yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] Pe1ican0:
It doesn't happen often. The percentage of users experiencing such corruption of their GPS system on i9300/i9305 is very low but multiplied by hundreds of thousands of handsets, that is a few of us unfortunately.

I flashed at least 50 ROMs, stock & non stock before one day having my GPS completely broken after a casual ROM update on cm12.1 at the time.

Having said that it's the last resort solution when everything else has failed. Only once you are sure the GPS problem is not due to bad configuration or file corruption even, should you have a need of the NV restoration...

If one wants to be prepared against nvram corruption, which can affect a lot more than just GPS by the way, one can use Qualcommm QPST PC app & back it up.

There is a good guide for that process out there, a bit old but still valid..

QPST makes restoration painless of course without a need for the service menu at all.

Sent with Tapatalk
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] daedric:
Yet there is a smaller issue to which i've never seen a fix. It is not the same as it's described in this thread.

The GPS will work perfectly the first few hours/days/boots after flashing certain roms, but after a while, issues pop up.

GLONASS will never be found.

Fix is erratic, now you have it, now you don't.

Downloading AGPS doesn't help.

Re-initializing the GPS doesn't help.

This one is peculiar, because it seems to plague all of MaHo's roms. Something that he ported is spoiling the GPS somehow... The only fix i've found is to flash AMCHAS or other stockish rom, or CM, or MIUI V7
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] trubul:
Hey, sorry for very old quote-reply (Golden Shovel Award goes to me) but I've bought new phone, hid my i9305 and for now I wanna fix this GPS once and for all.

Situation looks like this: I have Android 6.0, GPS doesn't work, I don't care about datas on this phone (was wiped few times as I remember), is this what I should do?

1) Wipe all

2) Download THIS Android 4.1.1 (because I don't see any other 4.1.1 there)

3) Install it via Odin

4) As I understood, it gets simlocked ("network lock") but it's removable on 4.1.1 - what is the name of the option to remove that lock in Service Menu?

5) Do the instructions from first post

6) Install TWRP via Odin

7) Then I can normally install any ROM&kernel via TWRP with working GPS, am I right?

Greets.
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] Pe1ican0:
You may or may not get SIM lock but it's better to be prepared.

The Android 4.1.1 that I have been using to desimlock & restore NV is the only one available on sammobile indeed. It is a UK version. (if I were you I would keep a backup copy of that ROM somewhere + after fixing GPS, download QPST to make a NV backup for future use)

The procedure to desimlock after restoring NV is explained here :

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2185866

Otherwise the procedure steps seem fine. Just refer to the OP & my previous posts again.

If something is confusing, just ask... ?

Btw pan is working on the Android 7.0 port atm so our i9305 is far from dead!!
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] trubul:
Okay so I installed 4.1.1 stock from link, doing everything like in OP's post, but during

when I click NV REBUILD, it says: "Not support in custom binary".

Any help? :)

EDIT: Was searching everywhere in google and couldn't find fix but...

When I checked GPS signal with "GPS test" app, it found the fix - this means everything is OK now? I didn't do the biggest part of this fix from OP's post... coming back to stock system could did the thing?

Greets.
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] tinko975:
I cant flash stock jelly bean no 4.2.2 or earlier over kitkat. It wont boot because kitkat bootloader. Is there fix for that.
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] Pe1ican0:
Very strange...

Never had this problem before with 4.1.1 UK. It's as if you were using a non stock kernel..

You could just use any other stock ROM with Stock kernel <=4.4.4 as only the SIM lock procedure requires 4.1.1.

You could use either a Samsung ROM from sammobile or a customised stock ROM like TGP 25.02. If you use TGP make sure you choose Stock options during setup both for 4.4.4 ROM & kernel.

The last time I restored NV on a i9305, I used TGP 25.02. It worked perfectly.

Go back to 4.1.1 for SIMlock procedure if required.

The only other option I know if you don't have a NV backup is to restore a NV backup from another i9305 phone. However the IMEI is also inside the NV backup consequently there are steps to follow in order to save your IMEI first & restore it after the NV restoration...

