yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Desire HD General] rakesh2002:
Google navigation worked fine for me too because they use my Wifi/radio network to locate me. Even a Standalone GPS nav system takes minutes to connect sometimes. may be different kernels have different SNR thresholds to lock coordinates, stock rom could have higher threshold since HTC needs to ensure that the coordinates have smaller error margin for its customers.

High threshold requires larger antennas since length of the antenna is directly proportional to the wavelength of the signal. In the case of our phones, all we could do is ensure that the antenna and contacts are firm so as to allow more current to flow/to improve the impedance matching.

The GPS code is very simple and the possibilities of it to be bugged is extremely small. Ironically the custom roms offer more flexibility in terms of being able to change individual parameters for GPS. Kindly correct me or educate me if I'm wrong. Thanks.
[Desire HD General] Marcusw882000:
I tried the hardware fix and it worked perfectly for me. I am getting 7 satellites from inside my apartment.
[Desire HD General] waits:
Combining all replies I decided to put some solder on the two contacts of the cover (not on the HD board: the cover can be replaced easily and cheap). Just for a better contact. I did not attach an antenna wire.

A bad contact might be the only reason for GPS reception problems. Soldering an antenna wire solves this, but only because of the solder, not because of the wire?

The solder is much softer, which makes the contact area larger, and the distance between the springs on the mobo and the contacts on the cover is reduced with about 1 mm.

I applied this mod in november 2011. Now, more than four months later: still a perfect GPS reception!

There might be other causes for a bad GPS reception than a bad contact. My case: before the mod: not one satellite, sometimes just one. After the mod: 7 to 9 satellites.

For absolute newbies on soldering: Be careful.

Following this thread I read about people having melted the plastic below the contacts of the GPS cover.

- Use a soldering iron of 15 Watt, not (much) more. This will give enough heat, and reduces the chance of overheating (and melting the plastic)

- Make sure the iron is hot enough. The solder should melt immediately when tipped at the soldering iron tip.

- Putting a blob on the GPS cover contacts should take (far) less than 1 second. Once you see a nice shiny melted little blob, immediately remove the soldering iron.

- Practice on something else first! You will be amazed how fast the solder will melt.

- In case of melting: order a replacement, and temporarily cover the GPS cover area with some tape.
[Desire HD General] L1ndon:
does this seem normal?

Just after some opinions.

My GPS works fine outside... 9 satelites no problem. But it won't work from my car dash, not even one satellite after 10 mins. My old desire had no problems from the same position, always a quick lock

If I press on the back it dosent seem to help...

So...

Is this normal for desire hd?

Or

Should I try agps patch?

Or

Should I try this fix?
[Desire HD General] Hunt3r.j2:
This is either because the antenna reception is just worse in the DHD or you could open it up and try cleaning it and making sure the antenna has good connection.
[Desire HD General] pajci007:
Hello!

After trying all sort of software hacks, I still haven't got good gps reception.

I got at most 7 satellites (if I got lucky), connection took at least and above 2 minutes, sometimes even more, or no connection at all, and I keep keep losing connection. All those trouble, until I stumble across your post. Before I thought, that it is just bad gps module and nothing else can be done. So I read the whole topic through and decided to give it a try. I disassemble the phone and right away I noticed the oxidation on the antenna connectors and the phone spring connectors were all loosen up. I raised them up and the phone fixing part was done. Then I took a grinding paper and grind the connectors on antenna. Carefully though, because they are very thin. Then I put some solder on them, reassemble and started the phone. After phone was up, I ran GPS Status and Toolbox app. It was just amazing ... I got connection to 7 satellites in 4 seconds, fixed position in 7. After ten seconds, I got connection to eleven satellites, even inside my house!! Just amazing! So am I really thankful to you to point that out ... I would never have thought of that.

So anyone who is having trouble with gps ... this is the way to fix it! :):)
[Desire HD General] JaTochNietDan:
I got my DHD in December of 2010, originally I had a lot of problems with the GPS. I tried changing radio and changing ROM's a couple of times but the GPS never seemed to work properly.

I decided to try it again recently after switching to CM7 and it worked perfectly. After upgrading even more recently to the "Ice Cold Sandwich" ROM from these forums, the GPS is still working perfectly.

