iphone 3G GPS not working?

[Bl0ckHe1d]

Hi
tried this but it didn't work for me. Anything else you can suggest will be appriciated. Thanks

Hey Eddieqassim....using Terminal from cydia does work! Well for me it did!!

type in the following:

su

password: alpine (you should change this password!)

killall -9 locationd

rm -rf /var/root/Library/Caches/locationd

exit the terminal (do not use the home button!) and then reset the device...

ps i am not using push modification from the iphoneil repo!

pps if all else fails and your iphone/pod is still under warranty then restore the device back o factory setting using itune and go to the apple store to get it replaced

 

[goszmi07]

When I type in 'su' in my Terminal app nothing happens. What am I doing wrong?

 

[goszmi07]

Ok I figured it out. In my case this method worked for some time, but after a couple of hours the same problem ruturned.

 

[Stiopan]

Hi Guys,
I'm new on this forum and I'm looking for answers about GPS issues with my iPhone 3Gs with the new Bootrom (unfortunately).
My phone is jailbreaked and unlocked with Blackra1n... and GPS is not working at all!
So I'm wondering if it can work after providing those modification u are writing about?
Because I did try yesterday, and it didn't work at all, but I'm assuming that I could make mistakes on Terminal. What I would need (I believe I'm not alone) is a precise explanation for "idiot" with each step precisely explained (like iClarified for example) because I'm absolutely not at ease with such things!

Cheers

Stiopan

 

[hfb]

my solution

I had the same problem with the gps on my iphone,so i tryed everithing even with ''terminal'' app from cydia.Nothing worked. I restored my iphone to his original settings...fw3.0,than i jailbroken it again,unlocked it again and than i installed the gps app again,in my case navigon. Now it works perfect,in 15 seconds i have gps signal. So after installing everything again it worked. Make sure you leave the ''enable 3g'' setting to on. Hope this helps.

 

[appleforme]

I had the same GPS problem with my one-week-old 3GS last week. None of the suggestions on this thread, or anywhere else I could find, helped correct the problem. I took the phone back to Apple on Monday, got a new one and GPS is working like a champ. If all else fails, it could actually be a hardware issue as it was with mine.

 

[Risraelkloss]

Wow it worked! Thanks!

CONFIRMED GPS FIX
(Only confirmed for people whose GPS randomly stopped working, but since it doesn't harm anything it's still worth a try for any other GPS problem. It's just a general cache refresh.)

Q: So what's the problem?
A: "locationd", the process that makes GPS work, isn't working correctly.

Q: Why?
A: It's Apple so who the hell knows why. One thing that's for sure however is that deleting the cache can fix the problem.

Q: Tell me more.
A: No restore required, not even a restart. It's a simple fix, you'll just need a jailbroken iPhone to do it. If you haven't jailbroken yet, you should consider. You'll need to be able to send commands to your iPhone, which can be done through SSH or through Terminal, which is an app that can be installed from Cydia.

1. Go back to the home screen.
2. Open Terminal or establish a SSH connection. Note that these commands are case sensitive (capitalization matters). If you're using Terminal, you need to log in as root to run these commands. To log in as root type 'su' and enter the root password 'alpine' when it asks.
3. Type the following, it will terminate the locationd process (the process will restart next time your iPhone uses the GPS):
killall -9 locationd
If the above command says no matching processes found, that just means locationd isn't currently running and you can continue to the next step.
4. Type the following, it will delete the GPS cache (don't worry about deleting the cache, it'll rebuild itself next time your iPhone uses the GPS):
rm -rf /var/root/Library/Caches/locationd
5. Open Maps, your GPS should be working now.

Wow it worked! Thanks!

 

[twoods14]

Thanks

CONFIRMED GPS FIX
(Only confirmed for people whose GPS randomly stopped working, but since it doesn't harm anything it's still worth a try for any other GPS problem. It's just a general cache refresh.)

Q: So what's the problem?
A: "locationd", the process that makes GPS work, isn't working correctly.

Q: Why?
A: It's Apple so who the hell knows why. One thing that's for sure however is that deleting the cache can fix the problem.

