UNLOCKING CDMA I910 GPS - please help us!

[Guest one2chu]

I'll hold your hand...

taken from xda-developers:

To hide or show the GPS connection in the connections panel

• The settings are at 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ControlPanel\GPS Settings'
  
• Delete 'redirect'
  
• The 'Hide' DWORD value should be set to '0' or deleted to show the panel and to '1' to hide the panel
  
• The 'Group' DWORD value should be set to '2' to show the panel and deleted to hide the panel
  
  For example, to show the GPS connection in the connections panel
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ControlPanel\GPS Settings\Hide = 0
    
    
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ControlPanel\GPS Settings\Group = 2
    
    

  "While holding my hand", please take me to step 1 where I can find the "settings are at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\controlpanel\gps settings". I ADMIT I AM A NEWBIE at this, but I learn very fast if someone will just take me from the beginning. I will then forward this to whomever needs it in the future to help further.

  THANKS

[Guest ijustwantaname]

OK, silly question all - how do I put the files into the \Windows directory? The files in there are completely locked down - I can't even copy them out, much less overwrite them. What am I missing?

[Guest dhoppy]

"While holding my hand", please take me to step 1 where I can find the "settings are at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\controlpanel\gps settings". I ADMIT I AM A NEWBIE at this, but I learn very fast if someone will just take me from the beginning. I will then forward this to whomever needs it in the future to help further.

THANKS

go here

[Guest bwonish]

OK, silly question all - how do I put the files into the \Windows directory? The files in there are completely locked down - I can't even copy them out, much less overwrite them. What am I missing?

you can't use the standard file explorer, you have to use something like total commander, which is a free file explorer, it is just more souped up. you might also be able to edit, copy the files when you are hooked up through activesync, but i am not sure that will work.

[Guest ijustwantaname]

you can't use the standard file explorer, you have to use something like total commander, which is a free file explorer, it is just more souped up. you might also be able to edit, copy the files when you are hooked up through activesync, but i am not sure that will work.

I've tried Resco Explorer and just grabbed TotalCommander... the former actually tells me it can't, the latter just sits there with no errors (and no renamed files). I'm synced to my PC right now too, and ActiveSync is about as useless as the rest. Such a simple task, but I'm completely stumped. :rolleyes:

[Guest krelvinaz]

I put the files in a zip file (the ones you want in the windows directory)

Copy the zip file to your storage card or My Storage.

Using Resco, you can then unzip the file INTO the windows directory and it will do it.

Haven't tried TotalCommander as I already had Resco.

[Guest ijustwantaname]

I put the files in a zip file (the ones you want in the windows directory)

Copy the zip file to your storage card or My Storage.

Using Resco, you can then unzip the file INTO the windows directory and it will do it.

Haven't tried TotalCommander as I already had Resco.

Ooh - very nice, I can try that. Before I do so though, I'd like to backup the files in there so I don't completely hose my phone. I know, I know, I'm so demanding...

[Guest paradizelost]

One thing that i noticed in M Moogle's files is that stdgps.dll is 5k, the original gpsapi.dll is only 2k on my phone. I think we may have a version conflict causing issues. Can anyone send me instructions on how to pull those files off of my phone by hand? I don't appear to be able to copy the \windows\gpsapi.dll file out at all, using resco or windows. I'll try total commander, but i don't know if that'll help much either.

Thanks!

[Guest drdudephd]

i tried M Moogle's method but it didn't work. i just wish that i backed up the dll's. can someone post them here or pm me?

[Guest paradizelost]

i tried M Moogle's method but it didn't work. i just wish that i backed up the dll's. can someone post them here or pm me?

You can just hard-reset your device and have it back in working order.

[Guest aurkachra]

i tried M Moogle's method but it didn't work. i just wish that i backed up the dll's. can someone post them here or pm me?

I tried M Moogle's method but it did not work..its kinda messed up my Omnia...i had to backup my system using Sprite backup.

[Guest M Moogle]

Ok, having been unable to replicate my earlier success, and having numerous people screwing up their devices somehow, I've removed the files I've posted earlier. No one has (unless they didn't tell anyone) gotten my technique to work, including me other than the one time. Hopefully somebody smarter than me can figure things out.

