Verizon GPS Fix - Available in App Catalog

[jamhandman]

I'll try it tonight, but if I scale down to 500Mhz is it possible that the kernel does something too?

[spdsktr]

Originally Posted by jamhandman

I'll try it tonight, but if I scale down to 500Mhz is it possible that the kernel does something too?

I think it is the kernel change that cause this.

My result: My wife's Pre is not overclocked. Stepped outside, and of course, nada. No result after 5 minutes. No VZ Nav dance as I wanted stand alone by itself. Battery pull, still nada. Clear skies, tower 150 yards away, no known solar flares, etc.

So, I underclocked it to 125. Crazy eh? Returned to normal and then bam -- GPS reports a fix almost immediately. It will now report a fix every time. Previously, it would get a fix for an app and keep it. Once that app was closed, the whole dance had to start all over again.

Just pulled the battery to reset it all. Will make sure it get's no results and then try to overclock it and see if it happens. If I can repeat reliably, then it's confirmed.

EDIT: I now have a problem... GPS is unlocked on this device and no battery pull or reboot will stop it from getting a fix?!? I need to wait several hours to see if it locks up again.

----------------------

A test for you guys to perform.

If GPS is failing, disable GPS Fix. Then, simply change the speed on your device. You can over clock, underclock, or go back to normal. Just note what speed you were at, and what speed you went to.

See if GPS now responds when you are outside on a clear day without launching VZ Navigator. Either way, report your result.

Then wait -- wait for GPS to lock up again. Once locked, change the speed again and see again if this unlocks stand alone GPS.

I have a feeling it is the simple fact of changing the speed that makes this happen and not the actual speed itself.

This would also explain why so many had good results for a short time after the 1.4.5 update. Everyone stopped overclocking for a short period to get the update.

[BryanEW710]

Weird...

[luau joe]

Originally Posted by spdsktr

I think it is the kernel change that cause this.

I have a feeling it is the simple fact of changing the speed that makes this happen and not the actual speed itself.

This would also explain why so many had good results for a short time after the 1.4.5 update. Everyone stopped overclocking for a short period to get the update.

I am thinking you are likely onto something. As I mentioned early, I am currently using mode changer custom profile where I turn on gps radio AND clock down each time I use gps

[jamhandman]

Wow, crazy. I'll try with my overclocked one first. I'm using the released UK, but might go back to sr-71...I miss the speed.

If the scaling makes GPS work, then we'll need to get Mode Switcher to incorporate govnah settings so I can have a GPS mode. ;^) need to put all your developers in one room and see what happens :^))

[luau joe]

Originally Posted by spdsktr

EDIT: I now have a problem... GPS is unlocked on this device and no battery pull or reboot will stop it from getting a fix?!? I need to wait several hours to see if it locks up again.

Ain't this the pits? GPS is working flawlessly so you can't troubleshoot it. http://forums.precentral.net/images/...s/confused.gif

If you remember, that was the "problem" I ran into just before I left for my xc driving trip a couple of months ago.

Originally Posted by jamhandman

If the scaling makes GPS work, then we'll need to get Mode Switcher to incorporate govnah settings so I can have a GPS mode. ;^) need to put all your developers in one room and see what happens :^))

For sure about that. Developers round up time! As for Mode Switcher.... see my post above. That's how I found out about the scaling effect on gps in the first place. I have a gps custom profile with mode switcher

[ohiomoto]

Well...

Why does google maps often lock up when my screen sleeps? I'm running Screen State 1000/500. Shouldn't switching from 500ghz to 1000ghz make this problem go away?

Either way, I will test this theory with my overclocked Pre Plus and my wife's new and untouched Pre Plus as soon as she gets home from a conference she is attending this week.

[JPDVM2014]

So far so good for me. Google Maps gets a lock within a few seconds after changing the clock speed.

[jamhandman]

I clocked my phone down to 500 and using this app, I would just press the GPS Fix button and it would get a fix, INDOORS, in about 30 seconds. Crazy!!!! I didn't launch VZ nav. Outside it gets a lock in about 15 seconds. Crazy! WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN??!!!

[luau joe]

Questions for all you guys who experienced success by clocking down:

1) Do you normally have your GPS radio toggled "off" until you need it, or do you have it toggled "on" all the time?

2) When you experienced success by clock down
(a) Did you do a device reset just prior to this test?
(b) Did you need to open GPS-fix or VZnav to get lock?
(c) If you did not do a device reset, have you executed GPS-fix or VZnav sometime after the last hard reset, even thought the execution was hours or days ago?

[jamhandman]

Since I use Moe switcher, the GPS gets turned off when I go to work and then back home, so yes by GPS was just enabled when I started testing.

I used GPS-Fix to get a fix, I did not just open a map app. I opened GPS fix, all settings are disabled and just pressed the GPS fix button.

Phone has not be restarted since Friday so four days...

I don't have internet here (wifi or cell service) so I use GPS fix to tell me if the GPS is working.

I also have Google Location services off.

[spdsktr]

Originally Posted by luau joe

Questions for all you guys who experienced success by clocking down:

1) Do you normally have your GPS radio toggled "off" until you need it, or do you have it toggled "on" all the time?

2) When you experienced success by clock down
(a) Did you do a device reset just prior to this test?
(b) Did you need to open GPS-fix or VZnav to get lock?
(c) If you did not do a device reset, have you executed GPS-fix or VZnav sometime after the last hard reset, even thought the execution was hours or days ago?