Q: Tell me more.
A: No restore required, not even a restart. It's a simple fix, you'll just need a jailbroken iPhone to do it. If you haven't jailbroken yet, you should consider. You'll need to be able to send commands to your iPhone, which can be done through SSH or through Terminal, which is an app that can be installed from Cydia.

1. Go back to the home screen.
2. Open Terminal or establish a SSH connection. Note that these commands are case sensitive (capitalization matters). If you're using Terminal, you need to log in as root to run these commands. To log in as root type 'su' and enter the root password 'alpine' when it asks.
3. Type the following, it will terminate the locationd process (the process will restart next time your iPhone uses the GPS):
killall -9 locationd
If the above command says no matching processes found, that just means locationd isn't currently running and you can continue to the next step.
4. Type the following, it will delete the GPS cache (don't worry about deleting the cache, it'll rebuild itself next time your iPhone uses the GPS):
rm -rf /var/root/Library/Caches/locationd
5. Open Maps, your GPS should be working now.

So to reiterate the commands:

killall -9 locationd
rm -rf /var/root/Library/Caches/locationd

Awesome - It worked. I appreciate your help. It was driving me nuts

 

[Jayjayel]

worked for me! thanks unicorn

 

[tuarex]

permission denied

Problem solved; i didn't read your instructions correctly. My bad.

 

[simeme]

same problem

I have the same problem, i try to run a gps based app and i do the netowrk reset and it works for 5 minutes. Then it goes again.

Did you find a solution

Simon



Well, it only ended up working again for about 10 minutes. After that it stopped and performing the same steps didn't fix it. I've tried periodically since then and I have managed to get it to come on for 5 -10 minutes at a time before going out again. When it goes out, it won't come back on again for some time.

I'm assuming that my GPS chip is susceptible to overheating and am going to try to get it replaced under warranty.

I am curious, though, if anyone has any idea what the network settings have to do with the GPS and why resetting them fixes some GPS issues.

Tom[/QUOTE]

 

[EmilyB]

Worked for me!!

Doesn't work, you were apparently a special case.

Here's how you fix it:

- Go to settings, general, auto-lock, change it from 1 Minute to NEVER
- Go to settings, general, reset, reset network settings (THIS WILL REBOOT YOUR IPHONE)
- Go outside, in a clear place with NO tree's, buildings, or anything blocking your view of the sky
- Open "MAPS", click NO on all that wi-fi crap, then click the little gps icon, and let it sync up with the satellites (this could take a few minutes)

It will work.... unless you don't do something right. You do not need to sync up with itunes or restore in itunes first.

Let me know if it works or not, i just tried it on my girlfriends phone and it worked great after that. Also, a few other people with the same issue reported success as well.

SEND ME A PM if you have questions though, as I may or may not be checking this thread.

You are awesome man!! This totally worked for me. I've been without my gps tracking for months now and was unable to find a fix until tonight. Thank you, thank you!

 

[-aggie-]

CONFIRMED GPS FIX....snip....
1. Go back to the home screen.
2. Open Terminal or establish a SSH connection. Note that these commands are case sensitive (capitalization matters). If you're using Terminal, you need to log in as root to run these commands. To log in as root type 'su' and enter the root password 'alpine' when it asks.
3. Type the following, it will terminate the locationd process (the process will restart next time your iPhone uses the GPS):
killall -9 locationd
If the above command says no matching processes found, that just means locationd isn't currently running and you can continue to the next step.
4. Type the following, it will delete the GPS cache (don't worry about deleting the cache, it'll rebuild itself next time your iPhone uses the GPS):
rm -rf /var/root/Library/Caches/locationd
5. Open Maps, your GPS should be working now.

So to reiterate the commands:

killall -9 locationd
rm -rf /var/root/Library/Caches/locationd

I did this last night, and my GPS FINALLY can find me to within 10 meters or so. Thank God for jailbreaking!!

 

[achtungbaby]

Anyone still having gps issues? Mine stopped working Friday afternoon. Tried resetting network settings, resetting defaults and also the terminal commands above. Tech support says it could be due to being an upgrade behind but I don't see how that would all of a sudden matter (I'm running a 3gs with 3.1.2 jailbroken). Anyone have any ideas other than restoring and re-jailbreaking my phone?

