Help Compass calibration problem

[thatkidmatt]

So... lately I noticed that Google maps and Google sky have been giving me bad direction information. Today I downloaded a compass app and sure enough the reading is off by almost a full 180 degrees. The program's calibrate feature didn't seem to correct the problem and I was wondering if there was a built-in way to recalibrate the magnetometer. Thanks for the help.

 

[justing1319]

I have been having the exact same issue. I know this was working when i first got the phone because i used sky map on day 1 and worked wonderfully.
In some cases i can do the figure 8 calibration and it'll work but it's not as accurate or smooth as when it was new plus it needs to be recalibrated every time I launch an app.
I've seen some other posts online saying the fix is a factory reset which isn't really an acceptable option.

 

[kyler13]

So nothing on this? I'm experiencing the same issue though off by 90 degrees. It won't calibrate. I checked this shortly after I got the phone and it was working then. I'm not doing a factory reset and wiping everything out just to fix this. Way too much work. If I can't find anything on this, I might be giving htc a call.

 

[Bundy]

Figure 8 calibration always seems to work for me. Have you tried that?

 

[Damien]

rotate the phone 2 revolutions on each of the axises... That's what I've always done.

-Damien

 

[tzoller]

Had the same problem. Night Sky was upside down etc. Tried all sorts of gyrations. Nothing worked. Did the ULTIMATE..a hard factory reset.. good as new.

 

[kyler13]

Can't figure it out. I'm home now and it's pretty much dead nuts on. I didn't try to calibrate it. I was sitting in the car waiting when I wrote my earlier email and it was off by 90 degrees. Tried to re-cal about a dozen times. I'll have to check it again sitting in my car. Maybe that's the problem? Fortunately google maps auto-corrects by your movement. Everytime I would come to a stop, the arrow would rotate 90 degrees switching to the default magnetic position instead of the direction of movement via GPS.

 

[kyler13]

I was sitting at home the other day and checked my compass. Perfectly fine. Noticed it was offset again yesterday in my car, so while I'm sitting and waiting for the wife to run into the grocery store, I move the phone outside the car window an watch the north slowly rotate to the correct heading. Bring the phone back inside the car and, voila, it's back to off by 90 degrees. wtf? My honda civic has some rogue magnetic field interfering with the phone?!

 

[justing1319]

So I just loaded up the unrevoked bootloader and took a nandroid backup. I did the factory reset and the compass started working properly again. I restored the backup and it was broken again, this leads me to believe there is a file somewhere on the phone that is causing the problem.

 

[justing1319]

I worked out a fix that does not require a factory reset! It does require root and the Android SDK. Connect the phone to your computer using usb and run 'adb shell' once connected run the following commands:

su
cd /data/misc
rm AK8973Prms.txt
rm AK8973Prms.txt.tmp
reboot

This removes the saved calibration data. On reboot it will regenerate these files. In my research I found that on other phones the calibration data may be stored in a file called akmd_set.txt.

I hope this helps anyone else with this issue.

 

[gtokarsk]

I had the same issue, after re-wiping the phone few times I believe "flightpanel" goofed it up for me, but installing compass v1.1 by snaptic, inc seems to have resolved it.... flightpanel still complains about calibration, so does compass from time to time, but overall they work well on the magnetic side. So that is how I got around it without rooting, but.. with 3 wipes.. grrr!

 

[hansmike]

I worked out a fix that does not require a factory reset! It does require root and the Android SDK. Connect the phone to your computer using usb and run 'adb shell' once connected run the following commands:

su
cd /data/misc
rm AK8973Prms.txt
rm AK8973Prms.txt.tmp
reboot

This removes the saved calibration data. On reboot it will regenerate these files. In my research I found that on other phones the calibration data may be stored in a file called akmd_set.txt.

I hope this helps anyone else with this issue.

justin, this worked painlessly for me. Nice job on finding those files. My compass used to be about 60 degrees off and Google Sky Map went haywire. If I cal'd using the figure 8 method, it would only work for a minute or two and then revert back to its old crappy cal.

I'd give you a gold star, but a will have to do for now. Thanks!

 

[huntingr]

I worked out a fix that does not require a factory reset! It does require root and the Android SDK. Connect the phone to your computer using usb and run 'adb shell' once connected run the following commands:

su
cd /data/misc
rm AK8973Prms.txt
rm AK8973Prms.txt.tmp
reboot

This removes the saved calibration data. On reboot it will regenerate these files. In my research I found that on other phones the calibration data may be stored in a file called akmd_set.txt.

I hope this helps anyone else with this issue.

Wow! Yes, it DID help! Thanks Man! (and I did click on the Thanks button) I've searched for weeks for a cure for this issue on my EVO 4G with no luck. I've tried everything. Who knew something this simple would fix my stuck compass issue! I actually used Root Explorer to delete the files and then rebooted. The compass now works perfectly.

 

[Niblick]

Wow! Yes, it DID help! Thanks Man! (and I did click on the Thanks button) I've searched for weeks for a cure for this issue on my EVO 4G with no luck. I've tried everything. Who knew something this simple would fix my stuck compass issue! I actually used Root Explorer to delete the files and then rebooted. The compass now works perfectly.

I am having similar problems with Google Sky Map. I downloaded Root Browser from the market but I can't seem to find the text files to delete. It tells me that the Data directory is empty. Can someone explain in words how to get to those text files that need deleted?

Thanks for your help!!