[Desire HD General] rakesh2002:
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"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while troubles will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn."

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Hi,

WARNING!!!

------>PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE POST BEFORE DOING ANYTHING WITH YOUR DESIRE HD

TO ALL THE DHD OWNERS: IF YOU HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF REPAIRING THEN PLEASE DO NOT MAKE ANY ATTEMPTS. KINDLY LOOK FOR EXPERTS/PROFESSIONALS WHO SHALL HAVE ALL THE TOOLS, WHO SHALL KNOW SOLDERING (WHICH I WOULD DEFINITELY NOT RECOMMEND) AND SO ON. JUST A GENTLE REMINDER: YOUR PHONE IS EXPENSIVE AND ISN'T SOMETHING TO BE PLAYED/MEDDLED WITH.

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TO THE MODS: I have tried my best to make sure the solution is genuine. I have requested the Desire HD owners to understand thoroughly the procedures of repairing . I presume that the readers are well educated and sensible. Despite that, if you feel that many are disappointed or not satisfied with the method i've described, you can terminate this thread. What I've mentioned is based on my true experience and my only intention is to help people.

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RECOMMENDATION: Install GPS apps such as GPS Status and GPS test and see if you happen to get a good fix, if not please proceed.

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After having searched for GPS solution, I literally gave up on this. Now, after the fix, I am so happy that I keep looking at my GPS software locking the coordinates even though i am not travelling.

You might have heard of the following:

a) GPS signal is low during rainy days due to clouds

b) GPS signal is weak inside buildings due to concrete walls etc..

I had the same issue and I thought I ended up with a hopeless phone, later that I realized that It is the best phone I bought.

I finally fixed my GPS issue, the results are:

a) My Desire HD got locked with all the 12 satellites, during the rain

b)I am in my bedroom and I get around 6 - 7 GPS signals.

What could the issue be: SOFTWARE/ RADIO -------> NO

The issue is------------------------------------------> HARDWARE

Procedure

[YOUTUBE]7qm_z65LA8k[/YOUTUBE]​

[credit: waveking9 from XDA and knglaser from Youtube]​

1. At the rear of the DHD is the camera Flash zone (A small Rectangular casing)

2. First, Turn off your DHD and remove the battery.

3. Then open the casing: You need sharp tipped tool to open it. Be careful, take your time: Place the sharp tip tool( like your screwdriver etc.) at the right side of the casing and pull it out.

4. Once you succeed, you notice that the casing has two gold contacts and your DHD has two spring contacts (gold).

5. Blow off the dust, if any, and mildly pull the spring upward so that the casing and the spring have a firm contact when you place back the casing.

6. Once done with the spring contact, clean the casing contacts properly.

7. Place the casing back: from left to right: pretty tricky but you can do it.

8. Thats it, power up your DHD, install a software called "GPS Test" and see the magic for yourself.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4588147...7626706509210

[credit: lrm537]

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any damage, do it at your own risk. It worked for me. I hope it works for you too.

Peace,

Rakesh

Latest Addition: Dated 4/16/2012

Soldering has never been recommended in the main post. I would request every DHD owner with soldering in their mind to first use standard repair procedure which must work by the way. The alternative is to invest $5 on the antenna casing which could be found in Ebay or other popular E-shopping websites.

Only those with soldering expertise could take the extreme steps because extreme heat can burn the internal circuitry or adversely hamper the very intention of this post.

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For those successful and unsuccessful in solving the GPS issue:

I stumbled upon this post and, to my astonishment, someone has already dealt with this issue. This post offers a clearer and technically insightful detail on GPS and it's working. The smarter readers shall make most out of it even though it is for Samsung phones. All the credit goes to this gentleman:

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

please thank him.

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I never gave a check on the SNR before the repair, but now I get around

[22dB-avg/32dB-peak/6-7 sat/15 meters max accuracy/3 min max hot fix/ 30 sec max cold fix] within the house(near the window).

under open sky, it comes to around

[25dB-avg/36dB-peak/11-12 sat/6 meters max accuracy/20 sec max hot fix/6 sec max cold fix]

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I totally agree with the point that it's hardware and it is not something to be messed up with. This is a delicate process needing surgical precision in repairing. For anyone planning to use this technique, please think twice and make sure that you are equipped with required tools. Watch YouTube videos on disassembling, or look for HTC tech support. I too am disappointed with HTC and I feel that HTC guys need to pick up with Apple guys when it comes to hardware testing. It's a shame that they are not able to rectify such issues. May be they will rectify this issue, but the future generation phone customers will benefit out of our disappointments.

The challenge is to make the GPS work without the support of WiFi and/ or data plan. In my case, I don't use data plan due to expenses, so I rely solely on GPS and not A-GPS. Apart from the radio signal for audio communication, the GPS uses extremely high frequency (around 1560 MHz) and other than the internal software performing complex convolution of Baseband signal along with the acquired GPS signal (could be weak) in order to triangulate our locations based on the radio stations nearby, I don't think they will be of any help for this matter. The issue arises when there are few radio stations or towers, specially in outskirts or country sides.

Internal GPS receiver module defect is like 1:1000 and GPS antenna contact issue, I believe, is around 20:100 due to mechanical wear/ vibration and hence the probability of making your GPS work, using the technique I mentioned, is pretty much high.

Like most of the posted messages:

BE CAREFUL

.

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Apart from the aforementioned solution, we also need to consider the external casing used for DHD and how it affects the GPS performance, following video shows one such test:

[YOUTUBE]8nzv0Kyw5fE[/YOUTUBE]​

[credit: shishengsun from Youtube]​

again, it is up to the user to decide the quality of the casing, not just in terms of their robustness, but also their affinity towards in-coming GPS signals. However, it is highly recommended for the DHD owners to use external casing so as to protect them from impact fracture, dust and scratches.

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My final quote is "being half-witted is worse than not being witty at all".

So study through various informations posted elsewhere in internet, understand the technical aspects of the device (for example: which material could affect the SNR of GPS signals (plastic, silicone, metallic etc..), circuital aspects of GPS receiver etc.

Good luck:)