[Q] VZW East Texas GPS Outage

Search This thread
By:
Advanced…
T

thewayne01

Senior Member
Oct 9, 2007
121
1
Texas
I have had my TB for two days now, and I haven't been able to get a lock on GPS yet. I have tried the GPS Status trick and rooted today so I could modify the gps.conf file. None of this has helped.

What is the deal? Do I have a bad phone?


Correction:

Initially it did think I was in Florida, or in the ocean near the Panama Canal. But I have always been in east Texas...


Edit: Changed title at the request of jonakin. This discussion has been continued at the VZW forums at the link listed below.

http://community.vzw.com/t5/ThunderBolt-by-HTC/VZ-Navigator-and-GPS-Not-working-in-East-Texas/m-p/530446
 
Last edited:
Xanaki

Xanaki

Senior Member
Oct 20, 2010
136
10
No you didnt get a bad phone, HTC has stated that they are having a problem with the GPS in the Thunderbolt, however there is not a fix for this as of yet.
 
ERIFNOMI

ERIFNOMI

Senior Member
Oct 11, 2010
249
7
Mine takes much longer after flashing Das BAMF remix. It was pretty fast on stock.
 
T

thewayne01

Senior Member
Oct 9, 2007
121
1
Texas
Tried it again this morning. Turned on navigation when I left for work. After a 20 minute drive, it was still searching for GPS. Most of the time it had my location off the coast of Ecuador, but would occasionally jump to my general area. I assume this happened as I switch towers or as I passed by logged APs.
 
adrynalyne

adrynalyne

Inactive Recognized Developer
Dec 13, 2008
10,950
6,471
thewayne01 said:
Tried it again this morning. Turned on navigation when I left for work. After a 20 minute drive, it was still searching for GPS. Most of the time it had my location off the coast of Ecuador, but would occasionally jump to my general area. I assume this happened as I switch towers or as I passed by logged APs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Turn on aGPS. While not working correctly, it will help some.
 
T

thewayne01

Senior Member
Oct 9, 2007
121
1
Texas
adrynalyne said:
Turn on aGPS. While not working correctly, it will help some.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

By turning on aGPS, do you mean allow Google location services (turning on wifi)?

I have had this enabled frmo the beginning.

I have my Thunderbolt and Nexus One sitting side by side now. In GPS Status, my N1 has 11/11 Fix/Sats. Thunderbolt has none.


Am I the only one thats has a completely non functioning GPS chip?


BTW, I am running BAMF Remix 1.5 as of today, but I have seen no improvements in GPS.
 
AndroidGraphix

AndroidGraphix

Senior Member
Apr 4, 2011
1,266
377
Paradise Valley, AZ
Mine said, searching for gps forever. I flashed a gps file an it fixed the problem. I'll try to post where I found it later. Pm me I I don't.

EDIT

HERE IS HOW TO FIX, "SEARCHING FOR GPS." You'll have to be rooted to do this. Credit goes to: kejar31 over at XDA-Developers. Requirements: You'll have to be rooted. Download the file: ImproveGPSlock.zip on one of those pages by that user. Download Quick Boot from Android Market, then boot into recovery. Download the file: ImproveGPSlock.zip and place it on your SD card for your phone in the root folder(root folder means in no folder) Then reboot into recovery, you see the file in your sd card by clicking the "install zip from sdcard". Install that file, reboot your phone and your navigation will be working instantly. Here's the link to that page: http:// xdaforums.com/ showthread.php?t=1022654&page=2

Here's the download link

http://www.mediafire.com/?7ujg6lws6k8cosj


I tried everything. From Clearing my gps cache to applications on the market. I even started up Google maps then navigation. I also used root explorer to edit a text file. Nothing worked. When I flashed this file it finally did away and is a guaranteed fix for searching for gps.


Sent from my rooted Thunderbolt with VirusROM AirborneTB. Xda premium
 
Last edited:
T

thewayne01

Senior Member
Oct 9, 2007
121
1
Texas
raider3bravo said:
Mine said, searching for gps forever. I flashed a gps file an it fixed the problem. I'll try to post where I found it later. Pm me I I don't.

EDIT

HERE IS HOW TO FIX, "SEARCHING FOR GPS." You'll have to be rooted to do this. Credit goes to: kejar31 over at XDA-Developers. Requirements: You'll have to be rooted. Download the file: ImproveGPSlock.zip on one of those pages by that user. Download Quick Boot from Android Market, then boot into recovery. Download the file: ImproveGPSlock.zip and place it on your SD card for your phone in the root folder(root folder means in no folder) Then reboot into recovery, you see the file in your sd card by clicking the "install zip from sdcard". Install that file, reboot your phone and your navigation will be working instantly. Here's the link to that page: http:// xdaforums.com/ showthread.php?t=1022654&page=2

Here's the download link

http://www.mediafire.com/?7ujg6lws6k8cosj


I tried everything. From Clearing my gps cache to applications on the market. I even started up Google maps then navigation. I also used root explorer to edit a text file. Nothing worked. When I flashed this file it finally did away and is a guaranteed fix for searching for gps.


Sent from my rooted Thunderbolt with VirusROM AirborneTB. Xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse


Still no improvement. I guess I am going to send the phone back.
 
