yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] walter79:
My way to fix gps. I used tinfoil.

See attached picture.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] Chrisjjj:
How long has it been working like that for?
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] walter79:
Started with this fix today. My second lg g5 has no gps signal. After this it works very good.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] Chrisjjj:
Whenever I opened up my device the GPS would work fine for a period. Sometimes up to 2 weeks but then the GPS would eventually fail. That solution you have used will eventually fail.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] replace_this:
Frankenstein's GPS

Long time lurker of this thread

My GPS works great following the hard lessons learned here! Has been doing about three weeks so thought I'd share because coronavirus.

I was about to throw the phone out as having GPS became more important in my dad to day. It hasn't really worked since I've had it tbh. As it was a last ditch attempt I was a bit more brutal in my methodology...

Took phone apart.

On inside of back cover on top right where GPS mesh was, I removed it, and scratched the aluminium on case with some steel tweezers to remove oxide layer/dirt. The mesh seemed to be slightly tarnished where it contacts the board. Possible galvanic corrosion after 4 years of moisture and (ab)use? I did not have the rubber pad on my phone that raised part of the mesh for better contact. My idea was to overkill the contact issue so that there's always more metal for the pixies to flow.

I took some solderwick (copper wire weave, suggested by someone on this thread I think. Any copper stranded wire would work) and made a little doughnut shape and crammed it where the mesh used to be, like the suggestions of aluminium foil. You will have difficulty soldering copper to alu (well I did), so I am trusting on pressure contact alone. Possible improvement could be conductive paint/glue, to prevent oxidation?

On the board where it would contact the mesh, there is a tiny surface mount spring contact. On the rear of this board #1, there was another one to contact the board #2 behind it, such that the antenna signal passes through board #1.

I tried carefully bending the spring contacts to make them protude for better contact, but basically I messed up and broke one of the spring contacts. So I took some more copper solder wick and soldered it directly to board #2. The copper wicks the solder and becomes a bit more rigid, so it can bend into an L shape that then goes around board #1.

I then coiled the protuding part of the L around a pin to make a sort of spring, that mates with the copper donut I put on the back case. The added material sandwiched between the boards slightly bends board #1 when assembled. So when you close the case everything has to be squeezed together ensuring contact and that nothing is shorting something it's not (hopefully :laugh:)

Not the most elegant fix, but it works for me. I almost was gonna drill the back of the case (which I actually think is a great mod, I just didn't have a drill bit smaller than 1mm).

Thanks to all the contributors to this thread. Now this is fixed i don't have to spend £££(£) on a phone that you can't change the battery on.

If only there was an aftermarket version of the Samsung battery mod I'd be sorted for another five years! ???
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] totalnoob34:
Thanks for the writeup, if I hadn't applied this fix already I would certainly now. I wrote a guide for the Samsung battery mod, but I understand one may not be comfortable doing it themselves - consider asking a friend/going to a shop and ask the repair guru. It's a very simple process and it takes five minutes to solder, they shouldn't charge more than 5$ if you provide the parts.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] Shammy78652:
Has anyone tried this? also if so what wire is actually required so the GPS performance is maximised
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] Shammy78652:
Did you get the solder to stick eventually or did you just give up?
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] Chrisjjj:
Come back in 3 weeks and let us know if the GPS still works.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] shloms:
Hi, after almost 2 years I tested the wire solution that I posted.

I have a new phone so the LG is not in use for about 1 year now. I turned on the G5 and tested with "GPS test" I locked in seconds, and with many satellites, so still working great.

So, I think the wire and drilling is a good long term solution, I used an 0.8mm outer diameter isolated wire of 47mm length (I do not remember, but probably I calculated half? or maybe full wave length.

