I've just bought two new phones, an N85 and an N95 8GB. I tested their navigation capabilities, and they both worked fine in Nokia Maps the first time I tested them. However after a few days, both of them started having problems with the GPS signal. Two times out of three when I open Nokia Maps in either of these phones, I get no GPS fix (even though the skies are clear, the phone's slider is open and all four possible GPS Methods are selected).
It couldn't be that the area I live in gets "no coverage", since it's in this same area that the phones sometimes do get the GPS signal (when they "feel like it"!).
Finally, I thought that there may be times when the satellites are simply "out of order", however while walking with both phones in my hands, I've had one of them receiving GPS signal just fine, while the other would not see any satellite for the whole duration of the trip (an hour or so). And another time, the roles reversed and it was the first phone that wasn't able to receive satellite signal while the second one was.
Does anyone know what may be going on? What could be the reason for this unreliability of the GPS signal?
longtalker wrote:I've just bought two new phones, an N85 and an N95 8GB. I tested their navigation capabilities, and they both worked fine in Nokia Maps the first time I tested them. However after a few days, both of them started having problems with the GPS signal. Two times out of three when I open Nokia Maps in either of these phones, I get no GPS fix (even though the skies are clear, the phone's slider is open and all four possible GPS Methods are selected). It couldn't be that the area I live in gets "no coverage", since it's in this same area that the phones sometimes do get the GPS signal (when they "feel like it"!).
Finally, I thought that there may be times when the satellites are simply "out of order", however while walking with both phones in my hands, I've had one of them receiving GPS signal just fine, while the other would not see any satellite for the whole duration of the trip (an hour or so). And another time, the roles reversed and it was the first phone that wasn't able to receive satellite signal while the second one was.
Does anyone know what may be going on? What could be the reason for this unreliability of the GPS signal?
When you have no coverage, Network and A-GPS assist modes don't work, therefore GPS lock without assistance takes anything from 1 to 15 minutes.
It's much more difficuly obtaining (unassisted) initial GPS lock whilst moving, so start the GPS app whilst your car is stationary and wait for a lock before driving off.
Still trying to single out a scenario in which the GPS does not work, but it just seems to be random: one day it will work, the next day (in the same place!) it won't; one day in one place it works, same day different place - doesn't work.
With the firmware issue out of the way (I have the latest ones, on both the N85 and the N95 8GB), perhaps I should think about doing a hard reset (how do I do that?).
I'd really appreciate any advice - thanks!
longtalker wrote:Still trying to single out a scenario in which the GPS does not work, but it just seems to be random: one day it will work, the next day (in the same place!) it won't; one day in one place it works, same day different place - doesn't work. With the firmware issue out of the way (I have the latest ones, on both the N85 and the N95 8GB), perhaps I should think about doing a hard reset (how do I do that?).
I'd really appreciate any advice - thanks!
I am very surprised that both handsets will work one day at a given location and both will not work at same location on another day.
Did you leave both handsets motionless (for 15 minutes) with a clear view of the sky and the keyboard slider open, on the day GPS did not work, as I suggested?
Hey dez, thanks for your reply. Yes I had left both phones still for ~30 minutes, with a clear view of the sky and the sliders open, and when I came back after those 30 minutes, the signal was still 0.
Sometimes when I do get a signal, it goes in and out, so it could be that when I came back and checked, it was "on a break", although I'd rather believe the fix never having been made at all.
Could it be that the GPS signal is better in some parts of the globe than in others? I live in Romania, and although most of the country is unmapped in Ovi Maps, I should still get a fix I think.
Another possible (though unlikely) cause might be the fact that I use my phone here in Romania although it was bought in the US, and consequently runs on a firmware that is written specifically for American, rather than European models (I think..). Although it is very strange that I sometimes _do_ get a signal, which proves it _can_ work, but chooses not to! 😊
longtalker wrote:Could it be that the GPS signal is better in some parts of the globe than in others? I live in Romania, and although most of the country is unmapped in Ovi Maps, I should still get a fix I think.Another possible (though unlikely) cause might be the fact that I use my phone here in Romania although it was bought in the US, and consequently runs on a firmware that is written specifically for American, rather than European models (I think..). Although it is very strange that I sometimes _do_ get a signal, which proves it _can_ work, but chooses not to! 😊
I always believed that the G in GPS honestly meant Global, so living in Romania should not be an issue. I also don't think USA firmware can have any effect on the GPS reception in Eastern Europe.
One question re Firmware - when you last upgraded the firmware, did you RESTORE a Nokia backup file? This can cause lots of issues, including bad GPS performance.
(If you did restore a backup then I suggest you format internal memory or perform a hard-reset on one of your phones to see if the problem goes away).
When I got the phones, both of them went through the same two steps: first of all I upgraded the firmware, then I imported Contacts from a backup file. I specifically only ticked the Contacts checkbox, and not others (e.g. Preferences etc) - do you think just by doing that I might have interfered with the GPS performance?
In either case, I think doing either an internal memory format or a hard-reset might help the GPS. Could be worth doing them both, although I loathe the thought of having to restore all my settings and apps.
longtalker wrote: When I got the phones, both of them went through the same two steps: first of all I upgraded the firmware, then I imported Contacts from a backup file. I specifically only ticked the Contacts checkbox, and not others (e.g. Preferences etc) - do you think just by doing that I might have interfered with the GPS performance?
No, you were smart enough 😉 to only restore contacts, so I don't think the restore is the problem here.
longtalker wrote:
In either case, I think doing either an internal memory format or a hard-reset might help the GPS. Could be worth doing them both, although I loathe the thought of having to restore all my settings and apps.
I suggested only formatting/hard-reset one of the phones initially, in case this did not solve the issue. Then you would only have one phone to restore. If you're going to try, then you may as well run a backup before formatting/hard-reset and then you can simply restore the full backup to save you having to manually re-install and re-configure everything if it's no better.
Remember that after a FW upgrade, format or hard-reset, the initial GPS lock can take up to 20 minutes without A-GPS (i.e. if no network coverage).
OK, two questions:
- if I use the backup utility to restore everything after the format/hard-reset, is it not likely that any "bad" previous setting that made the GPS not work beforehand, will work its way back into the phone, thus again preventing the GPS from working properly?
- should I format, hard-reset, or both?
Many thanks for your help.
Just to follow up on this GPS issue, I wanted to add that I find it strange how, if I take a picture in a location where Maps does not seem to have a reception, and then choose "Show on map" for that picture, my current location (where the picture has just been taken) is shown correctly on the map.
I am at my wit's end with this problem, can anyone offer any more suggestions as to why I so rarely get a GPS fix in Maps - yet the location where pictures were taken seems to be correctly calculated?