yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Vibrant General] Ilmoran:
So being the adventurous type, and it being a new year and all, I tried these. They seem to be too thick :( After I managed to get the receptacle soldered on, I just placed the plug directly on it first, rather than trying to solder the plug on the back plate immediately, and close it up to see how it fit. It was a good mm or two too high. I'm trying to think if theres any way to trim some off the plug, because even if its usable as an SMT, it was still obviously designed as a cable end.

Also of note: The footprint of this is large than the metal square under the old contact, making it also tricky to solder on.
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
Good to know. I was going to try this myself if the measurement was correct. I had not had time yet to open it and see.

There are thinner contacts that fit the application, but I have not as of yet found the female side for sale anywhere. I have only seen the data sheet. So now that we know it is too thick, I guess I need to keep looking for the others. As for grinding those down. You would probably destroy the locking mechanism that holds them together, then again it does not matter since the two boards are screwed together.

Be very careful of brass shavings if you do take it down. Try to do it so they fall away rather than on the board, and inspect the board very closely before re-assembly.
[Vibrant General] Ilmoran:
I was actually considering trimming the board-side, rather than the connection-side, and doing it before soldering the plug onto the backplate.

One alternative might be to simply get short cables with the female connectors already on the, and the cut the cable, since it's sort of a universal "board or cable" connector.
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
I have thought about the cable idea quite a bit, but I can not get around the two connections being directly above each other. There would need to be some offset.
[Vibrant General] mugenfiji0327:
Yes I tested again after 8 hours of not using the gps and it locked within 30 seconds to 8 out of 11 sats. I also tried it again this morning after a cold boot and it locked within 1 minute. I have to say this GPS fix is by far the best and has produced the best results. The only thing I haven't tried yet is my tracks I will be testing that today. By the way I'm running Bionix Final and I will probably be switching to auxura to give it a try.
[Vibrant General] coasterman927:
So I've come to terms with the fact that T-Mobile won't be bothered with covering my ass, they automatically see any missing parts as physical damage. Samsung too. So I've been looking around for spare parts for the Vibrant, the only place I can find them is off Global Direct Parts. They have a set of "small parts" which doesn't have a picture on the Vibrant model, but the Galaxy S model of the same name has a power button, volume rocker, etc.

Vibrant: http://www.globaldirectparts.com/product-p/smsng6086017.htm

Galaxy S: http://www.globaldirectparts.com/Samsung-Galaxy-S-i9000-Small-Parts-p/smsng6087285.htm

The bad news is you must purchase a minimum of 5. Plus shipping, it'll come out to about $47. I think that's a liiittle too steep for a little button. Anyone know where else I can find this?
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
I'm a bit cheap, but for $47 I might be tempted to pull the seat out of the car completely so I can get a better look underneath. Usually this only means 4 nuts, or bolts depending on how it is mounted, unfortunately it often means doing it from underneath the car. The button has got to be in there somewhere, but it is hiding very well. I know with my luck I would get in 5 sets of "small parts" just to have the button show up as I was bringing it back from the mailbox.
[Vibrant General] coasterman927:
Thing is, it's my mom's car, and she's not very happy about me digging through it. I was out last night for another hour looking in every single possible place it could have fallen in by the laws of physics. I'm almost positive that at this point, it probably fell on my jacket while I was gutting the phone, and when I got out of the car, it fell into oblivion.

Bright side: $47 is cheaper than what a repair would cost through T-Mobile or Samsung. And I could try to resell the parts on eBay to make some of it back. But I'm still holding out for other options at this point.
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
I don't know what the XDA policy is on advertising parts for sale. You might check on that. It is possible that you might find someone via a thread in General that might want these. I have never actually seen the jigs to force downloading mode advertised for sale here, but I have seen links to the forums where the guy making them had is thread.
[Vibrant General] coasterman927:
Good thinking, I didn't even think of that! I'll hit up one of the mods and ask them. I'm sure I can't possibly be the only one that needs these...
[Vibrant General] Ilmoran:
It sounds like you're talking about using 2 of the receptacle pieces, one on back plate, and one in place of the spring connector, and running a cable between them that has the correct plug on each end.