1.) No, my wife's pre is always on GPS. Surprisingly, she does not always run GPS Fix :/
2.) (a) Yes, I always reboot...
(b) Nope, worked straight up standalone after clocking down
(c) I use GPS Fix to test responsiveness, but only cause I know what commands to try. It never uses the VZ Nav work-around unless I tell it to.

Still to this morning, her stand alone GPS is working... o_O Something never before seen on this device

[shrxwin]

wow I go away for a couple days and you guys figure out a ton! I wish I'd checked in yesterday afternoon - driving to the other side of town, not familiar with the different routes to avoid traffic, no GPS for over 1/2 an hour! Boise is small enough and i knew where i was so i could find my destination and drag the map around between me and my destination to find my next turn at each stoplight - but i was royally PO'd at Verizon.

I've been running a 1Ghz profile since it was released a couple/few weeks ago. I'll lower back down before heading out tomorrow morning!

Cheers, Clarice

[BryanEW710]

Bad news once again, dudes...

[luau joe]

Originally Posted by shrxwin

wow I go away for a couple days and you guys figure out a ton! I wish I'd checked in yesterday afternoon - driving to the other side of town, not familiar with the different routes to avoid traffic, no GPS for over 1/2 an hour! Boise is small enough and i knew where i was so i could find my destination and drag the map around between me and my destination to find my next turn at each stoplight - but i was royally PO'd at Verizon.

I've been running a 1Ghz profile since it was released a couple/few weeks ago. I'll lower back down before heading out tomorrow morning!

Cheers, Clarice

You missed us, did you?

[noseph]

Originally Posted by luau joe

Have you tried scaling back CPU to 500? I have found that VZW GPS does not like 1000 MHz, not even my Bruce Lee Pre. Before the 1.4.5, even 800 can lead to periodic bulking GPS, and I am assuming this hasnt changed.

I have had exceptional experience with 1.4.5. Since upgrading, I have created custom profile for GPS using Mode Switcher
- trigger: GPS-fix running in foreground or background
- Govnah Srv to UberK default, back to screenstate 250/800 upon close.
- immediate: GPS radio=on; off upon close.
- VZ navigator, delay 15 sec
- GPS TripPanel (my readout, delay 30 sec)
- Close all above apps upon close of profile

In every instance for an entire week, I could get GPS lock within 1 minute of enabling GPS-fix (which I use as trigger to turn on mode), including the delay times to activate everything in profile.

Switching background toggle in GPS-fix to off and closing app is trigger to get out of this mode and return to normal/default profile with GPS radio off.

**edited to add that I am no longer using the gps patch that accompanies GPS-fix. Don't know if that made any difference. Removed it b/f 1.4.5 update. Never needed it after.

Joe

I know this is probably the wrong forum, but how did you set Mode Switcher to trigger on "GPS-fix running in foreground or background"? I can only set it to either, and when it is set to foreground it closes the mode once it goes to card view when it loads my gps app.

[jamhandman]

Well, I have been successfully getting a GPS lock without launched VZ Nav, while at 500MHz. The locking time has not been consistent, but not to bad, took almost a minute once.

[BlakeBot]

For the last few days my Pre Plus has also suddenly acquired the "bug" of GPS working properly all the time.

After 1.4.5 the GPS still definitely didn't work for several days, but for the last four days the GPS gets a fix in seconds every time without VZ Nav, GPS Fix, or anything else.

Unfortunately I have no idea what changed. I have the GPS Fix app and patch installed (but not active), as well as the A-GPS patch, and I have never used or installed any under/overclocking software.

[luau joe]

Originally Posted by noseph

Joe
I know this is probably the wrong forum, but how did you set Mode Switcher to trigger on "GPS-fix running in foreground or background"? I can only set it to either, and when it is set to foreground it closes the mode once it goes to card view when it loads my gps app.

I think the confusion is the definition of background and foreground. In MS, foreground means any time the card is open while background means any time the card is completely closed but processes still run in the background, such as GPS-fix in the enabled mode.

Unfortunately, the way GPS-fix is set up right now is not great for Mode Switch profiles. I can get MS to bring up GPS-fix, but I still have to manually press the "get fix now" button. I didn't want to have GPS-fix always on the enabled mode because (1) it chews up power even when I am not using gps, and (2) I don't know if leaving GPS-fix to ping unproductively every 10 minutes 24/7 might contribute to increasingly balky gps radio - a behavior that I noticed while on my xc driving trip but have not brought up to this group till now.

So that was a long-winded way of saying that once we all verified that this approach can liberate our VZW gps', then perhaps we can ask our fearless leader, James Harris, to write us a modified GPS-fix patch that is amenable to MS automation. For the time being, in my MS profile I have either (a) GPS-fix, requiring a manual press of a button, or (b) VZnav (gasp!!)

[nigallin]

I did Ebag's QPST hack to enable more modes and that drastically improved my GPS performance. I also have his aGPS patch just for kicks and I always run Screenstate 500/1000. That being said sometimes Google Maps (Latitude) gets stuck on my last location update. It never updates unless I am looking at the card, but even then sometimes I have to give it a kick by finding my location through "Interactive Tests" under Device Info, and when that doesn't work I do a battery pull (my Google Services are disabled). Hope this helps. It seems clear that Verizon is more focused on profiting on it's Navigation app than giving webOS users a good experience, hopefully webOS 2.0 provides a more robust navigation solution that can't be crippled by a carrier.