Edited 30/1/2012: My GPS 100% fixed (21/4/11 PICS ADDED)

EDIT: 30/1/2012.

Just a follow up on this fix. Well, got sick of constantly having to replace the tape under the battery cover. Over time it flattens, so since I now use the S2 as my daily phone I decided to open it up.

First I found the GPS connection on the motherboard. It connects to / touches a small metal piece on the inside of the rear housing. It's like a U shaped connector so I decided to lift it up with my fingernail.

For a little while it worked great but the problem returned. So I decided to open it up again and lift the connector even higher. Unfortunately I broke it leaving only a flat bottom metal piece on the motherboard side. There was now no way for the 2 pieces to touch so I screwed it completely.

So I then decided to solder a small bit on the rear housing side. I did that and put it back together. Ever since then the GPS has truely been 100% fixed. It hasn't missed a beat over the last 3 or so months of trying.

END EDIT.

NOTE: This is a hardware fix for those whose GPS is completely busted (NO sat views & lock). It is NOT a fix to improve tracking or lock or make an already working GPS better.


After flashing every modem, fw and kernal version I had completely given up on my galaxy s GPS. It had to be a hardware fault.

Back when I first got it, it was OK but a few months later became useless. This fix is hardware related and takes only minutes to diagnose and fix.

It's also probably more useful for pre-October models (i9000 international) which had this fault.

I do not take credit for finding out the fix. Credit for that goes to member 'allottios' (who heard about it from 'cbdrift') for bringing it to my attention on another forum topic.

The fix is simple. Remove the back cover and to the right of the speaker is the GPS antenna. It is covered by what looks like some sort of soft plastic tape.

Now open a GPS test app and then apply light pressure to the very top of the antenna with your finger. NOT the middle or bottom - that makes it worse.

If, like me your GPS shows instant improvement then you have just worked out your problem.

Simply attach a small piece of double sided tape or similar to the top of the antenna so that when you put the back cover on again their is pressure on that spot.

Hope you get the same results I did.

Edit: PICS ADDED: 1ST PIC - AT THE TOP RIGHT CORNER, YOU CAN SEE A WHITE STRIP WHICH IS THE DOUBLE-SIDED TAPE I ATTACHED TO THE TOP OF THE GPS ANTENNA. I DID NOT PEEL THE TOP LAYER FROM THE TAPE SO IT WOULDN'T STICK TO THE BACK COVER.

,

Edit (03/05) - If this fix doesn't help, you may also want to try out another fix posted by 'stockie78' (post 209).

There is also a link below for more detail, including pics for this fix.

It is not as simple as the above fix and it involves removing the housing. I have not tried / tested this myself and am not responsible if you break your phone.

"stockie78

Unfortunately the g-spot trick did not work for me, so I decided to look a little closer and removed the plastic housing.
Another guy installed on the metal thingys there a cable and I did some test, too. Again no improvement with different cables and lengths.
But while fiddling around with the metal connector I thought maybe lifting it could help and indeed this was the trick for me. Improved my gps dramatically!
So instead of something pushing the antenna tighter, the metal connector now pushes harder and improves the signal quality.
Maybe a solution for some of you too..."

Link: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=878970

Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App

Hard to believe that Samsung is so dumb that they could not have done this fix at factory level or it may be a conscious decision not to have the gps signal powerful enough.

My i9003 was not having any gps locking issue but earlier it worked only outdoors & would lock in 15-20 sec with 10mt-50mt accuracy.

I took kitchen foil & folded it few times to make 1cm area of antenna cover with it...................................cant believe the gps NOW works indoors & locks in 10-15 sec with 7-8 satellites in view. I tested indoors with 1 floor above & 2 floor above. In a multi story building it locks perfectly in a drawing room, in small rooms you take it near windows & it locks perfectly............................amazing.

Outdoors it locks instantly within 2-3 sec under clear sky with constant 5mt accuracy to 11-12 satellites.

So I took the gps on a 800kms drive & after extensively using it now I am confident that I can fully depend on it, one downside is that gps using sucks battery fast so gps constant use need a car charger which now I need to buy.

Samsung route 66 shows navigation perfectly with 5mt inaccuracy, on the way I could locate restaurants, petrol pumps etc well in advance in a new cities which otherwise I didn't have any clue about.

Here are few screenshot I took at various location as proof, now I constantly get 30-40SNR in gps test with constant 5mt accuracy.

This post has images showing how pressing that area with tape helps the gps signal wire underneath.
http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=13190989&postcount=4

Samsung should buy you more than one beer!

How much money did they spent to fix that issue?

Thanks man!

I am glad it helps sxi200! Thanks for the credit. I got the idea by reading this post by cbdrift so a lot of credit should go to him too!

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=9426709&postcount=120

Hi,

Unfortunately the g-spot trick did not work for me, so I decided to look a little closer and removed the plastic housing.
Another guy installed on the metal thingys there a cable and I did some test, too. Again no improvement with different cables and lengths.
But while fiddling around with the metal connector I thought maybe lifting it could help and indeed this was the trick for me. Improved my gps dramatically!
So instead of something pushing the antenna tighter, the metal connector now pushes harder and improves the signal quality.
Maybe a solution for some of you too...

Br stocki

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Premium App