I'm talking about getting the cable that has the correct plug ends, and just taking the plug end off the cable and soldering it to the backplate, and using 1 receptacle on the body.
[Vibrant General] Perus:
Big thanks for this :)

I also used kind of a spacer made of a small (very small) piece of a rubber band.

See attached images.

Before #1

Before #2

After

My SGS GPS works as a charm after this fix :)

/Per
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
Now I am lost, how is this different from what you have done?

Are you saying that the piece you got that was made for SMT mount was obviously made for both applications so much that you assume getting a lower profile connector and cable combo and cutting it off the cable would give us the piece you need? If so, and it was as much taller as you say, then I would go for a MHF4 pair for this job, because that is the slimmest you are going to find.

The primary issue here is that although U.FL and MHF are 100% compatible, they are manufactured by different companies. So it is conceivable that a MHF cable end might not be suitable for soldering to the board.

Please keep us up to date on what you do, and try. Thanks.
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
Thank you for this post. By far the best photos yet of the connector that we have seen.
[Vibrant General] VICosPhi:
Thank you, I will try to insert a plastic piece in there. Hopefully I can open it again without breaking, last time the chrome frame looked kind of bent.

@Perus, wow those pics look artistic, are you using DSLR?

what is the accuracy everyone is getting after the fix? I have read many get around 15 feet
[Vibrant General] Ilmoran:
Yes, the plug pieces are dual purpose. The MHF4 specification earlier in the thread even mention that; I took some pictures to illustrate, but I don't have anything handy to crop them. But even in the picture you posted originally, you can see the end where a wire could be inserted.

Also, while taking the pictures, I got a picture of the mated pair next to a dime; they end up about twice as thick as a dime, which is probably about the thickness of the spring connector.
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
Great, then we have a solution for the best possible connection. A Dime is about 1mm thick, so the U.FL connectors you have are the ones that mate at 2mm which is the shallower of the two. The MHF4 is 1.2MM, so just over half as thick.

To crop your pics try http://www.aviary.com/
[Vibrant General] ZX3ZX4:
I'd love to know this, too. I haven't done the fix because my GPS has been pretty good since the JI6 update. I typically get accuracy in the low 20's (feet). Over the course of driving 20 miles, my accuracy can range from about 18'-35', and the best I ever got was just under 15'. These numbers are with the standard locks I get of about 8/12. What's curious, though is that, despite that fairly decent accuracy, I can still sometimes see wandering of the target in Google Earth of up to 100'-200', and Google Nav will also wander for several seconds once or twice on a typical commute...which can result in a re-routing message until it recovers. In my case I'm thinking that JI6 was still not a complete software fix in terms of how the data transmitted from the locked satellites communicates with the apps.

It would be really interesting to see who here has the best performing Vibrant, not just in terms of locks or accuracy numbers, but in actual navigation performance. What should this phone be capable of?
[Vibrant General] gudding:
Has anyone tried this fix on the Galaxy Spica i5700 ?

I tried bending up the contact gently a bit yesterday, and i haven't noticed any improvement. First i had 0/9. Now i have 3/9 .. I'm in a different place now though so maybe it isn't the best comparision.

Should i try to bend it up some more, or perhaps put some kind of plastic in between the contact as displayed on the picture earlier?
[Vibrant General] samnada:
I'm running stock JI6, and have used the Samsung GPS Restore app. My original GPS performance was very similar to what you describe. I have now done the HW fix in this thread, and my average SNR has definitely increased (Indoors I now typically see 1 or 2 sats in the low 40's, and have seen a 51 once). My accuracy is also noticeably improved, down to a low of 15'. However, I still have instances where getting an initial lock can take a 2-3 minutes and also see the jumping/rerouting problem in Google Nav occasionally. I've also had Nav completely freeze my phone, forcing me to hard reset.

It's apparent there are several problems. HW, drivers, settings and app problems are all combining to create inconsistent, and at times very frustrating, performance.