 

[ferrarif1]

Hallo,

sorry for bad english.
My GPS isn´t working too. I also tried everything, new install of 3.1.2. and all your tipps shown in this thread. NO GPS
But I made one experience: When I take out my simcard, I get GPS! But when I turn on Wifi oder the simcard in the phone the fix is getting away.
Whats that??

Can anyone help me ?

 

[f00sh00]

SSH works..But

Okay well when I got my iphone 3g running 3.0 the GPS never worked, but I went ahead and tried to SSH terminal stuff and GPS worked instantaneous. My problem now is I have to retype in the commands every single month. It will work for a few good weeks and then stop. Is this normal? Anyone else experiencing the same problem?

 

[nightfly13]

My Craigslist-bought 3GS always gives me 'Your location could not be found'. It doesn't even try to triangulate like my 2G iPhone did. Initially my EDGE (no 3G sim), WiFi all didn't work, but reset network settings fixed the others. I've tried everything, resets (indoors and outdoors and with standby off and on and wifi off and on), I've smacked it against my hand and my desk (as hard s I dare), I've done the terminal commands (after figuring out how to install terminal).

Just a bum chip? I'm only in the US for 5-6 weeks out of every year, so it's difficult to just return my phone (although it's still under warranty).

 

[darkwingZ24]

I have been having GPS (3G model, 2 years old) problems for quite some time now and I've tried every suggestion I could find to fix it. Unfortunately, nothing worked and all I could get was my position via triangulation from the cell towers. Needless to say this was frustrating, as it worked flawlessly until one day bam! No more.

Recently, my iPhone took a header and I cracked the glass so now with a bum GPS and cracked screen I figured I would upgrade next month to the iPhone 4 rather than incur repair costs to my current phone (which does still work despite the shattered glass)

So with nothing to loose I took the plunge and took apart the phone and holy crap! There was so much pocket lint and dust inside the phone. It was mostly concentrated around the headphone jack. So armed with some fine tweezers I removed the offending lint and re-assembled. Still no GPS. So I went back in and this time I removed the mainboard. I then very carefully removed the metal RF shielding on the top half of the mainboard revealing the GPS chip in the upper left corder. Again, there was dust inside that corner of the RF shielding around the GPS chip. Again, very carefully with a toothbrush I cleaned out the offending dust and did notice some discolouration on the GPS chip itself on the side facing the RF plug. Seeing this I thought the chip was blown but to my surprise I re-assembled the phone and now my GPS works great!

So I can't tell if it was the dust removal or simply removing the mainboard from hard power to reset any circuitry, but this did fix my GPS.

A lot of work. I was amazed at the dust that had accumulated over the years.

Cheers

 

[Arenavat]

No GPS signal yet

Well, it only ended up working again for about 10 minutes. After that it stopped and performing the same steps didn't fix it. I've tried periodically since then and I have managed to get it to come on for 5 -10 minutes at a time before going out again. When it goes out, it won't come back on again for some time.

I'm assuming that my GPS chip is susceptible to overheating and am going to try to get it replaced under warranty.

I am curious, though, if anyone has any idea what the network settings have to do with the GPS and why resetting them fixes some GPS issues.

Tom

Hi all!
I have replace the iphone twice.
I have a 3GS and is 1-2 months old.Actualy the first one was...
I have try everything i found here or in other forums.Still GPS cant get signal.Wen i get signal after lot of time waiting (and not allways) it stay with it as long i have GPS program running.If i restart iphone or if i close the gps program for some time then no signal again.
As i say because this problem i went back to where i get the iphone and push them to replace it.Before 4 days i get the last one.So, i didn't jailbreak it and i use the legal GPS program i have, the "CoPilot live".The same thing happens.No signal.I gat signal some times but copare to other friends iphone (witch take about 10 seconds to get signal) is crap.

Do you have an idea of what could be?Is any posibility to have issue with the sim card (VODAFON Greece)???

Costas

 

[greekbkfst]

Hallo,

sorry for bad english.
My GPS isn´t working too. I also tried everything, new install of 3.1.2. and all your tipps shown in this thread. NO GPS
But I made one experience: When I take out my simcard, I get GPS! But when I turn on Wifi oder the simcard in the phone the fix is getting away.
Whats that??