The wire could be thinner or thicker and the drill hole as well, I don't see how that will change anything too drastic.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] Shammy78652:
Oh okay, that's good to hear. So for actually getting the wire soldered to the board.. did you have to remove the full small square block the gold pin sits inside to mount the wire on to the board or did you actually manage to remove ONLY the gold pin. if it was the first option that i mentioned, I'm guessing you used an SMD rework station with a hot air gun and a seperate solder iron? if so what air flow and temperature settings did you use ?

---------- Post added at 02:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:09 AM ----------

Also do you happen to have a link to the wire you used? or was it just laying about that you happened to have. I'm thinking of doing it with a single core wire however I don't know if it will work well incase whilst bending it rips off the pad from the motherboard
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] shloms:
Hi,

I removed the whole connector, so only the pad was left. Did not use a hot air gun, just a soldering iron pre-tinned with 37/63 solder and pushing off the connector with a toothpick. The connector removes very easily, I don't remember the temperature, but somewhere around 250c. The pad seems to be very durable, unlikely to lift.

Be careful with the pcb itself, as it is very narrow where the pin is, It might break if pushed hard.

The wire I used was something I already had, it is multi strand 26 or 28 AWG, PTFE isolation (teflon, resists very high heat) outer diameter of 0.8mm

I think you can use just about any thin wire, but I wouldn't use a single core one, unless very thin and flexible.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] Shammy78652:
thanks for the reply, I'll try this mod once the soldering kit arrives? why wouldn't you recommended a singls core?
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] shloms:
Because of flexibility, it goes through a few bends, I would think multi strand would be better, but again, if you have a thin flexible single core, that would do fine.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] Shammy78652:
oh okay makes sense. I've discovered that if heat the single core up abit it flexes easier
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] optionalmgrr.la:
Yesterday I just tested it again, outdoor, GPS locked in 2s :laugh:
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] spottenn:
Is the GPS still working?

Is it still working? I suddenly find myself in possession of a Sprint LG G5 phones and the GPS isn't working on most of them. I am looking for an easy fix that actually works long term.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] Chrisjjj:
I really don't think there is.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] Z23:
I choosed to use an external GPS
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] maksim56:
I drilled a shame hole and soldered the wires, but I burned the board ... that's it, end, I need a new phone
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] disk@tek@:
Instead of drilling a hole I used isolated copper strip so it could go between both sides of the phone.

The thing is when the phone is open gps is great! Once I close the phone GPS is lost.

I think something connects short when the phone is closed.

Honestly if LG would try to make gps as faulty as it is on this phone deliberately they would fail big time. It's just a curse.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] jfaheyfan:
I recently bought an H820 that couldn't get a fix. Copper foil applied according to the OP's instructions fixed it. Thank you, shloms!
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] Shammy78652:
Hi Disktek! I know I'm a year late XD but i thought I'd ask anyway :) you say it's best to have a wire of 47mm... do i have to strip a certain amount of insulation off the end of the wire (pcb board side) before the GPS starts to get affected or does it not really matter since it's just plastic insulation anyway? and you said something about your wire being 36mm long. Is that from one end to the other OR 36mm coming out of the phone/exposed to the exterior?
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] ViSiKa:
After spending a whole night trying all the safe methods without satisfying results, I decided to go Mad Max mode. I used a 0.7 mm (diameter with plastic) USB data wire I had on hand. Results came right after. I finally get acceptable GPS on my phone! I went overboard with cable length, maybe I'll cut it later according to advice from posts above but for the time being I get good signal with the antenna sticking out in the air. When I don't need GPS I just keep the wire on the case with some tape.

Thanks Thanks Thanks!!

P.S. The fingerprint scanner lost functionality at some point. I raised the relevant contacts and it worked again for some minuted just to die again after that. It's not fundamental to me so I'll leave it like that.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] m6rcomoto:
Could you share what you use and how you got it to work?
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] Z23:
You need an GPS mouse and a fake GPS app.

This will not work with Google Maps! I used it for Komoot. Seems not to work on newer Android versions.

So I don't think you should buy expensive hardware for such an old device.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] shloms:
There are many grounding points between the PCB and cover. Some of the grounding points on the cover have mashes, other do not and have just bare metal case touching the PCB pins.

