Why does my GPS take ages to lock on and accuracy is poor?

[brettreadin123]

GPS takes ages to lock on and accuracy is poor.

Hi All

I use mapmyrun and it takes ages for the phone to lock onto the GPS signal and when it does the accuracy of the GPS is quite hit and miss.

Does anyone else have the same problems?

Thanks
Brett

 

[brettreadin123]

Re: GPS takes ages to lock on and accuracy is poor.

Hi

Thanks for quick reply.

Nope. It's either in a normal armband or in my hand. Also just running in the UK countryside so now deep canyons here. My Sony Z1 locked on immediately but the G3 takes up to a minute and for the first 100m or so hasn't a clue where I am or what direction I am running in.

I will try a different running app to see if that improves things.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

Re: GPS takes ages to lock on and accuracy is poor.

Are you on the stock LG ROM, or have you rooted and flashed a custom ROM? If so, which one. All of the AOSP-based lollipop ROMs seem to have issues with the GPS.

 

[brettreadin123]

Re: GPS takes ages to lock on and accuracy is poor.

Hi
On stock rom.
Brett

 

[Rukbat]

Re: GPS takes ages to lock on and accuracy is poor.

Install GPS Status & Toolbox. Run the app. Turn GPS on. Watch what's happening. Does it know which satellites are up? (If not, the phone is defective.) Is it receiving signals from the satellites? (if not, either you're in a bad area [lots of leaf cover overhead, lots of steel buildings reflecting signals, lots of electrical noise in the area] or the GPS receiver is defective.) Is it locking to at least 5 satellites in a reasonable time when you're standing still? (If not, either the GPS receiver or the GPS firmware is bad.) Initial locking with a constantly moving receiver, especially if you're in an area where there's a lot of stuff to reflect signals, or there's a lot of varying overhead leaf cover, presents a problem that can only cured by changing the laws of physics (IOW, that's not how GPS was designed to work). For horizontal position, you need at least 3 satellites. Four will improve the accuracy, due to the lack of an atomic clock (or something of that accuracy) in the receiver.

Once you get a fix, look at the DOP (Dilution of Precision). If it is higher than 6 you don't have a good fix. Under 4 is good enough for a general location. Less than 2 means you have a very good fix.

If GPS Status shows a fast lock, but the app doesn't lock, or GPS status knows where you are but the app doesn't, it's the app that's at fault.

 

[brettreadin123]

Re: GPS takes ages to lock on and accuracy is poor.

Thanks. Very helpful. I will try this tomorrow when out.

Cheers
Brett

 

[brettreadin123]

Re: GPS takes ages to lock on and accuracy is poor.



Everything looks fine with my gps status so it looks like mapmyrun isn't great at locking in. Perhaps it's a lollipop compatibility issue?

 

[Frks2007]

I had absolutely the same problem, as a matter of fact, it would take long time to start navigation and then in the middle of city would drop the signal for 1-2 minutes...absolutely frustrating to the point I wanted to send my G3 back for faulty gps receiver...UNTIL I just flashed Cyanogenmod 12.1 Android 5.1.1. Tested my GPS and it works just fine! Stock version of lollipop causes some sort of problem that 5.1.1 managed to eliminate!
So, my recomm is to upgrade to 5.1.1. You can always restore to stock version in case of warranty issues....
PS. All those GPS test and other apps will not do any good as they just track the satellites, magnetic fields and all the other things and do nothing to repair the faulty operating system...

 

[Michael_Gron]

Oh yes - same problem or even worse.
Tried a lot of so called "fixes" but nothing works. I have been preaching against Iphones for years now but must admit - this is just to useless. I am using my phone for: running, golf, GPS and police photo car alarms. Do I need to say these things do not work anymore.

Running LG G3 Android 5,0 kernel 3.4.0 - nothing rootet or anything.

Really really really tired of Android.

 

[Doug Kochanowski1]

Re: GPS takes ages to lock on and accuracy is poor.

