yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Vibrant General] silverball.slayer:
I have a new galaxy vibrant I got from sasktel 2 days ago. The GPS performance is abysmal, even outside. If it does fix, it is never accurate. I'm thinking of just returning the phone and waiting for the galaxy s2 to be released. I have 12 more days to return the phone before my return window is up. They had a demo model on display in the mall and the gps seemed to work reasonably well and accurate. The manufacture date on mine is April 2011

Rob
[Vibrant General] Elendil_23:
Finally, finally nice GPS performance

Hello

First, I would like to say that I did the hardware GPS fix and I voted that improve just a little of what I had but... I stand corrected, (sorry I tried to vote again but didn't let me) after I did some more research on the software developtment for the fix, I finally can say that the GPS performance is outstanding!!

I did the normal hardware fix (without solder) and then I applied several kernels/patches for the GPS fix and none of them seem to improve what I had until I tried this fix, the Heathen's fix, you can see his post on this thread here just flash it within recovery mode and that's it. Will take about 1-2 to boot up, don't panic ( I did...) and then the next time you boot up your GPS will take about 1-2 to minutes to lock up your satellites (depends on your location) and that's it. Now I can even lock up inside my house with about 8 satellites lock, considering that my house is made out of concrete and cement it's very impressive. I'm using Hybrid SGS II JVP, give it a try and hopefully will work for you too. Thank you to all the people puting all this hard work.
[Vibrant General] nbhnohome:
Try the fix. You wont be disappointed
[Vibrant General] KWKSLVR:
Mine went from abysmal as well to as perfect as it can be after I did the hardware fix and the "Additional Tweak" that I added in at the bottom of the OP. Bear in mind, if you flash the gps.zip and then down the road you flash a new kernel, you'll have to flash the gps fix again. The hardware fix was a good start, but the flashing the tweaked gps files sealed the deal. I went from seeing 50-100 METER locks (if it locked it all) to 5M locks. Is that great overall? No, it isn't. The GPS Receiver itself is a weak, subpar unit. However, it works perfectly fine for navigation and pretty much everything else.
[Vibrant General] rns416:
GPS locking faster

Confirmed soldering is the best fix for this crappy GPS in Vibrant . Now i can lock in a matter of seconds . I applied this fix after breaking GPS clip accidently . Using 2.3.4 MIUI Revamped 7 . Best working locks that i could get, then any other 2.3.4 roms out there .... .
[Vibrant General] pejx:
Fantastic fix - thanks!

I carried out the (non-soldering) fix this morning. Bent the contacts upwards about 1.5mm. Closed-up the phone again, and Hey-Presto: Perfect GPS.

Now I get 8-9 satellites in relatively narrow streets in Copenhagen!

Before the fix my location would wander all over the place. Now it is pretty accurate, I can even tell when I cross from one side of the road to the other. Also GPS acquires location much much quicker than before (didn't time it so not precise comparison).

Really, really great fix. Thanks again!

PS. I have Galaxy S i9000 UK version, purchased end September 2011.
[Vibrant General] ma1999:
Really great

Found the fix today and did it at once.

What a change !

Previously my phone found a max of three satelites and it took forever to lock.

Now (in the exact same spot) it found seven satelites and locked in a few seconds.

Big, big thanks !
[Vibrant General] rns416:
one more method

Instead of building soldering mound on GPS tab, i used thin copper wire. Connected both contacts top(back cover) and clip base with (thin copper wire) offcourse solder. It workedout pretty well. Building mound was kinda hard for me but this was easy to do it. Question when you guys reboot phone, how long does it take to lock birds. Mine takes like 30-40 seconds to lock down,.After first lock, if I use GPS 4-10 hours latter it lock with in 3-9 seconds. So is it normal to have first lock in 30-40 after reboot or its just me?.
[Vibrant General] DerBusisVoll:
Just wanted to thank the OP and the followers for the ecouragement I got to open the device. Especially being patient using a creditcard has payed off for me.

By bending up the copper contact by estimated half a millimeter I have been able to accomplish a stable operation of my SGS, running GB 2.3.4 JVP with darkcore kernel and goatool rom. I'm able to see around 7 birds in my location and get a fix even in rainy weather. Before it was a matter of luck I'd say.

Thanks again

DerBusIsVoll
[Vibrant General] kiaksar2142:
Hi guys!

