yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Epic 4G General] rickbuck:
I've tried a few things.. but at present, I went back to stock Eclair through Odin, then took the OTA to EC05.

Basically, I installed clean, so it's a mystery to me why others don't have this. Actually I think quite a few do, but haven't realized it yet... because the first time you get a fix after boot, it works magnificently well... 3-10 seconds. Great.

It's the down time after that, the hours that pass after that first fix that seems to change things. Without doing anything specific, just using the browser and other things.. the ability to AGAIN get a fix is hindered. Sometimes the GPS doesn't get one at all.

I'll let all the smart guys work on this one. I'm just a competent end user with no real knowledge of how the GPS works.
[Epic 4G General] PowderedToast:
Just wanted to chime in..

I was waiting for someone to bring up this issue. Symptoms identical to OP's. Stock eclair worked perfectly, and this problem appeared in eb13, after a manual update. Ec05 did not change a thing and Gps status cold start did not help either.

This sucks since I use gps all the time.
[Epic 4G General] rickbuck:
As I noted above, I'm not a real gifted technician.. but I'm guessing this issue has something to do with the internal compass. I noticed that my two co-workers who both bought the Epic based on their favorable impressions of my phone, had issues with screen rotation after going from stock Eclair to EC05. Neither are advanced users. Neither rooted or otherwise messed with their phones. I too have tinkered with the compass.. the upside-down calibration and the terminal command pertaining to Yamaha.

I can effect the quality and time of the fix by waving the phone in a figure eight pattern in an attempt to calibrate.. so I'm thinking it's all related.
[Epic 4G General] othan1:
Running SFR 1.1.0 and I haven't experienced this yet. Took a three hour walk yesterday and CardioTrainer locked me the entire time even through the trails.

How long does it usually take for GPS to lose lock?

If it matters, I only enable GPS, not network-based location.
[Epic 4G General] mattallica76:
On DI18 based ROM's, the GPS data cache would not flush itself properly and you would lose GPS functionality usually within hours after it seemed to be working fine. My evening job I work as a delivery driver, and I would have to reboot my phone a couple times a night because of this bug. But as I stated earlier in this thread, I have not experienced this bug since dk17. I did experience some issues in DK28 where the GPS signal would drop out for a few seconds here and there, but since EB13, it's been perfect. No issues. My other Epic is stock EC05, so I will run some tests with that one tonight to see if I can get it to foul up.
[Epic 4G General] slwelsh:
So is anyone running Bonsai 4 experiencing this problem at all?

My understanding is that Bonsai uses an EB13-based kernel with only select EC05 elements, so perhaps it is not prone to this issue. If that's the case, that may be enough to make me switch to Bonsai from SRF.

It would also appear that the problem is not universal across all EC05 (and EC05-based ROM) users, as there have been several reports in this and other threads from people with no GPS problems at all. This makes me wonder, among other things, whether or not some specific app or module is either causing (or clearing?) the problem. Since lots of folks on stock OTA have the issue, that would likely be an OEM app.

This problem is a real PITA for me as I use the GPS all the time. Really, really want to find a solution.

-Sean
[Epic 4G General] mattallica76:
I'm currently running on one of my Epics a modified version of Bonsai 4.0.1, which is fully EC05 based, and I'm not having any gps problems.
[Epic 4G General] musclehead84:
Same here. My GPS works flawlessly. I used yo have to use my wife's evo gps on di18 but now I dont

Sent From My Evo Killer!!!
[Epic 4G General] boomerbubba:
If you just want to reset your GPS cache data, there is an onboard utility invoked by a dialer code. Open your phone dialer and punch in

##GPSCLRX#

That opens a dialog that requires you to key in the MSL code for your phone. Normally the Sprint support desk has to give this to you. (If they do, write it down for future use.) There are other methods to find the MSL, including this one.
[Epic 4G General] slwelsh:
Thanks for that data point, but I was really asking about stock Bonsai, since if I switch, that's where I'd go.

Thanks, I have the MSL. I've also now placed a shortcut on the home screen directly to this utility, which actually bypasses the MSL. From Launcher Pro, long press on a blank area then select Shortcuts/Activities/com.android.hiddenmenu/GPSCLRX.

We'll see if using this GPSCLRX utility brings the GPS back to life next time it locks up.

While I am on the hiddenmenu subject, does anyone know which module is the GPSsetup utility? Supposedly this ships with the phone, and was previously (pre-Froyo) invoked with the dialer code *#1472365# but, according to threads on some other Galaxy-S forums, Samsung changed the code due to customer abuse. The alleged replacement code does not work for me, and I've tried all the obvious modules in hiddenmenu with no success.

