Help gps problem

[escalade6103]

I went on a trip this weekend and was using the gps on my dx, or should i say trying to. I knew where the town was i was really using it to tell me how far i had left and when i got there how to get to the exact location. But it went nuts when i turned it on. For over an hour it kept saying "searching for signal" i tried turning it off and back on, updating my roaming and everything. I made sure i had my gps settings on(all of them). Finally after i quit messing w it bout 30 mins latter it worked. Is this a known problem? Any fixes?

 

[alnova1]

I went on a trip this weekend and was using the gps on my dx, or should i say trying to. I knew where the town was i was really using it to tell me how far i had left and when i got there how to get to the exact location. But it went nuts when i turned it on. For over an hour it kept saying "searching for signal" i tried turning it off and back on, updating my roaming and everything. I made sure i had my gps settings on(all of them). Finally after i quit messing w it bout 30 mins latter it worked. Is this a known problem? Any fixes?

I have never had a problem like this and haven't heard of anything like this either but maybe others have...are you on 2.2 or 2.1?

 

[ozzzy3z]

I went on a trip this weekend and was using the gps on my dx, or should i say trying to. I knew where the town was i was really using it to tell me how far i had left and when i got there how to get to the exact location. But it went nuts when i turned it on. For over an hour it kept saying "searching for signal" i tried turning it off and back on, updating my roaming and everything. I made sure i had my gps settings on(all of them). Finally after i quit messing w it bout 30 mins latter it worked. Is this a known problem? Any fixes?

I was out of town this past week and used the GPS all the time. I got a signal lock in seconds. It appears you may have a defective phone.

 

[Frisco]

I went on a trip this weekend and was using the gps on my dx, or should i say trying to. I knew where the town was i was really using it to tell me how far i had left and when i got there how to get to the exact location. But it went nuts when i turned it on. For over an hour it kept saying "searching for signal" i tried turning it off and back on, updating my roaming and everything. I made sure i had my gps settings on(all of them). Finally after i quit messing w it bout 30 mins latter it worked. Is this a known problem? Any fixes?

Reports of GPS issues are all over the device forums here, escalade. There is a lot of speculation as to why users of a specific Android phone post varying reliability.

I'm leaning toward regional differences, but not completely away from device quality control at the factory (manufacture and assembly).

The fact that your GPS began to function better after a time makes me wonder if you were driving out of a "bad" area, or if your X just "kicked in" in a manner consistent with poor hardware quality.

I moved your thread to the Droid X support area for you.

 

[NOVAdroid2151]

I always have to start a navigation, it never works the first time (it hangs on searching) and then i back out to the homepage. Then i redo the navigation. then it works.

I have a small issue, where it wont use highways as routes.. even after 'avoid highways and tolls' is unchecked.. anyone got answers with that>?

 

[tech_head]

Never an issue with mine

 

[Hrethgir]

How far did you travel between the last time you turned on navigation and this time? If you travel a long ways, it might take a while for it to figure out where it is because the almanac it has for what birds are where for it's last location won't be right, and it will see other birds that it wasn't expecting. It works like this on a handheld GPSr anyways. Seems the phone should have a head start since it should know basically where it is from the cell tower locations, but maybe the GPS almanac doesn't use that info.

 

[Longboardr]

I've seen this sort of thing on my Garmin Nuvi. Usually it's when I turn it on for the first time that day and I'm in a moving vehicle. If it's a cloudy, crappy day out or I'm driving through a woody area I simply cannot get a signal lock without pulling over and letting the unit sit stationary till it gets a lock. Don't know if it translates over to the X but figured it was worth mentioning.

 

[escalade6103]

I did start it while i was driving. It was over a 100 miles that it didn't work. It was a clear day and i had 3g almost the whole way. Whn it finally did work i was still driving and not in a 3g area. I randomly turned it on the rest of the day and it worked fine. But like previously said mine won't ever work the first time. I have to go into navigation, get stuck in searching mode, exit out and try again. I had a garmin nuvi in the car as well and i tried turning it on to see if it would get a signal and it did fairly quickly. I mite try calling 611 to see if they say i have a defective phone.

 

[escalade6103]

I forgot to say that before it started working right it said it finally found my current location which was 7 hours from where i was in a whole other state!

 

[BabyDoc]

What you are describing is normal gps behavior. When you are using ANY GPS for the first time, or in a new location far distant from your last know GPS position, you will find that it will take longer for the GPS to find the satellites. Once it locates the satellites, it creates an atlas of the satellite positions. That atlas gets saved when the gps gets turned off. The next time you use your GPS, the gps will look first in the atlas saved positions, corrected in position somewhat by the time since you last used the GPS. It then can find the satellites much more quickly than it did the first time. If you haven't used the GPS for a long time, or you have moved the GPS to a new location before turning it on again, the GPS will need to recreate a new atlas. It is easier for the GPS to create this new atlas if the GPS is outside, away from obstructions, and not moving.