My vibrant has same problem as urs.

it detects about 9-11 satellites in view.

but none of them are in use =(

HOWEVER, Today i went to boulevard in our city that place is very open. no buildings, or trees! only the open park. and it detected about 9 satellites and finally 3 of them were in use!!! even my GPS worked well.

But the accuracy sucks =( it was about 150-170 feet :(

when i get back to city with many buildings and trees, there was 0 in use satellites.

however it sees them (in view: 9-10 satellites)!

and i tried the GPS restore by Samsung and it worked in open area in the boulevard.

but no sense =(

now I'm in city, and the signal is ****ty, and no any satellites in use now =(

Today i recently bended the antenna of the GPS as says in this thread and can't say, was it started to work after this bending or not.

how do you think, what shud i do?

should i add a solder on the antenna?

by the way!

Hey, guys who has perfect working gps after bending, can you pleeeease show the photo of this copper?

I mean can you take a photo so the others can see for how much you've bended it?

Please, that would be perfect if you do dat =)

Thank you in advance =)
[Vibrant General] kiaksar2142:
hi guys, I have update here )

Today I went to open area and my GPS test detected about 10 sattelites and locked to 7-8 of them =)

accuracy was about 17-25 feet. =)

that was great!

but now I'm in city again and gps test shows only about 2-3 sattelites and no lock at all. =(

how do you think, what shud i do to improve my signal in city?

i bended the antennas recently as i wrote up here.

now, shud i add a solder on it?

how do you think, will it improve my signal and accuracy?
[Vibrant General] kiaksar2142:
okay there i go )

I put a little piece of credit card under the copper contact!

and now my vibrant detects about 12-13 birds inside of my house! =)

but the problem is that he can't connect to them at all!

shud I factory reset the settings or try a new modem?
[Vibrant General] infestedd:
i want to say first of all, thanks. I NEVER though something so simple as bending the antena would make my gps 1000% better.

Mine took 2-3 minutes from cold start, and 1 minute hot start locks. and it always locked on 3-4 sats. Now it locks in 30-40 sec cold start, 5 seconds hot start, and locks at 6-8 sats, with a 5-6 mts precision (before was 40-60!)

One note: the fix works for phones made AFTER october. mine is 10.10 and i got an HUGE improvement. i tested before and after in the same place, and since i have a lot of experience opening my phone, it doesnt took more than 10 minutes after the tests.

I, running stock froyo and modem.

Again, THANKS!
[Vibrant General] kiaksar2142:
okay thats it, I made this xD

the credit card piece that i put there broked the contact...

I had to open it up and drop a solder blob on it xD

now its detecting about 14-15 birds inside of my house )

but cant lock.

today I'm gonna go outside and try it in there with cold start then hot start =)

Lets just hope that everything is gonna be okay =)
[Vibrant General] kiaksar2142:
Guys, This is unbelivable!

I tried to heat the connector to solder it, but it slided off the board.

and I decided to just drop a blob of solder in there.

after doing this my GPS is not working like a sport car ))

I get lock to sattelites inside of my house in about a minute ))

and outside it takes about 30-40 seconds ))

this is great ))

I didnt done anything on system. just soldered it!

I[m running stock froyo and all other stuff is original.

btw, if you dont get a lock inside of the house, dont panic. just go outside.

in my country there is toooo much buildings and satellite antennas. I think its just cant lock so fast cause of too much signals around ))

after reboot it needs a little while to lock but afterwards it locks in about 30 seconds ))

Thank you =)
[Vibrant General] laylovj:
Unfortunately, I am now down to getting 1-3 birds w/o getting a lock compared to 12 birds w// 4-10 locks. :(
[Vibrant General] laylovj:
Weell, nevermind, I just got a 9/9 lock on GB. never had that happen before. :)
[Vibrant General] pramathesh:
Anybody here who snapped their antennae and have managed to solder something to act as a new antennae? I've snapped mine. Looking for some reference videos to help me solder things back into place.
[Vibrant General] KWKSLVR:
Dude there are a TON of posts in this thread on soldering. The solder itself is all you need. If you broke off the physical antenna from the back plastic, get a replacement! :)
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
please read Post #2
[Vibrant General] pramathesh:
I did check the videos on post two. I snapped the one which we are supposed to bend and make contact to the physical antennae on the plastic back plate. What I'm confused about is wouldn't the solder melt the base on the pcb of the phone thereby creating more problems? Also would it be fine if I just solder a jumper wire between the base and the plastic back. Again the question being would the solder melt the antennae and the pcb base to which I'll be soldering the jumper wire?