In the interim, I've flashed LBSTestMode, which seems to work fine for reading and testing the GPS chipset, but is purportedly for a different chipset and so it is not clear if it can actually change settings (see androidforums.com/samsung-epic-4g/308885-gps-aquistion-ec05.html).

-Sean
[Epic 4G General] boomerbubba:
Does nothing show up in LauncherPro with a name like GPSSetup or GPSsetup?
[Epic 4G General] mattallica76:
As of last night, that version is now stock Bonsai.
[Epic 4G General] slwelsh:
I could not find anything. The only Activity I saw with GPS in the name was the aforementioned GPSCLRX. However I should note that I am on SRF 1.1.0, and it is possible that K0nane removed this module from the ROM. Does anyone know if it is in the stock EC05 build? Also, what's the .apk named, so I can try to find it and load it?

-Sean
[Epic 4G General] boomerbubba:
Hmm. I'm almost positive that in earlier versions the utility used to be called GPSsetup.apk (not sure of case) with an accompanying .odex file. I'm running stock EC05, not rooted, and ES File Explorer lets me browse the /system/app directory. I can't find such an app.

EDIT: According to this reference thread about the early Epic release, the files used to be called GpsSetup.apk and GpsSetup.odex.
[Epic 4G General] slwelsh:
Update:

No, GPSCLRX does not fix the problem.

For whatever reason, it took nearly 40 hours since boot for the problem to crop up this time (previously it has always occurred for me within a day). I've been trying to pop into GPS Test every couple hours just to check. As I am typing, my GPS is hosed. Zero birds in view, according to both GPS Test and GPS Status.

I tried running GPSCLRX, but that did not change the behavior in any way.

I've also installed LBSTestMode and made the suggested changes in that application, so clearly that did no good, either.

I'm going to try to install GpsSetup.apk next to see if that has any effect.

If anyone knows something else to try, I'm all ears.

-Sean
[Epic 4G General] mattallica76:
I can confirm that neither of my Epics suffer from this bug, after using my stock Epic for GPS duty two nights in a row without a reboot in between.

Is it possible that your GPS config file is corrupted?
[Epic 4G General] slwelsh:
No success with GpsSetup either. After installing with Root Explorer any attempt to open any of the sub-modules or the main menu results in an FC. I think this .apk is from an earlier release (EB13? Earlier?) and it's been removed for EC05, so who know what compatibility issues there might be.

I guess so. Does anyone have the name and format of the proper config file?

-Sean
[Epic 4G General] mattallica76:
Use Root Explorer to navigate to data/gps. In that folder, there should be a file named secgps.conf. Turn off GPS, then delete that file. Reboot and turn on GPS. Get a GPS lock, and let us know if you still have the issue.
[Epic 4G General] slwelsh:
OK, done. We'll see how it goes; based on the last trial I'll need to give it at least two days to know.

-Sean
[Epic 4G General] APOLAUF:
Let me know if this trick works - I've been having messy GPS since updating to EC05. EB13 was flawless. EC05 works for 2-4 days, but then gives me consistent problems. I have big problems getting aGPS locks over my 3G Airave - fewer problems over 3G, and WiFi *generally* works, though not as much recently.
[Epic 4G General] daddymikey1975:
In the event this trick doesn't work I have another suggestion that wasn't mentioned.

from the dialer, dial ##786# (##RTN#) > Edit >Enter MSL

This will return your phone to factory defaults.. it isn't the same as a factory reset in CWM though.. it will flush the GPS cache, etc. So be sure to use titanium backup or mybackup root to backup your apps/data.. you can restore afterwards.

This has always fexed GPS problems for me. To be fair though, I'm running SRF 1.0.2 w/ the EC05 modem and drove almost 4 hours one direction w/ navigation/GPS and never lost lock.. came back the same day w/ no problems either.. although you're suggesting the problem recurs after a couple days..

Also, remember to hit "Thanks" for those that have helped :)
[Epic 4G General] slwelsh:
Sad to say, no, this did not fix the problem. All was working fine as of an hour ago, and when I checked just now, it's showing zero birds in view.

Just for grins, I tried turning the GPS off, deleting the file, and turning it back on (without rebooting) to see if that had any effect. It did not.

I am pretty much at my wits' end with this GPS. I'm past my 30-day return window, so if it really is a hardware problem I'm stuck dealing with Samsung and their warranty process.

-Sean
[Epic 4G General] slwelsh:
OK, I will give this a try, too. However, I should note that I've already done something similar, involving a different dialer code ##33284#, which is supposed to be a factory reset and has been reported elsewhere to fix the GPS.