I'm really hoping official 2.2 resolves the problems. If not I'm going to be forced into flashing ROMs, etc. just to get the thing to work the way it should.
[Vibrant General] bendiy:
Reporting back on my previous post on page #33. http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=10369272&postcount=322

I did this fix today. I put a tiny piece of foam under the contact. It was some foam from an anti-static motherboard envelope. It was pink and looked almost like Perus' photo:

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=10416158&postcount=356

I used an x-acto knife to do the bending the contact and stuff the foam in. I tried a paper clip, but the x-acto worked great. I used my finger nail to put some downward pressure on the bend and applied leverage with the knife from the other side. Putting a little pressure down at the bend should help prevent the contact from breaking. This way you are only flexing the top half of the copper piece and not bending the "U" any more.

As for the results. It's working great. From a cold boot, I'm getting a lock in under a minute. I have 10 birds in view and 9-10 in use. My accuracy is in the low 20 - 25 feet range. I'm seeing SNRs on some birds get up to 40. From a warm start, turning the GPS on and using GPS Test, I get a lock in less than 5 seconds. :D

Thanks!
[Vibrant General] black_orf:
Ok, thanks for the post, it works perfectly, after so long my gps works decently, with an accuracy of 20 feet and connects very quickly.

Thanks XDA and KWKSLVR
[Vibrant General] mugenfiji0327:
Okay this is an awesome fix for the GPS. After a few days of testing I can say that no other fix has done for the GPS what this fix does. Everytime I load up maps,navigation or even the lbstest it locks in less than a minute with accuracy of 20 meters or less. My tracks even recorded my whole night last night without missing a step. This fix is awesome +59,000 for the originator of this fix lol. My GPS was terrible before this fix and now it's awesome!
[Vibrant General] odg1999:
Great fix

just did it for my 2.1 vibrant (Sept 2010), locks in seconds.:D
[Vibrant General] nomadrider123:
Anyone know?
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
I don't know for sure, because I have a data plan. If I had to guess I would say that GPS would work, but Google Maps, Navigation, etc all require the network so you would have to find an app with pre-loaded offline maps to do anything with the GPS.
[Vibrant General] samven582:
has anybody done a youtube video of this?
[Vibrant General] fritzthevan:
I did the fix and I don't have a data plan. I can confirm that it works. As was mentioned, you'll need a map app that works offline, e.g. Mapdroyd.

My experience with the fix is that it made an instantly apparent improvement with performance. Before, it took minutes to see 6-7 birds. Now I consistently have good contact with 10-12 birds within 30 seconds, and that's indoors. I suppose it's the difference between having and not having an antenna. Usually it locks quickly, but not always. Dunno what's with that, but I'm happy enough. My ROM is Nero 3.

One other thing: when first I put my phone back together, the volume rocker was frozen. I took it apart again and wiggled things around - after that, all was well. I'm not the most mechanically gifted, so who knows? It was otherwise fun to do - complete with the excitement and danger about not breaking the thingy.
[Vibrant General] bendiy:
I can confirm that it works without a data plan. Using wifi, you can download GPS Test and the reset apps. You can use GPS Test with no data plan. If you are running a newer ROM like Nero V3, you can use the newest Google Maps Navigation app without a data plan. Just put in your destination when you are on Wifi and have GPS on. Let it load, pan through the map along the destination path so it will pull down all the map data. Disconnect Wifi, but leave GPS on. Get in your car and drive. Turn by Turn directions work fine without a data plan.
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
bendiy,

Great response, poor execution. It would have been much better for those following the conversation via repeat visits (like those subscribed to the thread), if you had quoted his earlier post that actually asked the question rather than the "Anyone know?" It makes it a little hard to follow that way. For an example you can refer to my post above.

That being said, your answer was very good. It was concise and went above and beyond actually answering the question to actually providing everything he needed: app names, examples, and instructions for success.

For this reason I give you a digital "Thank You" via the button provided. Keep up the good work. Contributions like yours are what help keep this community strong.
[Vibrant General] sinan.awad:
My vibrant heats up and eats battery! help.

