Develop Bugs

Kaiser 110 problems

Greetings all --
I am posting this request for help because I've exhausted just about every other resource. The community support and documentation is great and I have learned quite a bit in a matter of days. You all are great!
Here's my situation. I have the HTC 8900 (KAIS110). Not the 8925 like most seem to have. It is my understanding that 3 versions of the "Kaiser" were made, or at least submitted to FCC for approval, and that the 8900 was to go to AT&T (branded on phone), but was canceled in lieu of the 8925. This is the non-camera version.
For reference, the following information is listed in the battery compartment:
HTC 8900
KAIS110
FCC ID: NM8KS
SKU: 64760
P/N: 99HCY091-00
Made in Taiwan
Currently:
HardSPL 3.56
Radio: 1.71.09.01
Myn's Warm Donut RLS5
kallt_kaffe's kernel 2010-06-06 (kaiser/240x320/donut/panel 2/tilt options used in LoserSkaters NBH Editor)
Problems:
1. Installing OS (Sys+Data on NAND), dmesg output shows "Block 711 is bad". Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be a problem as the OS would remap to a new block. This could also be an issue with yaffs, or a few other things, and not even be bad. But the question remains, is this causing problems?
2. Attempting to run Calibrate Screen results in error with the following message: "The application Calibrate Screen (process org.isageek.dasbrennen.CalibrateScreen) has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again. [Force close]". I have not seen a recent post in response to whether this problem persists with all builds, or if I am just lucky like that.
3. GPS does not want to play nice. From the app store, I install GPS by Andrea Baccega. Sometimes I get a single satellite to display, once I saw 3 on screen. Unfortunately, none of the other fields (long/lat) were populated which tells me something is wrong.
Dmesg output:
GPS:env_mask=0
GPS:date=00002000
GPS:time=000000 hlat=0 llat=0 hlng=0 llng=0
GPS:speed=0 bearing=0
GPS: has been tickled!
4. Using the phone on T-Mobile, why can I not get 3G working? It keeps going back to EDGE. I have the Android data plan as well.
5. Voice search is quite flaky. Sometimes it works great once, maybe a few times in a row, and then it just stops working and presents me with the Try Again / Cancel screen, after which, there is no longer audio for phone calls. From what I can tell using Dev Tools, looks like VoiceSearch is hanging due to an issue with Mediaserver. I recall seeing this issue, or a similar one, surface in the forums but there was not much information pertaining to it that I could find.
6. The following errors appear in the dmesg output; I am posting the list just in case one or more messages are beyond the scope of normal operations:
mmc1: host does not support reading read-only switch. assuming ite-enable.
Init: cannot open '/initlogo.rle'
[RR] ERROR no local ept for prog 02000031 replying anyway!!
audio_enable()
audpp: DMA missed
audio timer expired
audio_disable()
audmgr: DISABLED
binder: send failed reply for transaction 5448 to 149:221
7. As stated above, this phone lacks a camera. The slot where the camera goes, just has a cover over it. Looks like I should be able to pop a replacement in the spot. Anyone know the part number of the rear camera, or where I might find one? I can only seem to locate the front-camera on various web sites.
Thanks all!

1. bad blocks are common, yaffs reports them, and marks them as unusable, they have no effect on running Android, ( one of my kais130's has about 10 bad blocks, works fine).
2. Thats normal also, not sure if calibration app has ever worked, although i think there is a console based one that does, never had to use it though.
3. GPS may or may not work properly depending on a number of factors, which build and NBH are used, also which gps software is used also, best combo I have found so far are the Kallt_Kaffe NBH's and Myn's warm Eclair, with GPS test (free or pro). Also note that initial fixes take some time, up to, or over 5 minutes, depending on conditions, etc.
4. Not sure, could be a number of factors again, build, local 3G coverage, APN setup, etc.
5. Never used voice search, but it is known to be pretty flakey, again build plays a large part.
6. I know that there are normally errors on boot, the audio ones are not normal however, could be due to using an older radio, or perhaps some rare kais110 issue, can't actually recall anyone reporting issues with kais110 hardware.
7. Not sure if it's possible to just add a rear camera, it'll depend if the supporting electronics were fitted to allow it to work or not, also unsure where to look for one, although you may be able to get a part number off the service manuals, ( should be in the xda-wiki pages ).

TMobile and AT&T use different 3G frequencies, so an AT&T phone such as your won't do 3G on TMobile. The EDGE will work fine, but slow of course.

purpleonyx said:
3. GPS does not want to play nice. From the app store, I install GPS by Andrea Baccega. Sometimes I get a single satellite to display, once I saw 3 on screen. Unfortunately, none of the other fields (long/lat) were populated which tells me something is wrong.
Dmesg output:
GPS:env_mask=0
GPS:date=00002000
GPS:time=000000 hlat=0 llat=0 hlng=0 llng=0
GPS:speed=0 bearing=0
GPS: has been tickled!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use GPS Test (chartcross ltd), free version from Market. Configure it to not turn off display (keep it from going to sleep). Plug in a charger (if you wan to) and leave it near a window.
Within 5-10 minutes you should have a fix. After that, getting a fix normally happens within seconds. Depending on how much time has passed since you last used your GPS and also the distance you moved it while having it turned off also affects the time to get a fix.
Also blocking the top of the phone with your hand is not a good idea as it seems to be an effective way of blocking the GPS signals.