I've gone through two G3's and used several cycling apps and found I have to either turn my Location off then back on or reboot my phone in order to get it to track my ride. It's really frustrating. I like what the G4 looks like but if they've not addressed the problem I may have to go to a competitor.

 

[bbgpsuser]

Re: GPS takes ages to lock on and accuracy is poor.

I use Endomondo to track my runs and have absolutely no issues with the GPS on my G3.

 

[subbywrx]

Re: GPS takes ages to lock on and accuracy is poor.

bbgpsuser....what version of Android you running?

 

[bbgpsuser]

Re: GPS takes ages to lock on and accuracy is poor.

bbgpsuser....what version of Android you running?

5.0.1 -- AT&T

 

[garya73]

Re: GPS takes ages to lock on and accuracy is poor.

Upgrading to 5.1.1 did not fix the problem. I am thinking of having the gps chip on my phone replaced - apparently this is an issue that occurs on phones from different carriers and different manufacturers. It's really frustrating. I even use a utility called GPS Fix to find my location. It finds it pretty quickly and sets it, but then the location needle icon comes back and starts blinking again.

 

[SmilingPenance]

Thanks for info, i'll give flashing a go, everything else failed but signal seems good

 

[avichay]

try it without your mobile cover,
it might be the problem

 

[LoreleiP]

Holy Granola....I was thisclose to going out and buying a new phone! I tried the GPS Tool box and it took FOREVER to fix my location, sitting still. Someone suggested trying it without my cover on, so I did and it was an almost instant fix! Now to try it while moving.:-$

 

[Yesa Suwandani]

Just want to help, since i was frustrated by this problem for more than a year before finding an actual solution. In short, the contact between the mainboard (logic board) and the antenna on the back case is poor. So what you have to do (and you will void your warranty unfortunately) is open the back case, open the screws, pop open the cover. Behind the cover, left and right of where the camera is, are 6 metal contacts, in groups of 2 (4 in the right and 2 in the left i think). What you want to do is pry the metal contacts slightly using a fine tweezer and inserting a piece of very thin cardboard under it without breaking it. Do it for all 6 contacts. With any luck, your GPS will work like it has never worked before. search "LG G3 Complete Disassembly - Screen replacement" on youtube to see how to open the back cover, "LG G3 GPS Cobertura Fix" on youtube to see where the metal contacts are, and "technique: How to fix Bad GPS and Cell Phone Signal for LG G2" on ifixit to see how to do it. Best of luck.

 

[krussell5599]

I've, replaced "4 of these phones" with the same issue.....done everything, i.e. hard resets, changed the settings in the Locations accuracy, updated the maps software, complained to LG all to no avail.....LG (if they want to win back customers) should "suck it up," realize that this LG G5 is the most disastrous phone ever made, immediately fix all LG G5's in their stock, and do a recall of all LG G5's purchased, similar to what Samsung just did with their Note 7, and replace all LG G5's with units whose GPS antennas have been repaired!

 

[Winterdune]

Just want to help, since i was frustrated by this problem for more than a year before finding an actual solution. In short, the contact between the mainboard (logic board) and the antenna on the back case is poor. So what you have to do (and you will void your warranty unfortunately) is open the back case, open the screws, pop open the cover. Behind the cover, left and right of where the camera is, are 6 metal contacts, in groups of 2 (4 in the right and 2 in the left i think). What you want to do is pry the metal contacts slightly using a fine tweezer and inserting a piece of very thin cardboard under it without breaking it. Do it for all 6 contacts. With any luck, your GPS will work like it has never worked before. search "LG G3 Complete Disassembly - Screen replacement" on youtube to see how to open the back cover, "LG G3 GPS Cobertura Fix" on youtube to see where the metal contacts are, and "technique: How to fix Bad GPS and Cell Phone Signal for LG G2" on ifixit to see how to do it. Best of luck.

Thanks for this. It seems to have worked for my G3, despite slightly tearing one of the gold contacts during the process!