[Q] Chinese Android phone GPS not working - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I bought HDC Storm MX phone from China. It has MT6589 quad-core (if that changes anything). It had all the chinese apps, but I removed them, and flashed gapps, and everything is working great, except the gps.
It just cant get a lock on anything. After waiting a few minutes, it just found 2 sattelites, but didnt lock on them.
It's rooted, and I already tried changing "gps.conf" file, but it didn't help.
I attached the screen I get, when I am using GPS Status.
I dont know what the second icon from the left side in the status bar means.
How can I fix this, as there are probably no custom roms for this device?
Any help would be very much appreciated.
Thank you.

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JankyLV said:
I bought HDC Storm MX phone from China. It has MT6589 quad-core (if that changes anything). It had all the chinese apps, but I removed them, and flashed gapps, and everything is working great, except the gps.
It just cant get a lock on anything. After waiting a few minutes, it just found 2 sattelites, but didnt lock on them.
It's rooted, and I already tried changing "gps.conf" file, but it didn't help.
I attached the screen I get, when I am using GPS Status.
I dont know what the second icon from the left side in the status bar means.
How can I fix this, as there are probably no custom roms for this device?
Any help would be very much appreciated.
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install fastergps from the market and try again...

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fix
arkas5 said:
Install fastergps from the market and try again...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found the solution. None of the apps from google play worked. Tried gps doctor, fastergps, gps fix etc.
Maybe "gps.conf" trick works when you get partial gps fix, but it didn't for me at the time.
Even reseting and downloading A-GPS data didn't help me.
In the end, the fix was very easy, I just didn't think of that at first..
So if anyone needs it:
1. screen) Settings -> Location access,
2. screen) Location access -> click on "GPS satellites",
3. screen) Enable both GPS EPO and A-GPS,
4. screen) In EPO Settings check the auto download, and click the Download button.
That's it. It helped for me, I get a GPS fix in Waze now in 3-10 seconds.
I read about EPO, but couldn't find it in the settings.
Hope that helps.
Cheers.

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Thank you very much, been banging my head against the wall with this one. I have a mtk6589, Have been using Android since the G1 and I some overlooked the basics...
Thanks !!

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londonzombie said:
Thank you very much, been banging my head against the wall with this one. I have a mtk6589, Have been using Android since the G1 and I some overlooked the basics...
Thanks !!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Be aware that AGPS and EPO will consume data traffic. Usually not too much - but keep an eye on the data usage for a few days to get a notion of the ammount.

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HDC storm mx - howto flash the gapps - recovery mode in Chinese?
I entered the recovery mode hoping I could install the gapps zip file.
But the menu is in Chinese, no idea what I should select!
In fact, the only way I got out of this factory mode was by removing the battery...
I tried to simply install the apps one by one, but the installs all failed.
Advice is most welcomed, but please with the details, if possible.
thanks,
guy
JankyLV said:
I bought HDC Storm MX phone from China. It has MT6589 quad-core (if that changes anything). It had all the chinese apps, but I removed them, and flashed gapps, and everything is working great, except the gps.
It just cant get a lock on anything. After waiting a few minutes, it just found 2 sattelites, but didnt lock on them.
It's rooted, and I already tried changing "gps.conf" file, but it didn't help.
I attached the screen I get, when I am using GPS Status.
I dont know what the second icon from the left side in the status bar means.
How can I fix this, as there are probably no custom roms for this device?
Any help would be very much appreciated.
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

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guy529 said:
I entered the recovery mode hoping I could install the gapps zip file.
But the menu is in Chinese, no idea what I should select!
In fact, the only way I got out of this factory mode was by removing the battery...
I tried to simply install the apps one by one, but the installs all failed.
Advice is most welcomed, but please with the details, if possible.
thanks,
guy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How I did it - I had a second phone with Google Translate installed. I used the option to capture picture and translate text in it.
I don't remember which options from the top I had to choose, but it worked out fine with that method. First I flashed ClockWorkMod (cwm) recovery, and from that point on I had everything in english.

