GPS Use Reboots Hero - Help!

[lancehart]

I?m about ready to lose my mind with this Hero (Sprint 2.1).
Best phone I?ve ever had? until about 4 days ago when suddenly for no reason it decides to start doing full reboots every time I start an App that uses GPS in any fashion.
WeatherBug, 4Square, Google Maps, Latitude, etc?

If I shut off the GPS in the settings, no more reboots? but what good is it if you can?t use it the way it was meant to be used? I?ve removed all the 3rd party Apps and it still crashes on the native apps like Google Maps.

Do I need to have it replaced?
Do a full factory reset?
Did Sprint push some behind the scenes OTA update I didn?t see install?
Do I need to Root to fix this? (Can I even Root with Official 2.1 installed?)

I just can?t figure it out? it happened when I was in the middle of using 4Square actually, was doing some shopping and able to tag into two separate locations and upon trying to launch the 4Square app a 3rd time? REBOOT? and it?s rebooted with every App to use GPS ever since.

Any help out there? I dread going into the Sprint store and dealing with them?

 

[lasix]

you can try factory reset.

I would suggest rooting. if your ver of 2.1 ends in 5 you're good to go. if it end in 6, download the ruu that end in 5 then install that.

 

[lancehart]

Thanks for the suggestion. Sorry to be a n00b, but not sure if my software ends with a 5 or a 6. The firmware says 2.1-update1. The Software build # is 2.27.651.6, so I'm assuming that's what you may have meant by ending with a 6.

Not sure if I'm ready to root yet... or if I'd see the advantage of it if I end up having to return the phone for a replacement.

However, a quick update from the last few days.

I did a factory reset... reinstalled my apps and all seemed fine at first, except
for the fact that for some reason it now wont download the facebook photos and apply them to my contacts list anymore. When I try to manually do it, it wont even pull up any facebook contacts as valid attachments. Kind of frustrating... and makes no sense.

Everything was fine for about 24-36 hours, then bam... same old crap... every GPS app was causing a complete reboot of the phone. (HTC logo & Sprint Intro) plus when it would come back... no data connection. I'd have to shut it down again on purpose and restart to get a data connection.

I had a hunch about what may be causing it based on how I reloaded my apps and put them to use before the problem started again, so I factory reset it again yesterday, minus a couple of apps that I suspect may be at the root of the problem.

24 hours later, so far so good... the only problem is that it still wont load my facebook friend's pictures into their contacts. I'm suspecting that it may be the FourSquare app that is causing all the problems, because everything was fine the first time around until I activated the app again... and within a couple of hours after that, all the problems returned.

I haven't downloaded it this time to see if that is where the problem lies. I believe there was an update to the FourSquare app that kicked in last week right before all my problems started as well.

Anyone else notice a similar connection to this App and new problems with your Hero?

 

[lasix]

Thanks for the suggestion. Sorry to be a n00b, but not sure if my software ends with a 5 or a 6. The firmware says 2.1-update1. The Software build # is 2.27.651.6, so I'm assuming that's what you may have meant by ending with a 6.

Yes you would need to download the other ruu and roll back so you could root. It takes about 20 minutes for the install to take place, about the same amount of time it took you to update the phone originally. After you update it, DO NOT ACCEPT THE SECURITY DOWNLOAD FROM SPRINT. It will bring you back to .6

Not sure if I'm ready to root yet... or if I'd see the advantage of it

Better performance. No lag. Better battery life, overclock and underclock at the same time. Phone actually rings and you're not walking around with an expensive pager. Can tether, seems like something you won't use until you use it, like when you're at the air port, router is broken... Those are the reasons I rooted. And those issues have gone away.

if I end up having to return the phone for a replacement.

"Un-root it". To be honest before I rooted, I hated the phone and was offering to pay sprint to take the phone back and give me a different phone. I'm sure if you're phone breaks you can find one on ebay for a descent price. If you can get another 6 months out of the hero, and it breaks, do you want to get another hero? If so ebay it. If not, then what's the concern?

When I try to manually do it, it wont even pull up any facebook contacts as valid attachments. Kind of frustrating... and makes no sense.

WHEN you do root it, and you will, check out the feedback on the different roms and see which one's have no issues with facebook.

Everything was fine for about 24-36 hours, then bam... same old crap... every GPS app was causing a complete reboot of the phone. (HTC logo & Sprint Intro) plus when it would come back... no data connection. I'd have to shut it down again on purpose and restart to get a data connection.

Did you call *2 for tech support? You may need them to reset something on their end, then re-establish a network connection.

I never heard of the app, but it may be the source of the problem. I guess you can do another factory reset, and not install it...

 

[lancehart]

Just a quick update...

It's been four days since my last factory reset... and I've reloaded all of my non-GPS related apps, and my Hero is working like a champ still. Zero problems... even all my facebook photos have returned to my contacts list, as it seems that was just bad timing along with an issue between HTC and Facebook that has now been resolved.

I'm going to pass on FourSquare this time, and download one of my previous GPS apps, WeatherBug in a bit and give it another couple of days to see if the problem returns. If not, I think the FourSquare app was defective and causing the error. I've since read about others complaining about a similar GPS reboot on their Sprint EVOs when trying to use FourSquare as well. Sounds like a conflict between HTC/Sprint's v2.1 and FourSquare.

 

[lancehart]

Well that didn't take long... maybe two hours after first installing WeatherBug... GPS related reboots started once again... so it has now happened with FourSquare and WeatherBug, independent of each other.

Crazy... so back to the factory reset once again...

I'm starting to think that you can't run any non-Google created GPS apps anymore.

 

[lancehart]

I’ve finally found the solution… it was posted at another site, but I lost the URL to give credit. Seems this odd GPS problem has been hitting quite a few people with different handsets, but all running the Sprint version of 2.1, most likely with the .6 OTA update that prevents rooting.

The fix is very easy… I’ve had it running successfully with all my GPS apps back on again for the past 24 hours with no problems on my HTC Hero.

The fix is easy… but you will need the MSL Code for your phone.
It’s easy to get, you just have to call Sprint (*2) and ask for it.
If they ask why, just tell them you’ve been having GPS problems and you need it to use the GSP Reset code.

Write down your MSL Code for safekeeping and possible future use.

Open the dialer and punch in

##GPSCLRX#

A popup window will open asking for the passcode, so enter your MSL code here.

About 10-15 seconds later, it will finish and ask for permission to reboot the phone for the changes to take effect.

Reboot and your done… problem solved.