That reset converted my filesystem back to RFS so I had to boot back into CWM, reconvert, and reflash the ROM to get back up.

I have little confidence that any reset under the Real Time Network settings (RTN) is going to make a difference.

Elsewhere there are some posts suggesting flashing back to DI18, getting a lock, and then reflashing to FroYo will fix this, but that seems like voodoo to me. Nevertheless, if nothing else works, that's what I am going to try.

-Sean
[Epic 4G General] mkasick:
Yes, GpsSetup was removed from Froyo. It won't work to copy the files from Eclair, in part because the dependent framework odexes have been updated.

A little while ago I deodexed GpsSetup and modified it to appear in the launcher. However, it crashes on startup as it depends on the AGPSManager interface, but there's no "agps" service running on Froyo phones.

Long story short, Samsung completely changed the AGPS interface between Eclair & Froyo, and while much of the old code is still present, it's unused and presumably incompatible. So GpsSetup won't help.

Yes, /data/gps/secgps.conf is the best starting-point for dealing with GPS issues. If nothing else, removing and regenerating that file will reset to default assistance settings (assuming /system/etc/gps.conf isn't changed either).

Now, for folks with GPS issues in EC05 but not EB13, the default secgps.conf settings haven't changed. I don't know what's going on there. Still, it's not clear that the default settings are optimal. This thread on samdroid is a strarting point for trying to optimize those settings. I wouldn't used their attached files directly, but use them as a guideline for which settings to poke.
[Epic 4G General] boomerbubba:
This file only seems to include the server settings for the Qualcomm XTRA services, and it is not clear that XTRA services are even enabled. Without GpsSetup, we are all blind as far as what the basic GPS settings are (Cold Start, Warm Start or Hot Start; AGPS enabled, XTRA enabled and/or scheduled, etc.)
[Epic 4G General] mkasick:
My secgps.conf is suggestive of having more fields than that, although I have no idea if they're actually used:

#Generated by GpsLocationProvider.
#Tue Feb 22 12:39:25 EST 2011
SSL_TYPE=0
SSL=0
OPERATION_TEST_MODE=0
POSITION_MODE=7
ACCURACY=50
SESSION_TYPE=2
ENABLE_NMEA=false
SERVER_MODE=0
START_MODE=WARM
GPS_LOGGING=0
DYNAMIC_ACCURACY=1
AGPS_MODE=0
ADDRESS_MODE=1
OPERATION_MODE=STANDALONE
USE_DEFAULT=true
DYNAMIC_ACCURACY_VALUE=50
SUPL_PORT=7275
ENABLE_XTRA=true
TIMEOUT=1000
NUM_OF_FIX=999999999
SUPL_HOST=www.spirent-lcs.com

The XTRA download and injection are observable via logcat (GpsXtraDownloader, GpsLocationProvider) when it does happen. I get very fast GPS locks when they do, so I imagine the data is actually being used. The XTRA download doesn't always happen though.
[Epic 4G General] boomerbubba:
My bad. I was looking at /system/etc/gps.conf

Interesting that the default mode is STANDALONE, instead of MS-ASSISTED
[Epic 4G General] mkasick:
I saw that too, but I think it's a red herring. These settings are from EB13 where GPS was reliable for me, although I've confimed they regenerate the same under EC05. Also the samdroid folks use STANDALONE too.

I'd guess that OPERATION_MODE refers to whether the baseband will attempt an assitive fix itself, which would only work if there's a CDMA data connection (reminiscent of the assitance problems under DI18). Whereas STANDALONE w/ENABLE_XTRA allows framework code (with access to more radios) to grab assistance data.
[Epic 4G General] boomerbubba:
I'm pretty sure that OPERATION_MODE refers to the three states of A-GPS(STANDALONE, MS-BASED and MS-ASSISTED). In fact, there is anther explicit parateter AGPS_MODE that shows it to be off.

Now that I think about it, this makes sense, because XTRA is essentially doing something similar to A-GPS -- downloading almanac and ephemeris data off a network to accelerate the time to first fix. I am quite sure that XTRA did not use to work on the Epic pre-Froyo. (Its default setting was off, and the user was unable to change it and have that new setting stick). So your news that XTRA is working now is welcome. IIRC, there used to be menu setting for an interval governing when XTRA downloads were supposed to happen, which defaulted to 24 hours if enabled. Whatever that default interval is now, it probably explains why your logcat shows XTRA working sometimes but not always.
[Epic 4G General] mkasick:
Yes, but the issue is which agent provides the radio link for assistance data for MS-BASED. I imagine it's the baseband chip only that does that, and if there isn't an active 3G connection it fails (that's what happened in Eclair).

