yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] htcm7:
Hi guys,

I have problem with my GPS too, but may be I found the solution, here are what you need to do :

1) Actually, GPS can runs without internet connection, but, when it takes to long to get a lock, it is time to update your GPS data, so turn on your Internet Connection

2) Go to your Location Access and turn on Access to my location, make sure that you checked GPS Satellites and Wifi and mobile network location

3) Also important is that you use your original gps.conf, I found that settings on this file (except for ntp servers) is the most suitable for G2

4) Go to G2's hidden menu, on my phone, by dial 3845#*802#, I think (except for Verison), you can change 802 with your phone model

5) After Hidden menu shows, choose Gnss Test

6) Press menu and choose Start GPS and wait until GPS get locks (this could take time, up to 5 minutes on my case). This the process that new GPS data downloaded into your phone

7) When it's get locks, you can turn off GPS and then turn it on again, but this time checked GPS Satellites only and leave Wifi and mobile network unchecked

8) You will notice that this time, your GPS will locks quickly

Locking speed is only works for a few hours, when, it became to long again, you need to repeat those processes.

Note :

1) If you can't use Gnss Test in hidden menu, you can use app from play store to download your GPS data, such as GPS Fix or GPS Toolbox or any other app that capable to manage AGPS data

2) If your phone is rooted, you can slightly modified your gps.conf, remove the # sign before the text NTP_SERVER = time.gpsonextra.net, do it again to set for region, if you live in asia, remove where you find NTP_SERVER=asia.pool.ntp.org

I have tested many time and it works for me, hope it work for you too.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] obladi64:
Hi,

I have got several tips and finally I applied "UPDATE4: NEW GPS FIX TWEAKED BY DCOP7" in

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2205560

Thanks to Drop7 it looks very promising. I attach same test result and although SGS4 is still far better the change is dramatic. And what is more it was better abit earlier but I didn't feel like being out there in the cold to repeat same result. I am interested how it behaves in traffic on the way.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] MoNsTeReNeRgY22:
Tried the fix and still getting terrible GPS during navigation. This phone is so frustrating.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] obladi64:
I continue test on the road. I used only satellite GPS. I said mode is promising but finally I can say that it remains that. I put phone in the car window and I check the accuracy on the next 10 km in the city traffic. Phone recognized 10-12 satellites but only a few had yellow signal and practically never green. The accuracy was between 10 and 20 meter. We can say so so. Then I put the equipment at the seat. Only 4-5 orange and usually 30 or 40 meter. Practically it is useless and very shameful. Actually this not the only thing what I don't like in this phone but it is biggest and final reason to consider selling. I think I will return to Samsung soon. After all I didn't have problem with that. All I wanted is a better phone. I am disappointed even if some features are very good in LG.

PS. If I have chance I will repeat same test soon with S4 too.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] hyperxguy:
I had similar experience. The 1st time I loaded a rooted ROM (full wipes), GPS took 4ever to lock ... the pointer kept jumping around.. The accuracy was so bad, it put me a on the next street on the map. I loaded GPS Test (from Play) and downloaded the AGPS file off wifi. There has been no issue since. I have done a few trips with Navigon (freeways and all, no mobile data).
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] obladi64:
Yes without mode and GPS status it is absolutely useless. I used GPS Test (from Play). It locks quickly but accuracy is not enough good even in the window. Also it unlocked once during the approx 10 km long trip. I know that I can improve the performance with A-GPS a bit but ... Please run that test program how many satellites have green signal on the road. It could prove that only sensor of my phone is not enough good.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] chinyuk:
Is this faulty hardware or software

I have read through this thread and hard to conclude if this is hardware or software issue. I can't seemed to get confirmation about people who replace their phone had better result to conclude it is hardware and at the same time, you can read that the Nexus 5, similar hardware and people have the same complaint which seemed to me is a hardware issue.

Another thing is given the lack of complaint thus far, I am starting to wonder if this is a selected device problem (i.e. hardware). If it is, I better bring it back to the guy that sold me the phone.

I have a D803 so hard to find other ROM to try but this has certainly been a huge disappointment. I tried my old S3 side by side and it is far more superior, lock 17~18 satellite out of 20 while this one hardly locks 1 and at most 2, can use it at all.

Generally, I can have it lock temporarily but once driving, it loses signal and never gain it back. Such a shame about this device as I love everything but this pretty useful feature as I rely on this for GPS navigation all the time as Android navigation beats more in-car navigation in my opinion.

I was hoping people who are running original ROM like AOSP could give some feedback about GPS performance.

Hope someone else could shed some light. I tried the DCOP7 fix, it didn't help at all.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] obladi64:
If more and more people could share their measured experience here it can help identify the root-cause. As I wrote it earlier my opinion is that it is general sensor issue. In other words it is hardware issue. You too proved it. And I believe this until someone can report an appropriate screen here. I am afraid that we should wait for ever.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] MoNsTeReNeRgY22:
Running the latest malladus and here is what I got after having the app open for about 15 seconds.

