yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
my wifi actually works perfect. I have excellent signal strength, according to settings wifi info and Elixer2 wifi strength widget which shows basically 100%. I've never had issue with signal strength no matter where I'm at in residence. had this baby connected to my high speed wireless since 12/22 andhasnt dropped connection once. even compared side by side to my Ipad on signal strength and download/upload speeds. it was fighting par with Ipad and even better at times.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Magnesus:
Transformer Prime has a GPS chip which is different from WiFi chip and is manufactured by Broadcom if I remember correctly - there was a photo of insides of Trasnformer somewhere. So no need for conspiracy theories. ;) In house GPS can get no lock if the antenna is too weak or your house is very robust (or you are away from windows).

Having WiFi on should speed up things though (getting the first lock). Without it the first lock could easily take those maximum 12,5 minutes (and it's AFTER finding the first satellite).

If you don't get anything after 15 minutes outside sth is wrong though. If you get a lock you should not lose it easily also. My TF101 sometimes lost GPS in the middle of the road but only before update to HC3.1.

You could try getting a lock with Transformer positioned differently - for example with the screen to the sky or with the back to the sky. I don't know. I'm worried about this thing because even if you don't need GPS the resell value is hurt by the lack of it. Also the report that dropping the device helped the GPS might mean there is something loose inside.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] wish34:
I'm suspecting that it could be a GPS antenna fault on some of the units. ...

I can't see that its because of the metal casing as they all have metal casing and if that were true none of them would work.. .. I can't imagine its can be fixed with software either, because they all have the same software to.

I did remember that some of the early test samples had a WiFi antenna issue.

if get a faulty GPS it will be going back ....
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] RussianMenace:
So either there are serious manufacturing defects or ASUS R&D as well as their QC didn't catch the fact that the GPS is hindered/killed by the alumina casing. If it's a defect then it should be fixable but we would have to send them back to Asus. If it's a complete design flaw then I don't see any other fix other than complete re-design of the casing; something like plastic Apple logo on the iPad, but with Asus.

My 2nd Prime should be here next week...we will see. Maybe if that one doesn't work I'll drop it on the floor before I return it, see if that fixes it.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] tylermaciaszek:
+1 my wifi is amazing never dropped before but as for the GPS once Asus gets stock back to normal I bet they will start replacing ours
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] peare:
The ones with a working GPS, dont they have metal casing? So, I still dont get it. Some work, some dont. How come?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] forceOnature:
I have two ATPs , one from NewEgg and one from Best Buy. Neither are able to acquire GPS.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] fuzzer:
as far as we know, they are working statically, i.e. motionless...We don't know if they actually took them for a test drive....
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] jdbaker82:
Because in this cases their definition of working is being able to acquire a satallite not drive from point A to point B while staying locked on. The Primes do and will eventually lock a GPS signal but the strength of the signal is a 1 out of 10.

---------- Post added at 03:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:24 PM ----------

WiFi depending on what exact model of router you are connecting to has OK signal strength but I've tested 5 different WiFi devices on 4 different routers with 2 Primes and in every case the Prime has a weaker signal strength then the laptops,cell phones galaxy tab.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Wordlywisewiz:
Stop worrying about your GPS worry about your charger coming apart and put some glue on it before it does lol
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BixBix78:
We should create a script of questions to ask asus regarding this matter, call asus, document all bs answers the csr reps give us in this thread (make sure to get names and employee id's) roll up all that data, tests, gps chip info, etc and then bomb every site, social media we can think of. Sounds like fun to me. #Asusgate lol
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] madpoet:
So in my car yesterday with Wifi on and a clear day I was seeing 15, locked to 12, accuracy to 45 feet. Signal strength on all of them was pretty lousy. If I started driving I would periodically lose all of them for a period of time. Trying to use the actual Navigation did not work either.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BixBix78:
That's rich. Thanks for the laugh bro!
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BixBix78:
Above was to madpoet
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BixBix78:
I meant word wise glu comment sry
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] jdbaker82:
Exactly everyone can stop thinking some work some do they all have the same GPS and wifi chips in them the only difference is how people are testing and using their GPS. Now if someone can put in an address on the GPS get in their car and drive point a to point B without a hiccup then that changes everything but I have yet to hear of anyone doing this. Bottom line is that the GPS and WiFi signal is being hampered( significantly in the GPS's case) by the aesthetically pleasing design of the all metal backing.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] wynand32:
After reading most of this entire thread, I have to disagree with the conclusion drawn in this last sentence: we have no idea at this point what's causing the GPS issues. Nobody has any evidence whatsoever that the problem is the metal design of the Prime.

This could very well be entirely software-related, or a hardware bug with the GPS chip itself.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
^^^^^Wow, account currently disabled. what is that, a ban from posting? I know there's a couole others who more so deserved that if that's the case.

