CF-29E Mk2 Factory GPS not working after HD, BIOS Upgrades. (Warning: Picture intensive)

Hello!

I got my hands on a CF-29 MK2 with Factory GPS installed. I decided to load from recovery CDs and test it before purchasing a bigger hard drive. I installed updates and then Winfast navigator and it gave me from 3 to 6 locked signals with no problems.

Then I went and bought a WD Scorpio Blue PATA 250GB 5400RMP WD2500BEBERTL hard drive and installed it using Rick's instructions with no problems. Upgraded the BIOS from V12 to latest V17 as well. But after restoring from Recovery CDs and installing Winfast navigator again I started having problems locking onto a signal. First, all signals would appear and disappear but non of them green. I changed the BIOS settings from GPS enable to Auto and at one time I got it to lock on to a couple of signals again, so then I removed the two screws from the side right next to the battery to find out if it was installed all the way in correctly and cleaned up the dust from the plastic cover, but after putting it all back together and running winfast navigator all I get is a screen with no signals at all! It seems to be downloading data but that's it.

I've looked around the forums and tried the suggestions I've found so far: Installing the two GPS registry files using Ricks instructions, Disabling MP serial port and enabling it, Putting GPS on auto and enable, Reinstall windows from recovery disks, and I'm still getting the same screen with no signals. I can see data being received, but its not locking any signals. (See picture below)

I installed the GPS module on another CF-29E, ran the two registry keys, and ran Winfast navigator and it locks onto three signals right away, but when I put it back in its original machine it does the same thing. No signals at all! What am I doing wrong?

I kinda wanted to leave it on its original machine because it has more built-in ram (512 MB.) It doesn't make any sense to me why it just stopped working suddenly. I didn't bump it nor drop the module or the laptop, I didn't install any hardware other than a 1GB memory stick (which was installed from the beginning when everything was working fine,) and the hard drive. I haven't upgraded to service pack 3 yet so I'm doing that right now and I was wondering if that could be the problem. What do you guys think?

I'm including pictures.









All Default settings with GPS BIOS setting in "AUTO." Fresh install of Recovery CDs WinXP Service Pack 1.









Everything seems fine here.





Can it be it's not making contact like it's supposed to?





HELP! T_T
I don't know what else to do. Any help greatly appreciated.

Most humbly

 

Did you take it out side and let it get signal? I'd say when you removed the battery it's starting in cold boot. It will take time to get signal again.

Also try changing the com port setting to com4

TB2010

 

Lucy... I just had the SAME issue on a new unit that came in (unexpectedly) with the OEM GPS.... I flashed the same exact data that you posted.

Let it have a clear look at the sky with a fully charged battery and start up WinFast... Let it go for 5-15 minutes but you MUST have a clear view of the sky.

You should be on COM3... But as the post above mentions you can manually try to swap it to COM 4.... But COM3 should work... You just need a good battery and good look at the sky!

If this DOESN'T work.... Take out the GPS sled and take a good look at it... remove the PCB and then move the antenna connection around like a swivel... This will help the connection a little if it has corroded. (They are aluminum after all.)

Try it out and let us know....

 

Whaaaiii! It worked! ^^ I just took it outside and left it under the clear sky for a while. It grabbed 6 green bars after a few minutes.

I used all Default settings, and set GPS to Enable, which put it on IRQ3. No custom settings on anything.

Thank you so much! You guys are awesome! Everyone in these forums are so helpful and kind. Please never change.

 

This is very strange. Tonight I decided to run Navigator again and the GPS wouldn't lock a signal at all even after leaving it outside for several minutes. A whole bunch of different satellites kept popping in and out but none of them locked at any time. Is this normal behavior?

I'm such a noob with GPS. How does it work? Does the signal fluctuate depending what time of the day it is? Or is it usual for the OEM GPS to struggle like this sometimes? I keep thinking GPS works like cellular signals for some reason. My toaster knows more about GPS than I do. =_=

 

...thats a case for wikipedia

-cause of the lost of satellites: maybe ur power and battery of ur tb was down, which deleted the stored almanach
-the signalstrength depends on the clouds, the solar wind, and ur hand over the antenna
-and yes, the oem-gps is not the best. but there is a thread on the top of this forum, where u can read and imagine how difficult it is to get a good gps inside an toughbook

 

To help get better signal faster, remove the sled. and look at the bottom of it, the side with the copper sheet. there should be a piece of conductive tape towards the plastic cover, remove that conductive tape and the middle section of the copper sheet (use an xacto blade or box cutter). I have found this cuts the satellite acquisition time in half

 

Hey guys.

Thanks for your help. It was very cloudy this morning so that's why it was behaving like that. I have a clear sky and it works great now again.

Thanks again.

Most humbly

 

Actually clouds have very little affect on GPS signals. The GPS signal frequency of about 1575mhz was chosen expressly because it is a "window" in the weather as far as signal propagation is concerned. The worst-weather signal loss due to the atmosphere is only 2dB which equates to a loss of only 37%, which is not at all significant. In sound terms a difference of 2dB is just the difference between a car-horn and a loud personal stereo. You have to remember this system was designed for strict military use in the beginning. The military could not have a system that only worked with clear skies. Any conflict doesn't only happen on clear weather days. Also take into consideration that the FAA has mandated GPS landing systems for all aircraft and they wouldn't do that using a clear-weather only system. No matter what the weather is like on or close to the ground, the aircraft will almost always fly through or under clouds sometime during the flight. It wouldn't be too safe having to rely on a navigation system that only works without cloud cover. I have dealt with GPS systems for decades and do not remember every having an issue with weather related degraded GPS reception. This has been with military and commerical aviation GPS systems. I was and still am an Avionics technician/engineer for the US Air Force and now with the US Army. I have also had personal GPS systems (Garmin and such) for at least 10 years now and never that problem. There other factors that can affect GPS signals.
A good place to go for more info - Navigation Services

 

Wow, Thanks so much for the insight. That makes a lot of sense. We'd be having airplanes crashing all over and landing on Mcdonalds parking lots if clouds were that intrusive. I guess that means I'm back to square one.I'm going to try TBTech's suggestion and see how that goes now.

Take care and stay safe out there in Iraq. God bless you.

 

Actually, rusty503's information is correct if your GPS is WAAS enabled and has acquired a WAAS lock. I have not used internal GPS in a CF-29 and am not interested enough in the CF-29's GPS receiver to have looked into the capabilities of the OEM unit. It is quite possible that you were having issues with cloud cover. Your internal GPS has already experienced a significant loss in signal strength by virtue of being inside a computer and having an antenna which is a compromise at best. I can assure you that the units found in commercial aircraft have very good antennas with very clear views of the sky. Not all GPS is created equal, and what applies to very high end equipment does not necessarily apply to lesser equipment. The high end installation pioneered by our fearless leader with, a little help from his friends, is a much different creature than the Panasonic OEM unit. My $0.02.
CAP

 

I agree with capt.dogfish.
OEM unit does not mean it will be the same quality with military and police units.
please make sure that military and police units were made for people who work in extremely hard environment such as very cloudy weather, cloudy forest, in a building, hot dessert...

for general units, which we call OEM, i think that Panasonic did not create them with the same way they made for military and police, but the reputation from those units made their products a high ranking.