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SBSettings causing GPS to fail to lock (3.1.2)
- Thread starter fjk
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Have you tried unjailbroken it and see if that makes any difference? I'm convinced that SBSetting is not the culprit. It may be the jailbreak itself. I use BlackRa1n, if that makes any difference.
I really hate to give up Backgrounder, Kirikae, Overboard, Rotation Inhibitor, 3G Unrestrictor, and QuickScroll2. These are so important to me. Sigh...
It may be necessary to just buy the car kit from TomTom to solve the GPS signal problem. I don't care too much about not being able to run cracked applications cos I always end up purchasing those I really like anyway (So, if there is an expensive application that I want to test before buying I can always jb to test it out for a day or two, then revert back to unjailbroken state after making decision on whether to buy or not to buy the application), but I don't see how I can live without the above added functionalities.
I agree SBSettings is not the culprit, although I do feel it possibly was on my previous phone or for some others. Might be the jailbreak itself.. I'm on blackra1n but previously on my old phone had used both blackra1n and pwnage tool.
Does seem like a lot of people have the problem with 3GSs in general; maybe we should try it unjailbroken for a while and see if it maintains good behaviour, and not just initially.
Does seem like a lot of people have the problem with 3GSs in general; maybe we should try it unjailbroken for a while and see if it maintains good behaviour, and not just initially.
Me too. Lots of toggles, lots of jb apps (all the ones you mentioned and more) and never a problem with GPS. I even went outside this morning to check. Went for a walk, GPS locked and followed me around the block.
I'm pretty sure it would work. It always did before when the phone was "fresh."
I agree that its not SBSettings anymore. But its strange to me that this is my second phone and I started from scratch (I didn't restore from my old phone) and I am having these issues again.
Sigh.
That certainly was the exact case on my previous phone, but my current phone sporadically works and doesnt work, with sbsettings installed.
Scratch that. Reluctantly tried deleting sbsettings on my new phone and gps instantaneously locked and was responsive again. Sigh. I've tried resetting network settings and rebooting, turning off 3g, respringing, etc and nothing helps except removing sbsettings.
*although it seems to improves things, gps is stil doesn't work/lock most of the time with sbsettings uninstalled, making me think it's indirectly contributing and not directly the cause.
*although it seems to improves things, gps is stil doesn't work/lock most of the time with sbsettings uninstalled, making me think it's indirectly contributing and not directly the cause.
You know, this is very frustrating. My favorite part of jailbreak is SBsettings. Would be nice if the great jailbreaking minds on the www would try to address this problem.
Similar to the Blacksnow causing my signal to drop off every other time I tried to make a call. Geohot insists the problem is with att, yet every time I restore without blacksnow, its perfect, with no loss of signal.
I believe you have the signal issue confused with the WiFi issue.
Many non-JB phones are experiencing the WiFi issues so that is likely an Apple 3.1.2 firmware issue.
I believe the carrier issue is indeed Blacksn0w.
I tend to agree. It must be a firmware issue. I've been testing it for quite a while now, alternating between jailbreak and non-jailbreak. I find that in both situation the weak GPS signal problems occur, but it occurs quicker and with more intense interval when jailbroken.
After a fresh restore, it always work perfectly, so it could not be a hardware problem.
When it works, ALL GPS software work (TomTom, Sygic, Map, Navigon, iGo, etc). When one software has problem, ALL others will also have problem. This shows that it is not the GPS applications having problem.
A full restore takes more than half a day for me as my storage is almost full. So it is not a practical way to solve the problem. Also, after a full restore, it takes about a week before a non-jailbroken phone starts to have GPS signal problem again. For jailbroken phone it is a day or two for me. The presence or absence of SBSetting has no bearing for me.
In both cases, I've been able to achieve the effect of full restore by first resetting the location warning, followed by TWO consecutive reboot using hardware button (as opposed to using the reboot button of SBSetting). Somehow if the second reboot is perform immediately after the first, it takes longer to reboot. What seems to be happening is that the OS senses that second reboot is immediately after the first and do a more thorough "clean up" in the reboot process (this is my speculation anyway). After this, I will be able to use the GPS reliably for a couple of run flawlessly. After that, it would deteriorate again, and I repeat this procedure to cure it.