kallt_kaffe said:
Use GPS Test (chartcross ltd), free version from Market. Configure it to not turn off display (keep it from going to sleep). Plug in a charger (if you wan to) and leave it near a window.
Within 5-10 minutes you should have a fix. After that, getting a fix normally happens within seconds. Depending on how much time has passed since you last used your GPS and also the distance you moved it while having it turned off also affects the time to get a fix.
Also blocking the top of the phone with your hand is not a good idea as it seems to be an effective way of blocking the GPS signals.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the response -- I had tried that over the past 2 nights, but it never took. It just did however, during the day, which is odd. I also switched to a 1.64.08.21 version of the radio today, and it worked. Previous attempts were under 1.71.09.01, 1.70.19.09 and 1.70.18.02 that resulted in failure. Odd.
Is there a way to view all roms installed, for everything? OS, kernel, radio, splash/boot, etc? I am wondering if something got hung up during flashing, or something didnt get wiped out.
Thanks!

purpleonyx said:
Thanks for the response -- I have done this several times (left it going for 10+ hrs at the max time), and it picks up 4-5 satellites, but nothing ever occurs. It sits there with the yellow light, and all of the numbers show in the 20's to very low 30's, which seems like it's a very weak signal, or a high signal/noise ratio. Could this be a radio issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
20-30 actually should be enough. Anything above 40 is excellent and not seen very often. And I'm using the same Radio so that should be the problem. Don't know really. Does it work in WinMo?

kallt_kaffe said:
20-30 actually should be enough. Anything above 40 is excellent and not seen very often. And I'm using the same Radio so that should be the problem. Don't know really. Does it work in WinMo?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had no problem working under winmo before i flashed android to nand. It had no delay in picking it up either. I just rebooted the phone and launched google navigator, and it's taking forever again, searching for gps it says.
If you want to use me as a guinea pig, feel free. I ended up ordering the nokia n900, as i need something working now. I am considering keeping the kaiser 110 to screw around with though. It would make a good backup device anyways. I tried Myn's Warm Eclair on it, but it dragged its legs and had too many problems. Myn's Warm Donut however, functions near perfectly and is quite fast. I've oc'd the processor to 450 MHz which provides a noticeable speed boost. I'm using your latest 2010.06.06 kernel with it. I've been questioning whether or not display 2 and 3 are the same on this model -- sure behaves the same.
-update: Phone comes to a crawl, and then locks up when GPS is used. Both the GPS Test and Google Nav.

[Q] update signal strength

Sorry if this is a repost but i did try searching and only found this in reference to froyo..
I have horrible reception on 3g and calling on this thing everywhere. it never goes over 2 bars and i know that bars really dont matter but sometimes i have to pull battery just to connect to web.
Is there anything i can do??

I was wondering the same thing.

*228 and upgrade PRL?

signal strength vs signal db and # of bars
I updated to the leaked 8/1/10 2.2 ota and I seem to be getting less of a signal based on the bar indicator. I normally receive about -101 - -95db roughly while at work. For me this correlates to 1 bar sometimes none. Does anyone have any info on how many bars for x amount of DB and whether the leaked ota has any fixes for reception. Also I seem to be using more battery for cell standby now, maybe the phone is trying harder to pull a signal. Going back to 2.1 and compare and will post results.

merlin66676 said:
I updated to the leaked 8/1/10 2.2 ota and I seem to be getting less of a signal based on the bar indicator. I normally receive about -101 - -95db roughly while at work. For me this correlates to 1 bar sometimes none. Does anyone have any info on how many bars for x amount of DB and whether the leaked ota has any fixes for reception. Also I seem to be using more battery for cell standby now, maybe the phone is trying harder to pull a signal. Going back to 2.1 and compare and will post results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just wondering how this turned out for you...I'm assuming you meant back to the 1.x radio and not the 2.1 ROM - I believe this is a Radio issue, not necessarily a 2.2 issue.

I have gone back to 2.1 stock with update 1 OTA with the version 1 radio. I am still seeing -105db to -95db for reception and 1 bar while at work. So my assumption is that there is just a lack of reception in my area. I compared signal strength to my old versa lg 9600 and it seems to get 1-3 db better reception but I don't think that is much of a difference. I will also compare to my fiance's Env 2 and see what that gets. I do seem to see 3g more often with the v1 radio than with v2 but might just be when I look and nothing conclusive.
Follow-up: My fiances Env 2 also gets 2-5 db higher signal strength but again I don't think that is much for a phone, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

Just my 2 cents but my reception got better with the new radio for a few days. It actually seems to have gotten worse or rather gone back to what it was when I went in and did my normal tweaks in the ##778 and ##7764726 menus. I will say that I tend to get a more stable signal but that if you check the DB register the improvement is far less dramatic than the bars improvement is. I wonder if something in one of my updates iPhone'd me. You know where their idea of a software fix for signal issues is to change the way the graphics display. I partially wonder if I didn't get one of those.
Really looking forward to the stated improvements in LTE and getting a good LTE Android phone. Supposedly we will see improved building penetration with LTE signals. I for one really hope so.

