• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help "Searching for GPS..." in Navigation

SeattleYanksFan

Android Expert
Mar 1, 2010
932
242
USA
Since upgrading to 2.2, I've noticed my Navigation takes MUCH longer to search for GPS. It now either never gets directions (the "Getting driving directions..." pop-up box just sits there forever until I back out) and I have to turn GPS off and on then back out of Navigation and restart it OR it'll get the directions but say "Searching for GPS..." for at least a couple minutes. Anyone else experiencing this?
 
Since upgrading to 2.2, I've noticed my Navigation takes MUCH longer to search for GPS. It now either never gets directions (the "Getting driving directions..." pop-up box just sits there forever until I back out) and I have to turn GPS off and on then back out of Navigation and restart it OR it'll get the directions but say "Searching for GPS..." for at least a couple minutes. Anyone else experiencing this?


Yes, I am experiencing the same thing. Is there anything we can do about it?
 
Upvote 0
Going thru the same BS. Really annoying. I am pretty disappointed with this release, I hope we see a patch for these problems soon.

I can't blame 2.2 as it happened in 2.1 for me too. I always had to go through the motions of turning on GPS, getting directions for Navigation, hitting back, turning off GPS, turning it on, then getting directions again, for it to work. It would never process fully the first time.

I hoped 2.2 and a factory reset would fix this, but clearly that has not been the case.

I love Android, I really do. I do, however, think there needs to be a bit better QA, because too many little things don't work like they should. None are deal breakers for me, but disappointing nonetheless.
 
Upvote 0
Are you all getting it to find the GPS location at all? No matter how long I wait, it can't connect. This icon:
gpsorg.gif
never shows up for me like it did in 2.1. Are you all? It seems that for some reason it says it's searching for the GPS, but it's actually not.
 
Upvote 0
No idea if this fixed it or not, but the other day in the car I turned on Navigation and GPS and, as usual, it was sitting at "Searching for GPS" forever. I let it sit there with the phone on my dashboard so the roof of the car wasn't blocking it. It did eventually pick up the GPS.

Now, it seems to pick up GPS much quicker. Coincidence? Perhaps. Or maybe it needs that one time to sit there and pick it up on the first shot for programming purposes. Who knows?

I will try again tomorrow and see if it still works on the first try.

For what it's worth, the only other thing I have since changed is disabling WidgetLocker (just wanted to see if a few bugs have any relation to WidgetLocker being enabled). If everyone here uses WL, perhaps it has something to do with it. I HIGHLY doubt it, however.
 
Upvote 0
Hi! I'm new to this forum and I joined just to sya I've been having the same issue since the froyo upgrade.

Seattle Yanks do you keep your standalone gps on all the time?

Nope. Only when I use it for navigation.

And I should add the instant satellite pickup is no more. I'm back where I was with "Searching for GPS..." for several minutes.
 
Upvote 0
Although a year later, I am experiencing the same issue on my brand new HTC Desire S. Navigation keeps on searching for GPS for ages. However, other apps using GPS are finding signals in seconds, so, it seems an app related issue rather than a hardware related issue.
I appreciate any hints or work arounds!
 
Upvote 0
I don't have this phone, but my experience is similar. It was stock Froyo when it arrived, and I briefly accepted an OTA update to Gingerbread. This turned out to be defective and presumably everyone with my make and model had to roll back to Froyo, as I did. AFAIK, through all this Navigation the navigation tool worked fine.

Then I flashed to a Gingerbread based custom ROM, and that's when navigation stopped working. I thought it was an issue the custom ROM, but then I discovered that people running GB on all sorts of different makes and models were experiencing the same issue.

So...back I went and downgraded to Froyo. And now...navigation still doesn't work.

Either Google has a huge problem here, or else they have decided that they only care if this, one of the most popular Android tools ever, only works on the latest and costliest mobile devices.
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones