GPS fix for note 3

Search This thread

BluPhant

Senior Member
May 3, 2012
339
281
New England
So I had issues with gps. Been trying different things but today at @bajasur recommendation I popped the back off and tightened all the screws. Voila. Problem solved. Error ft down from hundreds of feet to low 30s.

It seemed so insane to even try but it worked wonders for me.

Oh and shameless plug. Go checkout BajaRom. :)

Blu

Sent from my BajaRom Note 3 using XDA Premium 4 Mobile App
 
Last edited:

lmike6453

Senior Member
Dec 17, 2010
721
319
Eagleville PA
Cool thanks for sharing this...can you try out your compass to see if tightening the screws helped with that as well? Seems like compass sensor is broken for everyone
 

ryanbg

Inactive Recognized Developer
Jan 3, 2008
858
1,739
movr0.com
I wonder if there was a loose connection to the GPS antenna or something of the sort. Make sure you don't tighten the screws too much, as it can damage other components/screen on your device. Glad things worked out well!
 

BluPhant

Senior Member
May 3, 2012
339
281
New England
The compass has always seemed a bit off to me. I'm not sure how to get a quantifiable answer to this question, but the GPS tool I used to troubleshoot does have a compass calibration tool. I ran it last night and it appeared (again just to look at it) to be more stable on my drive in to work today.

I tightened the screws using a small screwdriver, and I don't think given the scale that I could have overtightened them; the screwdriver I was using was pretty flimsy. The results after a full day of use are astounding. While I didn't look at the GPS tool this morning, yesterdays driving showed error feet which occasionally dipped into single digits, something I've *NEVER* seen before. It appears to have completely solved my issues. I'm stoked that I don't have to troubleshoot this further, because my next step would have been to Odin back to stock to ensure that it wasn't ROM related. At this point, at least in my case, that's been ruled out.

As a side note, I will admit that my phone has been dropped a few times; nothing crazy, no pavement, always in S-View case, but who knows, maybe enough force to cause some loosening.

-Blu
 

BluPhant

Senior Member
May 3, 2012
339
281
New England
Quick update.. the GPS has been flawless since this fix. Just updated to latest Baja without gps.conf tweaks and still perfect.

Blu

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
 

neyenlives

Senior Member
Oct 11, 2010
3,415
868
Never had a single issue with GPS..... Wifi connectivity on the other hand seems to be spotty especially on 2.4ghz bands, 5ghz bands are much more reliable.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
 

coco3133

Member
Jan 24, 2012
7
0
Weird, when I tried to tighten mine, all of then were already really tight.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
 

jmacdonald19

Senior Member
Jul 12, 2008
341
84
Minneapolis
Holy cow... They were VERY loose. I've tightened them up here at the office and see how much better performance I get at lunchtime. Hopefully a noticeable improvement because my GN3 has been close to useless the last month since moving away from Atlanta.

Sent from a van down by the river using my Verizon Galaxy Note 3 and Tapatalk Pro.
 

jmacdonald19

Senior Member
Jul 12, 2008
341
84
Minneapolis
@jmacdonald19 - Be interested to see how this works for you. Mine is still working great. Here's a GPS Status application that I used in my testing.

-Blu

Yeah, I've been using GPS Status for a long time. This definitely made things better. GPS, WiFi, LTE reception. All improved. This is some pretty shoddy manufacturing and quality control. But all seems to be well now.

Thanks so much for posting this!

Sent from a van down by the river using my Verizon Galaxy Note 3 and Tapatalk Pro.
 

s.crazily

New member
Jul 6, 2010
1
0
So I had issues with gps. Been trying different things but today at @bajasur recommendation I popped the back off and tightened all the screws. Voila. Problem solved. Error ft down from hundreds of feet to low 30s.

It seemed so insane to even try but it worked wonders for me.

Oh and shameless plug. Go checkout BajaRom. :)

Blu

Sent from my BajaRom Note 3 using XDA Premium 4 Mobile App

Thanks a lot! You are amazing to share this solution!! It works great on my N9005, since 2 month i had the trouble with gps. Sometimes the gps fix needed 30 minutes and after 2 minutes the signal was lost again... after I tightended all the screws, the fix takes 5 seconds! :good:

:D
 

exparte

Member
Dec 3, 2010
25
5
Oh man I had no idea! The screws beside my battery were about to fall out. GPS locked on quick after fixing it. Thanks so much!


Sent from my SM-N900V using XDA Free mobile app
 

urahoho

Member
Jul 26, 2013
14
0
what baseband are you on?

When I was on MJE, I had GPS issues and when I upgraded to nc2 they went away.

Surprised to see that the note 3 has the same GPS issues the s3 had.
 

JustKuz

Member
Dec 21, 2012
41
0
Grand Rapids
Wow... after banging my head against a brick wall and 3 wipes/resets and every GPS trick I could find.... this is what did it for me. Amazingly easy and much less complicated then the software fixes I was trying to do lol
 

cappysw10

Senior Member
Jul 27, 2010
1,452
106
Upstate NY
Thanks for the suggestion, even my wireless radio got better signal after tightening the screws. Brilliant! I may just go and try the Lollipop update knowing this!
 

Top Liked Posts

  • There are no posts matching your filters.
  • 6
    So I had issues with gps. Been trying different things but today at @bajasur recommendation I popped the back off and tightened all the screws. Voila. Problem solved. Error ft down from hundreds of feet to low 30s.

    It seemed so insane to even try but it worked wonders for me.

    Oh and shameless plug. Go checkout BajaRom. :)

    Blu

    Sent from my BajaRom Note 3 using XDA Premium 4 Mobile App
    3
    The compass has always seemed a bit off to me. I'm not sure how to get a quantifiable answer to this question, but the GPS tool I used to troubleshoot does have a compass calibration tool. I ran it last night and it appeared (again just to look at it) to be more stable on my drive in to work today.

    I tightened the screws using a small screwdriver, and I don't think given the scale that I could have overtightened them; the screwdriver I was using was pretty flimsy. The results after a full day of use are astounding. While I didn't look at the GPS tool this morning, yesterdays driving showed error feet which occasionally dipped into single digits, something I've *NEVER* seen before. It appears to have completely solved my issues. I'm stoked that I don't have to troubleshoot this further, because my next step would have been to Odin back to stock to ensure that it wasn't ROM related. At this point, at least in my case, that's been ruled out.

    As a side note, I will admit that my phone has been dropped a few times; nothing crazy, no pavement, always in S-View case, but who knows, maybe enough force to cause some loosening.

    -Blu