yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Captivate General] dasbin:
Sorry, but you are wrong. With AGPS it is workable and usable in many situations. But the actual GPS data coming off the chip is often corrupt regardless.

I have a brand new Rogers Captivate, date code 1012.

GPS seemed ok at first. Spot on while driving/tracking.

However, out in the bush with no AGPS, I soon found out how terrible it really is. It often had me with supposed "13ft accuracy" at half a mile of my actual position. Then the next second I'd jump over somewhere else, on and on. I've tried every ROM, every fix/patch, even tried soldering an antenna wire to the connector under the cover.

Went out and bought an Acer Liquid MT. Ugly as sin screen. But the GPS immediately locks me (even with AGPS turned off) in my basement right down the right correct ROOM in my house in poor weather. No jumping around.

The Captivate gets OK SNR values from the satellites. Not an antenna problem. The Lat/Long it calculates is wrong very often except in perfect clear skies. And I notice it randomly loses fix every 5 seconds or so for no reason at all.

IMO this is either a GPS driver issue or an interference one. But on Airplane mode, shouldn't be much less to interfere, so.... Samsung GPS driver issue.

There is no ROM or fix that changes the GPS driver currently. It is closed source by Samsung.

There are a lot of people saying their GPS is working fine. To you I say: Take it out in the bush with no cell service and try geocaching. Any decent GPS will lead you within feet of the coords. The Cappy will just lead you off a cliff.
[Captivate General] bames:
I use my captivate when trail running and there are many spots on the trails that i do not have a signal. Haven't had any issues yet. Some people presume too much.
[Captivate General] bames:
I use my captivate when trail running and there are many spots on the trails that i do not have a signal. Haven't had any issues yet. Some people presume too much (because a certain quantity of devices have a gps flaw does not = all units have the same problem). For example, there are a batch of devices with the shutdown flaw, however, there are even more that do not.

I have a Garmin forerunner 305 that i run with also and with AGPS turned off on my captivate i get pretty similar mapping of my runs between the two devices.

On the road its not as good as my Garmin Nuvi but it is as good as my wife's ihpone4 + mapquest combo which is actually pretty good.

I still think there are 3 issues with the captivate GPS:

1. Some units with software flaw

2. Some units with hardware flaw

3. Some units with no gps flaw

The first captivate i had seemed to fall into #1. Stationary locks were always good and accurate but tracking was not functional on stock 2.1 (jf6 or jh7). Tracking was resolved over numerous roms...my tracking was best with Jk4 + Phoenix or Firefly.

The 2nd captivate i recently received seems to fall into category 3. It came with JH7 installed and i wasn't surprised to get fast stable accurate stationary locks on stock because that was my experience with the first device as well.

What did surprise me was that the tracking worked flawlessly out of the box on JH7 (something the first captivate could not do).

With both devices my lock times, strength, and accuracy was similar whether i had AGPS/use wireless location disabled or enabled.

With both devices USE WIRELESS LOCATIONS gives me problems with tracking (less so with 2nd captivate). But i always leave this off/AGPS disabled because i get great initial lock time and accuracy either way but having them enabled messes up my navigation accuracy.
[Captivate General] jetdite:
Later builds show better GPS for me, but still can't compare with other phones like DesireHD or Droild 2 Global.
[Captivate General] dasbin:
My lock times, strength, and accuracy are all quite good.

However, I find there is often a huge difference between the reported "accuracy" and "lock" and where it is actually putting me on the map. I can get a very good accuracy and fast lock with many satellites... but the coordinates will put me half a mile away, and jump all over the place even when I am stationary.

This is my only real problem. Somehow the coordinates off the chip are just plain wrong.

I completely dissambled the phone, located the Broadcom GPS chip, and noticed it is completely unshielded. I glued a thin steel shield on top and grounded it.

My SNR has definitely improved - for the first time I'm seeing SNR in the 50's, which is actually higher than on the Acer phone.

I keep reading that Broadcom provided updated drivers to Samsung last year but they simply aren't releasing them to us for whatever reason.
[Captivate General] Picsman:
GPS "accuracy" as reported on a GPS app is not the same thing as how accurately your location is pointed to on a map. The GPS's sends longitude and latitude data to the map program and the map program places the pointer. If there is not a consistent flow of data from the GPS and/or the map program does not update in real time, there is going to be some "distortion."