 

[Airmaxx23]

What you are describing is normal gps behavior. When you are using ANY GPS for the first time, or in a new location far distant from your last know GPS position, you will find that it will take longer for the GPS to find the satellites. Once it locates the satellites, it creates an atlas of the satellite positions. That atlas gets saved when the gps gets turned off. The next time you use your GPS, the gps will look first in the atlas saved positions, corrected in position somewhat by the time since you last used the GPS. It then can find the satellites much more quickly than it did the first time. If you haven't used the GPS for a long time, or you have moved the GPS to a new location before turning it on again, the GPS will need to recreate a new atlas. It is easier for the GPS to create this new atlas if the GPS is outside, away from obstructions, and not moving.

You're right but it should not take 30+ minutes to find the satellites.

 

[Napalm]

I have had a similar issue during a very cloudy day (not raining but clouds and lightning)

Churned for 4 minute and couldn't find signal using Google MAPS, or JustGPS (which I use for base GPS info as a sanity check, just neat to have and yes I am odd)

Neither app would get signal but could see more than 5 satelites (according to JustGPS). Re boot phone twice, No change. Battery pull, no change.

20 minutes latter on the other side of town, plugged into car charger, making a call. 2 minutes latter GPS active with accurate position and lock.

Meanwhile, during the resets there was a point where maps had my position as on the MS river (20 miles away) Exactly due west of where I was parked. Also my compass was off by 30 degrees (I was pointed where I know was north, compass showed NW.

This has only happened once, and went away fairly quickly.

 

[BabyDoc]

You're right but it should not take 30+ minutes to find the satellites.

Depending on weather conditions, whether you are moving or not, or if there are obstructions like buildings or trees, it could take forever to find the satellites for the first time.

Obviously, if those conditions are ideal, and your GPS isn't locating your position, there could be something wrong with your GPS.

I bought a GARMIN that couldn't find the satellites the first time a tried it. After 30 minutes, I gave up. I was going to take the unit back the next day, but gave it another try. Within 5 minutes on a different day, with the GPS sitting outside in the same location, it finally found the satellites. I have been using that GARMIN ever since without any problems.

 

[Airmaxx23]

Depending on weather conditions, whether you are moving or not, or if there are obstructions like buildings or trees, it could take forever to find the satellites for the first time.

Obviously, if those conditions are ideal, and your GPS isn't locating your position, there could be something wrong with your GPS.

I bought a GARMIN that couldn't find the satellites the first time a tried it. After 30 minutes, I gave up. I was going to take the unit back the next day, but gave it another try. Within 5 minutes on a different day, with the GPS sitting outside in the same location, it finally found the satellites. I have been using that GARMIN ever since without any problems.

I've been using Garmin GPS units for about 20 years for hunting, fishing, kayaking, ATV/dirt bike riding and hiking and I honestly can not recall a time where it's taken over 5-10 minutes to get a lock on satellites. Maybe I've just been lucky.

 

[ekyle]

Reports of GPS issues are all over the device forums here, escalade. There is a lot of speculation as to why users of a specific Android phone post varying reliability.

I'm leaning toward regional differences, but not completely away from device quality control at the factory (manufacture and assembly).

The fact that your GPS began to function better after a time makes me wonder if you were driving out of a "bad" area, or if your X just "kicked in" in a manner consistent with poor hardware quality.

I moved your thread to the Droid X support area for you.

+1 on the region/possible hardware issues. I haven't had any issues with mine and I use it all the time... :\

 

[Napalm]

Most GPS units once they sync and have an idea of where they are, use that for finding the statelites. loosing that might be part of the problem

OH one other thing I found out, when I had my issue I found out that somehow the checks for aGPS was missing from the settings. (IE my settings had re-set or changed). Using assisted GPS (where the cell triangulation helps the GPS find the satelite alignment) helps quite a bit.

 

[escalade6103]

I use assisted gps along w gps. I can understand a couple mins for it to get a signal but nt an hour. I tried seeing if it would mess up or work again and it found a signal quickly but like previously it was 10 miles off. I tried it a couple hours later and it was rite on. Hit or miss i guess

 

[jleeo]

I purchased a new Android in Honolulu last weekend. I played with the maps and GPS within a couple of hours and all was well. A few days ago, all attempts to navigate gave me the constant "Searching for GPS" message. Have been messing with it all morning today, am outside near the beach, plenty of sky. No luck at all. Can't believe it is the phone, since so many have the same problem. Read there may be a conflict w/VZW GPS setting, but can't seem to locate that in the settings menu. Just reporting the same problem. The phone has never been more than 5 miles from where it was activated. GPS worked once or twice - never since. Will hope to read the answer here soon. Insofar as this being normal, this is a replacement Droid - had the original machine since January. Might have had to wait a minute or two on occasion for a fix after arriving in a new city, but never these very long, endless searches.

Alright, I removed the battery for 10 minutes (with GPS on), replaced it (GPS was still on) and the matter is resolved (for now). Will carefully note how I use the map and navigation programs and see if anything notable takes it down again.