Hi,

Thanks for the solution, it really helped.

I used the first solution by bending the little copper thingy abit and voila I get a really better SNR and accuracy of 9m. (mostly 12m.).

The problem is that I feel the phone is getting too warm now, even when the GPS is off (turned off from the settings).

The battery is drained in standby ~3hours, CPU usage doesn't show anything interesting. (~10-20% CPU usage).

Could I have short-circuited something inside while opening/closing?

The heat is emanating from the left upper side of the phone (when looking from the back-side) so it's on the other side from the antenna.

Any help is appreciated.

Sinan.
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
Unless you somehow unknowingly introduced conductive foreign material to the inside of your phone there is no way you could have done anything to short it out.

Things inside the phone that can generate heat off the top of my head are the processor, the charging circuit and the battery. If you have been flashing ROMS and "recalibrating" your battery it could explain a short life span. Deep cycling a li-ion battery is one of the worst things you can do to it. Unfortunately that bad advise is common here. There are thread that explain this (usually because someone has already started the process of destroying their battery), here is one: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=877597&highlight=li-ion
[Vibrant General] kmfisher:
My phone gets hot up top when the Email loses it's mind and keeps trying to download emails. It will drain the battery in an hour or two. So, check for a runaway app that is using resources. That's the most likely culprit.
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
Yes constant activity, especially network activity, will keep both the processor active and a draw on the battery.
[Vibrant General] sinan.awad:
Thanks for the response.

I'm not sure I understand why I would need to do a deep cycling of a LiIon battery, I didn't do that.

I used to do it with my motorola alpha back then in the 90's with NiCd batteries.

I think I got the culprit, after fixing the GPS, I get 100% usage from "Android System" whenever I activate GPS (by enabling it from the power widget).

I did a few reboots and it seemed to help..

Then it said my SD card is corrupt and suggested formatting it, I said yes and it went back to 100% usage.

Got the SD out, formatted in a DesireHD and got it back in..

Now everything is back to normal..

GPS is still flaky sometimes though. TTFF is ~250secs, but it's lightening fast afterwards..
[Vibrant General] zdil:
Galaxy S GPS fix

Absolutely great. Thank you!
[Vibrant General] dmk23:
Like many others, been trying for months to fix the GPS problem on my Vibrant and nothing worked. Until now. Get excellent reception/accuracy in less than 5 seconds or so now!

This works wonders, to say the least, and it literally takes less than 15-20 minutes to implement.

Just wanted to say thank you, was getting ready to ditch my Vibrant, but now I don't have to.
[Vibrant General] ecardwell1:
OK. I'm the first to break off the copper tab. Any suggestions? Don't want to have to return phone.
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
Actually I think you are the third. Plato56 (are you still watching?) Actually replaced his (or hers, I don't know). Maybe (s)he has a source and will post it.

Couple other people reported in different threads breakage, but I don't remember their resolution.

They are made of cheap metal and are not by any means quality. This is why they break easily, and also could possibly result in poor electrical transmission at the very high RF frequency that GPS uses. This is why Plato56 decided to replace them, and if you have the skill to do so I personally think he made the best call.
[Vibrant General] dublued:
Yea I had some problems with that as well.

I was able to get it a little bit off near the top right (where the usb slider is)

I then used a credit card and pried around the phone until the backing came off.

I just rebooted and deleted gps data using lbstest

Let's see if this works.
[Vibrant General] granduke:
Has this technique fixed anyone's gps that drifted badly?

Like many others, my gps locks on fine and shows a good accuracy, but if I stand still my track durring navigation will zig-zag all over the map.
[Vibrant General] commander_tux:
Works

I've never had a reliable GPS on my launch Vibrant. It'd often search for a signal for several minutes before I gave up, and connection was intermittent in the case it actually did lock on.

Before adjusting the pin on my Vibrant (custom Froyo, JK6), I ran a GPS Status test with it side-by-side with another brand new one (stock Eclair, JI6) by placing both in my window, launching the application, and letting them sit separated by about 3 feet. Launch Vibrant registered 11 satellites but saw 0 signal from all, the new Vibrant saw them with variable signal strengths. While the old one never locked on, the new one locked onto 4 after less than a minute.