But anyways, hopefully Asus has heard enough gripe about the issues at hand and is either ready to publicly address it or offer some type of fix or remedy to this. plus give us all free keyboard docks for the hassel..lol
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] RussianMenace:
Has anyone sent their unit to Asus to get it looked at?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] n11:
Well said...agree completely.

It appears that the TF201 is capable of receiving and utilizing a gps signal under optimal conditions (outside, screen up), but it is not able to operate under real world conditions like navigating in a moving car.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
for me not yet. as Gamestop has a 30 day policy on devices open box can be exchanged directly for another one. I'm hoping by then they reciece fresh shipments of devices with issues fixed. then I'd go on and exchange just to get a fresh device. my prime has no issues other than no real Gps lock yet. I haven't tried it on a clear day yet. can take a lil bit to get first lock n its cold outside..lol. I'd rather exchange with Gamestop vs. send in unit to Asus. Gamestop would be instant exchange. with sending it in, who knows how long they would take. either way when Gamestop 30 day exchange runs out, we still have a year warranty with Asus themselves. waiting to see if this might possibly be a software issue and an update remedies this.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] briant97:
Fixed my GPS

This is steps I took to fix my gps. BTW when I got the unit I immediately upgraded to latest firmware which took it from 8.8.3.27 to 8.8.3.29. My friend also got one the same day and his gps does not work either. So we will be going home at lunch to see if we can fix his.

Steps..

I called support they recommend factor reset which i did. I tried navigation and compass software and it did not work. They then recommended I install gps fix, google maps, google earth. I installed those let the fix run for 15 min and still nothing. I then installed gps status and gps essentials. At this point the only software I could get to lock on to satellites was gps status it would work pretty well. Nothing else worked at all. So I used a paper clip to hit the reset button on the side and once rebooted all gps software worked well navigator, gps essentials, gps status and so on. Google earth has me standing in parking lot at work right outside the window im in.

I also just powered off device and went back in and it found me without flaw.

I hope this post helps someone get their unit fixed.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] nxp3:
What the hell does it matter what's causing it

We aren't scientists and we certainly don't have all the necessary equipment to do all the testings ourselves. It shouldn't matter what the hell is causing the GPS to NOT work. Metal backs? Bad GPS? Poor design? Who cares. That is not our job. And we should not have to test this on a clear sky with the sun to the south, and standing on one foot.

A GPS is designed to work in everyday driving, walking, biking condition. If it does not do that, then it's not doing its job and is no good. We should not test this thing in a super ideal condition. It should be working on an everyday condition. That means some days are cloudy, some are rainy and some are clear. It should be working in those condition. If you turn around and it loses satellites...then its' faulty. I expect this to work while sitting in my house and driving, but it isn't. I had no problem with the asus transformer, I had no problems with my phone. In fact I'm in my room and my phone can still get 5-6 satellites. It only requires 2 to get a location, and 3 to get elevation. The fact that the map cannot determine location means that the GPS is not working well enough for the map to pinpoint your location.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] n11:
If you have a chance would you use Google navigation and try to use it to get somewhere in a car. Also, are you getting a satellite fix while inside with wifi turned off and in airplane mode?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Lock-N-Load:
ugh.. the mere thought of having to wipe all the work one has done to set up apps, settings, home screens, install.. all lost with the push of a paper clip

---------- Post added at 08:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:32 AM ----------

yes, 3-4-5 pages back (?) a guy sent his in yesterday with a 7 day turn around they said. he should report back what he gets back.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
I'm thinking the same thing also. I hate having to set up all over again. I wonder if a normal reboot, power off then back on or an app or widget that'll reboot will yield same results.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] qqPatrick:
No GPS for me

Have tried cold boot, software updates, installing GPS essentials, waiting 12.5 minutes outside but 0 satellites found...

No other issues to report other than that
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] aldrouin:
[YOUTUBE]ILhblCH9Q_Y[/YOUTUBE]

Here is a video of me testing on a clear day. Ok, the video sucks, it's from my work Blackberry, but I didn't have anything else that was *mobile*. I spent too much of my vacation getting pissed at asus for me to be happy about it.

Anyway, I called ASUS this morning, I have a RMA with them, they told me that I had to pay to ship them their defective unit. I was pissed.

I then called tigerdirect.ca, they are willing to take back my unit (15 days to send it back), but they don't have any other unit to replace it in stock, so I would get a refund and end up without a unit... (WTF sucks) I'm starting to think Ipad3 lol. It's ****ing locked, it's gay, but god damnit it works. Well what apple says it does does work. Anyway, don't want to get into another android/apple device, I personally am more of an android guy, but wow.

Anyway, my options are :

stick with a broken unit. (well GPS is broken, rest works fine)

RMA it and pay AGAIN for that ****ing sexy tablet. (life sucks, but it sounds like my option)

Get a refund, send it back, and buy it again later when they fixed it.

