Steps to get back GPS on your T-Mobile Galaxy S3

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tthaz777

Senior Member
Mar 12, 2012
288
215
You just need to do the following steps to get back GPS on your T-Mobile GS3
1. Install TriangleAway here. Thanks to Chainfire.
2. Open TriangleAway, reset flashing counter (you must have root access)
3. Download original unrooted firmware for T-Mobile Galaxy S3 (T999UVALEM) here. Thanks to SamMobile
4. Boot your phone into Download Mode (Volume down + power + home) and flash the firmware above via ODIN
5. If you have bootloop after flashing, remove battery, boot your phone into Recovery Mode by holding volume up + power + home (should be stock recovery because custom recovery will be lost), wipe data (factory reset) + wipe cache
6. When your phone finishes rebooting, you will see the GPS has been fixed and worked perfectly.
7. Upgrading to the latest JB 4.1.1 by flashing the rooted firmware by DocHoliday77 here. GPS still works.
Please thanks if this post is helpful. :)
 
Last edited:

flipq88

Senior Member
Aug 11, 2011
1,681
671
Can we just flash these via recovery? I don't have access to a laptop

Sent from Flip's S3
 

flipq88

Senior Member
Aug 11, 2011
1,681
671
3. Download original unrooted firmware for T-Mobile Galaxy S3 (T999UVALEM) here. Thanks to SamMobile

Ok so this firmware is unrooted right? But does it also revert you back to stock recovery? Or will it keep whatever recovery I'm on? I'm thinking of trying this with mobile odin but want to make sure that i keep twrp so i can reroot after installing this.

Sent from Flip's S3
 

tthaz777

Senior Member
Mar 12, 2012
288
215
Ok so this firmware is unrooted right? But does it also revert you back to stock recovery? Or will it keep whatever recovery I'm on? I'm thinking of trying this with mobile odin but want to make sure that i keep twrp so i can reroot after installing this.

Sent from Flip's S3

You will lost root access. But you can flash TWRP recovery after step #7.

Enable USB debugging on your phone and connect it to your PC

Download the latest version of TWRP recovery here. Thanks to TeamWin.

adb push openrecovery-twrp-2.3.3.1-d2tmo.img /sdcard/openrecovery-twrp-2.3.3.1-d2tmo.img

adb shell

su

dd if=/sdcard/openrecovery-twrp-2.3.3.1-d2tmo.img of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/recovery

reboot recovery
 
Last edited:

flipq88

Senior Member
Aug 11, 2011
1,681
671
You will lost root access. But you can flash TWRP recovery after step #7.

Enable USB debugging on your phone and connect it to your PC

Download the latest version of TWRP recovery here. Thanks to TeamWin.

adb push openrecovery-twrp-2.3.3.1-d2tmo.img /sdcard/openrecovery-twrp-2.3.3.1-d2tmo.img

adb shell

su

dd if=/sdcard/openrecovery-twrp-2.3.3.1-d2tmo.img of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/recovery

reboot recovery

Problem is i don't have access to a laptop, I'll just wait until I do and try this.

Sent from Flip's S3
 

Blkjck11

Member
Oct 23, 2007
24
2
You just need to do the following steps to get back GPS on your T-Mobile GS3
1. Install TriangleAway here. Thanks to Chainfire.
2. Open TriangleAway, reset flashing counter (you must have root access)
3. Download original unrooted firmware for T-Mobile Galaxy S3 (T999UVALEM) here. Thanks to SamMobile
4. Boot your phone into Download Mode (Volume down + power + home) and flash the firmware above via ODIN
5. If you have bootloop after flashing, remove battery, boot your phone into Recovery Mode by holding volume up + power + home (should be stock recovery because custom recovery will be lost), wipe data (factory reset) + wipe cache
6. When your phone finishes rebooting, you will see the GPS has been fixed and worked perfectly.
7. Upgrading to the latest JB 4.1.1 by flashing the rooted firmware by DocHoliday77 here. GPS still works.
Please thanks if this post is helpful. :)

Excellent, worked seamlessly. Thanks
 

Don_Perrignon

Senior Member
Jan 13, 2011
932
134
San Antonio, Texas, USA
Man! I swear! Let me tell you guys something.

I got my replacement today.

I flashed a ROM, lost my IMEI (on my second phone... for those wondering, I'm use TWRP) along with GPS.

Went back to a Root77 ROM.

Restored my 4G and now all of a sudden I have GPS. I can navigate again.

On the old phone, I traveled six hours to Dallas on Sunday for two interviews Monday. You can imagine me on Sunday evening when I realized the GPS was screwed.


I'm heck of paranoid to do anything with this phone now.
 

futty

Senior Member
Nov 23, 2008
370
22
Problem is i don't have access to a laptop, I'll just wait until I do and try this.