However few people will agree to give their NV backup even from a dead phone..... I know there were a couple of those NV backups released on the Net but that was 2/3 years ago, am not sure they'll be easy to find...

Btw, before restoring NV which is the last resort, have you tried a Playstore app like TopNTP...? For many people, that's all it takes...
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] trubul:
Well, I guess I have a backup of it (found 2 files on hard drive from 2014, one named "00000000_0.qcn", other one "imeiinv.qcn", both weight 250-251kB but I think the correct one is imeiinv.qcn due to name) so I will try to do restore it now (even if now my phone finds fix very easily - just to be 100% sure).

And well, when my new phone was finding fix in few secs, i9305 couldn't found any satellites in few mins... tried like everything, so this NV method is the last one for me, I think.
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] Pe1ican0:
Very good thing that you kept a backup.. ? But I don't think it will change anything...

If you already get fixes the GPS firmware is not corrupted & restoring it should have no effect.

My guess is the problem either comes from bad settings (use TopNTP to fix that) or from the GPS antenna (tighten the screws & possibly use thin bit of cardboard to lift up the copper bit for better connection..).
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] trubul:
Okay, I restored that NV - you were right, no effect at all. Then installed TWRP, CM13, gapps etc - finally GPS is working on Android 6.0 :) it's not as good as on my Nexus 5X but still it's better than ever.

Thank you for help.
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] Pe1ican0:
I dunno how you tried to tighten the screws.

Make sure you have a good Philips screwdriver with the exact right size & good grip, avoid the tiny cheap tools, . Just a quarter turn clockwise would make all the difference...

It's ridiculous to have to tighten screws that heavily but it is often the only way to get the GPS antenna to work properly....
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] tinko975:
CM roms have very fast gps. Like other things faster
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] woodman:
First time I had the no GPS on my i9305 :)

I didn't panic, I knew there was [MENTION=5784234]MaHo_66[/MENTION]'s guide, it's fixed now. :)

I recently moved from AMCHA KK > CM12.1 > AMCHA KK > Then I wanted to give RR v5.7.4 sammy a try > NO GPS > Restore AMCHA KK NAND backup > still NO GPS > followed this guide > GPS OK > Restore RR v5.7.4 sammy NAND backup > GPS still OK :victory: :highfive:

[MENTION=5784234]MaHo_66[/MENTION] my life saver, my inspiration! ;)

CC: [MENTION=4613083]rodman01[/MENTION]
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] Pe1ican0:
Same thing happened to me twice out of dozens of rom installations.

Once when installing winxuser's CM12.1 over 4.4.4 Sammy & once when installing pan's cm13 over CM12.1.

No pattern I could think of...
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] woodman:
Not sure when "no gps" started for me though. After cm12.1 or after RR Sammy...
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] Pe1ican0:
Sorry previous post was truncated, had to edit it.

I still have no idea why it happened though...

What was so particular both times that NV got corrupted somehow....

How did you restore btw? Qpst or service menu?
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] woodman:
No worries about post edit :)

I restored through service menu while I was on Amcha.
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] Pe1ican0:
No simlock?
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] tinko975:
Best way is clean install of rom with full wipe, format data etc?
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] woodman:
No, in this case, clean wipe and clean install is not enough. This guide is made for people having no gps even after clean install.
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] hjblik:
Came from 0 to 21 satellites. Thank You!!!
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] Pe1ican0:
If you mean that the installation steps could be the reason for losing GPS, I asked myself the same question but I don't think so.

As I said I had the problem twice out of many installations, I installed the same ROMs using the same steps before & after losing GPS without problems.

That's why I said earlier I could not see a pattern in losing GPS after ROM installation..

With Sammy ROMs the way to install is always the same.

Otherwise with custom ROMs, the installation steps may vary a little depending on the ROM you are installing & whether you are updating or not... A clean install is not always required or even advised...

The OP of a ROM release thread generally details the recommended way to install.
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] tinko975:
Good .. now in sammy version gps works good or should use fix from this thread?
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] Pe1ican0:
Of course not! If your GPS works, there is no reason to restore NV.