Right, with the benefit of being able to use any of 3G, WiMAX, or Wifi data connections to do so.

In GpsSetup or elsewhere?

So, I think XTRA download always happens the first time the GPS is used after reboot, since a lot of the host-side GPS control stuff is started then. Which also explains why folks get fast fixes after reboot. I expecting though that there was a way for the GPS chip to request an XTRA download if it believed its assistance data to be stale, it didn't occur to me that it was just done on a timed interval.

If so, the problem is either the 24-hour download interval is insufficient, or it's just not happening. Hmm.

Edit: No, XTRA download isn't on every first-GPS-after-boot. It's age must be kept, and a download is performed at least on first-GPS-after-boot if old enough.

Edit edit: Actually, XTRA download is done on boot, independent of the GPS being turned on in the notification widget or a GPS app being started. It's injected into the radio/GPS at that time. Also, it appears that bootstrapping location information (from another service, e.g., cellular triangulation or wifi AP location) is injected at that time.

Why is that not done every time the GPS widget is clicked, wouldn't that seem sensible? Perhaps there's an opportunity for hacking here.
[Epic 4G General] boomerbubba:
There was an XTRA submenu within GpsSetup. Its user interface seemed to provide the ability to enable XTRA, set it to be scheduled automatically and set that automatic interval. But changing any of those settings and saving them had no effect, and the next time you looked at GpsSetup the default XTRA settings were restored. XTRA just was not working at all.
[Epic 4G General] mkasick:
I see. Well, I'll poke at this in a little bit when I have free time. Meanwhile I'm recording gps-related logs for a few days to see if/when XTRA updates happen aside from boot.
[Epic 4G General] slwelsh:
Well, now I think we are making some progress.

I am very surprised to find my secgps.conf file to be different from yours:

#Generated by GpsLocationProvider.
#Fri Apr 08 22:15:49 PDT 2011
SSL_TYPE=0
SSL=1
OPERATION_TEST_MODE=0
POSITION_MODE=7
ACCURACY=50
SESSION_TYPE=1
ENABLE_NMEA=false
SERVER_MODE=1
START_MODE=COLD
GPS_LOGGING=0
DYNAMIC_ACCURACY=1
AGPS_MODE=0
ADDRESS_MODE=1
TIME_BTW_FIX=0
OPERATION_MODE=MS BASED
USE_DEFAULT=true
DYNAMIC_ACCURACY_VALUE=50
SUPL_PORT=7276
ENABLE_XTRA=true
TIMEOUT=1000
NUM_OF_FIX=0
SUPL_HOST=supl.google.com

Note that my operation mode is MS BASED and my SUPL host is google, not spirent.

As it turns out, I had changed those parameters using LBSTestMode.apk, which came from the GSM-based Galaxy FroYo builds. The GSM phones are purported to use a different chipset, and so many have speculated that LBSTestMode does nothing on the Epic, but this .conf file would seem to disprove that.

FWIW, changing the operation mode and the SUPL host does not seem to have changed my symptoms, although folks with other Galaxy phones have reported success changing these settings.

I am hoping that if we keep drilling down on these settings we can find the magic combination that works.

Perhaps someone with a perfectly working GPS can post their secgps.conf and gps.conf settings here. Then those of us with problems can compare.

-Sean
[Epic 4G General] slwelsh:
I suppose I should have included my /etc/gps.conf, too, since that seems to have been modified by k0nane for SRF:

#
# SyndicateROM Frozen :: k0@k0nane.info
#

NTP_SERVER=us.pool.ntp.org
XTRA_SERVER_1=http://xtra1.gpsonextra.net/xtra.bin
XTRA_SERVER_2=http://xtra2.gpsonextra.net/xtra.bin
XTRA_SERVER_3=http://xtra3.gpsonextra.net/xtra.bin
INTERMEDIATE_POS=1
ACCURACY_THRES=5000
ENABLE_WIPER=1
SUPL_HOST=supl.google.com
SUPL_PORT=7276

I'm going to hunt around and see if I can find the stock versions of these files from EC05 and EB13 for comparison.

Crossing my fingers that this is all going to come down to a setting in one of these two files that can just be tweaked.