This seems to indicate a firmware issue for sure.
Negative. Don't seem to get this problem.
EagleSteve: Thanks for being so thorough in researching and documenting your problem. This is so frustrating. Maybe I should go get another replacement at the Apple store and try again. But then I'd run into tethered-JB issues, since I got lucky with my current one still having the older boot Rom.
I don't think that jb'ing is the problem. I have been having problems with Navigon locking on a gps signal a ton of times with two different standard iphone 3gs. I have noticed that opening maps first and getting a lock with the app first helps Navigon out. Also, turning on wifi with the app seems to help. I tried getting a signal with a jb'd iphone and the latest Navigon version and it worked perfectly. Today, I was showing a friend who has the touch and a droid how cool the iphone works when jb'd and it pretty much matches the droid and does more now. I was showing him how proswitcher works with Navigon and while he was driving, I couldn't get a signal at all. He whipped out his droid and within 30 seconds he got a lock and was getting navigation from his droid. I was fairly perturbed and believe that the iphone gps is a hit or miss regardless if your phone is jb'd or not.
Whether jailbroken or not, I can always get it to work PERFECTLY provided I do enough iteration of location warning reset followed by reboot, and testing it after each iteration, until it is perfect.
The problem is this is too tedious, I suspect something is not working right in the firmware, and I hope the next firmware fixes this problem. Until then, using the TomTom car kit is the way to overcome this problem.
The problem is this is too tedious, I suspect something is not working right in the firmware, and I hope the next firmware fixes this problem. Until then, using the TomTom car kit is the way to overcome this problem.
GPS failing on 3G as well
Thanks for these elements and testings
.
I am facing same trouble on a 3G 16Go JB via Blacksnow, with SBSettings.
Tried to remove temporary GPS as from another post in this forum (via SSH in root, killall -9 locationd, then rm -rf /var/root/Library/Caches/location) but it did not solve for more than a few days.
I got the feeling that 3.1.2 is messing the cache.
Will try removing SBSetting and resetting map application as quoted in this thread, but from your experience, no real hope.
I am looking forward to some solution as I bought Navigon and feel very frustrated not to be able to use it !
Thanks for these elements and testings
. I am facing same trouble on a 3G 16Go JB via Blacksnow, with SBSettings.
Tried to remove temporary GPS as from another post in this forum (via SSH in root, killall -9 locationd, then rm -rf /var/root/Library/Caches/location) but it did not solve for more than a few days.
I got the feeling that 3.1.2 is messing the cache.
Will try removing SBSetting and resetting map application as quoted in this thread, but from your experience, no real hope.
I am looking forward to some solution as I bought Navigon and feel very frustrated not to be able to use it !
I just read this thread and i think i have nailed the problems regarding the (missing) true GPS Fix.
In september i bought a Iphone 3GS 32Gb. When i came home with my brand new phone, i activated it in itunes to play with it (Netherlands Abbo t-mobile). After activation, i started playing with the GPS. I did however never got a FIX.Tried everything.
Then i JB the phone, this also didnt gave me a GPS Fix. After installing SBSettings, i also uninstalled SBSettings. Suddenly i got a GPS Fix!!! I pulsed blue dot Finally!!!
I started installing some sw and suddenly, i lost the fix again. I did not know why this happened. After 2 weeks, i returned the phone for a repair. After two weeks, i got a new )refurbished phone. I Activated i itunes to get it working and..........
No fix again. A brand new phone, still no fix. I stared reading the forum and tried every possible combo. I even tried deleting the cache file, tried the sbsettings sequence like 3G off, Wifi On etc. Nothing worked. After 2 weeks again, i gave up. I even bricked the phone trying to figure out the problem. It gave me a error 9 in itunes. I couldn't restore because itunes loses usb connection just before uploading the firmware.
Now i got my third phone. Brand new again. I activated it and......... NOTHING again no FIX, this phone was also not JB!!
Then i found the problem!!. I downloaded Iphone PC Suite and started this GREAT piece of software. I connected to my Iphone and Iphone PC Suite found my iphone and connected to it. I opened maps on the iphone and FINALLY, i saw the Pulsed Blue Cirkul. After the 3rd Iphone, it worked !!!!!