Sent using my brain.
[Vibrant General] KWKSLVR:
What you'd do would be fully disassemble the phone and remove the broken antenna contact base from the board with your soldering iron by desoldering the solder that is holding it in place. Solder cools instantly, I don't understand your fear in the solder "melting" the antenna? The antenna is that little piece of black plastic with a square of copper that is on the back plate that you remove to get into the phone. I think perhaps you're thinking that the gps antenna contact (the metal tab you bend) is the antenna itself. I know there are people that have applied solder on top of the antenna contact and there are people that have removed the contact all together and applied solder directly to the board.

Do you want to get the board super hot? No, definitely not, especially not on something small like a smart phone. It's the big reason why I don't recommend the solder method and contemplated not even including it into the FAQ because I know there are a decent number of people with little to no experience with a soldering iron going to town on their phones. :p I'd recommend using a soldering iron that has adjustable temp control and being conservative with it. If the board isn't hot enough, the solder won't take in the first place.

If you're willing to try the solder method, be willing to accept you might fry your phone. Just remember that. ;)
[Vibrant General] KWKSLVR:
Added an update to the OP:
[Vibrant General] pramathesh:
I'm thinking of soldering a jumper wire to the broken base and also the copper plate on the plastic back which is the antennae. That is where the fear of solder melting the copper piece on the plastic back arises from. Going by what you're suggesting. I assume you want me to tear down the phone and then de solder and remove the broken base then solder a copper wire directly where the broken part was sitting. The question here is how do I judge the length of the copper wire so as to make sure it touches the copper piece on the plastic back. Any video guides on how tear down the phone? All I could remove was the speaker. Haven't explored much beyond it.

Sent using my brain.
[Vibrant General] KWKSLVR:
You would completely fry the antenna in that case. Think of that little copper square as being a thin "sticker". It's copper tape. There's no way to solder anything to plastic. I really don't think it would do you any good anyway. Raised contacts and a mound of solder seem to have about the same affect on SNR.

In my opinion, we just have a weak gps receiver and hooking up a satellite dish to it wouldn't make a difference if the hardware is funky.
[Vibrant General] AustinKnight45:
My gps locks on in about 30 sec, i use mine a lot for work for delivery and my gps goes freaking nuts when I'm driving most of the time and some times google maps kinda freezes and my location will jump forward bad. My phone was i believe made in September I don't know if this will even help but I want to try this to see if it helps or is it not even worth a try?
[Vibrant General] ABCStore:
I broke the contact trying to fix it as well. What I used to replace it with was just a small spring from a disposable lighter. Works beautifully and I constantly get 3-4 satellites with 40+ SNR (out of 8-9 locked).
[Vibrant General] androidfury:
Worked for me on a Samsung Galaxy S from Bell in Canada. My GPS worked pretty well before I update to 2.2 and then it was pretty much useless for some reason. I cut a small section of credit card off and slid it in, I'll try and attach a few photos to show how mine looks after the fix.
[Vibrant General] KWKSLVR:
Thanks for the pics man! Just for reference, mine is bent up about half that far. I would be careful going that high with it. I encourage you to research what all you need to do to flash and try either S.gps.zip or S.gps2.zip from the OP. It won't make a difference with SNR, but it will help with making and keeping locks.
[Vibrant General] AustinKnight45:
So did you just leave the CC there and close up the phone or did you just use it to pry it up a little and then take it out?
[Vibrant General] KWKSLVR:
You can leave it in.
[Vibrant General] AustinKnight45:
O ok it will hold in place cool thx going to do apply this fix when I get to the house.
[Vibrant General] androidfury:
Yeah, left it in. I thought mine looked a little high and if I were to do it again I'd file the piece a little flatter...but its been working beautifully so far!
[Vibrant General] pramathesh:
So you mean to say. I whatever soldering is to be done has to be done on the PCB and not on the copper piece on the plastic back. What I'm also wondering is since ABCStore managed to get it fixed with a spring which was not copper so any metal would just do fine, wouldn't it?