See what I marked on my own cover:

And the missing ground points from the LCD flex is strange. I do not think this has to do with reception though.

Touching the glass near the LED is exactly where the antennas for the GPS and cellular bands are. It is not a big surprise that the signal might increase/decrease when you touch this area, it's through capacitive coupling that your body acts as an antenna, changes the tuning of the antenna - could be for better or worse.

As you know, some users having a bad GPS reception because of bad connection between PCB pin and cover, get signal by pressing the upper right glass, this is different from what you describe as this fixes (temporarily) the mechanical connection between them.

Are you having GPS problems, or just cellular signal?

A new case may solve you problem, but if the pins on the PCB are the problem themselves, it won't do any good.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] ChristopherXI:
i take off the cover and bend the pins up myself but no improvement. Both cellular and GPS performance has been abysmal for me. But the GPS signal decreases when I touch on ANY part of the glass, pressing the top right part doesn't increase the signal indicates that the connection from the PCB to the antenna pad is good. When I check my covers it's missing the MESH that the gps pin rest on, the bottom left orange mesh, and the mesh next to the display cable

I'll get another case and give you guys the result.

Update: Further inspections and finding replacement covers online.

There are two different cover type for the G5, B and F covers.

I saw that you have the B Cover and have the H850 model.

I don't know the cover type for my H820 because the cover i'm having doesn't have any indication symbols or letters.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] thetool:
OK I think it's pretty confirmed that it's the damn back plate.

BUT just buying a new one at eBay may not solve anything because you never know what you may get there... (at least with the cheap ones)

My GPS has NEVER been connected to so many satellites at once. (In my car cradle)

I'm having issues uploading images here.

anyway it's 27 satellites 9m accuracy..
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] ChristopherXI:
we have a shop that only sells replacement parts for phones, i think i could go there and try
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] thetool:
Yep that may be a good idea.

Be advised that it could be possible that you have an other issue than I had. (I doubt that though)

Except replacing the back cover, I also raised the gps pin beneath the board and cleaned the contact...

Here's the screenshot btw
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] shloms:
The GPS god is smiling on you :)

BTW, I see from the pic that your in the Middle east, right?
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] ChristopherXI:
My h820 wont show BEIDOU and wont connect to SBAS satellites, probably it's because of android marshmellow.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] thetool:
I'm still on marshmallow..

Yes I'm from Israel shloms
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] shloms:
Me too, so thetool = Ha-kli ;)
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] thetool:
haha thanks!

Updating that my GPS still works great everytime, outside it locks in 2 seconds.

Update 10.12:

GPS Suddenly doesn't work so well AGAIN!!

this device is cursed!
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] thetool:
After initial tests it seems now like a software issue.

when opening Waze with gps test I get poor results,:long fix time, less sats (13) & less accuracy.

Running LG GNSS from hidden menu gets fast fix, 18 sats & more accuracy. (10m indoors)
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] halomademeapc:
I've been getting frustrated with the GPS issues since I use this phone for Android auto on a daily basis. I've only had this phone for a couple months and don't really want to risk taking it apart so I ordered an old Bluetooth GPS module from eBay to try out. Hopefully we can figure out a reliable fix for the internal GPS someday
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] cheeze.keyk:
I always thought also that it is a software issue or a network/data connection issue. Looks like the data connection of the device is not consistent or continuous without noticing it by the user. I tried using my G5 as a hotspot on my nexus 5 and the data connection is not good also when I used my Nexus 5 navigation and the while navigating it went crazy just like my G5's GPS. :rolleyes:
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] thetool:
The pin that touches the back has broken, so I just soldered some wire where the pin should be and it works well now.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] cyobane:
Contact cleaner working well

Going along the same lines as the original post but without foil or soldering, I found that applying contact cleaner to the GPS connection points has 'fixed' the GPS for me (for at least 40 days). I used deoxit D100L contact cleaner (like $8 for a small tube from amazon). I don't know if my technique was correct but I put a small amount on the mesh pad and the other contacts around the GPS connector, let it sit for like 15 minutes, then wiped clean with a q-tip and reapplied a small amount.

