UNLOCKING CDMA I910 GPS - please help us!

[Guest dmk679]

can i get the dial code for QPST? i haven't found a working one anywhere (maybe i missed something.) I too have been unable to get any sats under gpstest from skywing for the record. Everything GPS related is stock on my phone mostly, can't remember what i've changed... bad memory :\

for qpst - follow these instructions from the howardforum group - link - you have to use qpst v2.7 build 215, do not use a later build as it will not work. The dial code is "000000" - I think this is what you are asking for.

Edited March 29, 2009 by dmk679

[Guest Chugworth]

Well I tried gpstest.exe later on and it did start working. Maybe I wasn't giving it enough time earlier. I don't know. But it's a cruel joke that a 20Kb program can show us the correct GPS location. A cruel joke.

It seems the program is designed to exit itself when you switch to a different application. I wonder why. Maybe if someone was really good at writing programs for for mobile devices, they could make gpstest.exe start in the background without any UI appearing, then read the location values from the memory and pass them on to another program.

[Guest dwallersv]

Let me get this straight (and yes, I've been reading this thread from the beginning): We have an independent program, GPSTest, that does work with the internal GPS and produces correct, unencrypted location information??!?!?!???!?!?!? (never mind about the lat/lon being reversed... that's a triviality)

Guess I'm really missing something here, cause if this is the case, this hack is all but done. Get the source for GPSTest, modify it to swap the lat/lon data, and forward it to a virtual COM port as NMEA data. I don't have the WM dev skills to do this, but I'm no slouch when it comes to programming and hacking (if this was Linux, I could do it easily).

What am I missing here? Read Skywing's paper -- seems completely irrelevant if GPSTest is working and producing valid results. All we need is someone with the WM development skills to hook it all up, and that job is really rather basic, from a programming standpoint.

Which GPSTest are you guys using that is actually working with the built-in GPS? I'd like to try it out myself. Second, is source available for it? If not, how did Skywing modify it?

[Guest Chugworth]

dwallersv: The trouble is, Skywing never released his source. And no one here has the skills to reverse-engineer it.

GPSTest can be downloaded from here:

http://www.modaco.com/index.php?act=attach...st&id=26782

GPSServer can be downloaded from here:

http://www.modaco.com/index.php?act=attach...st&id=26829

[Guest dwallersv]

dwallersv: The trouble is, Skywing never released his source. And no one here has the skills to reverse-engineer it.

GPSTest can be downloaded from here:

http://www.modaco.com/index.php?act=attach...st&id=26782

GPSServer can be downloaded from here:

http://www.modaco.com/index.php?act=attach...st&id=26829

Man, major bummer! Doesn't he want to help us out? Anyone know why he's not?

@Moogle: Don't worry about me screwing up my phone. I always do a full backup before messing with anything like this, and since we're not talking flashing anything, bricking's not a problem. I just want to see it wor for myself. It's the geek in me. 'Been using an external GPS for navigation with iGO8 since I got the phone, and would have fun just playing with the internal. Who knows, maybe I can figure something out myself.

[Guest Chugworth]

Man, major bummer! Doesn't he want to help us out? Anyone know why he's not?

Well, he wrote the program for an HTC phone. The 6800, I believe. And with it, he also wrote GPSServer, which allows other programs to access the GPS. GPSTest works on the Omnia. GPSServer (almost always) does not.

I really don't know if Skywing is still in the scene, or if he is even aware of the Omnia situation. Who here has tried to contact him?

[Guest krelvinaz]

He has been contacted and he is not interested for whatever reason. This was done when the Omnia i910 first came out as it was the obvious easy solution to the problem since gpstest itself appeared to be close.

[Guest Chugworth]

He has been contacted and he is not interested for whatever reason. This was done when the Omnia i910 first came out as it was the obvious easy solution to the problem since gpstest itself appeared to be close.

And you know, as close as GPSServer is to working, I believe it would take very little effort on his part (or someone else's) to fix it.