-Sean
[Epic 4G General] boomerbubba:
My stock /system/etc/gps.conf is much simpler. It reads in entirety

NTP_SERVER=xtra2.gpsonextra.net
XTRA_SERVER_1=http://xtra1.gpsonextra.net/xtra.bin
XTRA_SERVER_2=http://xtra2.gpsonextra.net/xtra.bin
XTRA_SERVER_3=http://xtra3.gpsonextra.net/xtra.bin

Since there are such differences between the stock EC05 secgps.conf and gps.conf files and those on the custom ROM you are running, I suggest that you contact the developer of that ROM and ask why he is doing whatever he is doing. In any event, your case is obviously different from that of normal EC05 users.
[Epic 4G General] slwelsh:
Uhh, just to be clear: I had exactly the same problem and symptoms when I was on stock, OTA EC05, which was pushed to my phone from its stock Eclair configuration (DI18, IIRC).

I've also tried the stock gps.conf file with this ROM with no success.

BTW, after deleting the secgps.conf file from data, when I reboot, the file comes back as the stock configuration posted earlier in the thread.

I'm wondering whether any settings in gps.conf are used at all, since the SUPL server is getting reset to spirent on reboot.

It looks to me like Samsung has hard-coded the gps settings in GpsLocationProvider so that they reset to default every time. I think this might be a response to people messing with the settings previously in GpsSetup and generating support calls; I know they changed the dialer code on the other Galaxy models to try to mitigate this. On the Epic, the setup utility has been yanked entirely.

-Sean
[Epic 4G General] mkasick:
And here's the workaround that implements this. It simply downloads time & assistance data every time the "Use GPS satellites" or notification widget toggle is enabled.

Would folks who have problems with the GPS in EC05, especially if they temporarilly resolve after a reboot, mind testing the workaround? It's not a perfect solution, but it may make the problem much less annoying than it presently is.
[HTC Inspire 4G] XAviierG:
On the Huawei Ascend there are 9 screens so you can put apps on. Anyway we can get this on the HTC Inspire 4G?
[HTC Inspire 4G] XAviierG:
Haha for widgets and all
[HTC Inspire 4G] nhshah7:
i dont think this phone uses htc sense lol. you cant change the number of screens on sense. if you want 9 screens, try another launcher ie launcherpro
[HTC Inspire 4G] doktor buknasty:
Seven isn't enough for you? Lol :p
[HTC Inspire 4G] XAviierG:
Where do I get 7 o____O
[HTC Inspire 4G] newter55:
The stock sense launcher has 7. Most third party launchers also have as many.
[HTC Inspire 4G] XAviierG:
Oh I got the non sense ROM
[HTC Inspire 4G] bigtoysrock:
Launcherpro has 7 screens.

Sent from my HTC Inspire w/XDA app
[Droid X General] JDinAZ74:
Hello, I just got a Motorola Milestone X. Its running on ACS alaska network. From reading I've done this phone appears to be the moto x but just not the vws branded phone? My question does anyone know of a way to root it and or any custom roms for it? Its filled with bloatware and no way to remove it and the stock rom is very ugly.

Ive tried z4root, superoot, androot and various other rooting guides that were supposed to work on the Moto X but all have failed me. Its running 2.2.1 and from what I gather this might be the problem?

Any help or info from anyone else familiar with this phone would be greatly appreciated as I hate it in its current stock form and would like to at least be able to remove the bloatware and crap I dont use even if there arent any custom roms for it. Thank you
[Droid X General] Inciner8Fire:
Possible root

I also have a milestone x from a local carrier, and was able to root it.

I downloaded and installed all the Motorola drivers.

http://www.motorola.com/Support/US-...tware_and_Drivers/USB-and-PC-Charging-Drivers

Hooked the phone up and went through each mode to ensure all the drivers were installed.

I then installed the latest version of SuperOneClick from http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=803682

I then extracted and ran SuperOneClick, chose the psneuter exploit and clicked root. This was able to root the phone. I did need to reboot the phone before the superuser application would work though.

I haven't looked into custom roms yet.
[Droid X General] JDinAZ74:
thank you very much for the information. I tried super one click but it would always lock up but maybe i'll give it another try. Is your phone running 2.2.1? Thanks again for the reply.
[Droid X General] JDinAZ74:
I must have used a older version of SuperOneClick before. This one you linked worked with no problems at all. Thank you so much!
[Droid X General] Inciner8Fire:
No prob, glad it worked for ya.
[Droid X General] dilirum:
Thanks for the post. I was going through the same frustrations with my new ACS Milestone X. I see now that there is a new version of SuperOneClick ... anybody else trying to make this work, make sure you use v1.7.
[Droid X General] dilirum:
So back to JDinAZ74's second question ... now that we've rooted are there custom roms for our CDMA version of this phone? I see tons of roms but none that I've noticed specify GSM or CDMA, which usually means it's GSM. Anybody know for sure?
[Droid X General] mattmartin77:
the dx is on verizon, so its all cdma. i not sure it would matter though...