I don't know what was wrong with it, but it works now!
[Desire HD General] DoRiLoN:
So guys how bad was your gps perception before u tried this method? Im not satisfied with my either: Ive got agps fix and get 8 satellites with 14 error outside and about 6 with 66 error near a window. Do u think I should try this or it isnt worth it? 10x
[Desire HD General] celeron74:
HI

I had problem with my HDH and some reason gps was not working properly.

Hard reset and start over with install all my apps one by one. And I found it that one application was causing software problems. Screen lock. Come reason after install this very useful small application my gps in HDH could not work as expected. After removing that app back to normal.
[Desire HD General] fallenkirmit:
I just wanted to thank Rakesh for this valuable info! I bent the springs up and scrapped the connections down a bit to ensure a solid connection. Put my phone carefully back together and BAM booted up my phone and opened up "GPS Status" app and cleared internal data and even before I could download assistance data I was on 10 satellites with 100% strength lol and I was in my basement too!

You are a life saver! :thumbup: <3
[Desire HD General] karlym:
Fixed, thanks! It works indoor too. I just put a drop of conductive stuff on each contact (the white one used for electronics).
[Desire HD General] tom!79:
Tested yesterday, seems that the fix work great, thank you.
[Desire HD General] krzych:
Can you clarify "100%"? As I never saw SNR ratio greater than 40 what means probably (but I'm not an expert) than signal strength divided by noise strength equals to SNR - so basically if the signal is 100 and noise is 2.5 then SNR equals 40 _and_ when signal is 50 and noise is 1.25 then SNR equals 40 _either_, so how did you check your signal, cause I see no way to be honest... at least not with GPS Test application...

And by the way, you have holes in your basement/cellar, and those are big - or windows, a big ones - no way for the GPS signal get through a concrete wals and ceiling. Simply NO_WAY.

I like positive feedback, but I don't like misleading opinions. The fix really fixes the indoor fix (;-P), but indoors means a room with at least one big window and quite close to it. I even noticed a BIG difference with my balcony door closed vs completely open where GPS could sustain the fix with closed, but could NOT get a fix when closed while one meter from it, had to open the door, then all was an eyeflash.
[Desire HD General] trackattaker:
Thanks

Just tried this myself and worked PERFECTLY. There was a lot of dust under the cover, and the contacts on the cover were pretty coroded. I cleaned the dust and scraped the corrosion off. Before trying it i couldn't even find a sattellite in view. After...it got 7 sattellites in use in under 30 seconds with an accuracy of 50ft. And this is indoors. Awesome!!!

Thanks rakesh2002 :D
[Desire HD General] tosomax:
guys suddenly i can't get a fix with my DHD!

I tried the agps patch, it worked but after a few hours i got no fix. the i reinstalled the patch and i got again a fix. after one day again no gps fix, so i tried again with the agps patch but this time didn't work. so i tried this guide, i have removed all the dust and polished the contacts but it seems i can't get a fix anymore! with gps status i can't see any satellite after 5 minutes....do i need to give it more time? i don't know what to do :( it always worked well!!!
[Desire HD General] fallenkirmit:
What I meant by 100% I guess was mostly just a graphic representation of the signal strength for each satelite in the gps status app (little green bars under each lock). Considering I am in a concrete basement with a very small (2 feet long by 1 1/2 feet high) and am "locked onto a signal" I would consider phenominal at the very least.
[Desire HD General] krzych:
This is completely unreferential, but fair enough as a general info - add application name to this, will be even more complete.

Still can't believe this. Holes everywhere or simply bad app showing you have still the signal... Concrete is a concrete. Eventually it is a very very thin concrete without a steel skeleton, inch at most ;). Ok, nevermind. If you want to be precise, doublecheck this with GPSStatus by Mike Lockwood (market) - this is an opensourced GPS test application made by Google employee, I can fairly say that it is for now best tool for tests, works on every ROM in every conditions and hasn't any bugs that could fake the result. If you'll do it, do it for yourself, not for me ;).
[Desire HD General] gl79:
GPS FIXED

Thanks rakesh2002 for these great instructions.Tried all soft tweaks to fix my gps, but this one did the trick!

I didn't have the tools you showed so only used a small screwdriver. It left a little mark, but nothing serious.

