S3 GPS issue - Won't find Satellites

[Santiman75]

I've got a SHG-I747M with Rogers in Canada.
I searched and searched for months and have just about given up. My GPS no longer works.. It will not even see any satellites.. let alone lock onto one.
When I use that GPS status.. it does not even show any satellites that it can lock onto.

I've tried the screw tightening..
I've tried flashing to Stock Rom, Trying New ROM.. (Liquid smooth and CM) still no luck.
I've taken the phone apart and pried up the pins and cleaned the contacts.. and no luck..

It will give me an aprox location of 100-1000 Meters.. and the GPS will not guide as it does not know where the hell i am.

I was thinking to replace the antenna but my wifi seems to work no issues.. is there something else I can try before i bite the bullet and get a new phone?

 

[dancing-bass]

Re: S3 GPS issue - Won't find Satelites

My Galaxy Nexus isn't quite THAT bad, but there are days where I wonder....

Anyway, what seems to work for me is an app on the play store called "GPS Test". If you search for GPS Test, it should be the first one (if not, it's the one by Chartcross Limited). I found it to be fairly neat to play around with on occasion, so I bought the "paid" version.

Once its downloaded, go to settings, and tap "clear AGPS", and then tap "update AGPS".

Although my problem was an extremely slow lock (upwards of 5 minutes to get a sat lock!). Seems like you are not getting ANY at all... hopefully it's not an internal problem like you mentioned.

Not sure if this will help, but have you flashed the most recent baseband to your phone? Again, it was something that also seemed to help me.

 

[Santiman75]

Re: S3 GPS issue - Won't find Satelites

My Galaxy Nexus isn't quite THAT bad, but there are days where I wonder....

Anyway, what seems to work for me is an app on the play store called "GPS Test". If you search for GPS Test, it should be the first one (if not, it's the one by Chartcross Limited). I found it to be fairly neat to play around with on occasion, so I bought the "paid" version.

Once its downloaded, go to settings, and tap "clear AGPS", and then tap "update AGPS".

Although my problem was an extremely slow lock (upwards of 5 minutes to get a sat lock!). Seems like you are not getting ANY at all... hopefully it's not an internal problem like you mentioned.

Not sure if this will help, but have you flashed the most recent baseband to your phone? Again, it was something that also seemed to help me.

I've tried that app already.. and it shows nothing found.. this screen shot was taken after more then 10 mins running..
If it is a hardware problem.. other than the antenna.. what else could it be?

I'm not sure flashing the baseband will do anything as everything else works flawlessly with the phone..

 

[Brian Pomerleau]

I've recently had the same problems - it probably is your GPS antenna connection. There is a spring connection on one side of the phone to the other. I simple put a piece of aluminum foil in the space to tighten the spring contact and it's working perfectly. 16 and 18 fixes instantly. Simple Fix for your GPS - Samsung Galaxy S III - Page 11 - xda-developers go to the page here and follow the directions except don't mess with peeling antenna pad and placing paper under it. Just simple fold a very small piece of aluminum foil and stick it in the grove above the pad so it fits snugly. And carefully replace the back and ten screws so the aluminum foil doesn't dislodge. Very easy fix. The folded foil only needs to be a half mm or so.

Also, many people have had success with tightening screws which makes sense if the back is loose. My wasn't but was glitchy and continued to get less reliable.

This fix has worked perfectly for several weeks. I make no warranty on the safety of the fix, but it does work definitively at least in my case.