Long standing GPS issue, argh!

[Hookem]

I have researched how to fix this problem for the better part of 2 years. Had it working for a while and after getting a replacement phone can't get it working again. Now I want to understand the core of the problem. If it's been answered somewhere else, *please* direct me; however I can't find it.

So the question of whether GPS actually works on the Sprint Touch was a mystery for a while. Sprint people denied at first that the hardware would support it, but then finally admitted it would. Then the last firmware update at last enabled the internal GPS to work with TeleNav.

My ultimate goal was getting GPS to work with Google Maps. After many hours of fiddling with the phone I finally figured out that if I started TeleNav, and kept it running whether I logged in or not, GPS with Google Maps would work.

Key Takeway: Something in the initialization process of TeleNav enabled the internal GPS to work.

Obviously someone at Sprint wanted the phone to work in such a way that if you weren't using their Sprint software, you were out of luck when it came to using the internal GPS functionality. I had it working and didn't mess with the configuration for months. Then I had my phone replaced and can't get it working again the same way.

I tried the same thing, but this time it only works if I'm actually logged in to TeleNav and using Google Maps at the same time. I can't just initialize the program for it to work, and the plan I'm on I have to pay for usage if I want to log in to TeleNav.

So obviously the internal GPS works. However it appears to be painfully obvious the only way to activate it is through a TeleNav subscription. Is there any way to activate GPS without running TeleNav?

Maybe someone on this forum has discovered a back door mechanism that can trigger whatever needs to be triggered to activate it. Every where else I read about this problem people blame Google Maps and problems with roaming or weak signals, but all of these problems go away if TeleNav is running.

Thanks

[Snowden]

I have Garmin on my (Verizon) phone and my standard procedure is to run HTC's GPS viewer, wait for a lock (it's a little more indicative of what's going on than either Google Maps or Garmin), and then run whichever program to get directions. Have you made sure that the COM port and baud settings are correct? I think I vaguely remember Google Maps having issues getting a GPS signal before I manually set those options. In any case, it seems like you might want to try getting a lock first through GPS viewer and see if that "enables" Google Maps to see the data.

[Hookem]

GPS Viewer...now that sounds handy. Part of my frustration is not knowing much about the little computer in my phone. Any other PC and I'd have all kinds of debug tools to figure out what the problem is. I'll go hunt this down and download it to my phone.

As for the com/baud settings - I'm not sure what those are supposed to be. Right now I just let Windows automatically configure it, mainly because I read that somewhere. Also, I thought the GPS settings on the phone only applied to an external GPS device. From a settings perspective, there didn't seem to be a lot of options through the GUI interface, basically just turning it on or off.

I've read about a lot of different things to download for Sprint carrier to enable the radio, but I'm not sure if these work with all versions of WM or have conflicts of any kind. I just don't know enough about modding my phone to know if I'm going to brick it or not.

[horndoctor]

Hmm...I also have a Sprint Vogue and I am running the stock 6.1 rom that I have tweaked heavily and even before I started tweaking things GPS with Google Maps has always worked. I have windows set to manage gps in google maps. I believe you have it set that way. I will tell you that the very first time that google maps tried to get a lock it took a couple minuites. I believe I installed google maps and then did a soft reset and then opened google maps and tried to get a lock and after a couple minuites it locked. Now when I open google maps it takes only about 30 seconds. When I have any trouble getting locks with google maps or bing instead of doing a soft reset I run CleanRam. I recommend you get CleanRam. It is freeware and it is available in the PPC Softwae Forum. There should be no reason why gps shouldn't work for you if you have the most recent version of the stock sprint 6.1 rom and you have done a hard reset. Good Luck My Friend!!

[whitey10tc]

I have an Alltel Touch flashed to cricket and a Sprint Touch on cricket. Both run custom ROMs built from PPC kitchen. I use the GPS toggle on both and get GPS locks in under 10 seconds.

cricKet custom WM 6.5 ROM
Sprint radio 3.42.30

[Hookem]

Awesome...HTC GPS viewer really seemed to do the trick. Once I kicked off the viewer and let it lock, I started Google Maps and GPS was working. That is exactly what I was looking for.

And it also makes more sense as I watched the viewer scroll through the NMEA messages (I actually had to deal with these in a former role). Each device likely relies on an initiation sequence that could be different for each device. The NMEA format is standard but the way each device uses them is not.

The approach that Google Maps takes is likely similar but is different enough that it causes intermittent functionality. It could also change depending on the release of Google Maps you have. Obviously the HTC tool knows exactly what to do, and I'm sure the TeleNav software uses an identical approach when it initializes.

However, once you prime the pump the chip is engaged and ready to go.

Thanks for all the help!

[franklinmall]

I finally figured out how to add addresses and look up businesses on the web and synchronize them to my Navigator's "Favorites". If anyone is interested here is the link: http://my.telenav.com