[Guest JDawg183]

Ok, so Skywing had been contacted to work the issue, but has anyone just asked him for the source? Maybe he would be willing to give out the source and one of the smart people around here could figure it out.

[Guest NainHitoshii]

First time I've posted to the boards and thank you everyone for all your input. I have learned a crazy amount just from reading, tweaking and poking around myself. I'm not a real program hack, just really like figuring things out and messing around with them. I have had my VZ Omnia i910 for a month now and definitely love this thing. I've read this thread from front to back over the last week and here's what I've found:

1. Skywing's GPSTest works. On a vanilla i910, right after a soft reset, it picks up a signal with correct coordinates, but does not lock onto any satellites and lists (0).

2. Before going through this thread I had tried the VZ N@v trial and of course the GPS works fine once its authorized through the software. So once it was done I uninstalled

3. After going through this thread, I decided to see if there was a difference between the files that are installed for VZ N@v before and after GPS is authenticated. The files are the same size, just some data files are downloaded and added to the folder.

4. I started picking apart the VZ N@v files with a free Hex Editor to look for the handshake key. Under one of the files is an extremely long character string that looks promising. I will look for it again later as I'm at work.

5. As for Skywing's GPSTest, I started picking that apart with IDA Pro to check the function calls and what it was exactly doing to utilize the GPS onboard chipset. I have not had a long enough time frame to really sort through it as it is quite lengthy.

6. Also, after I reinstalled VZ N@v, I said "What the hell..." and decided to pay for the month for some more testing. After VZ N@v is turned on and fully functional, Skywing's GPSTest connects completely without VZ N@v running! I can do a soft reset, run GPSTest and it immediately connects with the proper coordinates and locks onto between 5-7 satellites and sees (10).

I think if we can get MS LS or G Mps to utilize the function calls in Skywing's GPSTest with the handshake authentication from the VZ N@v coredll.dll, then we're in business... B) I will keep picking!!

[Guest WoZZeR999]

1. Skywing's GPSTest works. On a vanilla i910, right after a soft reset, it picks up a signal with correct coordinates, but does not lock onto any satellites and lists (0).

2. Before going through this thread I had tried the VZ N@v trial and of course the GPS works fine once its authorized through the software. So once it was done I uninstalled

3. After going through this thread, I decided to see if there was a difference between the files that are installed for VZ N@v before and after GPS is authenticated. The files are the same size, just some data files are downloaded and added to the folder.

4. I started picking apart the VZ N@v files with a free Hex Editor to look for the handshake key. Under one of the files is an extremely long character string that looks promising. I will look for it again later as I'm at work.

5. As for Skywing's GPSTest, I started picking that apart with IDA Pro to check the function calls and what it was exactly doing to utilize the GPS onboard chipset. I have not had a long enough time frame to really sort through it as it is quite lengthy.

6. Also, after I reinstalled VZ N@v, I said "What the hell..." and decided to pay for the month for some more testing. After VZ N@v is turned on and fully functional, Skywing's GPSTest connects completely without VZ N@v running! I can do a soft reset, run GPSTest and it immediately connects with the proper coordinates and locks onto between 5-7 satellites and sees (10).

I think if we can get MS LS or G Mps to utilize the function calls in Skywing's GPSTest with the handshake authentication from the VZ N@v coredll.dll, then we're in business... B) I will keep picking!!

1: It has to download some A-GPS data I believe, if you let it sit a few minutes it should get a lock without VZNav.

3: LBSDriver I believe is the only change, everything else is languages and internal programs stuff

6: Relate to No.1

Also, Coredll.dll is standard dll that does alot of internal stuff. It's basically a dll that is called by everything.

For anyone that has GPSTest, can you let know if you can run it again without getting a GPSSec error? I'm working on a theory as to why GPSServ doesn't work. On my handset atleast, once I run either GPSTest, or GPSTest-mod (it doesn't close when it looses focus), I cannot run the same file again until I do a soft reset.

