GOBI2000 GPS install issues?

I've recently installed a Gobi 2000 WWAN/GPS card and have got it showing up in Device manager as:
Qualcomm Gobi 2000 HS-USB Diagnostics 250F (COM7)
Qualcomm Gobi 2000 HS-USB NMEA 250F (COM5)

Problem is, Windows isnt recognising it in "Location and other sensors", and when I attempted to install Lenovo ThinkVantage it came back with an error saying:
"No GPS adapter is installed in the system or the driver of the GPS Adapter is not installed in the system"

What have I missed?

Also, what Inexpensive/free GPS software is available?

 

Are you trying to install a Lenovo card?
While a couple people have got non Panasonic cards to work, It takes a lot of work and is not worth the effort.
Get a wwan card from a Panasonic Toughbook.

 

Of course. But you have COM5 NMEA port, use it.
There is a corresponding topic on this forum about GPS software, search for it.
Also you have to know Gobi 2000 GPS is very unstable.

Shawn, this card is from Panasonic (or is compatible). Look, it already has firmware loaded

 

it is a panasonic card, I just found the lenovo software and was trying to see if it would pick up the GOBI

does anyone have the correct port settings for a GOBI GPS? I seem to recall seeing somewhere that it should be running at 4800bps but mine is showing at 9600

 

4800

 

4800bps works for me... sometimes
Hope you don't have plans to use any critical apps with this so called GPS receiver )
Good OEM GPS receiver for CF-19 is ~ USD 40 on ebay.

 

With Panasonic components take a look at this:

ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/computer/oi/gobi_csa_oi.pdf

Delete any other drivers you added first.

J'd

Winfast Navigator will show if Gobi GPS is working. And it will work at 9600. OEM GPS is 4800 usually Com 3.

 

this is in a CF30

 

Ok, USD 60 for CF-30.
Or external bluetooth/USB receiver.

 

I assume to even use the GPS function you would have to add an antenna. I have a OEM GPS, so it does not matter to me, but...

 

I'm still trying to make this work.

Downloaded Google Maps and its not recognising COM5 as a GPS feed.

I dont particularly care if the GOBI GPS isnt a brilliant performer, but I figure if its there, I need to make sure I can use it.

Does anyone know if the GOBI card needs a SIM card to enable the GPS, or if that only afffects the WWAN side of things?

 

you did not/it is not noted if you tried the winfast navigator as was suggested .
diagnosing problems start by using "knowns" to check each step .

 

So did you add a antenna and run winfast navigator ??

 

I'm not too sure you can actually add an antenna given that the GOBI2000 is inside the WWAN sled

was up late reading into this and it looks like the location services issue is a Windoze7 thing
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/semantics/2010/07/21/windows-7-location-awareness/

I've downloaded WinFast Navigator and went for a wander down the street to see what I could get, and this was the best I could manage on a overcast and drizzling day, so assuming it improves on a clear day, it looks like everything is working

 

I hate to tell you this but it's going to suck,I have done the same thing on CF-74's and CF-52's and it just plain bites.Spend the money on a Tech tough gps and then you will have something,this setup will never be any good.

 

I'm aware the Gobi GPS sucks, I just wanted to make sure it woks, if/when I can afford (or justify the cost of) the TechTough/UBLOX unit, I plan to do that upgrade.

 

hmmm ...
was that a screen capture just for showing the data whipping by or an actual "it's been running in the field" ?
i notice that no lat/long positions are showing .

 

It was to show that the card was working and sending data, it was a reasonably well overcast day and I wasnt really interested in hanging around in the drizzle to see if it could get a better fix, that could wait for a sunny day

 

Well.... it seems to be working, took a minute or two to get a satellite lock, but it works

Next step, see what I can do to improve the GPS antenna situation, I've seen it suggested that if I can find a 3g/GPS antenna I can hide under one of the trim panels on the lid.... I think the GOBI card being hidden inside the metal of the case wont be helping things

 

Seeing 10 satellites is pretty good. Not sure how much better you need?

 

Good luck on that...that is all I can get on mine too.

 

1: It was "seeing" 10, but only getting usable data from 4 and couldnt get a fix on 2.
2: Acquisition took its time, even with crystal clear skies and in as open an area as I could get.

If I can increase sensitivity and acquisition time for a reasonable price, its a worthwhile investment.

Also, I've noticed not many people seem to think much of the GPS on the Gobi's, and as a result not many have bothered to experiment with them, if I can get those two shortcomings sorted out, doesnt everyone with a CF30 stand to benefit?