This fix does not prevent losing GPS, it is the last resort for people who have lost all GPS functions... Getting no gps satellite fixes at all...

If you can get at least one GPS satellite fix every now and again then the restoration of NV will not help you. If you usually get less than 10 GPS fixes, the problem lies either with your configuration (try using TopNTP app & test using an appropriate NTP server for your region) or very possibly with the phone's screws that need tightened (I really mean tightened... like you should normally never tighten a screw! Use a good proper sized screwdriver with proper grip and be cautious otherwise you could easily destroy one or more screw heads... ?).
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] akincan111:
I have installed: service mode and service mode RIL, I set pin SIM card but do not work service codes, for example. * # 0011 # works only * # 06 #. I installed HYPER-ROM v9.0. What else to do to fix the GPS?
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] Pe1ican0:
If you read the thread, you should know that only stock kernel/stock ROM allows the service menu to work. I suggest you change ROM & try again.

If you made a NV backup with QPST you can restore it from pc without using the service menu.

If you don't have a NV backup, this is the only way.

Note that this is for corrupted GPS fw. If you get any fix at all, even just one or 2, the problem is elsewhere, most likely the settings (use TopNTP app) or the antenna (tighten the screws).
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] svajs:
When click on NV REBUILD, it says at the bottom "Golden-Backup doesn't exist", instead of "Golden-Backup exist" as shown in the OP's picture, and I can't click on "[4] Restore Back-up".

Someone know what to do?
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] Pe1ican0:
Are you sure you are using the right kernel & rom version to do this?

I suggest you change rom anyway & try again, use any other compatible official rom from Sammobile within requirements as specified in OP..

I would use official 4.1.1 UK TBH but I guarantee that TGP will work fine also as long as you choose stock for ROM & kernel...

If the problem is the same with the ROMs I mentioned then you have another issue that I have not yet encountered after using this service menu NV restore function for various people over 2 dozen times by now...
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] svajs:
I was using stock 4.4.4 rom from sammobile. Now, I did something stupid. I did some internet search to see if anyone else has the same golden-backup doesn't exist message, and I did find someone suggesting to click "[3] Make Back-up" first and then do the restore. Stupid me decided to follow that suggestion, and obviously, phone restarted but it didn't fix the gps problem. Now I'm afraid I've lost a valid backup, by overwriting it, so I won'd be able to get it working ever again.

Maybe "[1] Load default NV" could help, it sounds helpful, but now I'm afraid to click on that because I don't know what it does.
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] Pe1ican0:
Loading default NV should not help afaik because it would not restore the GPS fw which is corrupted.

Making a NV backup & restoring it was useless & definitely not a good move.

Do you still get the message about the golden backup not found when you load into service menu after you made a new NV backup?
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] svajs:
Yes, it was very stupid. :'(

No, after I made a backup, now it always says golden-backup exist. I think there is no help for me, but thank you for trying to help anyway. Cheers!
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] Lsdpower78:
GPS Problem

Hello to everyone. I am a new guy here and i want to ask you a question. I have just flash the latest resurrection remix rom. Everything works fine except the gps. I have install Navigator app but gps is not working. It is only working in google maps, but not properly. Can you please tell me what i have to do?? Thanks a lot!!
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] robvamos:
I've got the same problem,

they say you should install a stock rom 4.4.4 (with service mode apk installed) and follow the procedure described at the beginning of this tread. Your SIM could get locked in the procedure so you should have your PUK.

they describe a procedure to restore NV from a backup (imei and other things)

2. in dial pad enter *#0011# to get in service mode

3. to unlock the main menu: press menu --> press back --> press menu --> press key input --> enter Q0 --> press ok and wait for the main menu to appear

4. now, press UMTS --> press COMMON --> press NV REBUILD --> press Restore Back-up

To be honest i dont understand why i should go back to a stock rom, if i dont want a stock rom, i would like to have this one working. And if after doing all the procedure i want to come back to 5.8.2? Will GPS not work again??

Most of the people here are kind and patience, but they dont help with the basic logic.

