Galaxy S3 GPS randomly stops working

[superm1]

My fiancee and I both have GS3's on AT&T. They're both still stock 4.1.1, neither is rooted.

We're both encountering a really annoying GPS problem. Randomly the GPS will stop working until reboot. Sometimes it will be in the middle of navigation. The lady just says "GPS signal lost" and then it won't lock anymore. Other times it will work for a route or two and then when opening up again it doesn't get an initial lock.

When it stops working there is no longer an ongoing notification with the status of the GPS or the GPS icon at the top of the screen. Maps is somewhat usable for just "directions" when we're in an area that cell tower and wifi AP triangulation works, but that only gets directions pulled up and it's off by several hundred feet.

Every time this happens, if you reboot it comes back to life. I'd rather not root or go the custom ROM route to fix this while we are both in warranty. This is her first Android phone and all I hear is "my iphone didn't use to do that. the GPS always worked".

I came across this thread http://productforums.google.com/foru...B1-25-false%5D on Google Groups, but no one really came up with a workable solution. It seemed to happen to at least both VZW & AT&T, but was fixed with VZW's 4.1.2 update.

Any ideas?

[StefanTimber]

I don't think AT&T can help you. You may need to bring yout Galaxy S3 to the shop you bought it.

[tapukakababa]

I had the same problem along with couple other issues. After all troubleshooting, I had to send my phone for repair to Samsung in the end which was under warranty and didnt charged me anything. They replaced the PBA and now my phone is working like butter.

[David714]

I am having this exact same problem with my AT&T Galaxy S3.  My phone is unlocked but not rooted, it's running whatever AT&T pushed out in the latest OTA update.

I navigate with my phone a lot and this just started happening recently.  Usually it happens when I navigate with my car charger connected.  After about 20 minutes of navigaiton I hear "GPS Signal Lost".  The GPS signal never comes back.  I got the phone the day it came out and this just started happening in the last few weeks.  What should I do?  Is anyone at AT&T aware of this problem?  Surely other S3 customers must be seeing it also...

David

[superm1]

Found this on XDA from last week.

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After i go to the samsung service mode *#197328640#

then go to mainmenu>UMTS>Common>NV REBUILD>NV REBUILD>finish and dont exit menu
wait 30 sec

long press power button and select restart..

thats all

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It seems promissing to me.  I'm giving it a shot before I actually try to wipe/reload or anything like that.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=39156594#post39156594

[kgbkny]

This happened to both mine and my wife's GS3s when we were in San Antonio last week. I was shocked - we had a perfectly clear view of the sky. I guess this is a known issue.

[chapel72]

Did you ever get a chance to test this fix? I wont be needing to use my gps for another couple of weeks.

[palapaquete]

I have the same problem. GPS stops working on the middle of navigation or does not work at all (I get message: searching for GPS) I reboot the Phone and GPS works fine. Lately is happening more often.