• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Eris location problems

A

andrewbee

Newbie
Hi,

I tried hijacking another thread about this and it didn't work, so I'm making a new one.

First off, I am on my second Eris. I had to exchange it, cause the old one kept dropping calls. But, that's another story. On my old one, it could find a rough location through the network, even w/o GPS (accurate to 1km or so). This one cant even do that.

Also, on this one, I turn GPS on through settings, and it doesn't start up until I run an app that uses it! So, once Google Maps or GPS Status is running, it then starts, and seems to work properly. BUT ... the phone (outside of Maps) still has no idea where I am!. The location on the clock just says 'current city'. The weather app has no idea either. Then I turn off a GPS-consuming app, and GPS turns off again.

My old Eris used to handle all this easily. Almost makes me want it back again. What's going on?

BTW, I checked system updates, and it says my phone is up to date.

Thanks!
 
The weather app and most location information for your phone is gathered from cell tower triangulation and not the GPS. The reason you only see the little GPS icon when you are using Google Maps is that that is the only time it is really running.

Go into Settings > Location and make sure Use Wireless Networks has a check mark next to it.

If it does, then try *228 option 2 and see if that helps.

If there is still no joy read http://androidforums.com/htc-droid-eris/32644-gps-showing-incorrect-locations.html
 
The 'wireless networks' is checked. It does just seem to be the tower triangulation that is not working - the GPS is great when it's on. :confused:

I did *228, BTW.

Thanks
 
I am having issues with this as well. It just started happening this weekend. My weather app can't find my current city.

Anyone else having this issue?
 
Mine is usually about 60 miles off. Usually it's showing some place I've never heard of but sometimes it'll show a few places I'm familiar with and they're about 60 miles away.
 
Interestingly, mine works very well about 95% of the time, but there are a couple of specific spots that I visit where the Eris is always locationally screwed up -- by hundreds of miles. This happens indoors or out, even when using GPS satellites ... and unfortunately, wasn't helped by the 2.1 upgrade.
 
Since it has worked for a couple of other issues you guys may want to try this and see if it corrects the problem.

-Put your phone into Airplane Mode (Hold power button until a menu pops up) and turn GPS and Wifi off (if on)
-Plug phone into charger and let it charge for a few minutes (long enough to sleep for a few)
-Take phone out of Airplane Mode
-Unplug from charger

This may reset your connection to the towers and adjust your location. Honestly, no idea if it will do anything in 1.5 or 2.1 for location issues though.
 
Okay, I'm going to assume you have a clear line to the GPS sats and I'm not talking about "I can see a window from my cubicle in the middle of the office".

Try downloading GPS Status from the Market ... I believe it's still free. It's a nice little tool that shows all of the sats that your phone can see plus their strength. It also gives basic orientation info and even a little sighting circle that gives you an idea of where in the sky a specific sat is ... kind of fun.

Anyway, after the last OTA I got the dreaded "I'm located in West Central Kansas" ... I believe the geographic center of the ConUS. I powered down then back up and went into GPS Status and let it do its thing. It took about 5 minutes to get the sats relocated but after that I was golden.

Hey, it can't hurt.

Oh, and by the way refering to your lead in sentence, hijacking threads is not very nice, mmmm k? Awe, damn, I just hijacked this thread by making an anti-thread hijack statement ..... :eek:
 
Ok - so I tried the turning on Airplane Mode and turning off etc. Still no update on my location. Tried google maps, and said my location is temporarily unavailable. (I am in an office building but sit next to a window)

My dad also has the Eris, and he is having the same issue with his location/weather.

I am thinking it might not be my phone but a network issue with Verizon. I actually reset my phone to factory settings last night to see if that will slove, but obviously not. My signal strength goes from 1 bar to 2 or 3....never full status
 
tara2701 said:
Ok - so I tried the turning on Airplane Mode and turning off etc. Still no update on my location. Tried google maps, and said my location is temporarily unavailable. (I am in an office building but sit next to a window)

My dad also has the Eris, and he is having the same issue with his location/weather.

I am thinking it might not be my phone but a network issue with Verizon. I actually reset my phone to factory settings last night to see if that will slove, but obviously not. My signal strength goes from 1 bar to 2 or 3....never full status
Click to expand...

Yep, it sounds like a network issue in your area. With GPS turned off, you are only getting your location off of the towers around you. If one of them has a problem or gets taken offline for service then you are relying on a tower that may not be close enough to you to allow a proper location.
 
Well, believe it or not, it has started working. Maps now locates me to within blocks, or at most half a mile, of where I am just using the cell towers.

The phone itself is a little slower to catch up as I move between cities, with showing the name of the new city, but I can live with that. Yay Android!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom