Tomtom now losing GPS signal (for first time)

martinveasey · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 31, 2005 Posts: 2

I've been using Tomtom 3 (with wireless silver GPS) for a long time now with no problems. I updated to 5 a while back but am still using the same receiver.

I'm now finding that the GPS signal strength is a lot lower than it used to be - in the same car, for the same sort of duties. Four bars out of five are being replaced by two or one and the Tomtom is frequently losing its lock. This behaviour started around Christmas.

Is it possible that the GPS receiver might be on its way out? Are the silver ones less reliable and is it worth investing in a new unit? Has anyone else noticed this behaviour?

Many thanks for any feedback,

Martin

Trevor1234 · Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 5:54 pm Post subject:

Hi martinveasey
I ran TT3 for about a year using the silver Bluetooth TomTom receiver. It was my first venture into satellite navigation and although it got me to my destinations it caused me quite a few problems. It sometimes took ages to get a fix when first turned on and would often loose the signal during my journey. In cities surrounded by high buildings it was next to useless. I purchased a BT338 receiver just before upgrading to TT5 and the transformation was astounding. It never let me down once and it works perfectly with TT5 too. It gets a fix in seconds of turning on and it never looses contact with the satellites on my journeys. All the bars on the PDA screen show full signal strength and high buildings (they call them Urban Canyons these days) cause it no hassle at all. It’s a wonderful bit of kit
_________________
Tomtom Go 720.
Navcore 9.510
Central and Western Europe v855.2884
GPS World Traffic cameras
Home 2.7
iPhone 3G

Robin2 · Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 6:52 pm Post subject:

The GPS driver was poor in the first release of TT5, but in the latest patch (5.21) it is greatly improved.
I recently bought a Sirfstar 3 receiver (Holux GPSlim 236) and the difference is amazing, I now routinely see far more satellites than I ever did with a wired Holux GM210
Robin
_________________
TomTom One v3 Europe, Navcore 7.903, Western Europe 835.2420
TomTom Go 720 Europe, Navcore 8.351, Western Europe 855.2884
Satmap Active 10
Plus a lot of other PDA GPS kit, seldom used

martinveasey · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 31, 2005 Posts: 2

Howarduk · Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 4:25 pm Post subject:

I bought a wired silver receiver when I had my TT2. It has its days when sometimes it refuses to lock onto anything for ages but later and the very next day everything appears as normal.
I dont know if it is on the way out, I dont think so and I'm not sure how many satellites it is picking up because unlike TT3 where you could see how many out of 12 you were locking onto you now have a bar and no mention of the satellites.
I have never upgraded after installing TT5 and I am still running Ver.5.00, because as the old adage states, "if it aint broke dont fix it"
I have had my original reciever and Ipaq 2210 must be about 3 years now and it seems to be okay, If the receiver is on the way out, how can you tell?

Howard

Trevor1234 · Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:28 am Post subject:

Hi Howarduk
I cant say if GPS receivers wear out but if their performance does deteriorate over the course of time then one either suffers in silence or dibs into the money box. As I said earlier the new ones such as the BT338 soon demonstrate how the receivers have advanced over the last two or three years. By the way, you mentioned that you cannot see the bars showing GPS signal strength. I’m not sure if you were referring to TT2 or TT5. I certainly can on TT5 – Tap the screen, tap change preferences and then tap show GPS Status. At the moment mine is standing in my room on the window sill and showing 7 bars.
_________________
Tomtom Go 720.
Navcore 9.510
Central and Western Europe v855.2884
GPS World Traffic cameras
Home 2.7
iPhone 3G

Howarduk · Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 3:46 am Post subject:

Hi Trevor

I was referring to TT5 when I talked about not being able to find out how many satellites were showing. I did as you suggested, went into "preferences" then "show GPS status" found a picture of my wired pickup, clicked on done and I still havent got the amount of satellites shown.
I have the white bars certainly, but it doesnt actually say how many are picked up.

Howard

Graham888 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 15, 2006 Posts: 2

I upgraded to V5 then V5.2 and I have not seen a satellite since I left V3! It still works exceedingly well tacking me accurately but the display shows no satellite bars or number! Has anyone any ideas?

Trevor1234 · Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 10:45 pm Post subject:

I’m right puzzled as why the satellites don’t show up on your TT5. At this moment I am looking at my GPS Status and it shows 14 white bars. The number of each satellite is at the bottom of the screen. At this precise moment 6 have a fix with a strong blue marker near the top of each bar. The satellite numbers that have a fix at the present time are 13, 23, 04, 20, 27 and 24. And that is with the GPS receiver inside the house and on the window sill. I cant think as to why you cant get the same info. I hope that someone else can explain your failure to do so.
_________________
Tomtom Go 720.
Navcore 9.510
Central and Western Europe v855.2884
GPS World Traffic cameras
Home 2.7
iPhone 3G

treborvfr · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 25, 2004 Posts: 34

Trevor I think you and Graham/Howard are looking at different screens. You are looking at the GPS setup/configure/status screen and the others, I think, are referring to the little bars in the bottom right hand corner of the navigation screen. With TT3 the latter also showed the number of satellites acquired, TT5 doesn't, it just shows a bar representing the number of satellites.

Apologies if I've misunderstood.

Bob

Graham888 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 15, 2006 Posts: 2

Apologies for confusing everyone and for dragging attention away from Howard's problem.

Mine is the bars on the bottom right of the map screen, they indicate no satellites all the time despite the fact that TomTom is receiving good tracking data and accurately directing me.

Tuser · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 18, 2006 Posts: 1

In the subject still looking for answer.
I went through installation of TTN5, on my Axim X5, with one problem, solved thanks to tomtom.com FAQ service and deleting setup.exe file from temp directory. So, I installed software on my PDA and as usual started Bluetooth connection with TTW GPS 9821x. No problem, known sound informed me that connection exists. Started for the first time TTN 5 and after few moments arrow was placed on my street. I could see in front other streets with names written along them. Wow I loved it. So far so good. For the test, I "advanced" planed about seven miles route, OK. I exited all applications went to the car, placed everything in place, switched on all applications and went off. I followed directions given by PDA. After couple of minutes arrow seamed to slow down. Stayed behind real position of 50-70 meters to the moment when screen went 'grey' and I could read on the screen 'No GPS device'. The light on GPS (silver)receiver started to blink. I left it for moment and drove without it. When I came to destination point, I stopped and tried to reconnect but the system was frozen to the soft reset. I brought system to be ready for navigation on my way back. And again I was on screen exactly where I was standing. On my way back the situation was the same. Later at home I tried it for several times and the scenario didn't change. Perfect for up to five minutes and stop to be soft recessed.
I called English TT Support Centre and was advised to delete “*.CFG” file from Map folder, reset PDA and run downloaded “navupd521” what should solve my problem. I did but it didn't help. The new *.CFG file was installed again in the same folder.
So, this is the whole story.
Upgrade is working perfectly for max 5 minutes only.
Rolling Eyes

Previous versions 2 and 3 worked perfectly on my hardware.

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