Edit: I got it to run again, but it took about a minute before it would start up again correctly. The GPSSec may be timing out instead of closing, if we can get it to close properly we may be on to something.

Edited March 30, 2009 by WoZZeR999

[Guest Peter Brauer]

Can anyone reproduce this?? This is what I have done so far:

I got my i910 to connect via QPST and made the necessary mods to the GPSOne tab, saved and exited.

I edited the registry to allow for the External GPS settings to be accessed and modified via settings tab

I then started VZ Navigator and did the Maps and Traffic->Where Am I option and waited for it to load my location

I then opened BeeLineGPS and had it auto-connect, it saw 8 satellites and gave me a 2d location fix

Then it died, and could not reconnect my location.

BUT for one glorious moment I had access to the GPS.

SO, does this help anyone here? Anyone?

Cheers,

Peter

[Guest JDawg183]

So, I have been having issues with my phone and they are sending me a new one which they said should arrive on wednesday. Now, here is my question, someone above said they thought the GPS was working before they programmed their phone to the network, I am going to try Google maps before activating the phone and see what happens. If it works, what can I upload to the site to help? Is there anything else I can look for on a clean device that may help?

[Guest WoZZeR999]

If the GPS does work before the phone is programmed, you'll probably need to use QPST to back up the phones data (all of the service mode data).

Go through the install instructions, and goto service programming. Click Read from phone, Then save to file. If you send me that file I can take a look through it and see what VZW changes with it's reprogram.

[Guest NainHitoshii]

So, I have been having issues with my phone and they are sending me a new one which they said should arrive on wednesday. Now, here is my question, someone above said they thought the GPS was working before they programmed their phone to the network, I am going to try Google maps before activating the phone and see what happens. If it works, what can I upload to the site to help? Is there anything else I can look for on a clean device that may help?

Earlier I stated that I was able to use Skywing's GPSTest to get correct Long and Lat coordinates but no satellite locks BEFORE VZ N@v was activated. You will still need to dial into the VZ network to and activate your phone with them before anything works. AGPS utilizes the VZ network, not the satellites.

Try this:

1. Run GPSTest BEFORE and AFTER activating your phone - see if it pulls coordinates, lists number of sats in view

2. Install and run the VZ N@v trial. This will utilize your GPS and show that it is working. While VZ N@v is running in the background, run GPSTest and see if you get different results than from step 1.

3. Do a soft reset of the phone and run GPSTest to see if you get the same results as step 2

4. Uninstall VZ N@v, do a soft reset and then run GPSTest again. See if you get the same results as step 2

It may be that VZ N@v really only needs to be activated once to enable the GPS chipset. Thats what I would like to know anyway!

I'm going to give it a try too... let us know how it goes!

[Guest dwallersv]

6. Also, after I reinstalled VZ N@v, I said "What the hell..." and decided to pay for the month for some more testing. After VZ N@v is turned on and fully functional, Skywing's GPSTest connects completely without VZ N@v running! I can do a soft reset, run GPSTest and it immediately connects with the proper coordinates and locks onto between 5-7 satellites and sees (10).

Try the same thing except with Wifi and the Cell radios turned off (so you're guaranteed no possible network connections, and therefore validation by the Autodesk server).

If it still works we will then know that GPSTest is able to make the internal GPS work completely standalone, and that sometihng has been deposited on the device by VZNav that unwinds it all -- a significant necessity to solve this problem.

Also, anyone here with the requisite WM development skills and tools willing to bug skywing for access to his source? I'll do it, but I can't ask him for it for myself, which I would think makes it more difficult if he's sensitive about IP.

[Guest dwallersv]

Earlier I stated that I was able to use Skywing's GPSTest to get correct Long and Lat coordinates but no satellite locks BEFORE VZ N@v was activated. You will still need to dial into the VZ network to and activate your phone with them before anything works. AGPS utilizes the VZ network, not the satellites.