Hey! can you post some reference images. I would really like to get as much information available before getting to soldering things back in place. I assume you didn't desolder the broken base, right? You just soldered the spring on to the broken base and made sure it made contact to the antennae sitting on the plastic back?
[Vibrant General] AustinKnight45:
Well I bent up the contact and i get faster locks but that's about it my phone still goes ape **** when I run google maps and pull up to a red light. I believe this fix does work for faster locks but that's about it on my end thx op for the help/thread still going to try some more fixes...
[Vibrant General] 9xnine:
No difference for me on 2 phones. Oh well.....worth a shot. Thanks for all the research and hard work.
[Vibrant General] KWKSLVR:
What ROM/Kernel are the two phones running? Are they the same?
[Vibrant General] Tankrat:
Thanks for the thorough write up.

I used the solder method to repair a broken wifi contact that got broken when I was trying to correct the micro usb port looseness. I also topped off the gps contact as well and now I get like 60 meters within seconds.

does anyone know how to clear the gps cache on a gb rom, running simply honey. The sgs tools doesn't work and towing in the code doesn't work either.

For everyone's info, it is the contact on the opposite side of the board from the gps contact.

Thanks again

Sent from my Simply Honey machine using the XDA app
[Vibrant General] Raistline:
Now that my phone is over a year old and out of mfg. warranty I have finally got fed up with waiting over a minute for a weak lock. And so I have tried this HW GPS fix.

First off, it is very difficult, compared to other phones, to get the plastic cover piece off. I even injured myself trying to do so. Second, watch out, that little metal contact is very very weak and really easy to break off. I had accidentally broke it off.

I would like to thank the guy who gave me the idea to use the spring off a lighter. This is a fantastic idea and works perfectly. I cut a small piece of the spring off and since it is easily compressed , I was able to put it in place and snap the plastic piece on without issue. Once I did this, I got the best lock I have ever had on my phone and the fasted cold start lock yet. I deleted GPS data, used google SPUPL settings and turned Operation mode to MsAsissted (best for me). After this, it only took 2 minutes to get a lock within 6 meters after deleting data and getting a lock with a cold start.

I tested my GPS again in my work parking lot this morning. I got a lock before my screen auto-dimmed (set to 30sec) and it was within 20 meters. I was in a hurry but know It would have dropped to 6-8 meters within the next 15 secs or so. But the biggest improvement was not just the speed, but I didn't get any drift at all. (granted the compass still turned me around, I don't think this can be fixed).

In short, fastest, most stable locks yet. You don't have to know how to solder if you break the metal pin the BIC lighter spring works just as well. This fix works.

*edit: I did not solder at all, just rested the spring on the contact and carefully placed the plastic piece back on and made sure it snapped shut without moving anything at all.

Config notes:

Phone: T-mobile's Samsung Vibrant T-959

OS Version: 2.3.4

ROM: Simply Honey 4.0

Kernal: Bullet JVP 5.4: 1.2Ghz edition (OC'd with AnTuTu's CPU Master: free edition)

Modem: KB5

Lagfix: Voodoo

GPS Settings:

GPS SUPL: supl.google.com

GPS SUPL port: 7276

GPS Server SUPL type: UMTS SPL

GPS Operation mode: MSASISSTED
[Vibrant General] Tankrat:
How did you get into the gps settings in honey?

Sent from my Simply Honey machine using the XDA app
[Vibrant General] Tankrat:
Nevermind figured it out on my own

Sent from my Simply Honey machine using the XDA app
[Vibrant General] kvssvarma:
wow. Thanks for sharing your situation. I had one exactly like this today.

Searched this thread and found your post.

Thank YOU.
[Vibrant General] ABCStore:
I did not solder anything either. However, if you look carefully, there is a small hole between the board and the flat piece of contact soldered to it. It's just big enough to hold the spring (I've straighten the bottom loop and bent it counter clockwise)
[Vibrant General] jkruijff:
Pictures please!
[Vibrant General] donnygg:
should I try the hardware fix?

