[ggm02]

Have had a new N78 since early last month. Took an interest in SportsTracker so downloaded it and tried it out when I was on the bike. First results were impressive - except for where it thought I was doing 55mph it tracked my whole route without problems. Next run it lost the GPS signal after about a mile and never got it back again and has been that way ever since. Phone is not in best position to get GPS signal (in shorts pocket) so bought the Nokia LD-4W bluetooth GPS module hoping that would give better results.

Bluetooth connection to phone seems OK and I can leave them both on my desk with SportsTracker running for 30 mins or more without any disconnection problems. But as soon as I go out on the bike, after about five minutes the bluetooth light on the GPS module goes out. Have no problems connecting phone with other bluetooth devices (USB dongle on PC, laptop, HS-36W earpiece, etc).

I don't know what is causing the problem here.
a) Is it a faulty GPS module which loses contact with the phone?
b) Is it a faulty phone which loses contact with the GPS module?
c) Is it a bluetooth software issue which breaks contact with the GPS module?
d) Is it SportsTracker which is not requesting an updated position from the GPS module?

I don't have access to another GPS module so cannot test whether it's the phone or module. I've seen bluetooth issues being reported on various forums but that was for the N73 not the N78, unless they're both related.

Any suggestions, please?

[illinjah]

At first you should try to fix the problem with the internal GPS, because using an external GPS while having an internal one is a workarouund you shouldn´t be satisfied with.

But if you prefer using an external GPS because you want to keep the phone in your pocket, then we´ll try finding a solution for it.

The LD-4W has white LED that blinks if there´s a GPS connection, same thing for a Bluetooth connection only that the LED is blue.

Try finding out if one of these two connections is causing the problem.

I´ve used the LD-4W with the N73 and SportsTracker without having experienced any difficulties.

Regards,

illinjah

[ggm02]

The GPS signal (white LED) comes and goes like any satnav device does when affected by buildings, trees, bridges, etc, but the bluetooth connection appears to be maintained when this happens.

But the bluetooth connection will just drop for no obvious reason (blue light goes out on the LD-4W) even though GPS contact is maintained. I've checked the bluetooth power-save mode is not "on" on the phone and the LD-4W will only switch off after an hour of not receiving any "keep-awake" signal.

Sure, it would be better to use just the GPS on the phone itself as that saves carrying and charging two devices, but after the initial problems I had I thought an external device which I could position better would be more reliable.

I'll need to do some more experiments - just the phone GPS signal; using Nokia Maps rather than SportsTracker as the software which requests a GPS position; see if I can borrow a GPS module from someone.

Thanks for the reply, if you have any more suggestions would be interested to hear them.

[illinjah]

I have another idea!

Have you tried updating the FW as described here:

http://europe.nokia.com/A4577225

One of the improvements of the updated FW was bluetooth connections.

[ggm02]

Yes, am already on 11.043.

[illinjah]

Hopefully you can find someone with a GPS-Module so that we can draw smaller circuits around the problem.

[psychomania]

You need to disable the internal GPS and enable the bluetooth GPS.

Not sure exactly where the option is on the N78 but on other models it's:

Menu > Tools > Setting > General > Positioning > Positioning Methods.

Make sure that you place a tick next to bluetooth GPS and untick integrated GPS.

[illinjah]

Damn, I should have thought of that...

ggm02, now you know why they call psychomania "Mobile Guru"

[psychomania]

Steady on, it might not work yet!

[grschinon]

Another thing I've seen recently is possible unwanted interference between the Bluetooth and 3G subsystems since they operate on close frequencies.

Try setting your N78 to use only GSM (menu > tools > settings > phone > network > network mode > GSM, if it's like the N95) to see if that improves the BT connection.

[ggm02]

Thanks for the responses. I had already switched off the internal GPS receiver when attempting to use the external GPS module.

I like the sound of the 3G/GSM signal, that seems plausible especially as it works fine indoors when it's not moving but once I'm outside and signal strength will fluctuate (even though I'm not making or receiving any calls) may cause interferrence with bluetooth signal as suggested.