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Which CWM for HDC STORM MX
COOL IDEA!
which CWM did you use?
JankyLV said:
How I did it - I had a second phone with Google Translate installed. I used the option to capture picture and translate text in it.
I don't remember which options from the top I had to choose, but it worked out fine with that method. First I flashed ClockWorkMod (cwm) recovery, and from that point on I had everything in english.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

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guy529 said:
COOL IDEA!
which CWM did you use?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't really remember which one I used, but I guess it had to be the one in this file - http://www.putlocker.com/file/79BB23D5D744EC65 (as HDC Storm MX is a rebranded Firefly II)
As the file is big, and I can't check it at the moment, I will download it and take a look in the next hour or so

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partial fix
This works to get a quick fix and start navigating...but I have the problem that gps cant seem to keep a lock on. it will show my correct location, and a few secs later its off by a few streets....it will lock on...and lose.
Any suggestions?
it also influences other apps using gps like sports trackers. here something strange(r) happens: it will have mapped my route ACCURATELY, but the distance calculation will be off by A LOT. A 7km run got logged as 55km, a 30km bike ride was shown as 325km. those differences are huge. ive tried endomondo and runtastic - same issues.
JankyLV said:
I found the solution. None of the apps from google play worked. Tried gps doctor, fastergps, gps fix etc.
Maybe "gps.conf" trick works when you get partial gps fix, but it didn't for me at the time.
Even reseting and downloading A-GPS data didn't help me.
In the end, the fix was very easy, I just didn't think of that at first..
So if anyone needs it:
1. screen) Settings -> Location access,
2. screen) Location access -> click on "GPS satellites",
3. screen) Enable both GPS EPO and A-GPS,
4. screen) In EPO Settings check the auto download, and click the Download button.
That's it. It helped for me, I get a GPS fix in Waze now in 3-10 seconds.
I read about EPO, but couldn't find it in the settings.
Hope that helps.
Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

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It might be related to framework-res.apk
Sometime the OEM modified the map and geo redirection to baidu, user who want to use Google Maps with GPS need to decompile framework-res.apk and change the following properties to
<string name="config_networkLocationProviderPackageName">com.google.android.location</string>
<string name="config_geocodeProviderPackageName">com.google.android.location</string>
in res\values\strings.xml

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Did you find a solution for this ?
I have the same problem
shelley77 said:
This works to get a quick fix and start navigating...but I have the problem that gps cant seem to keep a lock on. it will show my correct location, and a few secs later its off by a few streets....it will lock on...and lose.
Any suggestions?
it also influences other apps using gps like sports trackers. here something strange(r) happens: it will have mapped my route ACCURATELY, but the distance calculation will be off by A LOT. A 7km run got logged as 55km, a 30km bike ride was shown as 325km. those differences are huge. ive tried endomondo and runtastic - same issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

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another variation
I have a similar problem with my Star N9599T (MediaTek MT6589T SoC) in that it has 11 to 31 satellites 'in view' but fails to get a lock.
I have
* used fasterGPS to modify /system/etc/gps.conf
* permitted access to location in settings
* activated download for EPO & A-GPS in settings
* deleted /data/misc/mtkgps.dat & rebooted
* tried several things in MobileUncle>engineer_mode>location
* reset A-GPS in GPS Status
The satellites in view in GPS Test never change from 0.0 signal strength, even with 31 satellites in view.
/storage/sdcard0/GPS.LOG (covering several days) shows about 7 seconds with a lock.
The NMEA log shows what appears to be a lat/long position that stays stable to 0.001°
If anyone can point me to instructions for MobileUncle 'location' or gps.conf I would appreciate it, or if anyone knows what the actual problem is that would be good too
[update]
I unscrewed the inner back cover & checked inside. (just the black screws, but there is one under a tiny sticker at bottom right. Leave the brass one under the SDcard)
It all seemed clean but I blew gently through it all anyway, then found one slightly loose screw which I tightened.
Put it all back together (inner back cover is really awkward to get properly seated) & it works!
It was very slow to get a lock & I reset it several times before it would lock, but it held the lock while walking & got it straight back after I'd been on a bus. (using My Tracks so i can look afterwards)
One thing that it didn't like was switching to GPS Status & back again, it lost the lock for over a minute & was wrong by 25 metres when it got it back. I walked for 50 metres before the accuracy came back.
My HTC Wildfire S can also be slow to lock occasionally so I'm hoping it will be ok now.
.