Can anyone help me ?

Same here. If I remove the SIM card, GPS will put me about 50 meters away on the Maps application, but with Navigon, it will not work. Once I put the SIM card in, then it seems to move to triangulation and the Maps application puts me about 3 miles from my location. Again, Navigon does not work.

I just tried upgrading to 4.0 to try and fix this...which it did not. So, the GPS does work, but just not with the 3.1 or 4.0 software. Is there any way to downgrade to 3.0 via iTunes, or do I have to find this elsewhere ?

 

[mattygates]

awesome!

Doesn't work, you were apparently a special case.

Here's how you fix it:

- Go to settings, general, auto-lock, change it from 1 Minute to NEVER
- Go to settings, general, reset, reset network settings (THIS WILL REBOOT YOUR IPHONE)
- Go outside, in a clear place with NO tree's, buildings, or anything blocking your view of the sky
- Open "MAPS", click NO on all that wi-fi crap, then click the little gps icon, and let it sync up with the satellites (this could take a few minutes)

It will work.... unless you don't do something right. You do not need to sync up with itunes or restore in itunes first.

Let me know if it works or not, i just tried it on my girlfriends phone and it worked great after that. Also, a few other people with the same issue reported success as well.

SEND ME A PM if you have questions though, as I may or may not be checking this thread.

this was the first fix i came upon and worked perfectly

thanks!

 

[gcletsos]

GPS not working

I tried the SSH method. It cleared my cache, but my gps is worse than before. Before it was very slow and jumped from place to place. Now it thinks I am 10miles from my current position and doesn't move at all. Any other ideas?

 

[mydoctor]

hi guys

i'm writting this post after having tried almost everything i could find on the internet related to this bloody gps issue. I own an Iphone 3g 8Gb, running now under 3.1.3 jailbroken and unlocked FW

the only way i've been able to make it to work again, has been dissasembling the iphone and removing the mainboard. there are many tutorials on the internet about how to do this, but in the end you just need to remove about 9 screws and unplug 6 internal connectors.
First remove the screen, once you've done that, you need to unplug 6 internal connectors (which are properly named).
After removing the screen, remove the mainboard (if I'm not wrong there are 7 screws to be removed).

Once done that assembly the iphone and et' voila, the gps hopefully will work again.

I found out that the gps stopped working after having worked fine on 3.1.2 FW. I previously upgraded from 3.0.1 to 3.1.2 and I blamed that firmware upgrade. As I said before, I tried almost everything and the last thing i tried was to clean up the gps chip. I couldnt open the RF shield that protects the mainboard chips so i did assembly the unit back... and the gps started working again. After some time the gps stopped working once again, but this time there was no firmware upgrade, so i started wondering why. Again, my iphone felt on the ground about a week before so i said to myself "this could be the problem for the gps not to work (the falling)". I repeated the procedure and voila, the gps went back on almost instantly (it gets the satellite signal in about 15secs, before I had to wait for minutes to get the signal... if i was able to get it).

So I wonder, maybe the problem with the gps is on the antenna connector (the one named #6). Maybe that connector moves a little when the iphone gets a heavy impact (like when falling) and then the gps is unable to get enough signal. I don't know. The thing is that i've been able to make the gps to work back again by doing this 2 times.

Hopefully this will help somebody.

Cheers

 

[wargamer6]

Seems 4.1 fixed my GPS issue..

 

[FromPR]

iPhone GPS not working....

FIX – SIMPLE AS 1-2-3 …..After trying almost everything finally here is the solution: It works in my jailbreak iphone and will keep Cydia and all non-itunes/app-store applications. Simple and Easy: (1) - If you have sbsettings installed I suggest to don’t have the location service toggle bottom active in the screen (you can manage this service [on/off] in settings)….(2) - Settings-General-Reset-Reset All Settings. This WILL NOT ERASE A SINGLE PIECE OF DATA from your phone. (The phone will give you a confirmation message that no data will be lost before you hit [OK])….(3) - What you would definitely have to do is to re-arrange icons position, ringtone preference, theme if you had one, and stuff like that…. Enjoy!!! J