Funnilly enough, I tended to use a single route when cycling into town and the bluetooth signal would drop at exactly the same place each time which coincidentally was just after a speed camera which made me wonder if the radar on the speed camera was enough to flood the bluetooth and switch it off. But doesn't bluetooth keep switching frequencies?

Anyway, will try out GSM-only (once the weather improves) and report back.

Thanks again.

[ggm02]

Think I'm getting somewhere.

a) Nokia Maps works fine with bluetooth connection to LD-4W
b) Nokia Maps works fine with internal GPS receiver
c) SportsTracker will work for a while then stop when using bluetooth connection to LD-4W although the time does increase but no more distance is recorded
d) SportsTracker will work for a while then stop when using internal GPS receiver although the time does increase and it does show a GPS lock but the distance covered, etc freezes

What I think is happening is that after SportsTracker is off and running, when the start position reaches the edge of the "map", it stops recording distance, etc. So I'm now going to try once I've started the timer to scroll to another page on SportsTracker - seemed to work on the way home in the car tonight; will do some more experiments to see if that is indeed the cause.

Oh, also tried, as per previous suggestion, to switch to GSM only but encountered previous freezing issue. I'm hoping a quick scroll to another page solves this. Fingers crossed!

[ggm02 · Accepted solution]

Looks like a software issue with SportsTracker. Did a 75 minute ride this morning and after starting SportsTracker, scrolled to the next page (i.e. so that the movement was not shown) and left it at that. Worked flawlessly, and even after I had switched back on auto-pause (which I'd disabled when I'd first encountered the problems) the distance travelled and time taken were comparable with the bike computer.

I have checked I have the latest version of SportsTracker, funny how noone else seems to have come across this issue.

Anyway, I'm happy now I've got it working.

[spedney]

Well, I've been having a similar problem with my N78 and Sportstracker (using internal GPS). After 2 or 3 km I lose the track and never get it back again... I will try your solution and see if it works for me. tried it on the boat last night too and the same thing happened, and that was out on the sea with no obstructions or other RF sources to interfere with the phone...
Steve

[hermon]

Hello there,

I have the same problem on my E65:
/discussions/board/message?board.id=apps&message.id=4049&query.id=163797#M4049

I already thought that switching the memory card could be a solution (and it helped at least temporarily).

Now, I have just tryed out the solution from ggm02 and IT SEEMS TO WORK NOW! Finally! What an annoying bug! Thank you so much ggm02! I hope this is going to be stable now.

Please stay in touch for your feedback, guys!

Sebastian

[ggm02]

Hi Sebastian,

I hadn't considered it being an issue with any other model of phone so I had only looked for N78 before I posted my thread. Reading through the thread you linked to, it would obviously appear to be an issue with the SportsTracker software and not the phone itself. Maybe I should have posted the thread in a more appropriate location?

I've reported this issue on the SportsTracker site but not heard anything back. Perhaps we'll get a fix in a future release?

Glad you've got yours working.

[burcrim]

I have N95 8GB (NAM) and also see some freezes and weird glitches (i.e. very high speeds - I'm jogging with a stroller). I'll try this later and let you know if it fixes it.

In the last week I've done three runs, all the exact same course and have got different distances recorded - sometimes out by several tenths of a mile.

[drfrot]

This is genius!! I can't wait to try this fix. I have been getting increasingly annoyed with SportsTracker as it cuts off after no more than 3km cycling.

The one thing I remember about where it cuts off is that it's always at the edge of the screen (always the same point on my journey from home).

Out tomorrow for the full day, so will try it and report back :¬)

G

[craig_fryer]

I have an E90 which uses a slightly different version of the software, but I have the same sort of problem. I tried the moving away from the map screen fix, but it did not work. I have previously tried to uninstall and reinstall, but that did not work.

I have found one fix, but I have to do some more confirmation work. I uninstalled SportsTracker and then deleted the whole directory containing the remaining SportTracker files. I then reinstalled the software. It then worked correctly.

I suspect that corrupt file is being created and then not deleted. If we can workout which file it is then, we would only have to delete the file.

[drfrot]

Keep us posted!

For what it's worth, on the N78, the above mentioned fix (i.e. not having the map trace showing) did work when I tried it. As it's the least useful bit of information displayed by Sports Tracker (when it's actually running), I don't have a problem with doing this each time.

G