GPS/Location/Time Zone Bug?

[ro1224]

Anyone noticing or dealing with a bug in their Android handset (mine is an EVO 4G) in which the time and/or location changes. While there have been a few settings and network variables that make diagnosis difficult, here's what I'm noticing.

At 8:46pm on 01/11/11 I noticed my handset was showing the time as 1:46am and the location as Reykjavik, Iceland. I am on the East Coast of the US, in New England.

I did a soft reset and the time corrected itself. I thought nothing further.

This morning after my clock alarm (that goodness for that!), I noticed the time was again showing incorrectly; this time it was off by about 4 hours so the 6:10am time was displaying as 11:10am, but the location was correct (at least in Beautiful Widgets).

Further exploration found that the "automatic settings" were showing the time zone as GMT 0:00 when it should be reading Eastern +5:00. Each time I disable automatic settings and manually set the time zone everything returns to normal. The first time the phone was on Sprint's 3G network and the second time on my wi-fi using Charter Communication's internet.

I've checked a few other settings. If I re-enable the automatic settings, the time zone will continue to default to GMT, so there is something wrong there, but more interesting is when navigating to the Google search page in the DOLPHIN HD browser, I was asked to share my location with Google; when I did it popped up as Reykjavik, Iceland. When I opened the stock Android browser, the previous and correct location (my real location) was displaying.

So now I am completely lost as to what could be causing this, what the solution might be, if my phone is defective, if Sprint's time server is messed-up or if it's a particular application.

Just don't know....
Birds falling dead from the sky....
Fish dying by the hundreds Southeastern US....
And now a smartphone that has suddenly become stupid....

HELP!

***UPDATE*** I checked my work phone - which is also on Sprint's network - and noticed that the time was correct on that device (I failed to mention this earlier). That phone is not a smartphone and not running Android OS. This would seem to remove Sprint's information serving from the possible list of sources for the problem.

 

[anon(45526)]

This has happened to me a few times as well. It started back before Christmas. The weather widget would have me on Mexico's western coast (I live in South Carolina) but the time would be right. Just after Christmas, the weather and clock widget had me somewhere I can't pronounce in Russia, but the time was still correct (I was in New England this time). Sunday, back in South Carolina, it had me in Rio De Janeiro and the clock was two hours behind. I go in and deactivate the automatic detection settings and do manual for a couple days and it seems to fix the problem. I just switched back to auto detection so we'll see what happens....

 

[ro1224]

@redsoxfan2133 Thanks for the reply to my post. This is definitely something very weird; never happened before to my (at least that I know of). For now I'll leave auto-detection off and see what happens. If you notice that the issue returns after you've re-enabled auto-detection, I hope you'll post again.

 

[AnnDroid]

Lots of reports about this on several forums. I'm in N. California and if I can get weather, it sometimes shows me in Russia. Entertaining, but not helpful. The last update caused this. Some have suggested going to HTC site and reporting the problem so they understand the volume of the problem.

 

[ro1224]

@AnnDroid... Thank you for your comment. I did a few simple Google searches and found nothing. Sometimes searching the various Android forums takes more time than I have, but the suggestion of going to the HTC site and reporting this is very sound. I may very well just do this.

So to understand the issue correctly the last HTC software update that was pushed out seems to have created this problem? That certainly makes sense since I've applied the update and have not had to contend with this issue prior to doing so.

Thanks again!
;-)

 

[TLC1711]

Both my husband's and my Evos are doing the same thing, although there is a big difference between Minnesota, USA and Nairobi. We have been experiencing it intermittently and at different times ever since the upgrade as well. It was just annoying up until this morning when my alarms didn't go off. I guess that's karma as I was laughing at the iPhone folks 1/1/11. In any case, this IS a serious issue, and just rebooting the phone doesn't take care of it, switching the automatic detection settings to manual and back doesn't fix it, either. As long as it's on automatic detection, it will do this at some point during the day - every day.
Whether this is an Android update issue or just a Google Maps issue, I am not sure, or if they are intertwined, I can't say, but I do remember a Google Maps update around the same time as the HTC update, so...
I have posted on the HTC site as well, so hopefully one of these folks will see this and figure out a fix...SOON.

 

[anon(45526)]

@ro1224, my work phone is a sprint blackberry and its not having issues, either....

