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Help Compass calibration

M

mrkoffee

Lurker
Loving all the stuff on my new Incredible, but this one has me a bit annoyed. Been using some of the apps that use the compass/magnetometer (Google Sky Map and Snaptic Compass, mainly) and these were working fine for the first several days. Then yesterday the Compass app started giving me the message "Abnormal magnetic field detected. Please calibrate your device." I'd do the figure-8 calibration, as well as the 3-axis spinning technique I've read in other threads, and it seems to help (though the compass is never as smooth and spot-on as it used to be), but then I get the same message when I come back to the app. Google Sky Maps is quite jumpy, and often inaccurate.

I called VZW tech support, but they were no help. The tech said that Google Sky Maps uses only GPS, not the magnetometer (!), and that if the only thing not working was a 3rd party app, then they couldn't support that.

Wondering if there's anything else I can do, either to troubleshoot on this end, or to get VZW to help with troubleshooting the hardware. Is there anything built into the phone that would show if the magnetometer is malfunctioning?

Just trying to avoid returning the phone for refund, if I can help it.
 
I have the same problem too.
The compass was working like butter before.. Smooth and accurate!
but after like 1 week or 5 days, I turn on the same compass program, and it keep giving me abnormal Magnetic Field. I calibrated, it looks ok (not as good as before already) but when I re-open the program, it pops the same message again!
This is a bit riducious if I have to re-calibrate the compass EVERY TIME!

Also myself and my g/f order the same phone the same time.
And hers is reacting the same way also!
Any help guys?
 
Shoulda followed up on this earlier. I ended up taking the phone into the VZW store and having the resident Android guy take a look at it. He acknowledged something was going on with the compass. Before resorting to a replacement unit, he decided to do a factory reset on the device (from home screen: menu -> settings -> privacy -> factory data reset). It actually did the trick, and the compass is working normally now, without needing calibration every time I launch an app that uses it.
 
mrkoffee said:
Shoulda followed up on this earlier. I ended up taking the phone into the VZW store and having the resident Android guy take a look at it. He acknowledged something was going on with the compass. Before resorting to a replacement unit, he decided to do a factory reset on the device (from home screen: menu -> settings -> privacy -> factory data reset). It actually did the trick, and the compass is working normally now, without needing calibration every time I launch an app that uses it.
Click to expand...

I have done a factory reset to no avail. One day it was working correctly and the next not.
 
I also faced this problem with my compass application. Just raise the phone in air and move your phone making an "Eight". It fixed my problem.
 
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