A few months prior to this I just wiped the GPS related contacts without any cleaner solution, and the GPS worked for about a month, with signal strength continually degrading until it became non-functional.

This time around, using the contact cleaner, signal is still stable after 40 days. After first applying I was getting solid 5m accuracy and mostly green bars in the 'GPS test' application, now it's 5-10m accuracy with mostly yellow bars and like 1 or 2 green bars (testing outside). So it seems the signal strength has decreased a small amount but nothing like what I saw when I just wiped the contacts without cleaner.

It seems like magic, curious what goes into these contact cleaner solutions, but fingers crossed this will continue to hold. Even if I eventually need to reapply the solution it's less than once per month.

Deoxit D100L is the 'general purpose' cleaner, there are other solutions that might be a better fit for this application. I'm curious if other people have some perspective on this.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] gboari92:
Remove the mesh!!

Hi. This is my first post here on xda, sorry if my english isn't very good.

I was getting signal from GPS (weak / 15m máx) but it often got crazy. After spanking the phone on the back it actualy came back on track. I decided trying to improve it.

So....

The mesh itself is glued to the gps antenna wich is the back plate itself. If you use a multimeter to test the resistence between the mesh and any other contact in the backplate, you will get something around 3-5 ohms, and depending on the spot in the mesh it wont be conductive at all, and I think it is because of the glue itself. I took off the mesh and cleaned the glue in the contact beneath it. Cleaned the other contact mentioned in the first post too. Resistance dropped to 0.2 ohms.

I am getting very fast and precise fix for my GPS now. Tested for a week now.

I think that if you replace the mesh with something more conductive (at least without any glue) and clean the contacts it will work for everybody. For me just removing and cleaning got the job done.

And 1 more thing. If you test continuity on the 3 volume pins, you will get continuity on 2 pins when vol down is pressed and continuity on 2 pins when vol up is pressed. I had the vol down not working, and cleaning the contacts also got the job done.

Thanks.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] geminihc:
OMG THIS MAN DESERVES A REWARD, AND THIS MUST BE PINNED TO THE TOP!

This works and is the EASIEST fix without soldering, adding conductive materials or anything! Just open it up, rip the damn thing away and swab it with abit of alcohol. i previously did the stupid adding a card under the 3 pin thing and that fixed it for like a few days purely because of "random" re-seating.

THIS is the FINAL and ULTIMATE easy solution!
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] ChristopherXI:
can you post the picture?

My wifi pin broke off.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] Kruzkal:
Would copper foil tape with conductive adhesive work on this just as well as copper foil without adhesive?
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] ew:
I was going to try this, but I can't seem to get to the mesh. I have disassembled the PCB, but don't see how to get behind to the mesh. Any help would be appreciated.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] gboari92:
Hi! I will try to help you. I don't see the point in disassembling the PCB.

Once opened the phone, just look at the mesh (as posted on the first post) and rip it off. It is glued to the back pannel so it will be very easy to remove it.

I think that they put there to fill the gap between the connector itself and the back pannel.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] ew:
Thanks for the quick reply. I was just going to post that I mistakenly missed the obvious - the mesh is on the back case, not the part with the screen.

I took off the mesh, coated everything with a bit of stabelant, and actually took a small piece of thin copper wire, twisted it into a circle and put it behind the mesh. I will see how things go.

I appreciate the post and the help.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] giebeka:
Can someone post that tutorial with photos or a video? We would really appreciate it.

Wysłane z mojego LG-H850 przy użyciu Tapatalka
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] Ultraman1966:
I put a small bit of aluminium foil instead of soldiering a small coil (I don't have the tools) and now I get 15 satellite lock indoors... how did LG screw up so badly?

