GPS Problems on Nexus 7 (2013)

[RuddyDuck]

Using GPS Status reset a-gps (clear gps cache) does not work for my unit :-\ Wish it did - or that anything did... The only thing that works on mine is a cold reboot with the hardware menu. The software cold start does not work either. So sad. And then it only works for about 10 minutes - and degrades in accuracy quickly - no matter what else I do.

Does anyone know if Google is even going to send out a fix for this? Can't believe they have ignored this since July - best case!

My unit was bought on Nov 27th 2013 - so it has a good part of the warranty left. I contacted Asus and they told me if I set the FW back to 4.3 it would void the warranty! They gave me a RMA to send it in but I doubt they can fix it in any case, and I'd have to give it up for 3 weeks. They may be able to get it working again but it will always break again until Google makes a fix. I am so frustrated with Google. I have been a big Google fan but that is dwindling as quickly as my GPS performance after a cold reboot.

 

[Mikhail Sidorov]

Hi

I want to share my experience. I have same problems with GPS on my nexus 7, but in October number of issues was much smaller before I upgrade android.
Secondary thing is that I am from Russia and I had no any problems with GPS in Russia at all. I was in 3 different cities accross Russia and GPS was fine, but when I come to LA it does not work at all. And looks like it somehow related to internet. I mean gps becomes much better after you buy local sim card with internet access.

 

[RuddyDuck]

I think my GPS is more broken than most. I tried flashing the FW back to 4.3 (Jelly Bean). It made little difference for me. I've tried most if not all of the suggestions found in this thread with no real effect. My unit will only work (for only about 10 minutes) after a Hardware (not the one on the software menu) factory reset (Wipe it clean) - using the hardware buttons. Then the GPS fixing quickly gets slower and slower until it will not fix a location at all. I'm a test engineer. I suspect a couple of possibilities: 1) Like has been mentions often - a cache clearing problem. It just is not clearing the cache so it gets stuffed up. 2) Some other kind of memory leak where the memory available to the GPS gets clogged - similar to a cache clearing problem. 3) A likely cause for the memory leak/clogging issues is that the GPS FW was not locked down securely and some third party app was allowed to corrupted it - leading to the memory leak. The app that I used just before the problem was called GPS Widgets (I think). It puts odometer/speedometer widgets on your desk top. Other apps could have similar effects with differing degrees, depending on how they interact with the GPS FW.

That doesn't mean anyone in particular is to blame. But I just wish Google would get working on this issue. Google has lost credibility big time with me.

 

[George Stevens]

And now it's busted AGAIN!

 

[RuddyDuck]

Sent my Nexus 7 (2013) into Asus. They sent me a different unit. The GPS works now but very poorly - like most of the posts here. Takes for ever to get a location fix. Sometimes longer than to get to where I'm going. Even when I share the mobile network on my Galaxy S3. Fortunately my new Samsung Galaxy S3 mini works very well. For other things the Nexus 7 is great. Price per utility it is still probably the best deal in around. Though I'm not so happy with google and Asus right now.

 

[cab2]

So I can take the Nexus 7 in my car and use it to navigate just as I do with my Garmin GPS?

You use the Google Maps app for that?

 

[Bart Grosemans]

Hi, did any of you ever tried to verify the actual hardware connection between the mainboard and the GPS antenna? From iFixit, the mainpcb seem s to be finished with OSP and the spring seems to be Copper berilium, soldering this spring material onto an OSP finish is very difficult and requirs the spring to be finished with at least a silver layer, which is not the case.

Than also the spring contacts the GPS antenna by a very small surface, any tolerance issues during assembly could cause the antenna not to touch the GPS antenna anymore?

I would try connecting a wire in between to see if things go better.

Or, the GPS antenna to mainboard connector is located from backside seen;

at tpside(assuming micro usb is bottom)

lika an inch down from the top,

right in the middle of the set.