My GPS was working fine before the clean install of 5.8.2. So this rom broke my GPS? Or was the modem firmware update that i HAD to do to put the rom?

If i backup the NV from 5.8.2 and restore it from the same ROM seems odd, i can see my IMEI and staff, probably there is some explanation missing. And doesnt tell you if after you can reflash the 5.8.2 having GPS.

I'd like to understand the reasons why GPS doesnt work after flashing this ROM, if it was warking before.

And i cant believe there is not a way to repair without flashing back or using PUK.

Bah, not clear at all, not telling the operations are not well described (they could link for example a good stock rom that doesnt lock the SIM and has the required components to revuild NV), but the reasons of the failure in GPS and the solutions are really unsmart.

;) hope we can make a bit more light on this. I'm sure there is a way to repair from the ROM without flashing back, much easier way, it has only to be found, but to do that The reasons of the failing GPS must (should ;) ) be explained well, one thing is sure, before flashing ROM and modem gps was working so one of these operation broke the GPS.

Going around to find a cleverer solution before following just to have my gps back.

bye :laugh:
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] woodman:
[MENTION=1504870]robvamos[/MENTION]

First off, the reason of loosing GPS on i9305 after flashing some ROMs based on CM or LAOS is unknwon unfortunately. It's not new, I also had the problem when playing / switching with different CM13 based ROMs / Stock based ROMs in the past.

You'll be able to restore your GPS but there will be a problem after going to Stock 4.4.4 ROM and then restoring your N Nandroid Backup: You'll have com.android.phone force closes and you'll loose cell network. But you should fix this, maybe...

To hopefully restore your GPS, please follow this:

1- Make a backup of your apps+data with Titanium Backup,

2- Make a full Nandroid Backup of your N ROM,

3- Save all important data on external SD AND your computer, including what has been done at steps #1 and #2.

4- Be sure you use TWRP v3.0.2-0

5- Full wipe your phone: data/cache/dalvik/system/internal memory

6- Flash a stock 4.4.4 based ROM

7- Follow MaHo's GUIDE (the Service Mode trick) to restore GPS.

8- Restore your N Nandroid Backup which has been done at step #2

9- You'll have com.android.phone force closes and you'll loose cell network.

10- Then try this trick by [MENTION=2996270]sailorpito[/MENTION] (it worked for him) >>> You should have everything fixed.

11- If point #10 doesn't work, maybe you'll have to full wipe your N ROM and then restore your apps and do configuration again.

Please follow those steps above this only if you know what your're doing.

I've never tested this procedure with a N ROM. But it worked fine in the past with a MM ROM based on CM13 (without having to follow steps 9 to 11 bacause "com.android.phone force closes and you'll loose cell network" didn't occur with MM ROMs after a Nandroid Restore.)

FYI, I think the problem at step #9 is triggered by a bug in TWRP which still has to be fixed.

I hope to be clear. If you have questions or problems, I'm sure [MENTION=2996270]sailorpito[/MENTION], [MENTION=5072265]alias_ z3d[/MENTION] or [MENTION=7408621]noc.jfcbs[/MENTION] or other kind members will assist us later.
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] robvamos:
Well thank you for the excelent explanation of the procedure, i do understand you are a skylled tecnichan, and really

... after reading your, appriciated and detailed procedure :) im thinking:

-whats the reason? UNKNOWN

..thats very interesting, thanx for the answer, you know it wasnt clear to me, i thought somewhere around this forum some chefs whould have known for sure. Ah bye the way i was happy that you gave me this answer, i was wondering why a so difficult and unefficient procedure to solve a problem like this that should be easily solved knowing the reasons of randomic GPS lock losses during the process of flashing as you say.

Maybe there is an industrial secret somewhere that cannot open up the engineering of the hardware, or security protocols not clearly revealed that make this reverse engineering so difficult.

I thought that comparing the images of two different phones, one working and one not, could have easily lead to the identification of the problematic component (modem, ril, software, security flags, permissions, keys..) ... evidently I was wrong.

Now, when you now the reason of a problem you can find many procedures to solve it, if you dont you must follow exactly what others did, ...or make your own hypotesis based on what you think the reason is.