I took my dedicated Garmin GPS and my Captivate on a two-mile walk this morning. Watching longitude and latitude on each device showed no significant discrepancies.

The only thing A-GPS does is help get a fix more quickly--if the data is fresh--than would the phone without that "assistance." The GPS in a tiny, multi-purpose phone takes longer to get a fix than it would take a single-purpose GPS receiver to get a fix; A-GPS tries to give the phone a leg up in getting a fix in a new in location (which could be 30 seconds down the road) and that is its fundamental purpose.

As regards taking my phone into the bush to see if it's GPS is working correctly would be foolish. Not only would the map not update but the phone wouldn't work either. ;)
[Captivate General] secretasianman:
Try Maverick for offline maps. I use it frequently out this way and in the Tahoe National Forest where I have no signal. Then again... I have a phone that has working GPS now.
[Captivate General] AWD_Dan:
Why release a fix when you can release a new phone this holiday season and all of us who counted on the promises for support will simply give up and buy the new model... And hope it works.

Sad times these days: Quantity > Quality :-(
[Captivate General] superdog404:
Today I did a very rash thing (because I really want to keep my Cappy rather than settle for a less fun phone). I completely dissambled the phone, located the Broadcom GPS chip, and noticed it is completely unshielded. I glued a thin steel shield on top and grounded it.

Hi dasbin - How deep into the motherboard is the gps chip? Sounds like you my have come up with a good fix. It seems that lots of people think noise may be part to the bad gps.

Thanks

superdog404
[Captivate General] dasbin:
It's pretty deep and the chip is *tiny* and tough to locate. It'd be easier if I didn't have to read the labelling which is way too small for human eyes :)

Anyway, I'm not sure I'd recommend doing this just yet. Maybe if Samsung fixes the software side of things. Although my SNR improved somewhat.

I notice that on the Captivate the satellites stay "unused" for far longer than on the Acer, even when the SNR is higher.
[Captivate General] wallrat:
The difference between my 1008 and 1103 are night and day. Side by side running the same build of Froyo, walking around, stationary, taking a crap, whatever, the 1103 is superior. I'm convinced it's 75% hardware 25% software.
[Captivate General] Miami_Son:
Do you still have both? If so, I'd love to see a side-by-side comparison like this:

Cog 4.1 on the right, Andromeda 1.2 on the left.
[Captivate General] wallrat:
Pictures of GPS performance

First image is facing south at the front of my house.

Second image is facing north.

Third image is in a bathroom with the door closed. It did not have line of sight to a window.

The 1008 did not get a lock the entire time.

I was also wrong about my build dates. The new one is 1102. I checked Samsungs site and the build date was 3/4 or something. I don't remember exactly. The old was a 1008 as I stated.
[Captivate General] Miami_Son:
Thanks for that, Wallrat. Mine on stock wasn't terrible, but on Andromeda it is excellent. I use GPS to track my mountain bike rides, so it is important to me. Looks like between the two of us we have proven that GPS performance varies not just between ROMs, but also between phone build dates. That's an unacceptable situation as far as Samsung is concerned. If newer phones have some kind of hardware-level fix that has improved GPS, then they should be forced to replace all the older phones. If it is a software fix, then they need to make it available to older Cappy owners.:mad:
[Captivate General] wallrat:
No problem. Ya, I used my HTC Fuze for mountain bike GPS tracking but it was impossible using the 1008. It's actually the reason I had to get the Captivate, I endo'ed and killed my phone. I was running Andromeda 2.1 prior to calling in for a replacement using the shutdown excuse. Using Andromeda the GPS performance is twice as good as stock but not even comparable to the 1102.

I also want to say that the 1102 came with Froyo and I reverted the 1008 using one touch and the Kies Froyo update. They should be identical software wise.
[Captivate General] newter55:
Got a replacement for my wife a few weeks ago which was 1101. I had a 1006 and the results were opposite of yours, my 1006 was way better than her newer build. Both are now with new owners....only one captivate left in the house. Fortunately my daughter has no use for gps and still likes hers.

Bottom line is gps has always been a crapshoot and continues to be with the captivate.
[Captivate General] MMAHavok69:
Love xda this site rocks
[Captivate General] RichMD:
Any replies with build 1102 and newer would be helpful

I've been searching for an answer to this question. I have read that the supposed fix is build 1102 (February 2011) and newer so a 1101 wouldn't have it. I have a build 1007 with "decent" GPS but if there is a significantly better GPS signal with the newer builds by fixing the GPS antennae connection then I would swap it out under warranty. Mine also falls under the IMEI range that has the random shutdown issue.
[Captivate General] fastoy:
My 2nd Captivate was Batch 1008, Rev 0.4. GPS pretty much didn't work at all.

3rd Captivate is Batch 1007, no Rev #. GPS couldn't be better.

Go figure.
[Captivate General] wallrat:
I was the one who posted all the photos from above. Anyway, it has been 4 months and I decided to check my GPS performance again. People have stated that performance degrades over time but I have not experienced that at all.
[Captivate General] mastergrillo:
I replaced my launch phone with a 1101 that had 2.1update1 and gps worked perfect I've been testing it non stop without any problems.
[Captivate General] poolemit:
what's a good app to test the gps?
[Captivate General] wallrat:
I used GPS Test Plus in the screenshots above. A lot of people use GPS Status as well. Both available in the market.
[Captivate General] ClownTrigger:
Would you be willing to pop your motherboard out of your working Captivate and take some macro shots during the process? If the newer models (and some refurbs) are that different, I'd put money on there being a hardware update / fix. There's a good how-to here: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=740022

The one being torn down in the how-to is a 1007 (2nd pic), so comparing yours to those pictures, you could probably quickly identify any differences.
[Captivate General] mrd49:
I just got a newer model captivate to fix my GPS issues and my new one works very well. One thing I noticed is that the software build for this is KB2, which I haven't seen mentioned very much on this forum. Could this contain some changed files/settings to make the GPS work correctly? Does anyone else's captivate have the KB2 build?

Also, the hardware version is 1101.
[Captivate General] danix180:
I agree to that.

My cappy is an 1008 issued Sept last year.

GPS was flawless on Doc's ROM 2.2 and not so on 2.3.3

I tried Continuum and Serendipity and they both suck at GPS.

I can lock with no problem but the signal is lost during navigation and Runkeeper and also not very accurate when it's locked.
[Captivate General] goderaj:
My GPS was sporadic on 2.1 (even with applied fixes) and even worse with 2.2. After recently updating to 2.3 my GPS seems to be working great.
[Captivate General] gte460z:
I got a refurb replacement for my 1008 for random shutdowns around 2 weeks ago. My 1008 had horrible GPS, my refurb is a 1007 and it has absolutely perfect GPS, also came with KB2. I have been using the navigation non stop for 2 weeks just to test it and so far no issues even when driving around downtown Boston near tall buildings. I was concerned about getting an even older phone than my previous one but they assured me that they have fixed the random reboot and gps issues on the refurbs (didn't believe them until now, lol).
[Captivate General] Rhiannon224:
Well, I have another month left on warranty and I debated taking mine in and swapping it for a newer one with working GPS today. I thought I would take it outside for a drive first. It's very cloudy but I got a lock within 10 seconds, it isn't good at keeping up when I make turns but I blame Google Nav because My Tracks could keep up. For my needs it's acceptable. I have a 1007 with button combos that work and I haven't run it stock since the second week if owning it. I prefer to have working button combos and the ability to flash back to stock 2.1 before flashing new ROMs. If someone comes up with a one click back to KB1 Froyo they now come with before my warranty is up I may reconsider. On Continuum 6.2 gps is usable enough for me. Also with GPS test app my phone saw 9 satellites and locked onto all of them instantly.
[Captivate General] lyrad12:
just got a 1107 build of captivate lastweek and I tested the navigation everyday, it never fails me. 5meters lock..
[Captivate General] Rhiannon224:
Do you have working button combos for recovery and download modes?
[Captivate General] lyrad12:
yeah! they are both working
[Captivate General] Rhiannon224:
I will be going to a service center next weekend to swap mine out for one with working gps. Thanks for the info.
[Captivate General] Spritely:
I got a refurb phone in May with a build number of 1010 and I've never had any issues with my GPS. Well, very randomly it will he rather off on where it thinks I am, but it's not common enough to truly annoy me.
[Captivate General] RichMD:
2 more KB2 refurbs and GPS is great

A little over a week ago I swapped my 1007 out which was in the range of the random shutdowns. My GPS is still working perfectly and I left it on stock KB2 so I could use it for comparison at the device support center when trying to replace my wife's 1007 Cappy. I just got a replacement for her even though it was a refurbished unit from back in November (so no warranty left). The rep didn't ask any more questions than account info after I told her I wanted the GPS fixed on my wife's phone. She now has an 1105 and I had the two side by side for the 45 minute drive back - both tracked GPS "spot on". They must have made a hardware fix because no ROMs ever came close to this accuracy. I now can finally put a custom ROM on mine and I am assuming the GPS will stay just as good. Stock is so annoying I will take the risk... ;)
[Captivate General] ScottyNuttz:
Does anyone know if A) you can have them send you a phone prior to sending the old one back and B) if you need to go back to stock prior to contacting them?
[Captivate General] chrislj:
Crack it apart and take some closeups of the innards. That will be the easiest way to tell if the hardware has changes. Also if you prefer to not take it apart you can post your average locked signal range from the test program. If your still sitting in the 30-40 dbz range I'm thinking hardware is not what made it start working right. I'm more interested in the KB2 as I think that is where our answer is.
[Captivate General] ctrclckws:
In May or so, I decided to go to a local service center.

They replaced my 1007 build phone with a refurb 1010. The 1010 has GPS tracking about 98% as good as my Garmin. It came with Froyo, but that didn't stay on it. Replaced it with Cognition 4, and then 5 (Gingerbread). Still have very acceptable GPS.

I will not be replacing it again for GPS.

I feel it's a primarily a hardware issue for these things. Early builds seem to very greatly in GPS function.
[Captivate General] ryboto:
I've got a 1007, and I'm considering doing this...did you have a rooted/modded rom, or was your 1007 stock when you brought it back?
[Captivate General] ctrclckws:
Rom was rooted in January,

I put various flavors of Cognition on it. I think I started with 3.0x Froyo builds from Rogers Roms. I don't think I had it long enough to put the Cog 5 Beta's on it.

Before the exchange I used the One Click return to stock Eclair, so when AT&T got it, it was Stock.

The new one had a Froyo build on it, but I didn't notice which one. KB1 or KB2.

before I got home, the new one had Cog 4.something on it. Currently I have Cog 5 ver 1.0 Gingerbread. I am happy with the overall performance of this combination.
[Captivate General] RichMD:
My "new" 1012 with KB2 actually now has a problem with USB connectivity. My wife's 1105 KB2 has no problems.

I called support and they are sending me another refurbished device and I will send my current one back when I receive it. They are including a pre-paid return shipping package. I drove 45 minutes each way twice recently and the current phone is working so I will wait.

I am still on stock KB2 and this phone will remain that way. It is rooted however, and after wirelessly transferring the modded 3e recovery file (to get around signature verification) I got CWM installed via SGS tools. I have made a backup of the KB2 ROM or at least as much of it as CWM backs up. If there is anyone who wants files from it, let me know where to post them. Obviously, I don't want to post IMEI or other personally identifiable files but if you want to specifiy other "generic" files then I will see what I can do. Once I have the new phone, I will root it via SuperOneClick again so I can use ADB to pull files, etc.

They "may" simply be wiping devices that come back but I would certainly want to send it back stock to be safe. The only problem with that is that any refurbs that come out now are on KB2 and I have not seen anywhere that we can flash KB2 so they will know if they check that it was rooted, etc. Kies will only allow you to update to KB1. If they know you have a custom ROM when you contact them then I think it will be a very short phone call...
[Captivate General] chrislj:
I'd be interested in the whole backup if your willing to provide it. I am not familiar really with cwm's backup's so I'm not sure how "anonymous" it is. It would be really cool to some how pull atleast the modem and the kernel. Maybe any gps related config files and such.
[Captivate General] technobabble042:
Warranty question. I bought my Captivate at a Radio Shack, can I take it to an AT&T center to get a refurb, or will I have to work through that specific Radio Shack? Got it last November, curious to see if I can get a working GPS now that it's starting to become an issue for me, and the Radio Shack is an unfortunate distance away.
[Captivate General] RichMD:
Call AT&T wireless and ask. If they will replace it, they will ship you a new one or tell you to goto a device center. I doubt anyone on these forums can give any more definitive answer than that.
[Captivate General] ScottyNuttz:
They'll never ask where you got it. All they care about is when you bought it and when you activated it on their network. I just went through the whole process entirely in Chat.
[Captivate General] ghettomonkeypimp:
andromeda 3 gps

im also on andromeda 3 and having gps lock problems... i spent about 20 min trying to get a lock in san antonio tx a few days ago. is there a fix?
[Captivate General] seanpr123:
Hey guys, have some questions of my own and looking for some input.