Until...... and this is important. Now i got a working GPS. But after i played with PC Suite, i wanted to sync things back so i attached the iphone to Itunes and let it sync everything. Itunes made a backup etc. After this was done, i saw that my GPS Fix was gone again!!!!!!! Whatever i did, it was dead. No FIX.
Then i attached the iphone to the Iphone PC Suite again. Nothing more, i only let it connect. After the connection was made, I got a working GPS Fix again!!.
Conclusion: Itunes 9.01 does something to my iphone sothat the GPS thing gets to fail. Since i tried it with new phones, the GPS never worked. Iphone PC Suite seems to reset something in my Iphone. This seems enough to get the GPS fix back. So i guess that all my 3 phones were working perfectly only itunes messed up the GPS. Thats why i never got a fix in the first place.
So my story i am telling is to give back this information to the community, i figured it out after 3 months. Maybe this will fix your GPS Fix also!. I did not yet tried to uninstall/reinstall the latest itunes version to check if this bug is gone. I am sure now that Itunes was the cause of the GPS Failure!
In september i bought a Iphone 3GS 32Gb. When i came home with my brand new phone, i activated it in itunes to play with it (Netherlands Abbo t-mobile). After activation, i started playing with the GPS. I did however never got a FIX.Tried everything.
Then i JB the phone, this also didnt gave me a GPS Fix. After installing SBSettings, i also uninstalled SBSettings. Suddenly i got a GPS Fix!!! I pulsed blue dot Finally!!!
I started installing some sw and suddenly, i lost the fix again. I did not know why this happened. After 2 weeks, i returned the phone for a repair. After two weeks, i got a new )refurbished phone. I Activated i itunes to get it working and..........
No fix again. A brand new phone, still no fix. I stared reading the forum and tried every possible combo. I even tried deleting the cache file, tried the sbsettings sequence like 3G off, Wifi On etc. Nothing worked. After 2 weeks again, i gave up. I even bricked the phone trying to figure out the problem. It gave me a error 9 in itunes. I couldn't restore because itunes loses usb connection just before uploading the firmware.
Now i got my third phone. Brand new again. I activated it and......... NOTHING again no FIX, this phone was also not JB!!
Then i found the problem!!. I downloaded Iphone PC Suite and started this GREAT piece of software. I connected to my Iphone and Iphone PC Suite found my iphone and connected to it. I opened maps on the iphone and FINALLY, i saw the Pulsed Blue Cirkul. After the 3rd Iphone, it worked !!!!!
Until...... and this is important. Now i got a working GPS. But after i played with PC Suite, i wanted to sync things back so i attached the iphone to Itunes and let it sync everything. Itunes made a backup etc. After this was done, i saw that my GPS Fix was gone again!!!!!!! Whatever i did, it was dead. No FIX.
Then i attached the iphone to the Iphone PC Suite again. Nothing more, i only let it connect. After the connection was made, I got a working GPS Fix again!!.
Conclusion: Itunes 9.01 does something to my iphone sothat the GPS thing gets to fail. Since i tried it with new phones, the GPS never worked. Iphone PC Suite seems to reset something in my Iphone. This seems enough to get the GPS fix back. So i guess that all my 3 phones were working perfectly only itunes messed up the GPS. Thats why i never got a fix in the first place.
So my story i am telling is to give back this information to the community, i figured it out after 3 months. Maybe this will fix your GPS Fix also!. I did not yet tried to uninstall/reinstall the latest itunes version to check if this bug is gone. I am sure now that Itunes was the cause of the GPS Failure!
Very interesting if you are correct. As I previously posted, SBsettings was giving my GPS a fit, so I had not installed it after my last restore. GPS perfect, but I missed SB enough to try again. This time however, after installing SB, I was able to respring automatically rather than force a reboot, and finally I have sb, and GPS functionality.
Hopefully someone with a GPS lock issue can confirm starrbs fix with the iPhone PC siute.
I'm thinking of giving iPhone PC Suite a try but I don't want the program to install a "daemon" on my iPhone just yet (or ever). What is the Password to use when trying to connect via WiFi? I know I put in my correct IP address and tried a couple of my known passwords but I guess that's not what it is looking for.
Thanks...
