johnpjackson
Android Enthusiast
I recently began having problems with using Wave on my Note 3. Waze was almost entirely unable to get a GPS signal all the time. The problem seemed to come on pretty suddenly. I suspected software issues at first. But after a lot of troubleshooting that included removing and reinstalling various apps that I thought might have a bearing on the issue, and Waves itself, I wasn't having any luck getting it to work properly again. Then, my microphone suddenly lost most of its ability to pick up sound, and I was pretty sure what happened was that it had gotten some dirt in it somewhere, after I'd been doing some work out in the garden..
Just like I did once, a year or so ago (to clean out the proximity sensor area), I partially disassembled my Note 3, using this HANDY YouTube video as a guide:
I did find and clean out dirt from the microphone and that fixed that. Plus, I cleaned more crud out of the proximity sensor again and that once again restored it to working order. And, it appears I also found a large part or the entire cause of my GPS problems. The disassembly video pointed out that the GPS and other RF antenna's in the phone are linked to the RF hardware through metal pads and spring contacts, between the antenna's housed in the battery chamber wall, and the main chassis beneath. Before I reassembled my phone after cleaning out crud in other areas, I carefully used a Q-Tip and alcohol to clean up the antenna contacts, and I also gently bent up the spring contacts just slightly so that they would be sure to make good connections with the antennas when everything was screwed back together securely. After that, my GPS in Waze has been working great again
Just like I did once, a year or so ago (to clean out the proximity sensor area), I partially disassembled my Note 3, using this HANDY YouTube video as a guide:
I did find and clean out dirt from the microphone and that fixed that. Plus, I cleaned more crud out of the proximity sensor again and that once again restored it to working order. And, it appears I also found a large part or the entire cause of my GPS problems. The disassembly video pointed out that the GPS and other RF antenna's in the phone are linked to the RF hardware through metal pads and spring contacts, between the antenna's housed in the battery chamber wall, and the main chassis beneath. Before I reassembled my phone after cleaning out crud in other areas, I carefully used a Q-Tip and alcohol to clean up the antenna contacts, and I also gently bent up the spring contacts just slightly so that they would be sure to make good connections with the antennas when everything was screwed back together securely. After that, my GPS in Waze has been working great again
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