My Vibrant was made on 23 Oct 2010 according to the date on the box. Under open sky, my GPS typically picks up signal within 10s with SNR around mid-20 to 40s but the locking time is highly variable (2-5min after deleting GPS data). I'm currently using TW Bionix V 1.3.1 and Overstock 2.4.1. I've tried GPSrestoresamsung, Jellette's S.gps and Da_G's control plane tweak. Da_G's fix seems to work best but I'm not still not getting the performance reported by other users. The GPS still struggles to find signals even when I'm just under a bus stop shelter. Would my GPS benefit from the hardware fix or does it sound like a software problem?
[Vibrant General] KWKSLVR:
Hardware all the way. Mine used to do that. My Bionix 1.3.1 setup has Jellette's S.gps2.zip and it works (pics are several posts back). Actually, my GPS was non-existent until I cracked it open.
[Vibrant General] pramathesh:
I removed the broken base from my phone somehow. Now I tried putting a lighter spring there and shut it directly making sure it stayed in place. Unfortunately I did not get any locks. Could only manage to see one satellite after a long duration. Is soldering the only way out here?
[Vibrant General] jjprices:
I love you.

I had HAD it with the GPS on my Vibrant. Forever to lock, loosing lock frequently. Just did this 30 minutes ago and walked outside to test. HOLY CRAP! Instant lock.. no loss of signal. :-o :-o (Running RevolutionRom JVQ GB Final Update 2).

So yeah.. thanks! :D Phone is perfect now.
[Vibrant General] gemstocks:
After so much frustration with GPS on CM7, I finally came to this route and added a little paper nail in the GPS contact. It works like a charm, in 15 seconds locked the GPS first time, with the accuracy of 3 meters, subsequent locks within 6 seconds.

Unfortunately, I messed up other parts of the phone. The ear speaker doesn't work anymore after i took the phone apart, when someone calls me or I call someone, i have to use the external speaker :-(

I couldnt find anything wrong hardware wise around the internal speaker, no misconnects etc..
[Vibrant General] donnygg:
Ok, finally got the courage to open up my phone. It was quite a struggle and I freaked out a little when the chrome rim was distorted. Anyway, got inside and found the connector. It was much smaller than I thought. I'm not sure if they changed the material for post-Oct/10 batches but the copper was much thinner and springier than what I was expecting. It seemed like the connector was already making decent contact with the antenna as a mark was visible on the copper plate. I decided to lift the connector with a triple folded plastic strip anyway and closed the phone. I tested the phone again but there was not much improvement. SNR is a little stronger (averages ~35, max 49) but locking time still averages around 1 min. Best I got was 40s. No lock indoor still. It seems like my GPS is very sensitive to obstructions. If I hold the upper half of the phone and cover the antenna, SNR immediately decreased by about half. Finding birds are still difficult under any shelter. Is it possible that the indoor lock being reported are "false" locking for whatever reasons?

Any other suggestions? I've tried almost all the software fixes and Da_G's seems to be the one for me. Would a different modem matter?

Pardon me but what is a paper nail?
[Vibrant General] gemstocks:
I should say a paper page stapler, not "paper nail", please pardon my English. if you watch the YouTube video (search vibrant GPS fix at YouTube), he inserted a wire to connect the top and bottom.
[Vibrant General] Raistline:
Same thing happened to me first time, found out the ribbon cable was loose.

I had to take it apart a gain, remove ribbon cables and put them back place. Afterwards I all sounds again.

FYI, for my, the lighter's sping was cut down to size and laid sideways, this was the best configuration to get constant contact with the GPS without having it touch any other contacts or metal. In case this help you guys.

I also later added the Super GPS fix and now my locks are even fast.

I am ranging between 10-20 seconds lock down to 10 meters. I still can't break the 6 meter barrier but that is still plenty good compared to no GPS at all.
[Vibrant General] gemstocks:
After made the hardware fix and with the help of GPS aids FREE (BETA), I am very satisfied with the GPS. Here are some screenshots I took, the phone was placed in my bedroom.

I am using the standard CM7 Nightly Release #78 with the regular kernel. I didn't copy gpsd from Trigger. I believe GPS Aids FREE (BETA) program really helped, you can download it from Market and give it a try . The hardware fix makes the GPS signals stronger even indoor.

I also has AngryGPS installed with MSBASED Operation mode, make sure you turn off WiFi while doing the GPS tests indoor.

From AnyGPS tests, in cold start, the time to get a lock is about 14 seconds, and in hot start, the time to get a lock is just over 2 seconds.

I took the phone apart again in the afternoon, I reinserted the connectors, the internal speaker still doesn't work, I might have damaged it after dropped the phone to the water (well, this gave me a chance to open it and did the GPS hardware fix).

Regardless hardware fix, give GPS Aids a try, it might help you. Good luck!

View attachment 684537

View attachment 684538

View attachment 684539

View attachment 684540