Just 5 min work!

Regards
[Desire HD General] DesertEagleSlim:
omg thank you so much for this idea. I could never get a fast fix on GPS. especially when. I was holding the phone. mainly because I have a protective case on it. but now that I tried this, fixes a signal in seconds. even indoors in my basement. incredible thanks a million.
[Desire HD General] duluu:
Thx seems like my problem is solved :)
[Desire HD General] xburian:
Have to try this.. My GPS fix take forever.. Thx

Sent from DHD - Tapatalk
[Desire HD General] andyverran:
Worth a look here too, worked on my DHD.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=17292607

AGPS Patch Inspire 4G 3.1 & 2.2 | GET BACK TO RAPID GPS LOCK, CAN LOCK ONTO MORE SATS
[Desire HD General] AndroidAdski:
Here is a quick & easy way to apply the AGPS patch:

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=35219722&postcount=15
[Desire HD General] XDA_h3n:
Why is everyone talking about GPS patches? Mine has luckily been working in all roms. I get 6-8 satellites in 20 seconds.
[Desire HD General] Kraig.kak:
This too was my problem! The contacts on the cover piece had pretty good dents in them so I added a little bit of solder to them!
[Desire HD General] andyverran:
That's actually pretty lucky....DHD doesn't have the best reputation in that area....mine didn't work at all (45 mins for a lock) from new until that patch...2 years old and finally its the phone I bought....the patch and some codefireX....awesome.
[Desire HD General] YdLeet:
Great post, thanks a lot! :victory:
[Desire HD General] ArviSem:
No lock even with 5-6 satellites

I am Using the CodefireX 4.2.1 ROM by Synergye on my DHD. With no A-GPS, I get 5-6 satellites in 5-10 minutes (varies for reasons not know to me). However, I still never get a fix.:confused:
[Desire HD General] andyverran:
Have you tried the patch?
[Desire HD General] ArviSem:
I don't want to use A-GPS. The patch AFAIK helps with A-GPS. I'd be ok even with 30-40 min fix using GPS but so far no luck. Am planning to open it as described in the OP. Will post back my feedback once I do it.
[Desire HD General] Etzelx:
Thank you. My problem is solved. It was real problem for me to use GPS.
[Desire HD General] Dlog:
this "patch" is pretty much useless if you don't know what it does and where it comes frome.....

it comes from here:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1028405

and all it does is wipe the temp drivers for gps (and probably other stuff too)....it doesn't patch anything!
[Desire HD General] sadejunix:
Great post. My problem is solved! :victory:
[Desire HD General] Heinzelmaennchen:
Works Great!

Worked great for me, but I had to repeat it several month later.

Thia time I also used some cleaning spray (don't spray it directly on your device!!! :silly: use some tissue or what ever...:cyclops:) for electronic contacts. Now it works for more than a year!!! :highfive:
[Desire HD General] deadsky:
thanks work for me

can get GPS signal
[Desire HD General] akkiekhandelwal:
Thanx! Worked for me, finally! :thumbup:
[Desire HD General] mac-duff:
Hi there,

I also removed the GPS antenna but when I am using the GPS Status tool it tells me 1/1 Fix/Sats. but below still looking for GPS location.

I live in West Germany, any idea what else it could be? I also just wiped my phone and using jelly bean 4.2

Thanks

Stephan
[Desire HD General] MiikO:
Can I somehow fix no GPS signal is not buying a new antenna?
[Desire HD General] mac-duff:
so, got it working, finally :D

I also had to install the app FasterFix and now I get my GPS set.

Only thing is that it takes about a minute in the house to get the location, but probably its normal :)
[Desire HD General] etna81:
Yes, fast working
[Desire HD General] salman45:
Thanks
[Desire HD General] LikssOn:
Thanks
[Desire HD General] adrenalinas:
I used mod described somewhere here in forum. just took insulated wire about 5cm long. striped ends and mounted striped end to gps antena contacts... GPS working fine...(be careful not to shortwire to other components)

P.S. GPS fixing depend from your rom very much. I had jellytime R3. and had troubles to fix on sattelites. But with version R6 there is no troubles at all...
[Desire HD General] Mazarin07:
Another smartphone