Update : ran navigation for a 2 hour trip and did not have 1 problem. (See ss) I did however have androitis running as well so don't know if that did anything
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] blast1412:
MoNsTeReNeRgY22,

Can you please share your gps.conf file? I have D802 and I'm having GPS lock problem as well. Since I obviously cannot flash malladus, I figured if I apply the same gps.conf I might be able to get the same result.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] obladi64:
Thanks MoNsTeReNeRgY22 for sharing it. I have to think about what it means. Seeing your update I had to change my comment a bit since I have got answers to my few questions. So you say that you have got this result with CM 10.2 M1 build unless you installed any GPS thing from Google Play or else expect AndroiTS? Your result looks so so and accuracy 10 m is already good but tell the true sometimes I got same number of satellites but only for short or not long period. The expected result would be non white and 3 or 5 in green What I have never been able to reach. Also I don't thing that AndroiTS would effect anything. It just listens. :)
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] MoNsTeReNeRgY22:
Hi there. I'll see if I can get it, otherwise you could download malladus and extract the zip and pull the gps.conf from there.

And no, i was running the M1 build and was having problems so I switched to the latest malladus. The screenshot I posted was from malladus and that was the first time I have used navigation and not lost the signal. I have as very impressed.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] blast1412:
Hi all,

I want to share my gps test. So I downloaded malladus rom, copied the gps.conf from inside the zip onto my device. I changed the ntp server to my country (Indonesia). So far looking good. I kept androiTS open the entire 2-hour driving, my gps consistently fixed until destination.

So here's the thing that I found really weird. My gps will stay locked when using androiTS, but as soon as I open another navigation program like Google maps or waze it unlocks the next minute sometimes less. If I reopen androiTS, it locks again pretty quickly. I don't know what to make of it but I'm quite sure it's just software issue.

Also another thing is my g2 doesn't work really well with glonass. It sees 6 Russian satellites but only uses 1 or 2 of them. I compared my g2 side-by-side with my gf's S4, her S4 uses all of them. So there's that.

hxxp://m.imgur.com/k79mPhu
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] obladi64:
Probably just because unlock can be recognize only if you glance at the screen in the appropriate moment. It unlocks me in AndroiTS too but I recognize it much rarely it is true.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] obladi64:
OK, I am tired and sick of it. The net is full with how to fix GPS issue on LG (not just G2) phone. I haven't found good and stable solution. Everything works more or less but result is far from of Samsung stock. And always do this do that and per 2 days or weekly. Hey stop for a minute. Who uses who? Me the phone or vise verse? I have had enough from LG world.

Finally I have left only one question. Why Samsung does not need these kind of hacking? Why can it work as it comes from the factory? Ok these were two questions. :)

Anyway the best for me here is Drop7's patch. I try to live with it until I get rid of this and never LG again.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] chinyuk:
This is a very annoying problem and I have tried everything on the app side to help resolve the problem to no avail. One of the reason why I wanted to give LG a try is my brother had great experience with the LG Optimus G (predecessor of this phone) and checking with him, he had no issue with GPS. He had a long 3 hrs drive with the GPS for a camp trip and never once he lost signal.

I am starting to sense that this is a standalone problem with individual phone and is a hit or miss. I mean, considering there are only a handful of complain on this forum and no subject matter expert to resolve the issue, I have to believe it is hardware dependent.

I had 3 Samsung and they all seemed to work well with GPS unless I flash custom ROM and might get GPS issue at times. I am really hope there is a software fix for this.

Being an engineer, I can only think of a few possibilities:

1) Lemon hardware, so it is specific to certain device, really hope other LG G2 can post their GPS signal level using AndroiTS or other GPS signal strength so we can compare and see if that's the case

2) Software issue, there may be ways to tweak GPS reception signal and really, that's our best bet if LG update it software, but rumor is that we won't get 4.4 until 1Q2014, that usually mean March IMO as LG isn't the quickest to update software.

