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Motorola Q9H (AT&T) GPS... ACTIVATED! [updated]


Guest PaulOBrien

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Guest suchmuchfun

Sounds excellent. I'll try and wait for the .cab as I really don't understand registry changes. I imagine eventually I will try and figure that stuff out (I usually do), but until then I will leave it to the experts.

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Guest bostonguy

Problems with COM3 on Q9H Global (US AT&T version)

I've tried the original CAB with COM5 and saw the battery drain but also saw great response from Google and Windows Live (since the GPS was always on). Now I've tried COM3 and I'm yet to get any of the apps to work including TeleNav. Perhaps i'm just being impatient, but if I have to wait more than 5 mins everytime I need a GPS fix I'm going to be really lost (literally and figuratively). ;-) An yes I did configure both apps for COM3 and also tried "Windows Intermediate Driver" wherever available.

Now I'm also seeing something else since the switch to COM3. When I reboot my Q I'm not getting network connectivity at all. When I go into Wireless manager I have ONLY a Bluetooth entry. No setting for Phone/Cellular at all!! Home screen says "Phone is Off".

I've rebooted several times with no change, but upon removing the GPS patch, all is well.

Anybody else seeing either poor performance in the GPS apps (on COM3) ?

-Joel

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Guest nickcornaglia

Forget everything I said above! DON'T USE COM3!!!

Worked yesterday as I said before. But now GPS was taking FOREVER to initialize and find satellites. More importantly, I kept getting the Remote Party has Terminated Connection type error 5 or more times in a row.

So there IS a conflict on COM3.

Will wait 'til Paul gets back and finds time to play a bit more with COM5 hopefully figuring out a way to eliminate the battery drain.

One idea I had as a temporary solution is to create a small VB app that will create the settings as needed and then remove them when done with GPS. DownSide....this will require a restart each time. Not the best solution...but may work until something better (or someone smarter than me on this topic...which isnt hard) comes along! :(

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Guest Tin Star

I have been running the com3 tweak myself for close to 48 hours with no battery draw and no conflicts. I did, however make two changes in the registry to convert from com5 to com3. My observations so far are the gps is actually "off" if you turn off the application after using it. This can be observed by watching the time it takes to aquire a fix. With the gps on com5 the locks were instant. Now with the gps on com3 and no program open it takes a little time for it to lock. This time varys depending on how well the phone can see the skyline. My test for tomorrow is to open an application using the gps and to leave it running in the background to determine if the gps was the power draw or if the other app that was on com5 was somehow causing such a conflict with the gps that it was creating the battery drain.

Edited by Tin Star
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Guest cnynrpr

Same here, no battery drain issues, but GPS slow as heck to lock on. I'm pretty sure that with the GPS on COM3, there is absolutely no difference in speed of GPS getting location info with WIndows Live Search, that is long as heck or none at all. Google Maps SEEMS a bit faster to lock on, but I haven't played with GMaps enough without the fix to say for sure and I've been going to places I haven't been to without the fix.

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Guest cnynrpr
Same here, no battery drain issues, but GPS slow as heck to lock on. I'm pretty sure that with the GPS on COM3, there is absolutely no difference in speed of GPS getting location info with WIndows Live Search, that is long as heck or none at all. Google Maps SEEMS a bit faster to lock on, but I haven't played with GMaps enough without the fix to say for sure and I've been going to places I haven't been to without the fix.

I set WLS and Gmaps settings to GPS Intermediary driver and Set by WIndows and it's faster to lock now.

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Guest nickcornaglia

TIN STAR...what is the second entry in the Registry that you edited? This s the entry where Paul names the COM port...but what is the other?

I have been running the com3 tweak myself for close to 48 hours with no battery draw and no conflicts. I did, however make two changes in the registry to convert from com5 to com3. My observations so far are the gps is actually "off" if you turn off the application after using it. This can be observed by watching the time it takes to aquire a fix. With the gps on com5 the locks were instant. Now with the gps on com3 and no program open it takes a little time for it to lock. This time varys depending on how well the phone can see the southern skyline. My test for tomorrow is to open an application using the gps and to leave it running in the background to determine if the gps was the power draw or if the other app that was on com5 was somehow causing such a conflict with the gps that it was creating the battery drain.
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Guest JasonWilliam

Hey guys. Thanks for all the hard work. I've been following along for a while now and have experienced the battery issue when on COM5. Locking on via GMM with COM3 typically takes 45 seconds.

