geoandroiddaddy

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Oct 18, 2010
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I have read alot of threads of people having problems with their GPS not locking for over 5 minutes. None I have seen offers a fix for my fascinate. I have tried downloading GPS status & Tools.... No Change... I have tried that *#*#8936723254823 code thing and it does nothing but say "call cannot be made" lol Any fixes you guys recommend?
 

Sta11i0n

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I assume you're referring to the code string *#1472365# to access gpssetup? If it doesn't work for you it means that you don't have the hiddenmenu enabled. To turn that on dial *#22745927 and when it asks for the spc code put in 000000 then select the option for hiddenmenu enable.

Once in gpssetup first check in setup, position mode, and confirm starting mode is on 'cold start' ('hot start' is default) and operating mode is 'msbased'. Then go back to pde settings and make sure the server you're using is supl.google.com:7276.

Once you've check those what I've found that works best is going to command, ttff test, start gps. I let mine run usually one time through (tests for 39 seconds). It will start listing sats but usually doesn't get a fix. If it doesn't I run the test again and I'll get a fix within the first 5 seconds of it. I agree it's annoying to have to do this, but it's also the quickest way I've found. Within 45 seconds you'll have a lock and you're good to go.
 
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ocgreenmachine

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I've noticed that if you have GPS enabled at all times, lock is achieved relatively quickly (within 30 seconds). I recently shut off GPS via the notifications bar to test whether my battery life improved. Not only did my battery life not improve, it seemed that acquiring GPS when turning it back on seemed to take a long time (5+ minutes sometimes). The day this test occurred was a cloudy/overcast day, so that may have played a role in the long acquisition (seems like bad weather makes acquisition more difficult), but perhaps leaving the GPS on allows quicker acquisition when you actually need to use GPS (GPS-use icon does not show up on notification bar until an application tries to access GPS information, so maybe GPS is in a "sleep" mode when not in use?).
 

jokerls240

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I, too, leave GPS enabled at all times. If you ever have any doubts about battery usage, look in Settings -> About Phone -> Battery Use. That is one of the best things about Android.
 

jaekim717

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I, too, leave GPS enabled at all times. If you ever have any doubts about battery usage, look in Settings -> About Phone -> Battery Use. That is one of the best things about Android.

does anyone know for sure that keeping GPS on doesn't drain battery life? everything i've read about how to save battery life always states to turn off gps. any knowledge would be appreciated
 

Sta11i0n

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Leaving it on isn't going to use any more battery unless you have an app using the GPS constantly as well. Its not actually running unless you see the icon in your notification bar.
I leave mine on at all times and I never see it in my battery usage and unless I had maps/navigation running it won't be in your running services list.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk
 

packerbacker

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I'm going to start turning GPS on at all times and see if that helps. I too turned it off to "save battery". I do have Beautiful Widgets "Auto Location" enabled, so it might drain the battery a bit, but it's a small price to pay to get the GPS to actually lock.
 

NickA

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Mine is on all the time, and I don't see a difference in battery life. I still don't get a lock in seconds like my other phones, but on average in takes 2 minutes or less.
 

emptycube

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We almost need a sticky telling people that unless you've gotten a bunch of consecutive instant locks and spread out over a fairly long period of time, then your small sample size of quick locks isn't really indicative of anything and may just be confusing the issue.

Sometimes you'll get instant (or at least fairly quick) locks...that doesn't mean your GPS is 'fixed'. And if you've gotten a lock recently it's very possible you'll get instant locks for a while. This is common and is what misleads people to think they have the newest 'fix' when the phone is really behaving exactly as it always has.

What we really want is to consistently get instant locks.
 

Chris Kerrigan

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We almost need a sticky telling people that unless you've gotten a bunch of consecutive instant locks and spread out over a fairly long period of time, then your small sample size of quick locks isn't really indicative of anything and may just be confusing the issue.

Sometimes you'll get instant (or at least fairly quick) locks...that doesn't mean your GPS is 'fixed'. And if you've gotten a lock recently it's very possible you'll get instant locks for a while. This is common and is what misleads people to think they have the newest 'fix' when the phone is really behaving exactly as it always has.

What we really want is to consistently get instant locks.

Could not have said it better myself. I frequently use Google Maps Navigation over my $400 GPS in my car for the simple fact that it has faster and, more than not, more accurate routing to where I want to go (not to mention FAR better POI search and location). Just today I used it, and got a near instant lock (almost immediately after selecting the location I wanted).

But other times it will completely fail to find my location, or take so long to do so that I just end up waiting for my GPS to find what I'm looking for. It goes back and fourth, and I hope that this supposed maintenance update we may be seeing will fix this GPS issue. It is my only gripe. =\
 

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