Thoughts:

- I'm leaning towards it being a timing issue, as Skywing alluded to in some posts over at xda-developers about the xx6850.

- Almost certain its not a GPS com port issue - THE CONTROL PANEL ICON ISN'T GOING TO HELP!

- A similar if not exact same procedure can be done with the Omnia as was done with the XV6800 for a GPS unlock, as the GPSTest program works fine and gpssrv.exe is able to do the hardware shake and key exchanges with the GPSOne hardware. Someone who is much better at developing/debugging Windows Mobile/CE than me is probably going to have better luck understanding what is going on.

- A GPS firmware/rom replacement should theoretically work, assuming that the existing ROM can be extracted from a i900, AND it's compatible with the hardware in the CDMA 910.

[Guest M Moogle]

i tried M Moogle's method but it didn't work. i just wish that i backed up the dll's. can someone post them here or pm me?

If you delete the files in \Windows, then it will revert back to the files stored in ROM.

[Guest M Moogle]

One thing that i noticed in M Moogle's files is that stdgps.dll is 5k, the original gpsapi.dll is only 2k on my phone. I think we may have a version conflict causing issues. Can anyone send me instructions on how to pull those files off of my phone by hand? I don't appear to be able to copy the \windows\gpsapi.dll file out at all, using resco or windows. I'll try total commander, but i don't know if that'll help much either.

Thanks!

Pretty sure the file size difference is because the file is stored in ROM by default. The only "easy" way to get a copy of the original file is to dump the ROM and extract the files out. Link to Microsoft about ROM files I dumped the ROM to get the original files.

[Guest paradizelost]

Ok, having been unable to replicate my earlier success, and having numerous people screwing up their devices somehow, I've removed the files I've posted earlier. No one has (unless they didn't tell anyone) gotten my technique to work, including me other than the one time. Hopefully somebody smarter than me can figure things out.

Thoughts:

- I'm leaning towards it being a timing issue, as Skywing alluded to in some posts over at xda-developers about the xx6850.

- Almost certain its not a GPS com port issue - THE CONTROL PANEL ICON ISN'T GOING TO HELP!

- A similar if not exact same procedure can be done with the Omnia as was done with the XV6800 for a GPS unlock, as the GPSTest program works fine and gpssrv.exe is able to do the hardware shake and key exchanges with the GPSOne hardware. Someone who is much better at developing/debugging Windows Mobile/CE than me is probably going to have better luck understanding what is going on.

- A GPS firmware/rom replacement should theoretically work, assuming that the existing ROM can be extracted from a i900, AND it's compatible with the hardware in the CDMA 910.

You don't happen to know how to pull the gpsapi.dll from \windows in the rom would you? i havent' been able to figure out how to extract the rom and am unable to get that file copied out.

[Guest dhoppy]

If you delete the files in \Windows, then it will revert back to the files stored in ROM.

what if when you overwrote the files using resco explorer you got the warning about overwriting the ROM? Do they still revert to the original?

[Guest paradizelost]

what if when you overwrote the files using resco explorer you got the warning about overwriting the ROM? Do they still revert to the original?

Yes, ROM == Read Only Memory, you cannot overwrite it without a program that updates the ROM itself.

[Guest ijustwantaname]

No one has (unless they didn't tell anyone) gotten my technique to work, including me other than the one time. Hopefully somebody smarter than me can figure things out.

To be fair, I think your steps got me sort of going. I ended up just overwriting the files in \Windows (backups - pfft - who needs those) and after a soft reset I'm seeing similar results to yours - GPS Test is running (COM 8, 9600 baud) and GoogleMaps/Live Search recognize that I've got GPS. The only problem I'm having is that it appears both applications can't understand the GPS info b/c they're placing me in the middle of nowhere (I didn't zoom out but 3 or 4 times, but there was no map info for either application for where I "was"). They are seeing some sort of GPS data though, even if it's bogus (/encrypted?), so it's something...