I dont know if i want to change my recovery clockwork and follow all those steps right now,.. maybe ill try something different, it would be useful to have the debug tool inside the RR image, so one could try to rebuild the NV from the rom, why its not present? How those functions are done on other commercial devices? could the service mode.apk be imported in the rom?

For the other basic question i asked:

-but if do the procedure and have GPS lock again in rom 4.4.4, after that, if i flash the 5.8.2 RR will i lose the GPS again?

You didnt answer, but i suppose now i know it: Nobody knows :)

backups are boring, update recovery ..mmm

I'll let you know, it was a pleasure reading you bye
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] public3n3my:
This locking issues happen to me when i migrate from L to M and while on M, i did this fix.. And from M to N until now, my gps are locking fine.. Btw, From M to N, I've tried lot of rom like cm, temasek, aicp, vanilla unicorn, dirty unicorn, RR n etc... Now currently on RR coz i love the rom customization.. The point is, im not losing the gps locking after this fix. Might happen again in the future,, who knows..
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] woodman:
Thanks, you're welcome.

Loosing GPS COULD not be related to a ROM in particular since a lot of users of RR N didn't loose GPS while flashing process! It COULD be related to the ROM we come from, to the way we wipe partitions in recovery before or after flash. Switching ROMs frequently could end up to this problem as well. Hard to say.

Remember we're talking about custom ROMs made by the community for free. It's hard to work without 100% open sources.

Same reason as above: remember we're talking about custom ROMs. Samsung stopped releasing firmwares on KitKat. ServiceMode.apk doesn't work because RR is not stock firmware, not the official ROM, not the official kernel, etc.

If you flash again RR 5.8.2 after the GPS fix guide by MaHo, it's not sure you will loose GPS again, sorry to tell you it has to be tested. But since a lot of people don't have GPS issue on RR N, maybe you'll be lucky.

And btw, backups are not boring, it can save life and time.

Good luck!
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] woodman:
https://xdaforums.com/galaxy-s3/dev...n-remix-4-4-2-kitkat-v5-t2704828/post71271822

Reading this link above maybe means steps 9 to 11 of my procedure won't be necessary with RR-N-v5.8.2-20170228-i9305-Official-lineageOS.zip. Procedure would be easier.
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] robvamos:
:) well i decided that the key point of the whole operation is the thing that happens when we enter service mode and restore MV backup as you clearly described.

Whatever happens there some partition is changed restoring a backup. Since we cant use service mode in higher levels of android (should be possible to enter service mode still.. we will understand how in future maybe) i decided not to flash recovery and use my clockmod latest.

Since the Omega 10 ROM cannot be installed with that recovery 6.0.4.7 (error expected 4 parameters recived 5 or similar) and also the

rom stock collection https://xdaforums.com/galaxy-s3/development-i9305/rom-samsung-stock-4-4-4-rom-collection-t3124027

have the same issue

I went for https://xdaforums.com/galaxy-s3/development-i9305/rom-galaxy-project-t2865828

complete clear install.

No GPS, ..tryed the procedure... one little error in the last step, instead of rebuild restore backup, i did rebuild delete backup!!!!

Clever eh? no it was just a finger error, it went too fast.

I tryied to go on like nothing happend (very useful trick sometimes, ..) and repeated the procedure that obviously didnt work. (No gps)

Tried to recovered 5 small partitions from i saved earlier with EFS from rom 5.8.2 (efs modem, radio , imei, ecc) on SD..

Repeated the procedure to rebuild NV and ...error reboot.

Ok Now i have gps and that ROM installed....

Dont know what will do in future, maybe rest for the weekend and after ill see :) I liked that RR :)

Bye 4 now thanx.
[Galaxy S III I9305 (4G LTE + 2GB RAM) Q&A, Help & ] DJ aliasz3d:
[MENTION=4752536]Wood Man[/MENTION] the gps error is a problem of having a damaged efs folder that stops gps working, some people have said it had something to do with nameless rom in lollipop days or something to do with cm sources. minto106 i think his name is once talked about it. :good: