I might have noticed a clue today to the GPS that explains why some say it's hopeless and others have better luck.

I installed the ephemeris data downloader that larsdennert was kind enough to post. THANK YOU THANK YOU. Ran it and got the data to download. THEN EARLIER TODAY WHILE DRIVING- I turned on the gps- (first with google maps then with gpstest)and then immediately got anywhere between 4-7 GREEN satson gpstest plus 2-4 yellows or reds. I KNOW that gps systems needs just 4 sats to get a 3d lock. So already having the ephemeris map just getting 4 sats green should give me instant position. But it did NOT.

Furthermore- whats even odder clue is that after a period of time - seems to be 60 seconds but it's tough to get a clock and gpstest at the same time and I am too lazy to find a watch (LAUGHING) all the sats would just go to red zeroish readings.

I'm wondering if the gps receiver doesn't therefore timeout and give up if it doesnt get a lock in 2-3 minutes in an attempt to save battery.

anyone else have other theories why this happened?

If this is the case- then perhaps under something less than ideal conditions the gps is just giving up and shutting down to save battery and thats why it "never" locks?

Just played somemore now- and I saw that larsdennert posted something about a fresh power up in another thread. Without fiddling I went outside in a big open filed alongside my house and OVER AND OVER- I would start gpstest and in about 4 seconds it would get 4 sats but no lock. It would go on to get 6-8 green sats and never lock then after ~60 seconds it looks to power down and go to all red zero signal sats.

So I hit a soft reset and fired it up again. 4 seconds to 4 sats and 19 seconds to SOLID 3D lock. Tried it again and bammo lock quick.

WENT INSIDE my house where I havne't even been able to start up (aluminum siding and 2 story houuse) and BAMM- SIX seconds to a lock.

Tried again with googlemaps IN DOORS and bammo - about 6-8 seconds to a GPS LOCK.

No idea what caused things to go corrupt so it just wouldnt lock. But heres the steps to take to get FAST SOLID LOCKS- just like the HTC phones appear to go.

1) in phone options make sure that options->services -> gps is set to "location on"
2) download larsdennert's app to download the ephemeris data (I believe I've attached it here)
--a) install it. (unzip the .cab and then run the cab on your device to install it)
--b) run it
--c) press the big bar for "download file"
--d) appears it gets 3 days at a clip so after 3 days you need to run it again- haven't experimented with the auto download option.
3) download gpstest if you just want to play
4) download googlemaps
--a) menu-> options->gps settings-> set manually -> com9 +9600
--b) ,menu-> check use GPS
5) soft reset
6) turn on googlemaps or gpstest and ENJOY your quick locks


Now lets all try to figure out what actions it is that corrupts the gps so it wont lock.

But I've been playing with it non stop for 21 minutes now on and off and over and over again indoors and out and it's quick and solid.

...just need to figure out the thing that messes it up...

Attached Files

GPS Quick Position.cab.zip (71.4 KB, 91 views)

cant thank larsdennert enough!

Hopefully others have such postive results.

before this I have had less than stellar results myself.

walked all over my house- I'm having too much fun and it just stays locked and even shows movement on google maps.

PS- I have a stand alone tomtom (not a newer one that can download ephemeris) and a bluetooth matchbook/keychain unit. And NEITHER can lock nor stay connected inside my house. So the saga seems to have BETTER performance (mostly I assume to the ephemeris download trick)

welll....

was fiddling around and searching for something with PIE and the darn thing crashed. So I soft reset and now I can't get gps for crap.

keeps going to all red again.

I tried every pattern or soft reset and qucik gps and gps test that i can figure and it's a mess....

harumph.... need to figure out the right pattern...