Try this:

1. Run GPSTest BEFORE and AFTER activating your phone - see if it pulls coordinates, lists number of sats in view

2. Install and run the VZ N@v trial. This will utilize your GPS and show that it is working. While VZ N@v is running in the background, run GPSTest and see if you get different results than from step 1.

3. Do a soft reset of the phone and run GPSTest to see if you get the same results as step 2

4. Uninstall VZ N@v, do a soft reset and then run GPSTest again. See if you get the same results as step 2

It may be that VZ N@v really only needs to be activated once to enable the GPS chipset. Thats what I would like to know anyway!

I'm going to give it a try too... let us know how it goes!

I haven't tried anything yet, and am eager to try this out and contribute. I have one question, though (please, anyone answer): Do I need to go through all the steps outlined by M Moogle, or do I just have to put Skywing's GPSTest on my Omnia and run it after activating VZNav?

[Guest M Moogle]

I haven't tried anything yet, and am eager to try this out and contribute. I have one question, though (please, anyone answer): Do I need to go through all the steps outlined by M Moogle, or do I just have to put Skywing's GPSTest on my Omnia and run it after activating VZNav?

You DON'T need VZNav installed or EVER installed to get GPSTest to work. I've NEVER had it installed on my current Omnia and GPSTest gets all of its info fine. You DO need to be connected to the Verizon network since it uses AGPS to get location data. You can just put Skywing's GPSTest on your Omnia, do a soft-reboot just to be safe, and as long as you're somewhere where you'll get GPS satellite reception after a minute at most you should get valid GPS data. Once you switch away from GPSTest you usually have to do a soft-reset or you'll get a GPSSec error of some sort.

If you want to try to get GPSServer sorta-half-working then there's a lot more steps involved, I've outlined them previously.

[Guest NainHitoshii]

I haven't tried anything yet, and am eager to try this out and contribute. I have one question, though (please, anyone answer): Do I need to go through all the steps outlined by M Moogle, or do I just have to put Skywing's GPSTest on my Omnia and run it after activating VZNav?

At this point, the GPSserver package does not seem to work. At least I have not gotten it work with the i910.

Yes, just download GPSTest and install/activate VZ N@v... If you have the trial period, awesome use that. If you do not, then I don't expect you to pay the $ to do any testing.

I just tried the following:

1. Uninstalled VZ N@v, soft reset and ran GPSTest. It did not even connect.

2. I reinstalled VZ N@v, but did not run it and ran GPSTest. GPSTest connected but found no satellites.

3. I ran VZ N@v, found myself through VZ N@v and then ran GPSTest while still connected to VZ N@v. GPSTest connected and found satellites (4) but did not lock on any.

I wanted to try this:

4. Did a soft reset, did not run VZ N@v but ran GPSTest. GPSTest connected, found satellites and locked onto 3, 12 in view.

but my battery died in the middle lol.

[Guest NainHitoshii]

You DON'T need VZNav installed or EVER installed to get GPSTest to work. I've NEVER had it installed on my current Omnia and GPSTest gets all of its info fine. You DO need to be connected to the Verizon network since it uses AGPS to get location data. You can just put Skywing's GPSTest on your Omnia, do a soft-reboot just to be safe, and as long as you're somewhere where you'll get GPS satellite reception after a minute at most you should get valid GPS data. Once you switch away from GPSTest you usually have to do a soft-reset or you'll get a GPSSec error of some sort.

If you want to try to get GPSServer sorta-half-working then there's a lot more steps involved, I've outlined them previously.

Right, you def don't need VZ N@v to run or use GPSTest...

M Moogle, have you been able to replicate any of your previous works? I read several of your posts had successes.

Do you think utilizing any part of Skywing's GPSTest with data from VZ N@v through another app like MS LS or G Mps would work?