As for actually performing the hardware mod: First I used a jeweler's phillips to get the 7 screws out. They're sealed, so there is an initial crack to get them turning. After that I used my fingernail to pry the case open, starting from the bottom-right and working outward in both directions. The last clip was the hardest to get off; try to apply force normal to the device because bending the frame just makes it more difficult. I then wedged a jeweler's flathead into the "U" of the pin and gently twisted until I had an angle I liked. For reference, there is an identical pin on the left side of the phone. If the GPS pin isn't at least as separated as the other, keep going. Finally, like OP said, reassembly was a piece of cake.

After the mod, GPS Status showed variable signal strengths across 11-13 satellites and will consistently lock onto 4 satellites from a cold boot within 30 seconds, which puts it at least at parity with the new Vibrant.

This is the first "fix" that I'm fairly certain actually does something. Thanks to OP and Plato56.
[Vibrant General] Fedburin:
You could take it to a phone repair shop. I have several in my area. Explain the problem, buy new contacts, and have them solder them on for you.
[Vibrant General] west-siiiyyde:
Was able to follow the steps from the OP without issues. My phone used to get anywhere from 1-3 satellites in view but never lock. Now I've got 10-12 in view very quickly with varying signals from 20-35. But I've still not ever had a lock on this phone, ever. So even though it didn't help me get a lock, I think it helped increase the number of satellites in view. Thanks OP for a good guide.
[Vibrant General] stormbreezer:
It works

I had my vibrant since August and most of the times, GPS either got dropped while driving or could not get a lock on at all. None of the fix worked for me.

I tried this method and it WORKED! I drove for an hour today without losing the GPS signal. I was thinking to buy a standalone GPS but now I don't have to.

I have read many threads and tried many different things.

Before this fix, I had to put the GPS on "MS Base" mode to get a GPS lock. After this fix, putting it on "Standalone" seem to work a lot better.

For those who may need, this is the setting that worked best for me:

Under LbsTestMode:

> SUPL/CP Settings > Application Settings

Operation Mode: Standalone

Start Mode: Hot Start

GPS Plus: ON

Dynamic accuracy: ON

Accuracy: 30

GPS Logging: OFF

> SUPL/CP Settings:

Server: supl.google.com

Port: 7276

SUPL Secure Socket: OFF

AGPS Mode: SUPL

Under Settings > Location and Security:

> Use wireless networks: unchecked <-- for me, it seems to work better with this unchecked

> Use GPS satellites: checked

I live in North Seattle. I have read from other threads that different settings can work better depending on which area you live in.

I am using Ginger Clone R2 rom with JL4 modem.

Thanks again for posting this information. I am glad I tried it^^
[Vibrant General] shinobix37:
dude this fixed my gps problem perfectly!!! Getting that plastic back off was annoying but it's all worth it. Thanks for the info, I'd buy u a beer if i could!
[Vibrant General] Mannymal:
I also broke the tab. Freaked out, but decided to try something. I dropped a small drop of molten solder metal, big enough that it should touch the antenna. GPS is working better than ever now :)

-edit-

Important note - dont just drop the solder on the contact, the correct way to solder is to heat the contact with your soldering iron and then apply the blob to it.

SEE THIS POST AND THE ONES PRECEDING IT FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE SOLDER BLOB METHOD

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=10176677&postcount=179
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
If this happens and you choose to go this route there are two things that are important to remember.

Attempt to get the correct height, this is critical

You want to make the solder as smooth and shiny as posible with a nice round dome. At these high RF frequencys having a crazed, spiked, or rough blob will cause more problems than anything
[Vibrant General] ecardwell1:
Thanks. Never thought to do that. Sometimes the easiest fix is the hardest to see.
[Vibrant General] Mannymal:
You are right, and my drop is a little too big so the case bulges slightly and the cover is left with a slight misalignment, hard to see unless you are looking for it, impossible with the protective cover I use. The GPS works wonderfully so I am not complaining.