 

Yes you are right about that but many have tried years back and just gave up when you could get a real GPS for $80.00

 

Are you planning on using the Gobi for data or just GPS?
If it is just GPS, then get 2 GPS patch antennas and use them instead of the standard Gobi WWAN antennas.
That is the advantage newer Gobi cards have. They have a dedicated port for a GPS antenna.

 

the gobi card in the case is not an issue ...
the actual gps receiver is inside of a full metal shield on the board ...
this is to prevent not just physical damage but also to provide a means of avoiding interference from extraneous signals and to keep the signals generated by the receiver from interfering with other things .

i don't believe that a different antenna would improve things that much ... it is the "law of diminishing returns" .
you might spend 50 bucks for an antenna , go though the PITA of finding a place to mount it and only get one more bird (barely) .
the receiver is where to put the money ... lower noise circuitry = more sensitivity = more birds = more reliable data .
the technology of these receivers has improved since the gobi series was first released ... and think about why there is more than a "gobi 1000" ... within the product line there were improvements over the years .
one of those "ublox" receivers or ublox based kits is hard to beat for value and performance .
the advantage of a ublox kit is that the antenna is located right at the receiver ... no coax losses and this means a healthy increase in signal to noise ratio .

not to brag but rather a little background on myself ... i am a semi-retired broadcast engineer .
i work the RF (receive and transmit) side of things ... not a desk jockey .
i own a '30 and the first thing i did is find out the information on what was really going on (knowledge is a good thing) .
i soon realized that one of those ublox kits was the way to go to improve things .

 

The best unit I had for Gobi reception was a CF-19MK4. CF-30's are pretty weak.

But....check out DFUP1865ZA....labeled Aux+GPS. The cable is a little short. I'm not sure but it may reach from pass-through to lid corner on a CF-30.
https://www.google.com/search?q=dfup1865za&client=ubuntu&hs=UKF&tbm=isch&imgil=zNKrmLT_zLQeAM%3A%3B7dsWvY2yyTO-5M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.ebay.com%252Fitm%252FPanasonic-Toughbook-Aux-GPS-Card-DFUP1865ZA-%252F371414706222&source=iu&pf=m&fir=zNKrmLT_zLQeAM%3A%2C7dsWvY2yyTO-5M%2C_&usg=__EIPWZr9RMiogF_6Hfgs_Iplczj4=&biw=1227&bih=572&ved=0ahUKEwi_08WWptrLAhVO0GMKHS2MCCIQyjcIMg&ei=U2D0Vv_dG86gjwOtmKKQAg#imgrc=_

I understand this is for experimentation rather than perfect operation. So...which part of the antenna is GPS?

CF-30 has three plastic places at least.
1. Palm rest end. Simplest fit with no soldering (lengthening of cable)
2. Lid corner.
3. Keyboard bezel.

When I find my Gobi card I will try the palm rest one. It's on a sled here somewhere.

Color me side-tracked again. (Read red text below)

 

CWB32, not disputing your experience in the matter, but as Sadlmkr has added, I've seen other people note that other toughbook models had Gobi GPS's that performed better than in a CF30....

I just figure if the repeating common factor in poor performance is the CF30, there must be something to it.....

 

You'all ready for a story?

I am 17 miles line-of-sight to a cell tower. Marginal at best and best is when you are on the end of my porch or in winter, in my office, and looking at the tower. I know which tower it is as I used to maintain the road.

That has little or nothing to do with a Gobi 2000 GPS though.

On my mountain and with a clear view of the sky I don't know yet which Gobi 2000/Toughbook combination is best because I sent the CF-19MK4 to a colleague. The CF-53 does well enough for my purposes as a back-up.

What DOES work is OEM GPS on Toughbook 19/30...AND...new to me is the CF-31 which is operationally untested at this point.

In other words (IOW) it has not been tested on an emergency incident.

My Toughbook CF-29 with "custom" GPS rode in my vehicle long enough to polish most of the paint off. After I read through the CF-29 GPS section at least three times I tried that installation BTW.

This is not turn by turn navigation at 70 mph folks. I think that is the crux of the matter. What you do is not what I do. (necessarily)

I need to put a helicopter (Medi-Vac) close enough to see a first-responder waving his arms. I have been there and done that from my vantage point three air line miles away.

That is done with topographical maps NOT MS-S&T.