I wonder whether pushing on that area can deform the backa bit? Can you push the back inwards a bit, even half a mm is a problem in that ara? If so, try pushing it when theGPS is not connecting to see if it does during the push.

Just curious, FMEA minded, mech design eng.

might as well try this as its existing for more than a year now.

 

[JSanchez41]

All problems aside still my fav tablet of the latest few to release.

 

[shinerburke]

Has this ever been resolved? My Gen1 Nexus 7 was taken off my desk at work a week ago and I am thinking of replacing it with the 2013 model. I don't use it a ton for NAV, but do use it for that some, tethered to my phone, and after seeing all these GPS horror stories I'm reluctant to purchase the 2013.

 

[George Stevens]

Has this ever been resolved? ...

No it has not. It is the same as it was when it was first released. Sometimes the GPS works - with or without WiFi, makes no difference - that is, it will pick up all the GPS satellite signals - but more often it does not work at all, that is, it picks up no satellite signals, zero.

 

[Jim Turner1]

Hi

My Nexus 7 is having the stupid GPS off issue. What is the fix. I use this for work and need it working.

Thank you

Jim

 

[Craig Hapanovich]

I was using an application called Copilot that used GPS and it was working fine. Later I installed MapMyRide that also uses GPS. I started noticing GPS problems; not finding a signal, not acquiring a fix, etc. I thought the GPS was going bad, but when I uninstalled MapMyRide it started working again. So maybe it is particular apps that are causing the problem in some cases.

 

[BullwinkleMoose]

GPS is the one thing that has never worked good on my N7. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Same since day one.

 

[jjhoneck]

We have five Nexus 7s. Been using the Nexus 7 since 2012. We use them in aircraft for secondary navigation and backseat instrumentation, with live weather and real-time weather display.

No complaints. The GPS has been flawless on all of them.

 

[BullwinkleMoose]

That's odd. Do some of them have good GPS and some not?

 

[YAYTech]

We have five Nexus 7s. Been using the Nexus 7 since 2012. We use them in aircraft for secondary navigation and backseat instrumentation, with live weather and real-time weather display.

No complaints. The GPS has been flawless on all of them.

Which model(s)?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[jjhoneck]

Which model(s)?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

All 2013s, now. All 32 GB WiFi units.

All flawless.

 

[Alexzil]

That's odd. Do some of them have good GPS and some not?

Was unable to have the GPS connecting in my Nexus 7 2013. I installed an app GpsStatus and under settings in this app disabled sensor filters and the GPS connected rigth away.
Running Android 6.0

 

[Alexzil]

Was unable to have the GPS connecting in my Nexus 7 2013. I installed an app GpsStatus and under settings in this app disabled sensor filters and the GPS connected rigth away.
Running Android 6.0
Waze now appears to work normally as well

 

[kb7rky]

No, it's a software issue. Google is phasing out the previous versions of the Nexus 7 with the release of Marshmallow.

I have two Nexus 7 2012s. Both GPSes stopped working right about the time Google released Marshmallow 6.0, yet Google claimed that a phantom "third-party app" was interfering with the operation of the GPS.

Yes, of course...because two identical Nexus 7s, both running 5.1.1, and using identical apps just happened to have an "unknown" third-party app disable the once-perfectly working GPS, requiring the download of YET ANOTHER "third-party app" (gee, didn't a TPA initially disable my GPS in the first place?) to make the disabled GPS start working correctly? I should not have to rely on a third-party GPS "fix" to fix the problem. I should be able to notify Google about my problem (which is now a widespread problem, as literally thousands of other users are reporting their GPSes have been disabled), and have them either tell me they're working on a solution, or just tell me that they're phasing out the first-generation Nexus, and have therefore stopped updating the operating system, instead of lying about a phantom "third-party app" disabling the GPS.

Funny how my new Nexus 7 2013's GPS is working flawlessly, while running the new Marshmallow OS *and* the exact same apps my two 2012s were.

But yes, of course...the problem lies in an unknown "third-party app" that has disabled mine, and several thousand others', GPSes. Right.