fezzik77 said:
Just my 2 cents but my reception got better with the new radio for a few days. It actually seems to have gotten worse or rather gone back to what it was when I went in and did my normal tweaks in the ##778 and ##7764726 menus. I will say that I tend to get a more stable signal but that if you check the DB register the improvement is far less dramatic than the bars improvement is. I wonder if something in one of my updates iPhone'd me. You know where their idea of a software fix for signal issues is to change the way the graphics display. I partially wonder if I didn't get one of those.
Really looking forward to the stated improvements in LTE and getting a good LTE Android phone. Supposedly we will see improved building penetration with LTE signals. I for one really hope so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What "##778 and ##7764726" settings are you using?

KenIzz said:
What "##778 and ##7764726" settings are you using?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
EVRC-B on all
Slot Cycle Index 1
HDR Hybrid Preferred Enable
Rev A Enable
1X Diversity RDDS
Dormant Handoff Optimization Enable
Took the DUN out of the M.IP profile
ACCOLC 6
Voice Privacy Disable
CD ROM disable
Pref_For_RC RC4
I think that is all I have done.

why did you change so much? I am too looking to improve my signal (I average -95 to -105 at work as well)

Mostly curiosity and I am not sure I changed all of these some I am pretty sure I looked up and left alone but I will try to explain.
EVRC-B on all - EVRC is probably fine on this phone but it was all important on the Droid to change this to B or 13K. EVRC-B isn't universally supported yet but it is just a newer vocal compression protocol that can improve voice quality or at least sound better on some modern equipment. Really 13K is fine for me but I questioned it's battery effect and real world benefit. Essentially 13K is Disabled EVRC it is much less compressed. It was developed early in Digital Cellular because a lot of people didn't trust the other standard which I think was actually even before EVRC.
Slot Cycle Index 1 - A slot cycle is approximately 1.28 seconds. By default most phones are set to Solot Cycle Index 2 which is 3.84 seconds, 0 is 1.28. What this does is it is a setting built into both the towers and phones as to how often they broadcast or listen for a page. If someone is calling you the request hits the tower and it waits until the next slot in its cycle index to send a page to your device. Your device listens based on its setting. Most towers are set to 1 most phones are set to 2 so the page could go out twice before your phone notices it is there. It decreases battery very slightly setting it to 0 even makes a very slight difference since it is a matter of milliseconds that it takes to wake up the receiver and check if there is a page out there. Since the towers are set to 1 it seemed superflous to set it to 0.
HDR Hybrid Preferred Enable - Not sure I actually changed this but I looked it up once. I believe it has to do with the way 1x opperates with data but I can't for the life of me remember. I am sure I looked it up and if I changed it I did it because of what I read and if I didn't it was either because I didn't find enough useful information to make a decision or I found that this was already good.
Rev A Enable - for some reason mine wasn't and that was one of the selling points of the device. Rev A has to do with data. I believe it refers to 3G but again don't remember everything off the top of my head.
1X Diversity RDDS - didn't find much about this. It is default set to disable but I found very limited information abut this. One thing mostly referred to radio DDS and how it did all this amazing stuff like improve data (mostly in LTE networks but there was benefit to building on CDMA) and battery life and all kinds of things. So I thought I would try it out and see if I saw any effects at all.
Dormant Handoff Optimization Enable - Dormant handoff has to do with the way you are passed from tower to tower. There are a few ways to do that. I figured optimization should be enabled. It happens so it might as well use whatever protocol they chose to make that work better. Not sure if or what it does. I figured it would help me with the few spots of dropped calls. I read about what several of them do and figured it has to be better than not doing anything.
Took the DUN out of the M.IP profile - this was a tip I have seen in several places about loging in to certain data features. Might be useful might not but and may or may not do what they say. Apparently for some people it allows you to use the built in tethering programs without setting up the feature with Verizon like you normally would. You do this and download the drivers. I basically just did it so that I wouldn't accidentally or that no one that might be using my phone might accidentally sign me up for something I can't afford to pay for. This way in theory if they do it and it works I don't have to pay anything just fuss at them for doing it and if it doesn't no harm. But it seems like it would be way too easy to accidentally sign up for $20 tethering or for someone that doesn't know better would do it and not tell me. Thinking if it is installed I must have it.
ACCOLC 6 --- Not sure if I changed this or not. I found something about it and can't remember what it does. In fact I am pretty sure this is default because I am not sure I found anything that told me what the settings mean or do for you. I know you can set it from like 0 to more than 14 but I don't know how high.
Voice Privacy Disable - - Again a hold over from Motorola. Voice privacy tends to add a tinny sound for some reason and frankly I don't care if anyone is listening in on my convorsations.
CD ROM disable - - I hook to my computer frequently and I have a Froyo Rom and this is just insanely annoying. It pops up and plays this ad for Verizon and trys to walk you through all this stuff. This is where you shut it off.
Pref_For_RC RC4 - - I have no idea why but mine was originally set to 3. This is a security streaming protocol. RC5 is unstable RC4 is the highest level considered stable currently. There is an RC6 but I don't think it is an option. It is a build out from RC5. Might not do anything if I turned of Voice privacy but it might have more to do with the ciphering settings which is like a data scrambling thing that makes the data hard to intercept which is more important to me.