Purchased a used Cappy, 1007 that's running 2.2 UCKB1. Just found out it's still under original warranty for 2weeks and I am definitely having GPS problems. Can usually resolve short-term with advanced setting changes/reboots, but it's easy to tell something is up. And I've blown away almost my entire workday reading through the main threads/articles on this issue lol

Now I have rooted and uninstalled some AT&T bloat, and thinking I should take advantage of the warranty and want to send it back.

What needs to be done for them to accept my return? Any guides somebody could point me to?

This is my best bet right?

Thanks much!
[Captivate General] nyciz:
Returning a SGS to at&t

You need to flash the fone back to stock. There are One-Clicks available to do this on the DEV link.

Good Luck.

Ps, IMHO custom roms give way better gps performance (stationary & driving) than any stock. Again just my personal exp, I've had the SGS for about a yr and have ran over 17 different roms.
[Captivate General] kb9nvh:
Just got a refurb replacement for my 1012 with a bad gps and problematic reflashing. GPS inside seems to lock on with good signal. Will take it out on the road and see how it goes. I'll post back soon.
[Captivate General] kb9nvh:
Gps is working great so far this morning. Lost lock one time when tree's were heavy overhanging on one side of the road. Other than that, I'm able to put the phone on my speedometer ledge in the car and keep locked and follow the road and turns very well. I'm on Fusion IX. Without a doubt this is better than it ever was before on my 1012 even at its best with a fresh reflash. Jury is still out but things are looking good for this build 1007 phone. So, wish someone at samsung would come clean and say what they are fixing on these when then come back in.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] m03sizlak:
Nightly #14,17,18,19:

I have wifi policy set to NEVER sleep, yet it sleeps anyway. If I leave the device idle for 30-45 minutes, and then try to ping it, the ping fails, and a check of the ARP table shows the evo is not responding to ARP requests (or any other network requests). After I wake the device up the wifi quickly reconnects (as can be seen in a logcat).
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] DomSim:
Xda: noob set to not post questions in dev section, yet they do
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] drmacinyasha:
Try looking in the issue tracker and posting in the right section.

Herpady derpady derp.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] sirmx:
You guys being mean to the OP will only end up getting you some firm scolding by folks such as Greenfieldan (see sig). You best mind your own!! ~~~~

Note: Sarcasm. First two posts = win.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] LyndenP:
Look who it is. AGAIN. You find my house yet Domsim? I knew I see you two in here. Ha
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] m03sizlak:
OK now that everyone's done moaning....

Anyone have this issue/know how to fix it?
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] DomSim:
that wasnt my real address btw was just trying to get a rise out of you :p
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] LyndenP:
Yeah that thread quickly got deleted...
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] simon.ponder:
I am making your post a tab, so I can get a laugh everyday.
[Optimus One, P500, V General] WhiteRocks:
Hey there im a samsung fascinate user, trying to see if theres anything that I can do for my friends a lg-p509? I may be pretty far off in postin in this forum, but I dont see a forum for that phone.

VoodooSC2.8ND2.3
[Optimus One, P500, V General] masteryx:
I think you mean LG Tritan, because I can't find any "Titan" LG products apart from some air conditioners. If the phone name is indeed Tritan, you may have better luck on this forum instead.
[Optimus One, P500, V General] WhiteRocks:
Alright I got a model; LG-P509

VoodooSC2.8ND2.3
[Optimus One, P500, V General] Daiskei:
All of the the roms in this forum work on the P509. I have one myself, the Optimus T for T-Mobile. :)
[Optimus One, P500, V General] WhiteRocks:
Sweet, so getting root I should use this forum to get instructions?

VoodooSC2.8ND2.3