I'll keep you updated on the auto-detection!

 

[cg1492]

My evo has done this a few times as well, with the latest time this morning. It had did it twice, I corrected the issue then it went back to gmt. I have turned off the auto detect and no longer feel safe using my phone as a alarm. I am starting to get a bad taste for htc.

 

[RUSH]

I can't recall having a time zone issue, but what I was experiencing was a weather update problem.

I had to force stop the HTC sense app - clear data and cache, and also uninstall any update if available. I'm not sure if any data was lost or not. However, it fix the problem for the weather updates. It might do the same for the time issues you've been experiencing.

 

[coogrrr94]

Mine has done this once, my wife's a few times. Both of ours went to Hyderabad (or something like that) India. I also just went ahead and selected the correct time zone instead of having it set automatically.

 

[anon(45526)]

Going on about hour ten with auto-detect enabled and no problems. Time will tell....

 

[mickdroid]

time zone problem

I also ran into time zone problems on both of my android phones. My Samsung transform suddenly gave a location in Brasil instead of Pacific time. I was able to correct this by resetting the time zone manually, an option on the Transform. When my LG Optimus S put me in a time zone 11 hours ahead I thought I could also reset the time zone like in the Transform. Unfortunately, the Optimus does not allow this option to manually change time zones like the Transform. I discussed this with Sprint and they are looking into it.
Since Sprint does not appear to have a fix for the problem, I did some investigating. About a month ago, i had Sprint send me an Air Rave signal booster because the phone signal inside my house is marginal. This has worked great in increasing signal strength from 0 to 1 bars before to 5 to 6 bars after.
I also noticed that my time zone problem corrected itself when I left the house and reappeared when I returned home. I suspected it could be the Air Rave, and I searched the net only to find that this was a problem that has also been experienced by other Air Rave users. I contacted Air Rave support and they confirmed that this has been an issue with other users and that they are working on it. I decided to do my own test, unplugged the Air Rave, and my time zone returned to Pacific time. When I replugged the Air Rave, my phone returned to being 11 hours ahead.
So as it stands, my clock, calendar, appointments, alarms, etc are all screwed up when Air Rave is on, without which I cannot properly make or receive calls inside my house.
If I could manually change my time zone to Pacific time on my Optimus S, I could get around this problem. Is there any way to do this, or do I have to change phones?

 

[anon(45526)]

I have had the issue two out of the four times while using the air rave. The other two times I was not on the air rave, but had a weak cellular signal (one to two bars or less). I mean, its not a big deal while I'm at home and have an alarm clock at my disposal, but while I'm away from home, that's a different story.

I paid good money for this phone and I expect everything to work properly. I left blackberry for a "better, more efficient" phone...

 

[jnbdesigner]

Droid 2

I get the same problem on Droid 2. I am in Detroit and Automatic seems to put me in Reykjavik as well. Might be an application conflict. The last thing I downloaded was DropBox

 

[mfranks985]

My EVO and my wives EVO have been doing the same thing. Its really annoying and I dont trust the alarm anymore. Is there any fix?

 

[Gator352]

Look at this...

FAA warns of ongoing GPS issues in southeastern US due to Defense Department 'tests' -- Engadget

I think it's an experimental weapon to disrupt satallite communications. They could have been doing this in many different locations but just now hearing about it.

 

[cg1492]

I am north of that blast area, and still have gps / time issues. Has anyone opened a ticket with htc about it?

 

[anon(45526)]

I am really close to the center of that area, but the GPS tests hadn't been started when I was having the issues. One of the times I was well north of the zone in New Hampshire....

On another note, I have not had an issue since my first post on this thread!!!

 

[kenjancef]

I am really close to the center of that area, but the GPS tests hadn't been started when I was having the issues. One of the times I was well north of the zone in New Hampshire....

On another note, I have not had an issue since my first post on this thread!!!

I have had this issue since just before Christmas, and I even got a voicemail answered on the podcast just before Christmas. I think it might be due to that OTA update that went out just before then. My EVO was fine before then, and now I have had the same issues. I just turned off auto time and it's been ok. My weather app was somewhere in Europe, but it's been ok too.

I am in East Providence, RI.


Ken

 

[anon(45526)]

Spoke too soon about not having issues. Tuesday this thing had me in the Dakar Region of Africa. Never been there and have no desire to go there, either!