Honestly, this is a great device, but the GPS hole is too much to fill. It's not that I use it everyday but I do say I would use it once or twice in a month and not having it work does sucks. Will have to see if an exchange of phone will help the cause.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] MoNsTeReNeRgY22:
Emailed the AndroiTS dev to see what he had to say about his app since I can only seem to get a solid lock with his app running in the background. Heres what he said.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] obladi64:
... and now?
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] matthewtyson:
On Verizon, I used TopNTP and GPS Status to get the GPS settings right and the aGPS data updated, and it works great.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] chinyuk:
I tried your solution, it is better, but once it lost signal, it just won't reacquire again. However, I was able to manage a 30 minute commute over highway and maintain signal on a cloudy night. So looks like the TopNTP customized conf.gps does help as I notice the delta from the stock file.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] MoNsTeReNeRgY22:
I'm not sure. Just trying to get as much info as possible and see if we can make sense of it here and find the culprit.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] obladi64:
So I think that my opinion what I wrote here earlier is valid. This could be signal strength issue. Check chinyuk's comment too. All software solution is for getting satellites' positions quickly. It helps identifying satellites from internet instead of from satellite but anyway GPS service or function or whatever we call it is not better significantly. If someone's phone sensor or antenna is more sensitive a bit can use navigation without or with rare unrecognized problem. If sensitivity would be high enough phone can get data from satellites too very quickly as a standalone GPS System.

For more info look at this thread.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2063295

The solution is linked there.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1318892

I do NOT encourage anybody to do it without hesitation but if someone already did it on G2 or any other please share the experiences.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] obladi64:
Not so many comments. OK I did some research on Youtube and reason is very clear. It is because of the antenna. More precisely the lack of the antenna.

Look at the inside picture of LG G2 and Samsung GS4. Ther is nothing between the contacts. Well would it be so expensive?

Anyway I will to fix it later. Firstly I need the appropriate tools for opening the back cover without any damage. You too can find few videos how to disassemble the phone.

I suggest to watch this in any case although the quality is not HD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxwpLiKTtXU

If anyone did this mod don't hesitate to share the result.

Warning! If you don't have enough experience in repairing electric devices do not try to do it alone.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] chinyuk:
Honestly, if I had to go to that extent to fix it, it is pretty sad. I am a pretty hands on guy but I can tell you that it is not as easy as in the video to ply open the shell. I recall a while back, I tried to replace my iPod Classic as the battery is dead. Bought the battery that came with the pliers but no matter how hard I try, it won't budge. Looks easy in video but not that easy. I assume if you had the official right too, it is probably not that bad.

I am starting to give up on this and hope a software patch will help with this problem. It is strictly from experience with no evidence, I recall in my Galaxy S3, the GPS was working like a charm for a long time but I went from ROM to ROM. I came across one ROM that was very weak in locking GPS and took forever and just won't lock the signal well. I imagine it could be driver related. Obviously, as you pointed out, the hardware design is flawed in the first place and I imagine with the # of Nexus 5 complainers out there as well, there is a handful of the G2/Nexus 5 that suffer the same problem. I mean, the design might work "just good" enough if the assembly was done picture perfect but if you are off, much like any antenna, the SNR will degrade drastically. My hope is that there is someway to help reception but I think it is a long shot cause if a hardware design is bad, no much you can do on software side cause this is the receiver and not the transmitter. For transmitter, if you boost the signal level, it will help, for receiving, it is how best you design you antenna and LG is just poor with this. Oh well. On some days, it is livable but I imagine driving downtown with too many building blocking forget it, you are totally SOL. Driving to work this morning, I was okay on the highway most of the time but as soon as I exit and there were condo blocking mostly the left side of my car, signal when dead. It's just plain annoying. I think this is a pretty hot sell device and I am still surprise if this is a common problem we don't get more rants in this forum about it, oh well, have to see if I can get an exchange for my phone.

---------- Post added at 02:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:35 PM ----------

Guys, did you check out this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1-uCIb-t8I&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Looking at the video and obladi64's picture of the internal of the G2, they look very similar. I have reason to believe that the Nexus 5 solution would also solve the problem with the LG G2 as well and might explain why some people are okay while others are not as it is probably assembly related.

I guess for those that dare to void their warranty and give this approach a try, it looks very promising.

Also, check out the Nexus 5 GPS issue forum as well, it seemed there are more than 1 success story.

http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/nexus/EkllXr0ZlZM[201-225-false]
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] obladi64:
Chinyuk, you are right, it is not so easy as it looks like on the video and nobody do not try it without enough experience.

But. I have bad news. Despite the difficulty there is no any other way to fix the problem. Nexus is not G2 although both are from LG. There is no antenna at all on the backside of the cover. See the picture. Same as HTC. Only the big stink mothing. See attached photo.

So if everything goes as planed may be I'll try to solder antenna there on Sunday.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] vyurin:
I have decided to post my observations.

I own LG G2 - 803. It is second instance, first one replaced with faulty battery. GPS behave similar in both. Sometimes it works very well compare to my old Galaxy S2 and comparably with Nexus 7. But sometimes it is very bad - signal is low and only few sat in view and no lock.

Initially I thought that somehow it is related to internal temperature, but after testing I think it is doesn't impact.

Second observation that sometimes after tossing it in hand it start or stop to work properly, so probably some issues with physical contact.

Other observation that if it works well, with clear sky it locks to 15-16 sats, after few seconds locking drops to 9. After close look I have figure out that when error reach 4-5m, it switch to 9 sats, so I think it is some kind of battery saving technic and I am ok with this.