T

thewayne01

Senior Member
Oct 9, 2007
121
1
Texas
thewayne01 said:
Yes, I flash the RUU with BAMF 1.5. There were no improvements.

I will be receiving my RMA replacement tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Received my replacement phone and it won't lock onto position either. Of all the reported problems, I seem to be the only one with completely non working gps.

Is there anyone else in Texas with these problems?

Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App
 
T

thewayne01

Senior Member
Oct 9, 2007
121
1
Texas
thewayne01 said:
Received my replacement phone and it won't lock onto position either. Of all the reported problems, I seem to be the only one with completely non working gps.

Is there anyone else in Texas with these problems?

Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse


Just found out that there is a widespread GPS issue in my area due to the recent VZW tower conversions.

Why is it so difficult to get this info from VZW?
 
R

rholman

New member
Mar 9, 2009
3
0
What I find interesting is that the gps chip itself seems to be working ok. I'll have the unable to lock issue, run the gps info app, and see that it is watching 5-8 satellites with good signal strength and that it still won't determine a fix.
 
D

DarwynZ

Member
Jul 4, 2010
47
1
rholman said:
What I find interesting is that the gps chip itself seems to be working ok. I'll have the unable to lock issue, run the gps info app, and see that it is watching 5-8 satellites with good signal strength and that it still won't determine a fix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I have found if you wait long enought (about 5 minutes or so) it will eventually connect.. and once it does... your good to go.. also helps if you are standing still not moving in a car
 
T

thewayne01

Senior Member
Oct 9, 2007
121
1
Texas
DarwynZ said:
I have found if you wait long enought (about 5 minutes or so) it will eventually connect.. and once it does... your good to go.. also helps if you are standing still not moving in a car
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

GPS Status had 0 sats 90% of the time. Every once in a while 1 would come into view, but that's it.


I have received confirmation from two different VZW employees that GPS is broke in East Texas. Something to do with merging Alltel and Verizon towers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

jmz
Remove GPS icon
Replies
24
Views
11K
sharkie405
sharkie405
Lipmonger
Google Voice not intercepting on VZW
Replies
20
Views
6K
vinnyjr
vinnyjr
K
[Q] Unlock HTC Thunderbolt SIM
Replies
16
Views
47K
K
kanyonkritter
S
Defective activation Phone being masked by LTE outage?
Replies
0
Views
5K
S
spaghetti_monster
C
[Q] Turn off GPS prompt?
Replies
0
Views
5K
C
coder_t2

Top Liked Posts

24 Hours All time
  • There are no posts matching your filters.
  • 1
    T
    thewayne01
    xenowulf said:
    this is not an app or network issue, the issue seems to be with the actual GPS data not being interpreted properly and preventing a lock onto my position. i can exit gps status, launch maps and the lock will be instant, but if i was to wait for it to lock in gps status (OR in maps, for example) the lock only happens after 15seconds to 15 minutes.
    i will repeat, if i launch gps status, THEN launch maps the lock is instant, but launching either application standalone makes my lock-on time insanely long.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse


    In east Texas this is a Verizon problem. It affects all Verizon customers here no matter which phone they have. I don't fully understand how the GPS relies on the cell tower either. I do know, however, if any of us travel out of the Verizon east Texas network, our GPS works again.
    View
    1
    kuwlness
    kuwlness
    Best bet is to download GPS Status from the Market. Disable/Force Close any Apps that use GPS, then turn off GPS.

    Now turn on GPS, immediately open GPS Status, Hit Menu, Tools, "Manage A-GPS state", Reset (i do this twice if i'm having problems), then I restart my phone before downloading the Data.

    After restarted, open GPS Status again, do the same as above -- yes Reset data again -- then download data from the same menu you were resetting the data from.

    Not sure if it's a phone thing, but my GPS has almost always locked within a few seconds. But GPS Status has definitely helped since i started playing with custom ROMs.
    View
    1
    J
    jonakin
    thewayne01,

    I don't know if this is coincidence or not, and my brother's Droid X which is using EVDO.A is still not working on GPS here, but my Thunderbolt has been working since I switched from eHRPD to EVDO.A mode (actually I was doing this to try to fix battery life). Who knows, it may stop working 5 minutes from now as it has in the past, but this is what I did and it worked last night and still works this morning:

    http://www.thatsiebguy.com/2011/04/htc-thunderbolt-revie/

    1. Dial ##778#, enter edit mode, enter password 000000
    2. Go to modem info, select "Rev. A" and switch from eHRPD to "Enable" and then hit menu and commit the changes
    3. Switch antenna to CDMA auto (PRL) instead of CDMA+LTE, either using the dasBAMF control panel or PhoneInfo or LTE OnOff.

    I think you have a similar setup as I do (flashed CDMA radio .7, dasBAMF 1.6, modified NTP server, etc.) so maybe it will work for you too.

    EDIT: This did not seem to affect the GPS issue; it was coincidental.
    View
    1
    adrynalyne
    adrynalyne
    thewayne01, try this.

    https://market.android.com/details?id=ck.GPSXtra&feature=search_result

    I had Captainkrtek build it for me some time ago.
    View
    1
    adrynalyne
    adrynalyne
    wilydodger said:
    So please do us all a favor and go away!
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse


    You got it.
    View

New posts