[DEV] Lets fix the GPS once and for all

I started investigating this in sbrissen's AOSP JB thread when I was running Alpha 5 (Awesome ROM btw). In the interest of not hijacking/derailing this thread, I think it is time we finally figure out why in the world our phone's GPS is so flaky. The solution is almost assuredly in software.
Items of note:
Modem - Our devices GPS is housed within the Qualcomm QSC6085 silicon. Within there, according to http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1343072 indicates that we have a pretty powerful SiRFStarIV chip. Thus, flashing new modems can affect our interaction with the GPS chip.
Additionally, the aforementioned thread indicates the AGPS is not used on our phone.
I've confirmed that AGPS is not used on our phone via the following logcat:
Code:
D/GPSD ( 1767): load_xtra_bin: buf_len 50000
E/GPSD ( 1767): load_xtra_bin: open /data/gps/xtra.bin failed. Permission denied.
E/GPSD ( 1767): No cached xtra.bin. request to download new binary.
Perhaps with enough digging, we can find where our GPS gets stuck.
-GP
(FYI: Getting a fix on a GB ROM and then immediately flashing is not the solution. At best, the ARM Cortex M3 that operates our baseband, must store data in its own cache since it was recently accessed.)
Update: We have evidence that, in order to save costs on the SPH-D710, the SurfStarIV was removed and our AP (Exynos 4210) handles all GPS duties.
----------------------------------------------
Update 01/23/2013:
First off, I'm sorry for the lack of communication. Second off, I wish I had better news. To respond to a lot of the posts in the thread... this development is all but dead for a couple reasons:
1. IDA Pro is >$1000. IDA Free is free, but doesn't support ARM. I've been using IDA Pro Evaluation, but it only allows a certain amount of use before exiting and does not allow me to save my IDB files (Files that contain refactoring, comments, and changes). I dealt with it for a while, but it is extremely cumbersome to try and deal with while reversing an application of this size.
2. Despite the fact that it would be neat for us to completely understand the modem, it is unlikely that the modem image is directly related to our problem. Our phone has the Qualcomm QSC8085 CDMA Baseband processor. The modem.bin contains, in essence, a completely separate OS that runs in real time all the time (Commonly referred to as an RTOS or Real Time Operating System).
This OS has a lot of responsibilities such as tower negotiations and handoffs, maintaining account information with Sprint, among other things. It likely interfaces with a data buffer that is handled, in part, by the RIL (Radio Interface Layer) which is part of the Android Kernel. Aside from that, it is unknown everything else that the radio has access/control over.
With all of this in mind, it is *possible* that it has some manner of control over the GPS; however, the extent is unclear. Given that we can wipe the EFS partition, flash new Radio Images, and reprovision our phone with virtually no effect on GPS, we can conclude that the problem is unlikely to reside in this image.
--------------------
There are a couple things to consider:
1. Based on all of the above data, it is possible/likely that a small portion of flash memory (Perhaps SRAM (Synchronous RAM) - very small, very fast, very expensive, used for processor cache) is located on the die of the Qualcomm chip that stores data. Because this storage is not accessible to us (Though perhaps the radio OS has access in some way) it persists across data wipes. This would explain why a lock achieved on a TW based ROM will persist across flashes.
2. If we assume the above conclusion has any merit, it is possible/likely that the GPS Daemon or a similar closed source driver packaged with the kernel is not working entirely as expected. It would be very prudent to look into some of these closed source binaries and see what information could be extracted from them; however, they are, ARM binaries and would run into the same obstacles as I outlined above.
3. The tweaks and applications (ie: GPS Status, AngryGPS) that are so widely spread around our forums, while they are useful in optimizing a currently operational GPS, they will NOT/NOT suddenly make a GPS begin to work (This is not meant as a slight to those developers publishing the tweaks. They are, I'm sure, excellent developers who have found fantastic ways to optimize/tweak the functionality of various functions).
When flashing these tweaks, it is important to remember that you are dealing with an extremely complex piece of electronics with many shifting variables. In other words, coincidences happen. A bug fix is only truly a bug fix if it works consistently over a wide set of cases.
--------------
If there is enough developer interest (ie: ONLY those who have significant assembly language or RE experience) and if someone can come up with another way of disassembling ARM binaries, PM me and we can entertain a group effort over a few files that may yield some results.
-Gamingphreek
Edit: Just thought of this... objdump is not a viable disassembler for a binary of this size/complexity. Refactoring and Cross Referencing is all but a necessity.

I wiped and flashed the latest CM9 Nightly. While the first lock took a few minutes, all subsequent locks have been nearly instantaneous.
While JB vs ICS may make this weird, I'm going to look at the diffs over the relevant files. I'd be particularly interest to see the results of a bdiff (Binary Diff) of the GPS Driver across different ROMs.

