gps won't find location

[lucy0806]

Hi I have a blackberry bold 9780 and i have the gps turned on and I have enabled it to find my location but it won't work. It says my location is unknown on the maps and if I try to check in to anywhere on facebook it always says "your location is temporarily unavailable." Does anyone know why this may be or how I can get the gps to pick up my location? Thanks.

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[Pete6]

GPS needs to be able to "see" the sky. It may work indoors but will work better outside. The more sky the receiver can see, the better.

Whilst outside, on your phone, go to Options, Device, Location Settings and set:

GPS Data Source: Device GPS
Location Services: Location On
Location Data Setting: Enabled
Location Aiding Setting: Enabled

Scroll back up the screen a little bit until you can see the GPS Location fields. The Latitude and Londitude fields will probably be at 0 for both parameters.

Now press Menu and select Refresh GPS.

This may now take a few minutes to lock on to the orbiting satellites. When this occurs the Latiotude and Longditude fields will update to your current location.

Now it works.

A simple check is to download Google maps from Google Maps and whikst this app is running, press the 0 key and watch the accuracy improve down to a minimum of 3 meters.

Without GPS Google Maps will triangulate from cell towers with poor distance accuracy. As a valid GPS signal is received, so accuracy will improve.

[ak_don]

Make sure GPRS, 3G area and REFRESH it

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[Phill_UK]

Originally Posted by ak_don

Make sure GPRS, 3G area and REFRESH it

It's a good job Pete gave the correct instructions above, because yours made no sense whatsoever

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[ak_don]

LOL . Its late night.. Forgive me :-)

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[BlackBerry.est08]

To be honest, I find that the GPS on my old 8830 worked way better than it does on my 9780. On the 8830, the GPS would work almost anywhere indoors. With the 9780, very small chance it even finds your location indoors.

Also, this is more a software issue with it's developers but on the 9780, only the native BlackBerry applications work all the time but with things like Foursquare and Poynt, it won't always find your location even if you go to options and manually find your location. On the 8830, it would work flawlessly.

When GPS works, it works but when it doesn't it's very annoying.

[Pete6]

Originally Posted by ak_don

LOL . Its late night.. Forgive me :-)

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No harm done. I saw your fist post and smiled.

In fact it's neccessary to have 3G or EDGE available for Location Aiding.

[lucy0806]

Hi Thank you for your help.

I did what Pete6 advised but still no luck. Not sure if it is a problem with the phone as my last 9780 wouldn'd find my location either

[Pete6]

If the phone's internal GPS receiver is working and you waited at least 5 minutes outside searching for GPS satellites then the phone is in trouble, I think.


I have a 9700 and last night I ventured outside to see hoiw long a GPSA lock would take and it took 4 minutes to make the first lock. Obviously once it had updated it's internal almanac, the 2nd lock was much faster.

I do not understand this at all. I also tried the same trick with my old 8310 Curve and that loced in about the same time period.


Can you borrow a friends BlackBerry to see if that will find a GPS lock?

Failing that, you may have to return your phone for repair under warranty. Sorry.

[ralfyguy]

Are you with T-Mobile? They have a problem with their LBS certificate on OS6 devices and just won't fix it. I have GPS trouble all the time. I constantly have to reboot the damn phone to keep the GPS running.

[mqchards]

I have similar intermittent GPS trouble with my TMO 9780. I've called support a few times and gone through a security wipe and an update from OS .285 to .448 and problems remain. With WiFi on (and connecting at home and work this way), I seem to get maybe two days of proper GPS function before a restart/battery pull is required. I'm going to leave WiFi off and see how long it works.

[lucy0806]

Originally Posted by ralfyguy

Are you with T-Mobile? They have a problem with their LBS certificate on OS6 devices and just won't fix it. I have GPS trouble all the time. I constantly have to reboot the damn phone to keep the GPS running.

Hi yes I am on TMobile. If I reboot it do you think it will work? I will try on my brother's phone tonight and see if his works as he has a 9780 but he is on 3Mobile.

Thank you for your help!

[Pete6]

This is interesting. The GPS subsystem is just a receiver that picks up orbitting satellites. The whole GPS system in the phone also uses the carrier network for Location Services.

If there is a problem with the LBS Certificate (Location Based Services) then there will be all sorts of problems with GPS as detailed here http://forums.crackberry.com/f41/gps...le-com-558750/

If a battery pull helps then use that. Try also resending the Service Books by going to Options, Device, Advanced System Settings, Host Routing Table, pressing Menu and selecting Register Now.

I also wonder what wil happen if you delete the LBS Service Book in Options, Device, Advanced System Settings, Service Book,LBS {whatever}.

This file will be replaced when you do the Service Book resend so there is not much risk here.

Finally, even though AT&T have bought T-Mobile it might be worth keeping up the pressure on T-Mobile to fix their problem.

[mqchards]

I had that cert problem but around the beginning of 2011 it went away. I now have two lbs.geo.t-mobile.com certs--one expires 11/9/11 and the other 1/4/12.

Will keep up the pressure. Two calls already logged to TMO support and I'm keeping a log of when the GPS stops working. The first call ended up with a direction to so a security wipe (no help) and in the second the rep stated unequivocally that all BlackBerries need a battery pull every five to seven days (which if true, is very sad).

I think there is an issue with WiFi and GPS and my current "no WiFi" experiment is in its third day--after a week or so I'll call support again. With regular WiFi usage I don't think I've gotten the GPS to stay functional for more than four days.

[mqchards]

Update: during ten days of WiFi off the GPS worked every time. I turned WiFi back on and within two days the GPS had quit. One more call to TMO and they are going to replace my phone. It helps to keep good notes in these kinds of situations.