Buy an ipad when it comes out (I guess ?)... Sobs time.

EDIT : Ok, after about 1 hour, it can view some satellites, still no lock (luck), but meh, though I'd share the fact that I have a GPS ship, it's just crappy at receiving anything.

[YOUTUBE]TPyyAitJDu0[/YOUTUBE]
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Lock-N-Load:
So far, I have only read of 1 case I can recall where a reset did anything, and that was right above. Most reported it did nothing, I am not trying it.

BTW, more and more I start to think there is some sort of software error. Why? I sit here and work all day and run all kinds of GPS tests with GPS Status and the 1 thing I notice over and over... the moment I do something else like take a screen shot or interact with the settings menu or go to another app and come back, all signals drop off and then have to come back again. Why would that ever happen? It is as though everything software that I do creates interference that drops all the signals. And then they all come back.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] nxp3:
**** I didn't even know there was a reset hole. My eyes are pretty poor. Anyway, if this fixes the problem we should all chip in and buy you lunch. But seems like an unlikely fix. Will try when I get home.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Lock-N-Load:
If your willing to do a reset and try it... do it. I am curious as this guy is the only guy in this whole thread I can think of that said it did something. So, if your willing to reset also and see, do it and report back.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] nxp3:
5pm central time I will be home to do it and report back. I'm willing if it says it fixes it.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] dajackal9999:
Reset Prime

I reset my Prime through the hole on the side. I did not however do a factory reset. No diff. 0 sats and locks sitting next to my Epic 4g Touch which has 6 sats locked out of 8.:mad:
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BarryH_GEG:
This doesn't make any sense. If GPS is "on" it's active and should be available to any application dependent on it. The app makes a call to the OS which makes a call to the GPS. All apps use the same API calls so I can't see how any app or launching apps in a different order would change anything. In the vid I posted god knows how many pages back using a different tablet, doing a cold boot and launching GPS Test showed 8 satellites viewed and used instantly when it was launched. That's the way it's supposed to work. It's hard to believe that with all the different combinations of s/w people have loaded on their Prime's and the order in which they loaded it that the sequence the OP used is the exclusive and only combo to make GPS work.

Two people posted here that obviously were extremely knowledgeable (I'm not one of them) and explained both how GPS works and what the potential causes of the Prime’s struggles are. A summary:

1) The only true test of the GPS chip itself is after a cold boot with Wi-Fi off. Once the chip gets a lock, the satellites it found are memorized and the Prime will seem fine until its location changes. So people that are saying “it works now!” when turning Wi-Fi off after a lock are seeing satellites only because the chip had them memorized (see driving test below). Similarly, if you're connected to Wi-FI, aGPS is most likely to be what's getting the lock and keeping up with the Prime's location, not the chip itself. For those of you that are happy only having working GPS when you're connected to Wi-Fi none of this should bother you.

2) After a cold boot with Wi-Fi off, several people were able to get a lock but only outdoors with a direct view of the sky. Those are near perfect conditions and GPS chips used in every other tablet aren't that sensitive. No one's been able to get a lock indoors after a cold boot w/o the aid of Wi-Fi.

3) After getting a lock, and no longer using aGPS via Wi-Fi, the driving test people are talking about shows that the chip itself can't continue to track satellites on its own while moving. A Scandinavian website tested the Prime's GPS against the TF1 and got the same results.

So like wynand32 said, we're not engineers and can't say with certainty what the cause is. It certainly looks like something's causing the chip not to receive a continuous and adequate signal. Regardless, having to go through flaming hoops and not knowing how and when you can depend on GPS means something's seriously wrong.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] skinien:
Does anyone happen to know how to go about contacting tech sites like anandtech, phandroid, engadget? I think if we report the issue to them enough so that articles get written, Asus will be quicker to respond.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] nxp3:
I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the way the CPU changes state from quad core to dual core to running on the 5th core for non-graphics intensive task. As state by one user and also observed by me. If you are on GPS status and have lock on satellites, then you change screen to do something else and come back to GPS status, it would show 0 locks. This makes me believe that the GPS services is put into susupend mode instead of running continuously in the background. Either way...this thing isn't usable...no matter what the problem is...asus needs to get involved now before we ship it all back to them.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BongoBong:
For engadget there is a "tip us" button on the main page near the top. Not sure on the others.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] nxp3:
I sent engadget a tip already last week about the GPS, but encourage everyone to do the same, maybe they'll catch it if a lot of people do it.

I also post some words on asus facebook. I encourage everyone to flood asus until we get a response.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Lock-N-Load:
My outside cold boot test

1. Turned off wifi

2. Left GPS on

3. Shut down tablet

4. Let sit 5 minutes

5. Walked

outside

into middle of the street.

6. Turned on tablet (remember, NO wifi on and only GPS on) and... it took maybe 2 minutes or less and I got 15 in view and 11 locked on!