Something I did notice when switching from COM5 to COM3 is that CoPilot Live v7 can no longer communicate with the GPS, where it could when on COM5. Might help lend some credence to the COM3 conflict idea.

If I can help please let me know!

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Guest Tin Star
TIN STAR...what is the second entry in the Registry that you edited? This s the entry where Paul names the COM port...but what is the other?

What I can report tonight is, leaving the gps running in the background obviously increases battery usage, especially if you are moving around as the maps are being redrawn and new maps downloaded as you move outside the displayed map. It isn't the terrible battery drain we were seeing with it on com5.

I guess to sum this up, for those who only occasionally use gps and only use it with one of the online mapping services, this tweak is not needed. For power gps users and those using third party maps the com3 setting seems like the way to go.

My experiment this next week is to load Microsoft streets on a new 6GB card I have on order and to run some tests with it.

Edited by Tin Star
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Guest Paul (MVP)

Hi All!

Nick, did you say COM6 was also in use?

Remember, changing to COM3 you WILL find acquisition times slower, because the GPS isn't running all the time. Makes sense eh?

It sounds like the key to cracking this is just finding an unused COM port, Nick, are you still seeing problems with COM3?

Still planning to get me one of these suckers, just wondering whether to wait for the WinMo 6.1 WiFi enabled version now... hehe...

I know I won't tho :(

P

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I'm not going to rehash the whole topic, but a few days ago, in this thread I posted some files that activated the GPS on the Blackjack II for use via regular COM port access.

I'm pleased to say that the same process has now been carried out and tested on the Motorola Q9H (AT&T) :( Check out the topic linked above for the background, or read on to get started!

The activator is vailable as either a 'over the air install' or a PC based install or an on-device CAB install (choose one or the other to suit), the activator provides the all important missing COM port for GPS access. After installing (and rebooting), you'll find you have a new COM5 port, and you can use any GPS application you like to your hearts content.

Enjoy people, and spread the word to fellow Q9H owners!

P

PS As a little bonus, this package also application unlocks your device, letting you do things like reorder the Start Menu how you like, etc!

PPS Don't forget our Q device discussion area, online now at http://Q.MoDaCo.com!

Over the Air Install: Enter 'http://modaco.com/gpsactivatorq9h' in your device browser!

On device Install (registered members): MoDaCo.SmartphoneGPSActivator.COM5.CAB

On PC Install (registered members): Setup.MoDaCo.SmartphoneGPSActivator.COM5.EXE

On device Install (mirror): http://Content.MoDaCo.net/MoDaCo.Smartphon...ivator.COM5.CAB

On PC Install (mirror): http://Content.MoDaCo.net/Setup.MoDaCo.Sma...ivator.COM5.EXE

I'm really sorry to ask this, but my Moto Q 9h Global (AT&T) is my first smartphone (and I just got it 2 days ago). Anyway, I installed the COM 5 activator, and I can't get it working. I tried using Google Maps and setting to COM 5, but it just says that it failed to connect to GPS hardware... Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong? Sorry!

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I'm really sorry to ask this, but my Moto Q 9h Global (AT&T) is my first smartphone (and I just got it 2 days ago). Anyway, I installed the COM 5 activator, and I can't get it working. I tried using Google Maps and setting to COM 5, but it just says that it failed to connect to GPS hardware... Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong? Sorry!

Whoa... it started working on COM port 5...

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Guest nickcornaglia

Tried COM6 yesterday....battery gets eaten up equally as fast. I removed the patch and I couldnt get connected to GPS using the intermediate driver afterwards in Google or WLS....even after multiple restarts.

...SO I ran TeleNav which got a signal.

Afterwards...GPS connected quickly in Google and WLS.

I hate TeleNav...it seems to be java based and is slow.

But I'm convinced it's tied into the problem somehow. I don't know how.

My best experience has been on COM5, but the battery drain is obviously an issue. Other than a proper fix, think we should look into an app that installs and uninstalls the patch requiring a restart in between?

