S3 GPS not turning on, requires restart?

O

obug

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 9, 2010
Messages
147
I'm wondering if anybody on [H] has come across an issue I'm having. The GPS on my AT&T Galaxy S3 will not turn on (or will suddenly turn off) with apps (e.g. Google Maps) that use GPS. The GPS notification icon does not appear at all in the notification bar.

The only way to get the GPS to turn on after this is to restart the phone. Then, at some random time later, the GPS will die again and never turn on until I restart the phone. I've had it die in a middle heavy traffic in a big city, which is makes a major function (for me) of this phone absolutely useless.

I've reset it multiples times, futzed with settings, apps, and most everything I could do with a phone that is not rooted.

I've spent 3+ hours on the phone with AT&T about this and have got a refurbished phone as a warranty replacement. The replacement phone has the same issue. AT&T and Samsung claim this is not a known issue despite a lot of threads (very easy to find through Google) about GPS issues after upgrading to Jelly Bean.

I've got a business account (phone through my company) and this saved me (after a good bit of arguing that I couldn't be without a business phone for 10 days) the hassle of sending the phone to Samsung to reinstall the firmware. But they've been pretty useless beyond that.
 
I've never run into this issue on my S3, but I'm on Verizon.

Do you have it on power saving mode or something?
 
I've also never come across but I'm with rogers in Canada. On xda I remember seeing a repository off all the old stock roms. Can you try installing one of the older ones (pre JB) to see if the issue is still there? Would help prove to att that it's a firmware problem maybe.
 
sharknice said:
Do you have it on power saving mode or something?
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I'm not using the power saving mode.

XpediencY said:
I have the same problem as you... just popped up about 4 months ago. AT&T also
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That's when it started for me - right when Jelly Bean was released for the S3.

I don't think it's just AT&T as I've seen at least one Verizon user reporting the same issue. Interestingly enough, when I first talked to Samsung they were pretty quick to say "Something went wrong during the Jelly Bean update. Send it us for a reflash." Now that it's happened to a replacement phone (which came with Jelly Bean), they're saying they've never heard of the issue.

ATT support suggested an app might be causing this and I should reset the phone, create a new google account, and then reinstall my apps one by one if an app is causing it. Considering this issue pops up very erratically, that's hardly a practical diagnostic method. And what about the apps I've paid for?

coffaholic said:
I've also never come across but I'm with rogers in Canada. On xda I remember seeing a repository off all the old stock roms. Can you try installing one of the older ones (pre JB) to see if the issue is still there? Would help prove to att that it's a firmware problem maybe.
Click to expand...

I'm hesitant to do this out of fear that AT&T will point the finger at me as the cause of the problem. At some point JB 4.2 will be out for the S3 so hopefully that solves it. If not, I'll probably just jump to Cyanogenmod when the warranty is up.
 
Installing an old stock rom will not trip the flash counter if that is why you are hesitant.
 
you can always reset your flash counter with "triangle away" :)

Check out the XDA forums, lots of info there.
 
The GPS issue happens to me as well sometimes. 32gb Verizon unit. Pretty annoying.
 
Maybe install GPS Status and play around/troubleshoot with the tools in there?

Whenever I had GPS Issues on my old Gnex, I would open that > settings > tools > Manage A-GPS state > reset. Restart the phone and it would fix my GPS issues sometimes. Though I've never had an issue with my phones where GPS would just refuse to turn on or randomly turn itself off. GPS on my Note 2 has been 100% reliable and solid even across all the ROMs I've installed so I haven't had to mess with this app on it yet (fortunately). That app still may be able to help you troubleshoot it though.
 
coffaholic said:
Installing an old stock rom will not trip the flash counter if that is why you are hesitant.
Click to expand...

I did not know that. Will probably try that at some point.

EquaLiZr said:
you can always reset your flash counter with "triangle away" :)
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Thanks!

T4rd said:
Maybe install GPS Status and play around/troubleshoot with the tools in there?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the recommendation. I've set it so it turns on whenever the GPS turns on. Hopefully it helps, or at least helps me diagnose the issue!
 
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