I accidentally damaged my cheap replacement LCD (The glass and the display actually slightly came apart when I was prying the phone open...) when taking the phone apart but other that this fix works a treat!
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] Kruzkal:
Not perfect, but much improved.

Thank you very much!
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] Ultraman1966:
Doesn't the mesh provide a little bit of material to bridge the gap from the contact to the backplate? I'm curious why LG did such a shoddy design...

Anyway, how much has everyone's signal accuracy improved? I forgot to do a before and after screen cap.

I had to replace the display (long story) so I had to disassemble everything and reassemble it again. Outdoor accuracy can be as good as 5 metre but I have an issue when driving; every so often I will lose gps lock. I am thinking that may be down to the car movements causing the internal contacts to briefly lose connection? I'm guessing I need a bit more material as soldiering a tiny spring is definitely not going to happen for me!
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] nidjo83:
do you have any pics of what you actually did? where did you put that foil exactly?

---------- Post added at 09:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:48 PM ----------

can you please explain step by step what you actually did?

even better if you have some pics?
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] Ultraman1966:
Apologies, I forgot to take pics but the original post in the thread has already got that detail covered.

A further update, I am now able to get sat lock in fewer than 10 secs and outdoor accuracy of 5 metres. However, during my 30 mile commute to work I can see that GPS signal was lost at least 6 times and this was with a mostly clear sky. Likely due to some other contacts getting slightly loose when it bounces along in the car but I don't have this issue with the Xperia Z3 or my current Pixel 2.

I won't beat about the bush, this phone is a PITA and nothing short of a lucky new backplate/mobo will fix the GPS.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] ATZ-007:
I've bought a battery back from ebay and just replaced it. See the results :victory:
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] hazeem89:
First of all, thanks OP, for opening this thread and clarify to us what's really happening to our device's GPS. So far, I 'fix' my GPS device by following Ultraman1966 method, by putting aluminium foil in between the motherboard and back panel. I simply fold it into small pieces, not so thin, but not so bold enough BUT able to made both point contact each other. So far, in a week testing, my GPS lock in less than 10seconds.

Thank you all!:good: Until time will tell, that it will deteriorate the quality of GPS lock through wear and tear.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] wurz:
So this has done the trick for me. Tested this morning inside a train and I get a lock in about 30s. 20m accuracy in GPS test. It didn't work at all before! Yet to test in a vehicle but I expect it will work fine now.

Outside it has a fix in about 10s. All I did was take the mesh off and put a bit of folded tin foil in its place. I put a multimeter on it and I got about .9 ohm between the foil and back plate. With the mesh it was 1.5 at best. So not a huge difference but seemingly enough to affect the GPS antenna.

Kudos to OP and others! There's a bit of life in my G5 yet..
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] RobertPirainoBR:
Every time I install Fulmics on my phones, the GPS stops working. It see the satellites (0/28 ~ 0/30), but does not fix any, I've tried everything (apps, A-GPS update, clean metal contacts, copper foil, change gps.conf, etc...). I've tried Google and Nokia servers, I'm from South America. What could I do? The same goes for my LG G3. GPS fully work on stock rom.
[LG G5 Guides, News, & Discussion] ritrelo:
First post here too! thanks for your description it really helped a lot!

I basically did the same and it worked

I used electrical cleaner on the mesh (the one on the backing plate, not the screen, it looks like a silver square with a square hole in the middle) it came off but I put it back and pressed down on it until it sticked again.

I also bent very slightly and carefully a little upwards the pins that touch it hoping it would make better contact and sprayed electrical cleaner on them too (they look like little metal loops held by a silver square)

Now the phone has 15/20 locked satellites and 3m accuracy and im INSIDE !!!

(it used to be 0 !)

I dont think bending the pins helped at all and I could have broke them, I would probably just try the contact cleaner if i was doing it again.

thanks to everyone! :highfive: :D :good: