GPS issues

[thaJack]

Every now and then it seems that my Droid doesn't want to get a GPS lock. Most of the time it does really nicely, but sometimes it won't get a fix at all.

When I use GPS Status to see exactly what's going on with it it will generally show several satellites, but no fix on them.

Sometimes if you leave it running for a while it will eventually get a fix, but not always a good one.

I'm not sure why this functionality seems to come and go, but it gets quite irritating.

 

[LtKen]

Some people have reported GPS locking issues with uncalibrated accelerometers. Try turning your phone slowly 3 or 4 times along all 3 axes...

 

[thaJack]

That's always the first thing I try.

 

[gpsmapper]

Not ideal, but a reboot should fix it.

 

[thaJack]

Nope... general neither that nor a battery pull get it working.

 

[gpsmapper]

Weird. Probably not an app issue either then.

 

[tommyz]

Nope... general neither that nor a battery pull get it working.

I had the same problem this afternoon. I turned the phone on about an hour later after driving home and it seemed to work again.

I have this issue about twice a month, then I don't see a problem for a couple of weeks.

I'm still hoping there may be a firmware update for the GPS to fix. I would rather not exchange the phone and have to setup my home screens all over again.

 

[eliwellis]

I have the same issue occasionally with mine. After coming up with all kinds of crazy reasons that I thought might be causing the problem I finally just came to the conclusion that it just wants to restart. I use the gps all day, everyday and whenever it starts to act up I just shutdown/restart and it gets a fix immediately. Probably this will get fixed in an update someday.

 

[HowardCohodas]

Weird. Probably not an app issue either then.

After lots of frustration and lots of research I've come to the following suspicions.

• Soft Boot, i.e. shutting it off and turning it back on has no lasting effect.
• Hard Boot, i.e. removing the battery, re-installing it and turning it back on has no lasting effect.
• The problem seems to be bad acting apps that do not properly exit and release their access to the GPS module. The Droid OS seems week at recovering from this problem.
• It is difficult to isolate the bad apps. There are lots of rumors, but few definitive answers. Trial and error on your part may provide success.
• Quite a few of the apps that access GPS are updated frequently so tracking down the bad actors is a complex and ever challenging process.
• I've had the most success by "backing" out and "re-entering" the app, usually MAPS. It takes several tries, but sync is frequently established on my unit with my mix of apps. I emphasize, frequently, but not always.

Let's hope DROID 2.1 has more success recovering from poorly designed apps.

 

[eliwellis]

I've had the most success by "backing" out and "re-entering" the app, usually MAPS. It takes several tries, but sync is frequently established on my unit with my mix of apps. I emphasize, frequently, but not always.

Let's hope DROID 2.1 has more success recovering from poorly designed apps.

By "backing out" and "re-entering" do you mean killing the app and restarting the app?

I have had a 100% success rate at solving this problem by shutting down and restarting the phone without the battery pull. It seems to start to act up about once every 7-10 days.

 

[HowardCohodas]

I've had the most success by "backing" out and "re-entering" the app, usually MAPS. It takes several tries, but sync is frequently established on my unit with my mix of apps. I emphasize, frequently, but not always.

Let's hope DROID 2.1 has more success recovering from poorly designed apps.

By "backing out" and "re-entering" do you mean killing the app and restarting the app?

I have had a 100% success rate at solving this problem by shutting down and restarting the phone without the battery pull. It seems to start to act up about once every 7-10 days.

I was a little sloppy on the above item. By backing out I'm talking about using the "back" button. This sometimes backs out of an app and sometimes just backs up earlier in the menu tree.

I'm glad just shutting down works for you as it does not work for me. During my research, most who complain of these problems did not find shutting down more then momentarily helpful. That's why I conclude that it is the mix of apps you have running that is the problem.

 

[brochaos]

i've done a ton of research on this. it seems to only happen when the phone has been running for more than 100 hours uptime. also, it is not because of bad apps, unless the bad app is Maps itself. I did a factory reset, and did not install ANY apps from the marketplace, except for the updates to Maps, and the problem STILL persisted.

weird thing is, i'm at about 140 hours right now, and this is the first time since i've bought the phone in december that i have NOT had the GPS issue after 4-5 days (~ 100 hours).

Weird. Probably not an app issue either then.

After lots of frustration and lots of research I've come to the following suspicions.

• Soft Boot, i.e. shutting it off and turning it back on has no lasting effect.
• Hard Boot, i.e. removing the battery, re-installing it and turning it back on has no lasting effect.
• The problem seems to be bad acting apps that do not properly exit and release their access to the GPS module. The Droid OS seems week at recovering from this problem.
• It is difficult to isolate the bad apps. There are lots of rumors, but few definitive answers. Trial and error on your part may provide success.
• Quite a few of the apps that access GPS are updated frequently so tracking down the bad actors is a complex and ever challenging process.
• I've had the most success by "backing" out and "re-entering" the app, usually MAPS. It takes several tries, but sync is frequently established on my unit with my mix of apps. I emphasize, frequently, but not always.

Let's hope DROID 2.1 has more success recovering from poorly designed apps.

 

[HowardCohodas]

i've done a ton of research on this. it seems to only happen when the phone has been running for more than 100 hours uptime. also, it is not because of bad apps, unless the bad app is Maps itself. I did a factory reset, and did not install ANY apps from the marketplace, except for the updates to Maps, and the problem STILL persisted.

weird thing is, i'm at about 140 hours right now, and this is the first time since i've bought the phone in december that i have NOT had the GPS issue after 4-5 days (~ 100 hours).

Maps and it's interaction with the car cradle app are my biggest problem. If I don't use the car cradle app, I have less trouble, but still have trouble. As of last week, the car cradle app always killed GPS access. I now use a different cradle that does not invoke the app. Will likely do so until DROID 2.1.

 

[brochaos]

i always use docking mode too. as a side note though, i did add my own magnet. i just recently changed it out, since it was SUPER strong, i thought it might be causing the problem. the one i have now is very weak, but still puts it in car dock mode.

 

[Limbermind]

Same issue here. 3-4 week old Droid. Started happening two days ago. Generally happens whilst at work, a brick and steel structure.

First episode I tried for 3+ hours when I had a sec to mess with it. Reboots, 1 battery pull, went for walk. Nothing worked. Eventually gave up. Maps insisted I was 1,200 meters away.

On my way home I started Maps and it was working fine. Tracking well at high speed.

Only connection that I can make is an every increasing list of D/L apps on my Droid, but even that's a stretch.

After reading previous posts in this thread it would seem there may be a few variables.

Bone stock, nonrootified.