleshoot these very rampant issues.

I am on my 3rd Thunderbolt now, despite the release delay, I think they should of held back a bit longer until some of these common bugs that it seems likely thousands of people are having were fixed.

I have have had:
* hard to push / countersunk power button
* contacts disappearing issues
* Google contacts NOT syncing error
* weather gadget not showing my actual town

Ok, at the very moment, ALL of those issues are NO LONGER an issue -- here's the secrets

* power button --- easy-- hardware issue, ( probably bad spring) - return the phone for one that is not counter sunk ... first one I had was countersunk, could barely push it ... second one was up a tad more, one side a bit higher and was no problem to push, third one (this one) button is up as high as the volume button


* contacts disappearing --- (this is the short version of my discovery/fix) ... both Google backup and Verizon Back Up Assistant were up and running, I then discovered the 'double contacts' issue, I decided to delete the Google ones and doing 'that' also deleted about half of the Verizon contacts ---->>> At THAT POINT GOOGLE WOULD NO LONGER SYNC ---- yes, I did all the fixes that I have seen all over this sight, ...up to and including a factory reset with VZ tech support on the phone ... which did NOT fix the syncing issue...

---- what DID FIX THE SYNCING ISSUE IS THIS: .... RE-FORMATTED THE SD CARD ,... yes I know that seems like an odd fix... but as soon as I restarted , Google was syncing just fine. WARNING: SAVE YOUR CONTACTS FILE FIRST

..continued.... later that night, I re-created the same problem ( I was trying to decided on keeping VZ vs Google, I decided to delete VZ contacts and just stick with Google, when I deleted my VZ contacts ... SOME of my Google contacts also disappeared .... and It would NOT SYNC once again .... HOWEVER,... this time.. re-formatting the sd card and everything else I tried did NOT work .... I then decided to return #2 for #3 ...

THIS TIME, I did NOT even put the PIN in and set up VZ back up assistant..... and THIS THUNDERBOLT has been syncing with Google just fine .... !!!!

--- there is obviously a 'glitch' with both VZ and Google contacts syncing/linking at the same time, that screws up Google Sync .........



* Weather Widget / Wrong Location --- this issue I had with all 3 of them, showing near by towns, but rarely if ever showing the actual town I am in.

... moments before registering to this site I stumbled on something that fixed this issue on mine and decided that after all of the valuable info I have learned on this site (and others) that I wanted to contribute (give-back) in appreciation.

Ok, I know this may sound strange, BUT IT WORKED !!! .... I was in SECURITY settings setting up a numeric (PIN) screen lock. I had it set to phone lock after IMMEDIATELY ... I then locked the screen and unlocked it a few times, just testing it out....and I just happened to notice for a split second I thought I seen MY ACTUAL TOWN in the weather widget ... ,.. I was going back in to delete the security pin screen lock and when I went back to the home screen .. it was BACK TO A NEIGHBORING TOWN.. ,.. so,.. on a gut feeling.. I went back in set up the same screen lock/pin/immediately , went back to my home screen and WA-LA ... THE CORRECT TOWN IS NOW BEING DISPLAYED ... I deleted the screen lock once again..and put it back a few times...and my CORRECT TOWN is staying... ... during this process I only had Google location service checked... but just now I also checked standalone ...and I refreshed and my correct town is still showing...

Don't ask me how this worked... obviously a software glitch ......

I hope it works for you all .... good luck.....


--- I would love to hear if this works for anyone.... ???

 

[Frisco]

Welcome aboard the forums, DCM*T*BOLT, and thank you for starting right off with a helpful post.

I moved it to the HTC Thunderbolt section here for you, where it'll do the most good.

 

[DCM*T*BOLT]

thanks,.. and thanks for moving it to the proper place...


...UPDATE..

ok... I just realized that I had wifi on while doing all that weather widget stuff...,... so I shut it off and went back to the 'network' and.... ... I'm now showing a NEIGHBORING town AGAIN....... I tried doing all those security steps while on the network,..and it did NOT seem to work..., so, I went back onto wifi.... and my correct town re-appears.... so,... now I'm not totally sure if it was just a strange coincidence of timing when I was playing with the security settings that I got my correct town,..... or if that 'fix' actually 'fixed' it.. while it was in wifi... because I had had it on wifi all night and it was showing the WRONG location....so,...I 'still' believe... there is some sort of a 'glitch' somehow interlaced with the security settings....... but... perhaps it 'was' just odd coincidence ... ?????

you still may want to mess around a bit..and see what happens.... don't forget you have to 'refresh' the weather to check for change.....

 

[dajogejr]

Odd coincidence.
I removed my clock widget, disabled VZW, GPS and Google Location.
Rebooted the phone, turned all three back on and added my clock widget...been fine since.

You might want to change the title of the message.

 

[SecondShot]

This must have to do with the signal location because when I change to wifi it gives correct location but when I go back to the 4 or 3 G radio it shows the next town.first affect performance since the weather is the same in both places.