I used qualcomms qpst program and checked an extra setting under the gps tab and i get almost instant locks. You go through the steps like you are going to manually update a prl but stop at the click roam tab and scroll over to the gps tab. I will have to look in the morning at exactly what the box was that i checked. I did this about a month ago and i have faster locks than ive ever had with any phone.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

Bump

dohchp said:
I used qualcomms qpst program and checked an extra setting under the gps tab and i get almost instant locks. You go through the steps like you are going to manually update a prl but stop at the click roam tab and scroll over to the gps tab. I will have to look in the morning at exactly what the box was that i checked. I did this about a month ago and i have faster locks than ive ever had with any phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please keep us updated with that program.
Another quick question for discussion. Are quick alterations to the gps.conf likely to make any significant changes, or is it all placebo?

After reading through the thread referenced in the OP I found the app mentioned on page 4. Even after i changed my build prop to GT-9100 the app GPS control SiRF refused to work. I emailed the developer to see what tweaks he is using underneath to enable the sleep mode on our SiRF IV gps chip. I'm awaiting feedback and will share any info the we might be able to apply into the Gps lib or through direct ways

dohchp said:
I used qualcomms qpst program and checked an extra setting under the gps tab and i get almost instant locks. You go through the steps like you are going to manually update a prl but stop at the click roam tab and scroll over to the gps tab. I will have to look in the morning at exactly what the box was that i checked. I did this about a month ago and i have faster locks than ive ever had with any phone.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where did you get this software from? I'm desperate to improve my GPS in anyway possible.

I'M NOT YELLING said:
Where did you get this software from? I'm desperate to improve my GPS in anyway possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Refer to this thread.

dohchp said:
I used qualcomms qpst program and checked an extra setting under the gps tab and i get almost instant locks. You go through the steps like you are going to manually update a prl but stop at the click roam tab and scroll over to the gps tab. I will have to look in the morning at exactly what the box was that i checked. I did this about a month ago and i have faster locks than ive ever had with any phone.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok the information that Dohchp posted got me thinking so I started following what he did. However once to the GPS screen only the top box was selected and I had no clue what the rest meant so I searched and besides finding out what each thing means I found this site with a guide for blackberries. I decided what the heck I'll try before the hack it took 82 seconds to lock here in northern Idaho with mountains all around after the hack it took 17 seconds.
http://bbsoftware.weebly.com/uploads/1/7/9/3/1793039/gps_limitations_pdf.pdf
I take no credit for this since all I did was a little research. I have only had this on my phone for about 5 minutes now and will continue to test it out. if you screw up your phone that is your fault for not reading enough before doing stuff to it. If you are afraid to screw up your phone then don't mess with it.
Update: disabled GPS waited a few minutes turned it back on locked in 16s got 9 sats was only getting 4 sats before the modification
Not sure that is matters but I am using Calk's 3.0 GB rom and like Bigt2003's post below me I have been using Faster Fix from the market. However even with that I was getting the times I posted here in the valley.
update: 45 minutes after the mod. While standing in the yard I enabled the gps and had a lock in 24s. I then walked into my apartment to it's closest to center location and ,not surprising, Imidiately lost all satilites gaining them back with in 16s of moving back outside. Probably to much info but better to have too much than not enough.
Update: after just a few hours with the GPS left on but not mapping software running my lock is taking just as long as it did before 81s to lock all locks after that are sub 20s but that is after it's initial lock. So this method is a bust unless a slight variation of the settings changes something. There were no ill effects to doing this that I noticed.

Don't know if it will help but I'm just reporting what worked for me. I'm using phantom's alpha 4.3 (jb) and I couldn't get a lock for over an hour. I had no satellites showing in GPS Status. I used Faster Fix from the market and set the location North America. I rebooted and locked on to 7/8 in 12 seconds. It may not be a technical repair, but it worked for me.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

All you did was enable all the gps features?

dohchp said:
I used qualcomms qpst program and checked an extra setting under the gps tab and i get almost instant locks. You go through the steps like you are going to manually update a prl but stop at the click roam tab and scroll over to the gps tab. I will have to look in the morning at exactly what the box was that i checked. I did this about a month ago and i have faster locks than ive ever had with any phone.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
calisro said:
All you did was enable all the gps features?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Enabled and the info to the right as well the Ip address and such. I made it so that when I read from the phone It matched the screen from the guide exactly.
I must point out that once written to the phone, the phone will reboot. As is generally the case the GPS locks very fast right after a reboot, at least for me, so all this could just be that and not actually doing a thing to resolve the issue of getting a lock hours or days later.

I had read the sirf gps chip was removed in the sph-D710 to save money and only uses the built in exynos chip for gps.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app

rocket321 said:
I had read the sirf gps chip was removed in the sph-D710 to save money and only uses the built in exynos chip for gps.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you are possibly correct about the chip since we don't have the sirfgps.conf in /etc that is in the international S2. Guess I'll start looking for a link showing it was in fact removed or not.
Update: It appears that Rocket321 may be correct after just a few hours my locks are taking just as long as before to get the initial lock. 81s so this possible solution is in fact not a solution.