See the screenshot... no WiFi and 15 & 11 @60 feet. Remember, I was the guy that posted 10 pages ago about having nothing, dropped his tablet, picked it up and viola.. signals
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] RussianMenace:
Hmm, how about indoors? You getting anything?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] skinien:
The issue here is we have a poorly functioning GPS. It shouldn't take two minutes to get a location fix and with 11 locks, error should be 5 meters at the most.

---------- Post added at 10:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:22 AM ----------

Done, thank you.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] fuzzer:
more interested in actual navigation...i.e. driving...
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Lock-N-Load:
Yes, I do. But I live in a ranch style home.

AND, I have not done a cold boot test indoors just like what I did above, so I will do that next to get apples to apples. But before I do I can get, as I posted before after the tablet drop, +7-8-9 signals indoors with wifi to start and keep them when shut wifi off. So, I will do a cold boot indoor test now just like above and see.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] n11:
Removing the back cover.

Has anyone tried removing the back cover to see if they can get an indoor fix that way? I'm not sure how to remove it but I'm going to search for the answer and try that. If there is a NOT substantial difference with the cover off then we may eliminate a major variable.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] cjbailey75:
Its the software I did a fireware update last night and GPS found 16 sat and locked on 11 wifi off and within 2 mins. My droid razr had a few more sat but just as fast. Not returning mine everything works now. Bleeding has gone away and wifi works not the best but fine.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] RussianMenace:
Did you install any updates before this one?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] aldrouin:
So after 5 hours or so of waiting for a lock to happen, my GPS finally decided to do lock.

Given, it is currently sitting still, I wouldn't go on a field trip, i'm pretty sure i'd loose the signal, considering it's currently loosing locks every seconds, but at least I'm getting something.

I will continue my test day and hope it fixes itself (doubtful about that), but at least I can say I throughly tested it...

[YOUTUBE]YeiOh09v54I[/YOUTUBE]

It wasn't getting any signal, so I did a cold reboot with no wireless location and it was able to get some signal from satellites.

Other than that, I'm not putting anything on the device until I know what I will do with it. It's still not functional, I was just lucky enough to get a lock, figured I would post how it happened.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Lock-N-Load:
My inside cold boot test

1. Turned off wifi

2. Left GPS on

3. Shut down tablet

4. Let sit 5 minutes

5. Sitting in my office inside a ranch style house

6. Turned on tablet (remember, NO wifi on and only GPS on) and... it took maybe 2.5 minutes or so and I got 8-9 in view and 6 locked on and reported about 45-60 feet accuracy!

So no WiFi and 8 & 6 @45-60 feet.

So, indoors, it took maybe 30 seconds longer at most, and I got less signals and locks but I admit, better than I expected
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] briant97:
Just not when I hit the reset button it was just a reboot basically it did not wipe and set back to factor. I have yet to test with driving I will here soon. My friend did install gps essentials and that was all he had to do it get it working. He then tried to navigate back to work with it but it did not work correctly. So something is still screwed up with his I still have to test mine.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] coquipr:
I'm not getting any view or lock on mine.only with WiFi on.I have an HTC hd2 and when the porting of HTC 3.0 started GPS was not functional until tytung a member here fixed a bunch of GPS conf. But for that we have to be rooted

Just say
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] RussianMenace:
Very interesting, maybe there is some light at the end of this tunnel...hopefully it isn't a train. Did you by chance "clear" the GPS data using GPS Status? Wondering if it remembered the sat from your outside test run. Not trying to be a negative-nancy, just want to make sure all our bases are covered.

Thanks for trying this btw.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] cjbailey75:
just the update from last night havent had it 24 hours but mine is fine.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] briant97:
keep in mind the reset hole is the one below the sd card on left side of tablet in landscape view.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Lock-N-Load:
I did not clear AGPS data this time for my tests, but I had about 5 times over the past days since I got it. And at this stage, with these results, I don't plan to right now.

Also recall, if you did not read it, I was the guy that had like zero signals like everyone else, dropped my tablet during a GPS test and picked it up and viola.. signals rolling in the moment I turned it over to look and see if I had broken the screem. That was about 10 pages ago I posted the details :)
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] wish34:
looking at that screenshot you posted shouldnt the locked satellites be green, its optimum viewing yet signal strength is still yellow..........
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] RussianMenace:
Thanks for trying it out, bud. Appreciate it. Well, maybe if my new Prime comes with jacked up GPS ill try and drop it on the carpet floor before I return it to BB. See if does the trick.:D
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] demandarin:
OK, so if you just got it and this your first update then this is the update everyone has already. I check on a daily basis almost for any new updates through settings. don't forget ICS should be coming to us any day now. if its software issue affecting GPS, then lets hope the fix is included in ICS if no other updates comes before then.