[Guest paradizelost]

To be fair, I think your steps got me sort of going. I ended up just overwriting the files in \Windows (backups - pfft - who needs those) and after a soft reset I'm seeing similar results to yours - GPS Test is running (COM 8, 9600 baud) and GoogleMaps/Live Search recognize that I've got GPS. The only problem I'm having is that it appears both applications can't understand the GPS info b/c they're placing me in the middle of nowhere (I didn't zoom out but 3 or 4 times, but there was no map info for either application for where I "was"). They are seeing some sort of GPS data though, even if it's bogus (/encrypted?), so it's something...

I've not yet gotten google maps or live search to even get a fix on the satellites with any method. I have had gpstest work though. if you get the GPS working, zoom way out on the coords, and see if it is simply reading your lat/long coords backwards, as in it thinks lat is what your long is, and long is what your lat is. If it works, and those are simply backwards, thats a farily simple programming change to make i would think.

[Guest paradizelost]

and the lat/long coords on gpstest are dead accurate, so i know that has something working in our favor.

[Guest paradizelost]

.

Edited December 17, 2008 by paradizelost

[Guest ijustwantaname]

I've not yet gotten google maps or live search to even get a fix on the satellites with any method. I have had gpstest work though. if you get the GPS working, zoom way out on the coords, and see if it is simply reading your lat/long coords backwards, as in it thinks lat is what your long is, and long is what your lat is. If it works, and those are simply backwards, thats a farily simple programming change to make i would think.

Test results are... amusing. I only opened up GoogleMaps long enough to see that hey, there's a GPS location and hey, it's not where I am before. Now I open it up and I'm watching it... I'm getting anywhere between 5 & 10 satellites, and my location is jumping around the globe. According to this, I've been at the southern tip of South America, way NE of Russia, up near Iceland, and all the way down in Antiarctica. What can I say, I get around. :rolleyes: None of the locations are any variant of my real location's coordinates (I checked out reversed, inverted, reversed and inverted - nothing), but here's the interesting part: between almost every jump, my indicator goes to my location (in FL, USA) for a second before zooming off to some other part of the globe. It's as if there are tainted coords being fed in rotation into the app, but between each feed I get a split second of a true location.

Live Search isn't playing as nicely - it can't seem to find my actual position (which, if I'm in any of those places I listed before, it shouldn't be a surprise!) so I can't get a 2nd perspective on this tonight. I'll check it more tomorrow to see what I can figure out.

[Guest paradizelost]

Test results are... amusing. I only opened up GoogleMaps long enough to see that hey, there's a GPS location and hey, it's not where I am before. Now I open it up and I'm watching it... I'm getting anywhere between 5 & 10 satellites, and my location is jumping around the globe. According to this, I've been at the southern tip of South America, way NE of Russia, up near Iceland, and all the way down in Antiarctica. What can I say, I get around. :rolleyes: None of the locations are any variant of my real location's coordinates (I checked out reversed, inverted, reversed and inverted - nothing), but here's the interesting part: between almost every jump, my indicator goes to my location (in FL, USA) for a second before zooming off to some other part of the globe. It's as if there are tainted coords being fed in rotation into the app, but between each feed I get a split second of a true location.

Live Search isn't playing as nicely - it can't seem to find my actual position (which, if I'm in any of those places I listed before, it shouldn't be a surprise!) so I can't get a 2nd perspective on this tonight. I'll check it more tomorrow to see what I can figure out.

This would follow with what i've seen in GPStest. if you open it up and watch the coordinates, there will be several occasions where it will have bogus coords. it may be that it rotates between decryption keys, or only every Nth value is valid, or something like that. Can you write down, STEP BY STEP what you did to reproduce this? i think it would be great progress if we can get what you're getting reproducibly. We can troubleshoot from there.

[Guest the v]

I changed the radio to 3.42.30 and nothing, but had to try.

"Today, this carrier has relented and promised to unlock the GPS on some of its recent Windows Mobile devices: the Samsung Omnia and Saga and the HTC Touch Pro.

Verizon says updates to bring this change will be released in the first half of 2009."

http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=14710

Thanks, JASTECH ô¿ô

Hey more good news

http://www.phonedog.com/cell-phone-researc...-next-year.aspx

[Guest paradizelost]

Hey more good news

http://www.phonedog.com/cell-phone-researc...-next-year.aspx

Same information from a different source.