N9 GPS signal loss

[jonoh]

I've had my N9 for a few weeks, and of course it's great :D

Except for the GPS fix - the fix is obtained quickly but it's unreliable. When I navigate I frequently get a "GPS signal lost" message, and it quite often takes a few minutes until the signal is restored.
I tried a speedometer app and found a similar experience, worked great and then dies for a few minutes at a time.

I've completely reflashed the device, that seems to be common advice. Has anyone had similar happen? I might have to take it into Nokia Care but I don't really want to be without it while they investigate...

[malmostoso]

I have recently used the Drive app for a 3 hours long trip, and after waiting a couple of minutes for the initial fix I never lost signal. I drove with the phone connected to the charger: maybe your problem is a power saving issue?

Just an idea.

[jonoh]

At the moment I only have a crappy 500mA charger in the car but my feeling is it's not a power issue.

Well, into Nokia Care I go me thinks... :mad:

[jalyst]

Def. play with power profiles, he might be onto something there.
It's possible it's not getting as good as signal as possible, because of power management.

Doubt this would have any impact, but maybe try...
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=80287

[biatch0]

I've had my N9 for a few weeks, and of course it's great :D

Except for the GPS fix - the fix is obtained quickly but it's unreliable. When I navigate I frequently get a "GPS signal lost" message, and it quite often takes a few minutes until the signal is restored.
I tried a speedometer app and found a similar experience, worked great and then dies for a few minutes at a time.

I've completely reflashed the device, that seems to be common advice. Has anyone had similar happen? I might have to take it into Nokia Care but I don't really want to be without it while they investigate...
Were you outdoors? Clear line of sight to the sky? Cloudy day? I had a similar issue a few days back but turns out the N9 didn't like where I put it in the car... changed spots and back to good GPS for hours again.

[somedude]

I've experienced similar, dropped every once in a while and took about 2-4 minutes to get another fix, and its more frequent if i have Bluetooth connected in car. Had to clear device recently and have not gave it a try, fixing to go for a drive tonight so will give this a check if it changed anything after a restore.

[biatch0]

Should try a different spot in your car if possible. The spot on my dashboard with a conveniently sized slot that fits the N9 is also the only spot in my car that strangely has a GPS signal black hole; placing the phone anywhere else results in perfect signal full time. Strangely though, closing Maps/Drive and reopening it (even in the black hole slot) results in the GPS lock being reacquired with no problems.

[somedude]

glad to say i didn't lose any connection this time.

[jonoh]

Thanks for the suggestions all.

I've been driving in nice open spaces, I don't live or work in the city. I have my device mounted on the dash and it can see the sky.

I've tried switching to the Google server, although the Nokia server has better pings where I am. That didn't make a difference.

That's interesting @somedude re the bluetooth connection, I have it permanently connected when I'm in the car. I might turn that off tomorrow and have a go.

Just out of interest, I might try disabling the A-GPS. I'm travelling overseas in a few weeks and I won't be using the A-GPS to avoid roaming costs.

[slashd0t]

I've experienced the same thing.. Driving down the freeway (totally flat plains) and all of a sudden it'll jump all over the place and sometimes it lasts for 2-3 minutes. Frustrating for sure as every Nokia I have ever had has been perfect as a gps..

[aikibrown]

Hi

My N9 also randomly loses gps fix whilst navigating.
I have tried a factory reset but the problem persists.
I have the phone set up in portrait position in a windscreen holder with clear view of the sky. I have also noticed that the phone instantly loses gps fix when in landscape position. Not sure if anyone else has noticed this querk.

By comparison, I also have a nokia lumia 800, and have used them side by side for navigation. The lumia has never lost gps fix to date.

Others have posted that the issue shows up when bluetooth is on, so I will try disabling and see how the phone performs then.

Anyone found a solution yet or got a formal response from Nokia?

thanks in advance.

[jonoh]

Hello aikibrown

I was having exactly the issue you describe but recently I have not. I have been testing lots of different combinations though, with/without bluetooth, with/without A-GPS, voice guidance on/off, with/without music playing.

Originally I was having the issue all the time, even after re-flashing the phone. I turned off the bluetooth to test and since then I have had no problems, even after turning the bluetooth back on. So I'm not sure what has happened to fix it.

If you do contact Nokia please let us know the outcome.

[aikibrown]

Hello aikibrown

I was having exactly the issue you describe but recently I have not. I have been testing lots of different combinations though, with/without bluetooth, with/without A-GPS, voice guidance on/off, with/without music playing.

Originally I was having the issue all the time, even after re-flashing the phone. I turned off the bluetooth to test and since then I have had no problems, even after turning the bluetooth back on. So I'm not sure what has happened to fix it.

If you do contact Nokia please let us know the outcome.

Thanks jonoh,

I have been experimenting by switching off/on bluetooth.

I also downloaded the gps info software from the market (gpsmeefo) and just kept that running whenever I was in the car. The gps signal was always good and never dropped off at all.

I also tried just using Nokia Maps and again the phone maintained a gps signal all the time.