Do you have any suggestion for my phone?
[Desire HD General] Melt1down:
Great post worked for me.
[Desire HD General] 20mark:
fixed gps once and forever with a blob of solder ONLY on contact's cover.

btw first time i soldered something :D im so proud of myself XD
[Desire HD General] 王强_Sir:
thank you man.:p

i will try to work on PACMAN
[Desire HD General] 20mark:
pacman rom since ver 20 has BROKEN gps. so its software problem,not hw.
[Desire HD General] walent:
This didn't really work? I'm on SVHD.
[Desire HD General] 王强_Sir:
yep，thank you.:p
[Desire HD General] TungstenE2:
thanks
[Desire HD General] walent:
Does this look like a worn out contact? I ordered a new one because i can't fix my gps
[Desire HD General] rakesh2002:
seems like it is worn out, a replacement would be a wise choice.
[Desire HD General] 20mark:
yes, is worn out. you can check yourself by the black small dots on top of golden piece.
[Desire HD General] apolon005:
not working for me:crying:
[Desire HD General] walent:
Bought new cover from eBay, not much difference. 6-7 satellites in 60+ seconds outdoors.
[Desire HD General] gore2kill4:
Thx nice fix 100% work:good:
[Desire HD General] rakesh2002:
chk this out:

<http>://cgi.ebay.com/Genuine-HTC-Desire-HD-A9191-GPS-Antenna-Cover-Camera-uk-/130503373692?_trksid=p3286.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D1%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D289595368326286063#ht_2127wt_905

You notice that there are two Flash LEDs (white and cuboidal in shape), and the gold contacts are explicitly for the GPS antenna.
[Desire HD General] a user:
i can't say i had gps issue but i still wanted to try this out because i allways was wondering how people got locks or at least some satelite fixes within their room...

i couldn't beleive what i saw, but i got 5 satelites WITHIN my office near the window (not directly close to the window) within 20 sec or so.

thanks! ;)
[Desire HD General] Trailblaze:
I was waiting ages outdoors for a GPS fix, I removed an aftermarket Gel case I had on the DHD ad bingo locked straight away. If people are having to modify their hardware then this suggests to me that HTC are not testing their devices properly before releasing them into the wild. Also isnt this a warranty issue? Back onto the original topic -Thanks for the heads up on this mod
[Desire HD General] isotoper:
Right thanks.
[Desire HD General] neo6776:
I just used Faster Fix from the market and it works fine now.
[Desire HD General] eliashadow:
Οκ...Its working!!!Thanks mate,it was very usefull!!!Now i can see satellites near my window!!

Something like that to improve wifi and provider signals???:p
[Desire HD General] Hawks556:
I had to try this and it actually works! Together with fasterfix I get a gps fix outside almost instantly and now a get a fix even inside the house (near to a window) which I thought was impossible!
[Desire HD General] cometoluc:
that's one thing i'm gonna try, thanks for the tip
[Desire HD General] polystirenman:
well i was dumb enough to try this.while i was trying to push springs upwards one of the hooks that holds it on the board broke off and now i hardly get two satellites.

guys, don't try this if you don't really have GPS issues.i ended up with fu..ed up phone.

i am not saying that this method does not work all i'm trying to say is BE CAREFUL!
[Desire HD General] Dutchship:
What SNR values were you seeing before/after you performed this tweak? Anyone else got pre/post GPS Test values to compare?
[Desire HD General] rakesh2002:
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]
[Desire HD General] The PyroPath:
Well I read your post before I tried, and surely enough, with the kind of luck I'm having I should have. So I pulled all my hairs out when the little piece which has an opening in it which allows for movement broke and flew through the room. I was sweating and guttered. I thought I was screwed. I snapped the cover back in place and I tried to find satelites. I was "not surpriced" to see only 2 satelites pop up and off the screen...

But I didn't give up and opened her up again. After making the top part of the little spring as flush as possible to the contact point in the cover I snapped the cover back on I was overjoyed by the fact that it worked again! And best of all, way better then before!

I'm in a concrete house and inside I get 24/25 average dB and 6 satelites, outside I get 10/12 satelites and average dB of 35/36. I'm not touching this again, that's for sure!
[Desire HD General] XifeX:
Thanks for this. Recieving gps signal a lot better now
[Desire HD General] odin13:
Still no gps fix after trying this solution...mine must be f****d :(
[Desire HD General] t-bon3:
If you want to try this fix WITHOUT taking the back off your phone then simply press firmly on the plastic cover, just below the flash LED's.

