Gps Signal

[TeeTwo]

My XL appears to not pick up a gps signal. When I connect it to Home it appears to work ok in every way including operate my XL. But when I turn it on remotely it reports no gps signal.

I tried it several times outside under a clear sky. I do have a warrenty but it would be good if it is a corrupted file or something.

I thought I would ask before I go through the warrenty debarkle

Thanks in advance for your comments

 

[mikealder]

With the device connected to Home it uses a virtual position fix it certainly isn't using the built in receiver.

Take the device outside away from the buildings and NOT moving, switch it on and tap the sat stregth bars in the lower right corner, you will see a smaller sat strength meter on the next page press that - you should now be looking at the PS Status page. Keep an eye on the bar graph, do you see any activity in grey, after a couple of minutes the graph should go from grey to blue and you have a position fix - Mike

 

[Bama Rambler]

Did you try a pin reset. Under the bottom of the unit is a small hole labeled reset. Gently press the very small button in there with a toothpick or paper clip. Then follow Mikes suggestion.

 

[dhn]

Have you tried for a new qpsquickfix file?

 

[TeeTwo]

Well, I reset the device several times by holding down the turn on button as per instructions. There is no reset hole.

Anyway convinced there was a problem I left it in the garden under a fairly clear sky here in Sydney Australia and after looking at it every 10 minutes for aproximtly 30 mins. it suddenly aquired the satelite signal and now appears to be back tp normal.

Last thing before this I updated a mapshare package.

Subsequently I backed it up in Home and once to a DVD which I now have a copy twice per month.

So now no problem. It would be bit of a worry if that happened when I was trying to get somewhere. So my bullet proof TomTom XL ain't so bullet proof and I thought I could trust it with life and limb. Looks as if it will share the car with my dog eaten copy of my road map. Just in case.

Why it did it? there was no clouds or buildings. Maybe the us military decided to block my signal. It disturbs me when I do not find a reason for this anomoly so for now the fact it is working I will be thankfull I do not have to wave my warrenty under someones nose.

Oh yes! to those who threw in their 2 cents worth I thank you. Maybe this information will add light on the matter.

Terry

 

[mikealder]

The time to first fix could have been any number of things, quite often following an update the device can take quite a while to acquire its position fix, usually its less than 60 seconds though.

What can make the device take some considerable time to acquire the signal though is if/ when the Quick GPS fix file is either corrupt or contains data for somewhere other than your location, I stopped using the qGPS quite some time ago as I don't see it offers any plus points at all. If you use the device a couple of times a week it will allways be up to date without the qGPS as it downloads the information from the sats in orbit once it has a signal lock - Mike

 

[TeeTwo]

I believe you hit the nail on the head I downloaded a qGPS with the mapshare just before it took so long to aquire a signal. It is appearing to aquire a signal much faster now well within 60 secs in most cases but not as fast as it did.

Terry

 

[TeeTwo]

I am convinced now that the last quickgps fix was wrong and that is why it takes a minute or two to find its position.

Is there a way to re establish a previous fix and disregard the latest that I downloaded or is it overwriten somewhere?

 

[mvl]

The fix goes bad every now and then. The backups are in this folder in your computer:

My Documents\TomTom\HOME\Download\complete\ephemeris

Pick a folder date, then extract the contents of ephemeris.cab. Copy its contents and overwrite the contents of the ephem folder in your tomtom.

They're only good for about a week, so it won't help you if they're too old.

If there's a bug, it usually gets corrected within a week.

 

[imokah]

There is no joy with my Go720. I have done everything that anyone/everyone has suggested....pin resets, factory resets, clearing folders, using flash tool many times, leaving it sit outside until the battery nearly runs dry, updated gps satellite files this morning...noth'un...I am beginning to think that this thing is broken...and of course no warranty....for the longest time I had absolutely no problems....umm

 

[canderson]

There is no joy with my Go720...

I am beginning to think that this thing is broken...and of course no warranty....for the longest time I had absolutely no problems....umm

My first 720 did exactly the same thing about 2 months after I bought it in December '07. Fortunately, it was still under warranty, and TomTom sent a replacement (even if it WAS a refurb). Like yours, my unit did absolutely everything right EXCEPT see even a single satellite. When I say that, I assume you don't even see the "gray" vertical bars on the satellite screen on yours, either.

It's one thing to see gray bars that refuse to turn blue and know the ephemeris data is jacked up -- it's another thing for the unit to have no clue that there are even any satellites out there.

 

[imokah]

You are correct, Canderson....I see a black and white satellite screen..no gray at all where satellite bar strength are located.

 

[TeeTwo]

You say they go out of date. What actually do the files do other than tell the system where in the world it is?

 

[mvl]

You say they go out of date. What actually do the files do other than tell the system where in the world it is?

Tomtom figures out where it is based on how far it is from the satellites. QuickGPSfix tells the tomtom where the satellites are. They self-identify their location, but it takes a while. QuickGPSfix is faster.

See here for details:
https://www.tomtomforums.com/general-tomtom-discussion/16534-how-read-gps-status-page.html

 

[TeeTwo]

To mvl

My XL does show satelites up to 7 sometimes whilst still greyed out. It takes upto two minutes to aquire a signal but eventually does.

Ok I read the explanation. Thanks for the heads up. It is that I only had this problem after the last Quickfix. so it may have been bad. So that is an explanation. And I thank you for your time.

This is a bit of an off subject but as I have your attention.

I have just offered a street change that occured close to me and it uploaded ok. now when additional streets are reported and the mapshare is updated does this mean that the map is always the latest and really there is no need to buy the latest map. I notice there is provision to add fixed cameras and other details that get uploaded too even missing streets, so TomTom actually have a multitude of map correctors. This is obviously a marvelous system.

 

[mvl]

Ok I read the explanation. Thanks for the heads up. It is that I only had this problem after the last Quickfix. so it may have been bad. So that is an explanation. And I thank you for your time.

I have see a few posts on quickgpsfix going bad lately, so it's likely that there is a bad file problem. Tomtom usually fixes this within a week. Call support if you want to alert them, though they probably already know about the problem. As a workaround, remove quickgpsfix using "remove items" in HOME until it is resolved. I personally haven't had a problem, but tomtom uses two different GPS chips with different quickgpsfix files, and I may have the "other" chip on my 720.

I have just offered a street change that occured close to me and it uploaded ok. now when additional streets are reported and the mapshare is updated does this mean that the map is always the latest and really there is no need to buy the latest map. I notice there is provision to add fixed cameras and other details that get uploaded too even missing streets, so TomTom actually have a multitude of map correctors. This is obviously a marvelous system.

Mapshare will update everything except new streets and highway sign names. When you report these errors with mapshare, they get queued for tomtom research. Tomtom will prioritize research based on the number of people reporting an error, and will correct for a future map. So you would have to get a new map for these fixes. On newer tomtoms, IQroutes data is also unfixable in mapshare, and only fixable in new maps. I agree that mapshare is a marvelous system - mapshare and IQroutes are the two reasons I will never consider buying another GPS brand.