 

[Nate1974]

It makes me uncomfortable that you had to get your 3rd phone before you could get your google contacts to sync. I, too, have tried all the tips on this site regarding syncing, short of wiping my SD, and nothing has worked.

 

[adamalter]

My power button is sunk in =(. Sometimes I have to push it a couple of times to register I hit it. My wife and I got our TBolts the same day and hers is totally fine. I thought it was just in my head till I grabbed hers yesterday and when I pushed it, it was super easy and actually felt like a button that you could feel pushing in.

I try to avoid warranty exchanges in most cases, but may do it this time, especially if it gets any worse where I can't even turn it on.

I'm extremely happy with the phone over all, but here are my complaints, either directly related to the TBolt, or Android related:

1) Sending picture mail as a damn slideshow... this is just dumb and I've yet to see anyone who isn't annoyed by it.

2) Battery icon, doesn't show %, or even have an option to give you % without rooting... totally lame. When it's at 70%, the icon looks like 50%.

3) No Android Facebook apps let you tag other people in pics... wtf? iPhone has done this for a long time. When you're taking mobile photos to send to FB, you want to tag those people in them, but you have to do it later from your computer, or log in via the web to do it.

4) The audio quality and volume levels of video. They say they're fixing this, so I'm fine with that.

Other than that, I feel the camera could be better quality. For 8 MP, it's sad that the iPhone4's 5MP that's from last summer has better quality photos (contrast/color) and faster shutter response time. I also wish the external speaker was better. I thought it was going to be good, but it's average, or slightly better at most.

Again, I'm over all I'm happy with the phone. It's fast, smooth, great screen, great call quality, nice design and feel. I have no probs with the battery either.

 

[DCM*T*BOLT]

dajogejr : ,.. coincidence .. maybe, maybe not, all I know is it was on wifi all night and still didn't show the correct town until I was messing with the security settings... I did what you suggested and that did not work for me.

Nate1974: ... I returned the 1st Thunderbolt due to the bad power button, I don't even know if 'that' phone was syncing or not... I didn't get that far with it,...

I created the syncing problem with Google TWICE with a phone that WAS syncing by having both VZ back up assistant and Google sync running, and then DELETING either of the contact list.... deleting either one caused Google to no longer sync, ... after every 'fix' in the book, the only thing that worked was re-formatting the sd card ... however that did not seem to work the 2nd time... somehow I think a corrupt file is being created somewhere which is causing the syncing error....

again.. this 3rd phone, I did not even activate VZ BU and so far Google is syncing just fine...

.. as far as the wrong location on the weather widget .. I'm still sorta working on that,... I had thought I had it licked... but it definitely seems to be a network issue ... because it seems to work on wifi .... also,... its not only the weather widget... but the Google map also does not show the correct location unless I am using my wifi connection ...

 

[DanDroid]

My HTC Clock / Weather widget has been working fine, until Friday night. For some unknown reason, when I connect to my wi-fi at home, the location on the widget changes to state (Ohio) vs. city location. It's very strange. As soon as I turn off wi-fi, then it changes back to city based location.

Nothing on my end changed, router is the same one I've been using since I got my Bolt on 3/18. Refreshing does nothing except update the forecast, not the location.

Has anyone else seen this happen?

Here are some steps I did to try and resolve, all has been for not.

Restart Phone - No affect
Battery Pull - No affect
Location Services: VZW or Google - No affect
GPS ON - No affect (though I never had this on before)
Reboot Router: No affect
Different Router: No affect

Last resort was factory restore, which also had no affect. I'm at my wits end as to why all of the sudden the location is whack when wi-fi is on.

 

[travishamockery]

How about this one for you guys....only happens when I'm at work in my office, but check my location. As a note, I work in NJ, not the middle east or wherever this language is from

 

[DanDroid]

How about this one for you guys....only happens when I'm at work in my office, but check my location. As a note, I work in NJ, not the middle east or wherever this language is from

Yep, I think I saw this in another post. WTF is going on? My wife's friend stopped by tonight, she has a DINC, she has the clock weather widget as well. When I looked at her's it had the correct city listed, however when I refreshed it, it dropped to "Ohio" as location. This was on 3G, not even connected to my home wi-fi.

Now when I first got my Bolt, it had my location listed as Buenos Aires, but after about 20 mins (after activation) it's been spot on....till now. I mean how friggin hard can it be to capture location based by ip address and store it? I found mine in a matter of seconds..

 

[jdk2]

Yep, I think I saw this in another post. WTF is going on? My wife's friend stopped by tonight, she has a DINC, she has the clock weather widget as well. When I looked at her's it had the correct city listed, however when I refreshed it, it dropped to "Ohio" as location. This was on 3G, not even connected to my home wi-fi.

Now when I first got my Bolt, it had my location listed as Buenos Aires, but after about 20 mins (after activation) it's been spot on....till now. I mean how friggin hard can it be to capture location based by ip address and store it? I found mine in a matter of seconds..