This will improve the connection between the GPS antenna and the phone. You can even wiggle the cover around very slightly to clean the contact area.

Start GPS status and see if your signal strength bars get taller or more numerous while you are pressing on the back.

If the signal increases while you are pushing on the back, then reduces when you let go, you need to flip the back off and bend those springs out a bit.
[Desire HD General] rakesh2002:
Hello friends,

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.

"There's always a bigger fish."

QUI-GON JINN, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
[Desire HD General] rakesh2002:
1234567890a
[Desire HD General] dppdrumsen:
it totally worked for me, thank you. but it was a pain in the ass to open and close the case without damaging anything. never mind though, it was the solution.
[Desire HD General] DynamicRam:
i think those are the LED contacts
[Desire HD General] rakesh2002:
Hi Trailblaze,

I reckon the warranty won't be void unless you unscrew the PC board within the phone. If you notice near the battery slot, there is a small cap with a "void" mentioned over it. Unlike the Samsung phones (where you need to unscrew the board to find the GPS antenna contacts), the DHD GPS Antenna is placed in a detachable casing with no screws or wires, and that you can find spare casing in ebay or elsewhere.
[Desire HD General] frottage:
Word of warning

Ive had some difficulties with my GPS getting a fix or losing it during navigation so I was extremely happy to see this post - in the building (office) I am in I tried getting a fix by putting the phone by the window - it could see 4 satellites but got no absolute fix. So I set about removing the cover which was easy - I cleaned the contacts and slightly tweaked the springs up. (by the way the contacts are for an antennae and not for the LEDs as some have suggested - the flash LED's are actually mounted on the motherboard they are SMD LEDs). I replaced the cover and now I can get NO satellites from my window - I have reopened the cover 3 times now and tried re-seating the cover etc but i cant get a single satellite to be detected. I will try it again out doors in my lunchbreak but i fear I have shafted things :(
[Desire HD General] Alexxm:
same problem here.

I proceed the steps described in the 1st post (open, clean, lift up the contacts and close the cover) but now it's hard to find any GPS satellites :(

I tried this procedure sometimes but no success at all.

Maybe the GPS antenna in the cover is broken?

Any ideas?
[Desire HD General] odin13:
I'll see if this fix will work...i'm definitely not going to solder anything :)

If that doesn't work i'll just drive over my DHD with a car and ask for a new one...i'm paying insurance for it so might as well do that :D
[Desire HD General] DubelBoom:
u know when WIFI or MOBILE DATA on so GPS fix is faster right?

some1 needs to check with WIFI and MOBILE DATA off and then do this guild and check again when WIFI and MOBILE DATA are off.
[Desire HD General] polystirenman:
Well I have tried to fix my previous problem and my GPS is totally dead.not even a single satellite in view.

By applying this "fix" I fu..ed my phone.it's 50-50 chance you'll meet the same faith by doing this.

This is my sixth HTC phone and not one of them has had properly and without problems working GPS.

Shame on you HTC.

I tried this cos I went for trip to Paris and most of the time it wouldn't even lock on or if it did accuracy was 70 meters!it would then drop after while and I was really disappointed by it's performance.

It worked quite fine while I had data connection available but in France I was in Roaming thus my data were disabled.DHD has really poor GPS receiver on board by me and without WI-FI or data it's close to useless.

So once again... BE CAREFUL guys!
[Desire HD General] liquido2:
Nice find. I have never really had a problem with GPS locking but its always good to know this is a possible fix if my beloved DHD Starts to have issues.
[Desire HD General] willcor:
i agree with DubelBoom (eg.i have found 7 out of 10 times ) by having wifi or mobile data on , it does /could help !

Would not say it could be a fix, but i found it helps !

My overall experience is ,sometimes i get a fix in seconds ,sometimes it takes longer ,

but i always get a fix !

My logic / opinion ,is tinkering with the inside of my phone etc.,

cleaning, bending contacts points .. etc ?

is not really going to help !

, but then again ,its your phone and its what you believe !

good luck