[Guest WoZZeR999]

I just tried the following:

1. Uninstalled VZ N@v, soft reset and ran GPSTest. It did not even connect.

2. I reinstalled VZ N@v, but did not run it and ran GPSTest. GPSTest connected but found no satellites.

3. I ran VZ N@v, found myself through VZ N@v and then ran GPSTest while still connected to VZ N@v. GPSTest connected and found satellites (4) but did not lock on any.

How long are you letting GPSTest run? You have to give it more than a minute sometimes, especially if you only have 4 satellites in view. I have done many hard resets, and full re-programmings and not installed VZNav, and I can still get a lock.

[Guest NainHitoshii]

How long are you letting GPSTest run? You have to give it more than a minute sometimes, especially if you only have 4 satellites in view. I have done many hard resets, and full re-programmings and not installed VZNav, and I can still get a lock.

I've let it run for several minutes on a vanilla i910, nothing done but hard reset and activated but never locked on an sats just connected.

The only time I've gotten sats in view and locked was after VZ N@v was activated at least once which was is what brought me to the previous few posts of testing.

I'll have to continue in a few hours when I charge this bad boy back up... left the USB cable at home.

[Guest WhoTheHellAmI]

You DON'T need VZNav installed or EVER installed to get GPSTest to work. I've NEVER had it installed on my current Omnia and GPSTest gets all of its info fine.

The same is the case here. I get the following with Skywing's GpsTest-Mod:

   Long: xx.xxxxxx (privacy) (accurate within about 3 meters)

   Lat: xx.xxxxxx (lat and long are reversed, as noted before)

   Speed: 0.000000 (i'm sitting still)

   Heading: 0.000000

   Altitude: 127.900002 (accurate within .5 meters)

   Sats: 4 (5 in view)

   Time: 19:33:45.000

   Date: 2009-03-30

   F/Q/S: 1/2/1

My Steps Taken:

1. Soft-Reset

2. Go to task manager, end all tasks, finishing by ending task manager last (make sure activesync is not running)

3. Press Hard Key assigned to GPS Test (make shortcut in windows/start menu/programs to do this)

4. Wait for program to start, then wait for gps data to show up (you might get non-sensical numbers until the gps gets its fix)

I have noticed, as noted by M Moogle, that the app must connect to the network to get the initial fix, but after a few minutes, the phone will disconnect to save airtime (since there is no longer a need for the connection) and the phone will continue to recieve accurate data from the gps chip. Another thing I have noticed is that while the network connection is running, the coordinates randomly revert to the nonsensical numbers that show up before the gps finally gets its fix, but after the network disconnects, the coordinates are untouched.

Figured i'd throw in a couple of pennies myself...lol

[Guest dwallersv]

You DON'T need VZNav installed or EVER installed to get GPSTest to work. I've NEVER had it installed on my current Omnia and GPSTest gets all of its info fine. You DO need to be connected to the Verizon network since it uses AGPS to get location data. You can just put Skywing's GPSTest on your Omnia, do a soft-reboot just to be safe, and as long as you're somewhere where you'll get GPS satellite reception after a minute at most you should get valid GPS data. Once you switch away from GPSTest you usually have to do a soft-reset or you'll get a GPSSec error of some sort.

FWIW, I put GPSTest on my 910, rebooted, then ran it. Was still saying "waiting for a GPS fix" (or something like that) after several minutes outside on my back deck, where I get really good GPS sat reception, including all three WAAS birds.

So, left it in the shade with a wide-open view of the sky. I'll go back and check it again in ten minutes or so.

[Guest Skyline987]

FWIW, I put GPSTest on my 910, rebooted, then ran it. Was still saying "waiting for a GPS fix" (or something like that) after several minutes outside on my back deck, where I get really good GPS sat reception, including all three WAAS birds.

So, left it in the shade with a wide-open view of the sky. I'll go back and check it again in ten minutes or so.

i was having this problem too until i installed vznav. once i installed nav it locked on in under a minute