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger. I have that issue now as well. Thanks for talking it up

 

[rogue_slc_vzw_rep]

When I'm on 4G the weather widget will switch between my location and locations all over the world. While in 3g or WiFi it always shows the right location.. I can't explain it and my only temporary fix is to go to settings, time and deselect then select use network time or whatever that setting is. It will find me again for a while but go back to some middle eastern city.

Seems to be nice there this time of year though..

 

[TxGoat]

My phone only gives me a weird location when I'm at home which leads me to believe that it is a network issue. When I'm at another location, I have no weird locations reporting. The location that typically reports is Gary Indiana and sometimes Ross (not sure if that's in NY or in IN as well). For those reporting location issues, is it at one location or at several locations?

 

[rogue_slc_vzw_rep]

Only 4G I've been on was at the tower at work. It's definitely network related.

 

[travishamockery]

Only 4G I've been on was at the tower at work. It's definitely network related.

This is interesting that you narrowed it down to 4g. I'm going to give it a try at work and switch to 3g when this happens and refresh the weather.

 

[sean76]

Mine always has me in NY, it rarely ever gives me the city I'm in, whether I'm in Bklyn, Staten Island or Queens? Pretty much always says just NY?
And my lady's phone sometimes says Virginia...lol, very weird!

 

[travishamockery]

Updating for today. This weekend I did a clean flash and went back to stock and re-did my roms. I've tried all of them here today at work and I am no longer reporting in as a middle eastern city. Granted, it is not saying my town, but just says New Jersey. I'll take that over being in the middle east.

 

[ska.t73]

1) Sending picture mail as a damn slideshow... this is just dumb and I've yet to see anyone who isn't annoyed by it.

Yep annoyed the heck out of me too, I just got GOSmS from the market and the problem was solved. You can send out pictures as MMS and not a stupid slide show. I would think any of the text apps (Handcent, etc.) would work. Just make sure you go into the stock text app and turn off notifications so you don't get double notifications.

 

[SecondShot]

I tested this at home and in 4/3g the wx widget showed the next town over...when on wifi, the correct location. Washington DC. Now I am at my office in Bethesda and the wx widget in 4/3g shows the right location and Wifi shows another location (Montgomery) which is a county, not a city near here.

My summation is that it is based on the cell tower the phone is hitting off for 4/3g and maybe the server location on wifi. NOTE: I am not a techie so I don't understand the particulars, but it just seems logical to me.

Thouhts from those in the know?

 

[ska.t73]

I tested this at home and in 4/3g the wx widget showed the next town over...when on wifi, the correct location. Washington DC. Now I am at my office in Bethesda and the wx widget in 4/3g shows the right location and Wifi shows another location (Montgomery) which is a county, not a city near here.

My summation is that it is based on the cell tower the phone is hitting off for 4/3g and maybe the server location on wifi. NOTE: I am not a techie so I don't understand the particulars, but it just seems logical to me.

Thouhts from those in the know?

That would be my conclusion as well. I do know that using towers for geo location can be a mixed bag. I play World of Warcraft (shut up ) and Blizzard implemented some sort of geo ip address check to help cut down on compromised accounts (if it senses changes to your log in pattern location it will lock the account and make you reset the password.) There are tons of people complaining about getting the lock out when using mobile internet to connect.

The problem is that a mobile connection (using 3G or 4G towers) can jump all over the place geo ip wise. A friend of mine has seen this when using his Droid 2 to connect to his network to trouble shoot problems with his servers, he noticed that the Geo IP was showing the connection coming from somewhere in Boston, he lives in and was connecting from Illinois.

So my vote for all of this would be a problem with the network.

 

[DanDroid]

Updating for today. This weekend I did a clean flash and went back to stock and re-did my roms. I've tried all of them here today at work and I am no longer reporting in as a middle eastern city. Granted, it is not saying my town, but just says New Jersey. I'll take that over being in the middle east.

Is this with Wi-Fi or 3G /4G?

 

[travishamockery]

Is this with Wi-Fi or 3G /4G?

I tested at my office under 4g and 3g. I don't have wifi to test but i've never had an issue with wifi.

 

[DanDroid]

I tested at my office under 4g and 3g. I don't have wifi to test but i've never had an issue with wifi.

Interesting... Welp, I'm gonna just chalk this one up as some type of google location network issue. Since nothing on my end has changed, just gonna leave it alone and hope it works itself out.

 

[c0y0te1016]

just FYI, I was trying Wi-Fi vs 3G (no 4G for me yet bummer) And widget showed me still at work location. I refreshed a few times and then showed me home. I went into settings and reset the refresh time to 1 hour and now I am in another city. Wi-Fi or 3G doesn't matter. I then went in to manually add my location and it can't be found. If I put in NJ in the search it only returns 7 results. OK hit the back button a few time to home screen and location now correct. WiFi and 3G. no consistency to what it chooses to do.