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Help Weirdo GPS Issue

JoDax

Newbie
I understand that the GPS issues with the Captivate are well documented and have been detailed in many threads on many websites; so I am reluctant to proceed with this post. Unfortunately, I am one step away from a system restore, and this is my last resort.

Basically, I have been using a non-rooted Captivate for about a year, and have not had GPS problems. The GPS locks on rather quickly, and is reasonably accurate.

Last week, I was visiting San Francisco and the GPS was a great help. After a few days I drove up to wine country, and the GPS suddenly failed to lock on period. During several days in wine country, I never received a lock. When I returned to San Francisco a few days later, I could no longer receive a lock in places that did not pose a problem days earlier.

Now, sitting here in my apartment in New York, I cannot receive any GPS lock; again, I never experienced this problem in the past.

So my question: are there any known issues where GPS would work fine and then suddenly fail on a constant basis?

Some background:

My phone is non-rooted version 2.2, whatever ATT was distributes. I tried the Samsung GPS fix in all locales without success. Chartcross GPS Test tells me I have no locks.

I rooted the phone earlier today and ran through as many of the solutions in the XDA forums as I could find, none with any result.

The only thing that produced any different result was changing the "Test Mode" in LbsTestMode to "H/W Test" and then running the "Get Position Test". This finds one satellite.

Any ideas/advice?
 
Yeah...I was all over those settings with no luck.

I reverted to the 2.1 template that came with the phone from ATT, still no GPS. Then I applied CyanogenMod 7 and Chartcross still finds nothing in view in various locations in New York City.

I am wondering if it is strictly a hardware problem. I will start looking for some antennae threads. Anyone know where to start?
 
Well...I reset to ATT factory settings with Odin, tried to upgrade with Kies mini from 2.1 to 2.2 but received an unrecognized device. So instead I grabbed a 2.2 firmware and flashed up to 2.2.

I am rooted and can sideload on 2.2, and get reasonable reception. As I sit here, my phone thinks I am a block and a half away. Performance test in LbsTestMode goes forever and GPS Status just stays blank, regardless of what settings I enter into application settings or SUPL/CP settings.

Is this all I can ever expect?
 
I'm in Canada, using a non-rooted Rogers Captivate. I just upgraded to Gingerbread from FroYo via the official update, and have had nothing but problems with my GPS since.

I tried a factory reset and it worked for a few days, but has now reverted back to not locking properly. This is really frustrating for me because the performance is way better with Gingerbread in every other aspect.

If you get this sorted please let me know. I'm going to be putting a call in to Rogers to see if I can get a replacement.
 
Holy crap, I am already a member... Alright, sorry bout that, back to topic at hand.

I got my captivate pretty much right after they came out, so my GPS has been fubar'ed since I first got it which is going on like a year and a half now I believe. I would spontaneously be able to lock in my position with maps, but 95% of the time GPS just wouldn't work. I had tried many different fixes, updates, etc to get it working to no avail. I ended up saying screw it and just dealt with crappy GPS for a long time until I got the bug to start tweaking it again last night.

I had come across the GPS fix from Samsung and thought wow here is the solution, downloaded the app, installed, opened, ran, and failed. It would keep failing on the position lock over and over again. This got me so pissed off because Samsung has repeatedly said they have released fixes for the GPS and none of them worked.

However, I found that there is a way to get into LBSTestMode with the new 2.2 firmware, so I hopped in there and put my settings back the ones listed in the above post. Still no GPS luck in maps, though it was definitely finding sats. I tried running the GPS fix program again from Samsung and it failed again at the same part.

However, this time I restarted my phone, opened up LBSTestMode to make sure the settings stuck, then ran the GPS Fix and it worked... I am 99% convinced that the changes I made in LBSTestMode made it possible to run the GPS fix app successfully, but only after a good ol fashioned reboot. After I ran the GPS fix I was able to find and lock on to 5-8 sats a time, GPS Test (market app) was also giving me good results.

Sure enough, Google Maps finds my position within about 5 seconds now, and has a darn good position fix on my location (probably about a 10-20 accuracy). I made sure this is also with no GPS aiding and cell tower support. I hopped in my truck and rode around for a good 20 minutes or so and it was spot on accuracy. To say the least I was more than surprised. I turned aiding back on with cell tower support and I get a lock almost instantly, and the accuracy seems even better.

Anyways, hope this helps. I know how annoying it is. I came from an iPhone with what appeared to be perfect GPS. I also live in a rather large metropolitan city so not having GPS really sucked. My GPS seems to be running just find today, I checked it probably 20 times throughout the day in disbelief that it was actually fixed. In fact, I am still a little unsure as to if it is actually fixed or not, but as long as it works like it is right now then its all good.
 
Glad that worked for you. I'm on Gingerbread, and LBSTestMode doesn't seem to access properly with GB.

Phone has now been sent in for repairs (luckily under warranty)
 
I think I might have spoken too soon. Last night after I wrote this post I left work and tested out the GPS. Sure enough, GPS was horrible. Couldn't lock on to position, would jump all over the place, had probably a 200 foot accuracy, wouldnt update position for long intervals. It's so frustrating, I don't even want to think about it. Looks like it really didn't fix jack. ARGHHHHHHHH
 
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