Nannuq said:
ok the information that Dohchp posted got me thinking so I started following what he did. However once to the GPS screen only the top box was selected and I had no clue what the rest meant so I searched and besides finding out what each thing means I found this site with a guide for blackberries. I decided what the heck I'll try before the hack it took 82 seconds to lock here in northern Idaho with mountains all around after the hack it took 17 seconds.
http://bbsoftware.weebly.com/uploads/1/7/9/3/1793039/gps_limitations_pdf.pdf
I take no credit for this since all I did was a little research. I have only had this on my phone for about 5 minutes now and will continue to test it out. if you screw up your phone that is your fault for not reading enough before doing stuff to it. If you are afraid to screw up your phone then don't mess with it.
Update: disabled GPS waited a few minutes turned it back on locked in 16s got 9 sats was only getting 4 sats before the modification
Not sure that is matters but I am using Calk's 3.0 GB rom and like Bigt2003's post below me I have been using Faster Fix from the market. However even with that I was getting the times I posted here in the valley.
update: 45 minutes after the mod. While standing in the yard I enabled the gps and had a lock in 24s. I then walked into my apartment to it's closest to center location and ,not surprising, Imidiately lost all satilites gaining them back with in 16s of moving back outside. Probably to much info but better to have too much than not enough.
Update: after just a few hours with the GPS left on but not mapping software running my lock is taking just as long as it did before 81s to lock all locks after that are sub 20s but that is after it's initial lock. So this method is a bust unless a slight variation of the settings changes something. There were no ill effects to doing this that I noticed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good news on my end. I wasn't even getting a lock in CM10, at all, before this method. Mobile Odin'd back to EL29 and with that Blackberry guide I checked all the boxes in the gpsOne box, but I didn't enter in the IP or PDE port number. Flashed back to CM10 and had a lock in what I believe was the fastest I've had with this phone, ever (under 30 seconds). Accuracy was only up to 30-100 meters, though. I'll update this post again tomorrow with how goes the next lock.

I think we need to distinguish between the "GPS problems"we have.
Problem A is a GPS that doesn't lock at all.
Problem B is GPS that locks after a reboot but after idling for a long time, GPS becomes non functional. A reboot however typically fixes this.
I have problem B for example. However, after lashing Dark_Knight's_GPS_Fix, I've had really good luck with GPS. I even get locks after extended periods and even indoors at time. Accuracy is typically around 4-6M with 8+ satellites.
Link: http://forums.androidcentral.com/ep.../183562-mod-fix-gps-dark_knights_gps_fix.html
Anyone else run that fix? Thoughts?

puch0021 said:
I think we need to distinguish between the "GPS problems"we have.
Problem A is a GPS that doesn't lock at all.
Problem B is GPS that locks after a reboot but after idling for a long time, GPS becomes non functional. A reboot however typically fixes this.
I have problem B for example. However, after lashing Dark_Knight's_GPS_Fix, I've had really good luck with GPS. I even get locks after extended periods and even indoors at time. Accuracy is typically around 4-6M with 8+ satellites.
Link: http://forums.androidcentral.com/ep.../183562-mod-fix-gps-dark_knights_gps_fix.html
Anyone else run that fix? Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd take caution flashing anything he made as he was found out to be a hack and a thief. He was banned and all his threads locked.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app

puch0021 said:
I think we need to distinguish between the "GPS problems"we have.
Problem A is a GPS that doesn't lock at all.
Problem B is GPS that locks after a reboot but after idling for a long time, GPS becomes non functional. A reboot however typically fixes this.
I have problem B for example. However, after lashing Dark_Knight's_GPS_Fix, I've had really good luck with GPS. I even get locks after extended periods and even indoors at time. Accuracy is typically around 4-6M with 8+ satellites.
Link: http://forums.androidcentral.com/ep.../183562-mod-fix-gps-dark_knights_gps_fix.html
Anyone else run that fix? Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
seems PLACEBO to me.
---------- Post added at 02:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:12 PM ----------
WhiteWidows said:
I'd take caution flashing anything he made as he was found out to be a hack and a thief. He was banned and all his threads locked.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what he hack and steal? LOL

I'M NOT YELLING said:
Good news on my end. I wasn't even getting a lock in CM10, at all, before this method. Mobile Odin'd back to EL29 and with that Blackberry guide I checked all the boxes in the gpsOne box, but I didn't enter in the IP or PDE port number. Flashed back to CM10 and had a lock in what I believe was the fastest I've had with this phone, ever (under 30 seconds). Accuracy was only up to 30-100 meters, though. I'll update this post again tomorrow with how goes the next lock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Eh, woke up, went outside for a lock and didn't get anything at all. Just like it was before. Sigh.

I'M NOT YELLING said:
Eh, woke up, went outside for a lock and didn't get anything at all. Just like it was before. Sigh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the exact same issues. I've tried fasterfix and both gps fixes that have been posted on these boards. Have not had any success. I can get a GPS fix after maybe 5 minutes OUSTIDE with NO trees or buildings nearby. Once it locks in, if I move, I lose the signal again.
If I stand still the sats will slowly drop off and I'll be lost again. I took it to sprint and then wouldn't look at it until it's back to unrooted stock. That's my next move.