The problem only seems to occur when using Nokia Drive. I can see no pattern to the problem. Some days it works just fine, others the signal falls away frequently.

I am now thinking that the problem may be with the Nokia Drive software. Whenever I loose gps signal, I can get it back by selecting the menu and then immediately pressing the back button to revert to the map screen. The gps signal automatically re establishes when the map screen regenerates.

The issue that puzzles me most is why a strong gps signal can be lost simply by rotating the phone to landscape. The signal then comes back again as soon as the phone is returned to portrait position again - very strange. As I mentioned before, my Lumia 800 does not suffer these issues. I'm guessing here, but I would assume that the hardware is almost identical in both phones.

Im getting to the point where I know I should concede defeat and just call Nokia. The N9 has been excellent in all other respects - its a shame that I have to rely on carrying the Lumia 800 about just as a backup sat nav.

Thanks again

[icecream]

I did some GPS tests with Sports Tracker. At the same time I used the HTC HD2 (running Android 4.0.4) and my Nokia N9.

TEST 1
I did a small cycle trip of about 9 km. No clouds and hot 26 °C.
- I kept both devices in my pockets.
- Most of the time I was cycling under trees, so no clear sky above me.
Results:
Distance measured by HTC HD2: 9.28 km
Distance measured by NOKIA N9: 9.47 km
Both devices had problems with GPS reception on the same spots, but the GPS reception on the NOKIA N9 seemed worse. Sometimes the N9 was off by 10 to 15 metres, but most of the time it was 0 to 5 metres for both devices.

TEST 2 (Did this test a couple times with same results)
I drove in car from home to work.
Distance measured by HTC HD2: 2.40 km
Distance measured by NOKIA N9: 2.35 km
NOKIA N9 was spot on. When checking my driving line on the map, it is just perfect.
HTC HD2 was not bad, but it looked as if I was driving drunk on the road, you know what I mean, just no straight lines where it should be. Sometimes the signal was off by 1 or 2 metres.

So, in one test the HD2 is better and in the other test the N9 is better.
Tomorrow morning I'm doing the cycle test with my HTC Desire and the N9 and I'll give you an update.

[icecream]

I did the same cycle trip again like yesterday, but now with NOKIA N9 and HTC Desire (Android 2.2.2).
Sky was clear again, I had a higher avg speed (10km/h faster) and it was later in the day (3 hr difference).
Results:
HTC Desire: 9.24 km
NOKIA N9: 9.34 km

The HTC Desire did a good job, still not acurate but better than the HD2 and N9.
The NOKIA N9 did better than yesterday, but still a big difference with the HTC phones.
Maybe the satelites were better positioned than yesterday.

I never lost GPS signal with the NOKIA N9, so it's not a bad GPS.

The Android version of Sports Tracker is further developed than the Meego version so that could be the cause of better results.
The Android version of Sports Tracker has the "GPS filtering" option and the Meego version not.

[bockersjv]

At the moment I only have a crappy 500mA charger in the car but my feeling is it's not a power issue.

Well, into Nokia Care I go me thinks... :mad:

It will work if you unplug the charger!

I had this issue that it kept losing signal too and when I drove away one day in a hurry and did not plug in the chager it worked fine. Then plug it in and after a few minutes I got the lost reception warning. Unplug and all is fine.

Just a tad annoying!

[kai_en]

It will work if you unplug the charger!

I had this issue that it kept losing signal too and when I drove away one day in a hurry and did not plug in the chager it worked fine. Then plug it in and after a few minutes I got the lost reception warning. Unplug and all is fine.

Just a tad annoying!

I found the exact problem as well when plugged into the charger, I have heard forumer complained that the GPS is pretty sensitive towards the type of charger you used. Once I unplugged from charger, I never once found myself lose signal while driving.

Though, the indoor positioning remained crappy after my PR 1.2 update, somehow it refused to approximate location using cell tower alone unless it's locked to satellite.

[mcdull]

I have the same problem with a few universal usb car chargers I have. Whenever I connect the charger to the N9, it will lose the GPS signal.

I remember I got the same problem with N900 but it was later fixed by a firmware update I think.

[mcdull]

I've played with a few USB car and AC chargers to find out what might cause GPS loss when charging. All the chargers will charge and keep GPS with Android (Motorola) and showed AC Charging (which is correct the pull higher current) not USB Charging. But only a few will work with N9 in charging and GPS.

Using a charging only USB cable (2-pin shorted) is guaranteed to lose GPS, even though it will charge, you must you use a regular data cable to keep GPS.
(tested on a few AC chargers that will charge and work with GPS on N9, as soon as I changed to any charging cable I have, it dropped the GPS)

So, probably many of those USB chargers which simply shorted 2 pins will charge N9 but will lose GPS. There has to be something more than just shorting 2 pin to keep GPS working.

I finally found one CHEAP USB car charger that can charge the N9 AND keep the GPS, T-Mobile white usb car charger for HTC MyTouch $2.75 shipped from Amazon (1000mA)