Finally, yesterday it failed to lock successfully with clear view in my car. I have decided that it is time to fix it. After close look of service manual, I have found that antenna located in back cover and may not have good contact with main PCB.

So I decided to remove back cover and see what can be done for this.

So:

1. Remove back-cover (easy) and no damage.

2. Clean antenna contact with vodka (I don't have anything other) on backcover.

3. Spring contacts for gps antenna pushed a lit a bit up.

4. Assemble.

After initial test, signal and number of sats looks very good. Let's see how it will behave over time.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] obladi64:
I try to attach the picture once more.

Update

It does not work either.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] chinyuk:
Are you sure about this, I am looking at this YouTube Video, and it seemed to me it has the same contact as the Nexus 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8vVGC6z2Lk

Goto the 3:45 mark of the video and if you look at the cover, the bottom right corner has 2 square contact. I believe that's the contact for the GPS antenna as this matches the same area where you show the GPS location in your picture. I mean, it is the opposite side to the flash so that's how I correlate. I am very interested in trying the Nexus 5 fix, I have a feeling but making the contact touch better, it should help the reception. Also, I am not sure about your last respond, what did you try?

---------- Post added at 03:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:26 AM ----------

I can report one more observation playing around with the phone tonight on my way home. I have a car charger (sort of a phone holder + charger) and I found this rather odd behavior which might further proves my theory about the antenna gap between the contact.

What I did initially is have the phone with no charger connected, it took time but GPS finally connected properly despite a relatively weak signal that give you accuracy in the neighborhood of 12~15m, not great, but hardly do you see single digit. As soon as I plug in the car charger, the thing just went totally dead, no GPS lock and relies on network lock 800~1000m in a matter of seconds. Unplug the thing, and in a matter of seconds, it seemed to get lock again. I tried that 3 times and it happen all 3 times.

My conclusion for this is the charger connector when plug in ever so slightly increase the air gap between the antenna and the contact from the phone PCB side. It's like your are trying to squish a bit more air gap when the connector is connected. Taking it our restore the original air gap. So my guess is that the decrease of the air gap could potentially solve the problem.

I probably need to go try to get the tool myself, I have seen several video and with the right tool, it might not be too hard to ply open the case as the sim slot gives a starting spot to ply it open. I had a difficult time trying to do that with my iPod way back when cause I don't even know where to start.

Hopefully, one can try this out and see if it helps, They use manila paper to decrease the air gap but pushing the back cover and lifting the contact there toward the phone PCB. I think it should improve it. My guess is currently, there is an slight air gap and we all know that even with the air gap, you can still get some form of reception. Think of the good old FM radio and how reception is weaker with the antenna retracted vs fully extended. I believe the idea is similar.

To me, as long as you are not touch the PCB side and doing anything on that side, the risk should be low, worst that can happen is one of the latch breaks off. Since this isn't a waterproof phone (e.g. Xperia Z1, it doesn't matter that much). I hope someone can give a try, I will see if I can get these tools at a surplus place tomorrow and report back if I can either 1) fix the problem or 2) break my phone :(
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] obladi64:
I tried to attach picture unsuccessfully. I did attempt by using Chrome and Firefox too but I could not. This is not the first time that it happens with me on this forum but anyway it is not important now.

The picture would have shown that no antenna is on backside of the cover. But I supposed that antenna is on the second inside cover. OK I see that it can be stuck onto the outside back-cover. That is good. At least LG tried. :D

Anyway this fact does not change the point. Hardware fix is required and we should disassemble the device. May be warranty won't loose if Nexus fix can be applied here but I am not sure in it.

Regarding the charger issue. It is interesting. Root-cause can be what you mentioned but rather it is electric problem. I will check my phone how it behaves on car charger.

Also I am waiting for you mod experience if you did once. Please take a screenshot with AndroiTS before and after like on this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXjflYWOF30

If LG screen shows same as of Samsung means that fix is cool.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] vyurin:
Ok, so far so good. GPS works well after hardware fix.

It is very easy to disassemble (remove backcover). I just removed simcard and used my tails to pull up the backcover. Instead of recomended clockwise direction, I went in opposite way. Unfortunately no picture from inside.

GPS antenna sticked to backcover. Same with NFC antenna. There are 2 more contacts for other antennas, but I was unable to figure out their purpose (it is not Wifi-BT).
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] praveen6585:
this method mentioned on another forum worked for me:

1) install Faster GPS and set the GPS configuration file to the country nearest to you

2) install GPS status,go to Tools > manage A GPS state> reset

3) restart phone

I'm getting a fix within seconds outdoors after doing this. hope it helps you as well.
[G2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] obladi64:
Thanks for it but loft is full with such kind of solution. These are only work-around.