Sent from Flip's S3

Mobile Odin should work never tried it but to root your might need a pc. Just wish there was a way to get gps back on the rom I'm on so it's easier just to keep stuff the way I have it
 

flipq88

Senior Member
Aug 11, 2011
1,681
671
Mobile Odin should work never tried it but to root your might need a pc. Just wish there was a way to get gps back on the rom I'm on so it's easier just to keep stuff the way I have it

Actually mine came back on. I had flashed the Galaxymod ported rom and it started working on it. I had it for a few days then flashed back frosty and gps stopped working. Then I ended up flashing Synergy rom and again my gps started working. I ended up having to many problems with it so I flashed back to frosty only this time my gps still worked. Have been back on Frosty for a week and my gps is still working prefect.

Sent from Flip's S3
 

nvmehaterz

Senior Member
Nov 25, 2010
185
37
colorado springs
Did the same thing, was told that if you flash the Synergy Rom it will bring back your GPS, it worked for me as well, connecting fast as ever too! It's worth a try

sent from my wicked pink sgs3
 
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vagabond1

Senior Member
Jan 22, 2008
70
10
To OP: How do the instructions differ with the new OTA rom? I want to update, but I now kind of rely on my GPS and Data working 100%.
 

Aria807

Senior Member
Dec 31, 2010
648
93
Dallas
Might be a setting in the build that custom roms screw up. I just know for some time being on custom roms, my GPS is unable to lock on. But I screwed up 4.2.1 custom rom downgrade back to 4.1.X due to 4.2's profile architecture, so I ended up completely ODIN back to stock to start over. My GPS works again now and I went back to a custom rom and it still works.

---

Side question... regarding flash counter, I been doing some searching. Is this necessary? I understand if warranty work needs to be done, Samsung will reject the device if flash count is >0, but some ppl are complaining about having an unlocked bootloader with a unlock icon during boot. I don't have that?
 
Last edited:

Da Kine

Senior Member
Apr 25, 2011
2,233
1,398
Santa Rosa, Ca
GPS works again woohoo!

Only problem is, triangle away didn't work for me (it said it was successful) but when in download mode my flash count is now 2? 0.o

Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
 

DsturbD

Senior Member
Feb 27, 2012
2,168
1,264
Kannapolis, NC
so maybe i missed something, how do you loose GPS? are TW roms loosing GPS? ive been using AOSP roms and have no issues with GPS at all
 

MrSpinch

Member
Apr 28, 2010
8
1
Lawrenceville, GA
I had the same thing- GPS ate it, started working again randomly, then ate it again, even after following the steps in this post. I got my RMA'd replacement today, and I'm not about to load anything custom on it until the warranty is long out and whatever is causing this problem is resolved.

Man! I swear! Let me tell you guys something.

I got my replacement today.

I flashed a ROM, lost my IMEI (on my second phone... for those wondering, I'm use TWRP) along with GPS.

Went back to a Root77 ROM.

Restored my 4G and now all of a sudden I have GPS. I can navigate again.

On the old phone, I traveled six hours to Dallas on Sunday for two interviews Monday. You can imagine me on Sunday evening when I realized the GPS was screwed.


I'm heck of paranoid to do anything with this phone now.
 

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  • 19
    You just need to do the following steps to get back GPS on your T-Mobile GS3
    1. Install TriangleAway here. Thanks to Chainfire.
    2. Open TriangleAway, reset flashing counter (you must have root access)
    3. Download original unrooted firmware for T-Mobile Galaxy S3 (T999UVALEM) here. Thanks to SamMobile
    4. Boot your phone into Download Mode (Volume down + power + home) and flash the firmware above via ODIN
    5. If you have bootloop after flashing, remove battery, boot your phone into Recovery Mode by holding volume up + power + home (should be stock recovery because custom recovery will be lost), wipe data (factory reset) + wipe cache
    6. When your phone finishes rebooting, you will see the GPS has been fixed and worked perfectly.
    7. Upgrading to the latest JB 4.1.1 by flashing the rooted firmware by DocHoliday77 here. GPS still works.
    Please thanks if this post is helpful. :)
    2
    Can we just flash these via recovery? I don't have access to a laptop

    Sent from Flip's S3

    See first line of op

    If i helped hit thanks
    1
    Did the same thing, was told that if you flash the Synergy Rom it will bring back your GPS, it worked for me as well, connecting fast as ever too! It's worth a try

    sent from my wicked pink sgs3
    1
    Thanks but I really hate the idea of having to Odin this back to stock and reroot just to get GPS to work again but if that's my only option then I'm gonna have too.

    Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

    Try flashing the synergy ROM, that's what worked for me and a few others

    sent from my wicked pink sgs3
    1
    The Synergy ROM is the easiest fix... I made a full backup in TWRP in case I bork it again but installing Synergy, downloading and running GPS Test from Play Store and waiting until I get a lock then going to whatever ROM I want worked perfectly.