MoDaCo GPS Enabler:

Settings>Choose COM Port>COM3, COM4, COM5, COM6

When disabled...ENABLE BUTTON - "Warning, enabling GPS requires a restart. Do you wish to continue?" YES/NO

When enabled...DISABLE BUTTON - "Warning, disabling GPS requires a restart. Do you wish to continue?" YES/NO

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Guest Tin Star
Didnt see TinStarts reference to the index number as well....changing/checking....

Com 3 is the only unsed com port for the use of gps. 5 and 6 will keep the gps active and suck the battery dry. You can either use the exsisting cab file for com 5 and make the two changes in the registry after the install or using an xml editer change the two entries in the cab file before the install.

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Guest suchmuchfun
Bought me a Q9H. Funtime... :(

P

I have been loving this machine, sure you will as well. Hopefully you can find a final solution to this as easy as the original was. I am still way too stupid to do anything on my own.

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Bought me a Q9H. Funtime... :(

P

Congrats on you rpurchase. I just received my Q9 Global and I find it is the best phone I have ever owned. I can use Windows live out of the box, aquisition times are a bit long though. Google maps doesn't want to work for me.

At OT question. Anyone notice on their Q9 that some of the keyboard keys don't have that chicket little "click" sound when pressed. I have about 3 or 4 keys ike that. Phone is brand new. I don't think it affects functionality any but I wanted to run it by the people here first. Should I exchange it? Every else seems great!

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Guest rabbivj

Im looking over the registry edit in the xml file and you change the 4 to a 3 for the 2nd index value or you change it to 5?

Im looking @ getting a q9 global and hoping this will work.

Edited by rabbivj
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Guest Paul (MVP)

Change both of those values to a 3.

However, I should have my Q this week all being well, after which i'll be issuing a new CAB, and other tweaks if required!

P

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Change both of those values to a 3.

However, I should have my Q this week all being well, after which i'll be issuing a new CAB, and other tweaks if required!

P

Paul,

Is this pdf of any use to you?

http://www.spritesoftware.com/downloads/Te...or-UsingGPS.pdf

Mentions the hidden GPS applet and how to unhide. Also mentions the purpose of the "Virtual GPS port."

Today I used Windows Live, took about 3 minutes for the GPS in my Q9 to lock on. I used it for about 10 minutes, then completely exited the application. Came back to it in about 2 hours, and it locked instantly. Could the problem be that every time we start the app it's a cold GPS start? I played with an Advantage 7501, and its gps had a program that would automatically download via the internet the positions of the satelites every 6 hours or so.

Could it be that TeleNav is doing this download, and that is the reason for the better gps performance using that app?

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Guest schirmyver
Paul,

Is this pdf of any use to you?

http://www.spritesoftware.com/downloads/Te...or-UsingGPS.pdf

Mentions the hidden GPS applet and how to unhide. Also mentions the purpose of the "Virtual GPS port."

Today I used Windows Live, took about 3 minutes for the GPS in my Q9 to lock on. I used it for about 10 minutes, then completely exited the application. Came back to it in about 2 hours, and it locked instantly. Could the problem be that every time we start the app it's a cold GPS start? I played with an Advantage 7501, and its gps had a program that would automatically download via the internet the positions of the satelites every 6 hours or so.

Could it be that TeleNav is doing this download, and that is the reason for the better gps performance using that app?

Has anyone tried this registry edit to "unhide" the GPS settings? My battery is dead or I would give it a shot...

Enabling GPS Hack

Some Pocket PC OEMs hid the GPS control panel. However, it can be unhidden by

going into the registry and deleting any

"Redirect"

or

"Hide"

keys under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ControlPanel\GPS Settings.

Add a Dword Value

Group = 2 (DWORD decimal)

Soft-reset

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Has anyone tried this registry edit to "unhide" the GPS settings? My battery is dead or I would give it a shot...

Enabling GPS Hack

Some Pocket PC OEMs hid the GPS control panel. However, it can be unhidden by

going into the registry and deleting any

"Redirect"

or

"Hide"

keys under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ControlPanel\GPS Settings.

Add a Dword Value

Group = 2 (DWORD decimal)

Soft-reset

If it does work, please be sure to credit me with the find, (the reg hack was found in the pdf from Sprite I linked to.) ; )

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