[Q] Wrong area code?

My phone is an Epic 4G running a very mildly modified CM10. Basically the modifications are just a flashed script removing a bunch of unneeded stuff after every nightly flash. (wallpapers, ringtones, a few default apps, etc) Nothing that touches the actual system/settings.
A couple weeks ago I noticed that if I dialed a local number without the area code it was adding (617) as the area code. Same thing happens if I pick a contact from my phone that happens to not have an area code. My area code is 317, so it adding 617 has me calling totally wrong numbers. Before, IIRC it added (317) correctly instead. I've had this phone since launch and this is a recent issue.
As I said, this has been happening for a few weeks now. Multiple reboots and nightly flashes later and the problem persists.
After searching for a solution, I've seen a few mentions of somewhat similar issues as possibly being 'network issues.' My girlfriend's phone does not have this problem. Same network, different phone and stock 2.3.6. I would suspect true network issues would also affect her phone.
I searched through the phone settings and did not notice a place to change the default area code. I think I remember having that option in the stock rom though.
What do I need to do to fix this?

Honestly, when I add a new contact, I put in the area code anyway. Try adding the correct area codes to the contacts that don't have one in your phone.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2

jeffreyjicha said:
Honestly, when I add a new contact, I put in the area code anyway. Try adding the correct area codes to the contacts that don't have one in your phone.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That isn't a fix, its a work around.
Most of my contacts do have area codes already. I dont have a crap ton of contacts, but it would still be inconvenient to check/fix them all.
What made me notice was needing to manually dial a number not in my contacts that I will likely only ever call once. I had several in a couple day period and I called Massachusetts a few times on accident forgetting about this new problem.
Would also be a pain to remind people that they need to dial the local area code for times when I lend someone my phone to make a quick call. (very rare for me, but does happen)

Okay, I only said what I said because I lived in a state that no matter what number you were calling, whether it was local or long distance you needed to dial the area code.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2

jeffreyjicha said:
Okay, I only said what I said because I lived in a state that no matter what number you were calling, whether it was local or long distance you needed to dial the area code.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Understandable. I know some cities and states are so saturated that people in the same city could have different area codes.
My area code covers 1/3 of the state. You have to go ~50miles north or south to get to a different area code. Typically, you only run into someone in the city with a different area code if they are from out of town. Occasionally people do move and never get their cell number changed. But they are the exceptions, not the rule.

thedumbass said:
My phone is an Epic 4G running a very mildly modified CM10. Basically the modifications are just a flashed script removing a bunch of unneeded stuff after every nightly flash. (wallpapers, ringtones, a few default apps, etc) Nothing that touches the actual system/settings.
A couple weeks ago I noticed that if I dialed a local number without the area code it was adding (617) as the area code. Same thing happens if I pick a contact from my phone that happens to not have an area code. My area code is 317, so it adding 617 has me calling totally wrong numbers. Before, IIRC it added (317) correctly instead. I've had this phone since launch and this is a recent issue.
As I said, this has been happening for a few weeks now. Multiple reboots and nightly flashes later and the problem persists.
After searching for a solution, I've seen a few mentions of somewhat similar issues as possibly being 'network issues.' My girlfriend's phone does not have this problem. Same network, different phone and stock 2.3.6. I would suspect true network issues would also affect her phone.
I searched through the phone settings and did not notice a place to change the default area code. I think I remember having that option in the stock rom though.
What do I need to do to fix this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Network issues should affect her phone too so my guess would be its a bug in the recent nightly's. Try flashing back to the most recent nightly that you recall it working correctly on and see if the problem persists.

This thread seems to have a possible cause/solution...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1227736
steeler350 said:
found the fix for it if anyone else is having the same problem
Is your phone suddenly defaulting to area code 617 when you only dial 7 digits? This is the fix. (self.Android)
submitted 3 months ago by reddit_account_42
For at least a few weeks now, my phone has been defaulting to area code 617. I assumed I probably broke it trying out some Cyanogenod nighties with the race up to 6.1, and didn't think too much of it. Now that i'm dealing with some new phone numbers, defaulting to 617 instead of my correct area code has been somewhat of a pain. Google didn't help, but it revealed a number of users with the same problems:
I then was lucky enough to find this code snippet with the constant private static final String AREACODE = "617". Looking at the name seems to indicate that it's for testing an intent, and has a bit of additional functionality I hadn't noticed:
* Make default area code 617
* Replace 411 with 1-800-GOOG-411
* Disable calling 555-5555 (Try it, dialer just closes. As the code says, "Note that no UI is displayed to the user -- the call simply does not happen.")
Realizing now that the issue is with the Dialer app, I'd figured I'd just have to find an apk of that somewhere. Instead, I realized I had downloaded Autostarts which lets you review intent handlers. Indeed, if you run Autostarts, you can see that under 'New Outgoing Call' there is an entry by Dialer. Clicking on that and you can see that the intent is handled by com.android.phone.ProcessOutgoingCallTest, which is exactly the code I found above. From here, you can just choose 'Disable' and autostarts will remove the intent, and you'll have your 7 digit phone numbers back without the 617 area code.
Note that I had to restart the Dialer for this change to work (or, rather, it crashed out from under me when I changed it). Though, there are no ill effects.
I can only assume a build of Cyanogenmod had this test facility enabled, and when I didnt' wipe during a ROM upgrade this persisted.
tl;dr: Use Autostarts and remove the Dialer entry from 'New Outgoing Call'
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Found a thread on Droidforums that suggest hex editing the phone.odex to remove the default 617 area code. That thread says it actually breaks the phone to fix it though. So you do a complete CWM backup, mod the odex, break the phone's calling ability, replace the modded odex with the original, reboot, still broken, then restore the CWM backup and suddenly the 617 default is gone.