Thanks...
Iphone PC Suite is a very nice program. It can do simple fixes and it can install ipa/deb etc easy. The deamon is necessary to install. Without it, it cannot install packages on the iphone. It can easaly be removed also.
I tried everything to get my gps working. It costed me 3 repaired IPhones even though they probably weren't broke at all.
UPDATE: I can confirm that it was a ITunes software problem. It did something to the iphone when it was first activated or maybe during syncing. This caused the failing GPS fix. Today i installed a clean itunes on onother pc, my laptop. After activating the Iphone and restoring the backup, i got a working GPS fix. When i did this on my other PC, it caused a failure.
iPhone PC suite solution
Hello
I installed iPhone PC suit 2.7, played with it a while then tried to fix GPS. No results... I tried again to empty locationd cache, to reboot iPhone, to toggle all SB Setting off but Location. Still no result.
I am quite reluctant to sync on another PC as I will loose most content, but am looking forward to any further experience on the way this GPS trouble can be solved without exchanging the iPhone
Thanks for any clue
Hello
I installed iPhone PC suit 2.7, played with it a while then tried to fix GPS
. No results... I tried again to empty locationd cache, to reboot iPhone, to toggle all SB Setting off but Location. Still no result.I am quite reluctant to sync on another PC as I will loose most content, but am looking forward to any further experience on the way this GPS trouble can be solved without exchanging the iPhone
Thanks for any clue
It's been more than a months of intensive testing by now, alternating between jailbreak and no jailbreak. I feel that I'm now in a position to make the following statements:
1) Provided your hardware is not faulty, you should definitely get 100% perfect reception the moment you have a full restore, or immediately after a firmware change.
2) Over time, the GPS signal WILL deteriorate, or become inconsistent. This happens regardless of whether I jailbroke my phone or not. However, if I jailbreak it, it happens A LOT QUICKER, and the problem is MORE SEVERE. SBSetting plays no role in this.
3) The problem could sometimes be solved by doing a location warning reset, followed by a reboot. Sometimes you need to repeat this procedure many times to fix it. However, it will come a time when it cannot be improved no matter how many times you perform that procedure.
4) There may come a time when it is COMPLETELY incapable of receiving adequate signal. It will simply says there is indequate signal forever, no matter how blue the sky is, how open it is, and how long you stand there. When this happens, a full restore WILL cure it 100% once again, and you go through the same cycle all over again until the next full restore.
5) If I use my TomTom car kit (which I purchase only yesterday), the problem goes away. I get full signal strength. The moment I take it off the craddle, the signal problem returns immediately. Putting on the craddle will right away give me full signals once again.
Conclusion: I think something is definitely wrong with the existing OS. Nothing we can do at this stage to have a permanently reliable GPS function.
If you really need to use your GPS, go get a TomTom or Magellan Car kit to go with your iPhone. This is the only way to cure it without constant full restore.
1) Provided your hardware is not faulty, you should definitely get 100% perfect reception the moment you have a full restore, or immediately after a firmware change.
2) Over time, the GPS signal WILL deteriorate, or become inconsistent. This happens regardless of whether I jailbroke my phone or not. However, if I jailbreak it, it happens A LOT QUICKER, and the problem is MORE SEVERE. SBSetting plays no role in this.
3) The problem could sometimes be solved by doing a location warning reset, followed by a reboot. Sometimes you need to repeat this procedure many times to fix it. However, it will come a time when it cannot be improved no matter how many times you perform that procedure.
4) There may come a time when it is COMPLETELY incapable of receiving adequate signal. It will simply says there is indequate signal forever, no matter how blue the sky is, how open it is, and how long you stand there. When this happens, a full restore WILL cure it 100% once again, and you go through the same cycle all over again until the next full restore.
5) If I use my TomTom car kit (which I purchase only yesterday), the problem goes away. I get full signal strength. The moment I take it off the craddle, the signal problem returns immediately. Putting on the craddle will right away give me full signals once again.
Conclusion: I think something is definitely wrong with the existing OS. Nothing we can do at this stage to have a permanently reliable GPS function.
If you really need to use your GPS, go get a TomTom or Magellan Car kit to go with your iPhone. This is the only way to cure it without constant full restore.