Figured I should check back to verify the above quoted fix worked. Still don't consider it a true fix myself since it requires a 3rd party app.
Still don't have a clue why this issue suddenly started up either. Had my phone since launch and have been running custom roms for a year or so and this issue didn't pop up until a few weeks before my first post.
Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk 2

Model iterations & WIFI Problem

I hope to benefit from someone's WIFI expertise.
Bought for my wife a T-Mobile branded SGS3 replacing her older SGS4G ["S 4G"] model for more power, memory, etc etc. I noticed from the beginning that, compared to all my other handsets, tablets, PC/laptops, this one was troubled on WIFI connections. Found lots of posts around the web, read up on fixes. Gathered the tools together, erased the ROM completely, started from scratch with stock T-Mo ROM, rooted and debloated it. Made some of the standard changes to WIFI options: stopped scanning, disabled power-saving, reset the home/office WIFI to channel 11 , "N" band only. Things improved in that stable, controlled setting.
but 'on the road' with multiple hotspots, hotels, offices, T-mo data service, etc it is still very difficult to use. It will drop otherwise good WIFI connections, and hang in the midst of operating on WIFI. To give a simple example: go somewhere new, find WIFI, connect to WIFI, check EMAIL, Facebook, Messages - find 10 or so messages unread unresponded, try to download/read/respond and the device will get maybe one or two, then simply stop responding. Wait a minute or two and you get the "WIFI Connected" notice again. repeat, repeat...
What I wonder: how many variants of hardware have there been for T-mo, USA, GS3? Is there a model version I can get that avoids this issue?

cognus said:
I hope to benefit from someone's WIFI expertise.
Bought for my wife a T-Mobile branded SGS3 replacing her older SGS4G ["S 4G"] model for more power, memory, etc etc. I noticed from the beginning that, compared to all my other handsets, tablets, PC/laptops, this one was troubled on WIFI connections. Found lots of posts around the web, read up on fixes. Gathered the tools together, erased the ROM completely, started from scratch with stock T-Mo ROM, rooted and debloated it. Made some of the standard changes to WIFI options: stopped scanning, disabled power-saving, reset the home/office WIFI to channel 11 , "N" band only. Things improved in that stable, controlled setting.
but 'on the road' with multiple hotspots, hotels, offices, T-mo data service, etc it is still very difficult to use. It will drop otherwise good WIFI connections, and hang in the midst of operating on WIFI. To give a simple example: go somewhere new, find WIFI, connect to WIFI, check EMAIL, Facebook, Messages - find 10 or so messages unread unresponded, try to download/read/respond and the device will get maybe one or two, then simply stop responding. Wait a minute or two and you get the "WIFI Connected" notice again. repeat, repeat...
What I wonder: how many variants of hardware have there been for T-mo, USA, GS3? Is there a model version I can get that avoids this issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is the phone running full MD5 firmware?
Hardware issue if no restoring was done between devices.

Aerowinder said:
Is the phone running full MD5 firmware?
Hardware issue if no restoring was done between devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, in fact I made utterly sure because somebody else asked the same question, same issue. still very flaky. no odd modems or other custom 'wares, just rooted and a few unnecessary apps uninstalled. how many models of this are there, were they made in different locales?
I assume the SoC is the same, but what about antennae, internal connections, etc? any evil interactions between radios? we don't use Bluetooth, so that one stays off all the time assuming the softswitch works

cognus said:
yes, in fact I made utterly sure because somebody else asked the same question, same issue. still very flaky. no odd modems or other custom 'wares, just rooted and a few unnecessary apps uninstalled. how many models of this are there, were they made in different locales?
I assume the SoC is the same, but what about antennae, internal connections, etc? any evil interactions between radios? we don't use Bluetooth, so that one stays off all the time assuming the softswitch works
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, as far as how many there are? A LOT! LOL! I'd imagine a few hundred thousand US variants, and for the T999 and its variants, close to a hundred thousand maybe? I really don't know, and those numbers did not come from anywhere but my head!
But as far as manufacturing, I am pretty sure they are all built in the same place. But, this does not mean that all of the components are from one location. In fact, from batch to batch of the same part, it can vary by where it was made, but also by what company made it. This is unlikely when dealing with the critcal parts such as the SoC, but the WiFi chip is a Broadcom chip. I have no idea if there are multiple manufacturing locations for it, but it is possible. The memory in all devices often varies greatly by the manufacturer.
Anyway, I do agree with Aerowinder. It is most likely hardware related. I'd look into a Warranty or Insurance exchange.