An old family saying...what's good for the goose is not good for the gander.

Not bragging, just saying.

 

the "poor performance" of the older gobi (sony) and leadtec modules can be (in my opinion) due to :
antenna type
antenna positioning (including angle of lid)
coax type
coax length
differences between the two types/models and brands
era of technological differences

i did a little write up about the performance difference between a custom ublox receiver and antenna in a '31 and a ublox kit (corner mount type) in a '30 .
both machines were sitting next to one another and were close in performance .
when i compare this with the original gobi 1000 and the subsequent use of a leadtec card in the '30 i recently built for a friend there was really no contest .
the antenna mounting in/on a '30 is pretty darn good ... it gives a clear , uncluttered view .
in addition , i remember the average performance of a gobi 1000 in my '30 .
(this points to a change in technology increasing performance over the older equipment)

while antenna placement can and will affect the received signal strength due to sundry parameters , one can pretty much say that as long as the antenna can get a "clear view" (not obscured by the case) of the sky then all else being the same , loss between the antenna and receiver due to coax type and length is about all that is left that will affect performance .
admittedly , i have not reviewed any in-depth trials , but the general upshot of the items i have run across indicate that the overall performance of the old cards as opposed to the new types is , as one might suspect , lower .
but ... back to the matter at hand ...
as i see it , a way to test the effect of coax length (the only thing that could change on a "system" , all else being equal) is to place the antenna a very short distance from the receiver card via a much shortened section of coax .
this will increase the signal strength to the receiver and this automatically means an increase in signal to noise ratio and this will help out any receiver except for one that is *dead* .
it may not seem like a big deal on the length of the coax as in "what's the difference between 12" of that coax and 6" because i moved the antenna closer to the receiver ?" .
there is something to consider in all this and that is the actual coax loss per foot , inch or what-have-you ... this will give another way to calculate the losses .
these losses are important as the received signal is very low and the small diameter of the coax means a higher loss per unit of measurement versus larger diameter coax (given the use of the same materials) .
the less coax between the antenna and the receiver , the better .

in other words (in my opinion) , the only real way to improve the original system in a '30 is by:
changing the position of the factory antenna (a clear view of the sky is a clear view) and cutting/shortening the coax and this in turn will increase the signal strength .
changing the antenna type
changing the coax type
changing the receiver

 

Back to the CF-29...how many of you have taken a HTM50BM apart?

SBC had all the cables wrapped in what appeared to be duct tape. They used the pass-through for WLAN as I remember. There was another proprietary connector from the pc area to the media bay.

So the point is they were concerned about little electrics interfering with the cables.

Interesting is all. Isn't SBC some kind of communication outfit? lol So cable protection could be fairly important.

J'd

 

I have taken several apart.
The wrapping was probably conductive tape. In that application the tape is used as a electrical shield to protect the signal.
Conductive tape is also used on the cables on the LCD panel.

 

yeah ...
i will bet that was rf shielding because the comps were to be/being used in relatively high rf areas , such as communication sites .

SBC = Southwestern Bell Corporation ?

 

Yes on the Southwestern Bell Corp. Jeff was being sarcastic. He converses with sheep too much.
Yes also on the communication sites. Many of those SBC units ended up in the service trucks.

 

"He converses with sheep too much."
southwe-e-e-e-e-ste-e-e-e-e-ern be-e-e-e-ell ...
however , i shall digress .


yeah ... some of the remote automation comps (pcs put into service) took some doing to rf proof .
we spec'ed out the server case type and the bean counters said "no" .
they found *someone* that said "these'll work ...".
nope ... they sure didn't and not enough horsepower .
the bean counters bought two POS-1 pcs and we got our server types .

i suppose this discussion is relevant as all one has to do is look at the metalized cloth tape that comes with/in the factory units ...
they don't use that stuff and other metal (aluminum and copper foil) sticky tapes because they are cheap .

 

It would probably improve reception for GPS and wifi if I covered my antenna leads with some conductive tape. At least where it runs under the plastic. Hmm..another project.

 

Most of the time I jot stuff down because something I read interested me enough to actually think about it. In this case rf shielding.

It's usually relevant to something in a post. Like the following:

Wouldn't conductive tape be capable of shorting something out? Someone at SBC must have figured wrapping the lead in additional tape would be some protection. Wait a minute, let's see if the material is conductive.....O.K. the ohmmeter was in the UTE...in the barn.
Test on single piece of cabling yielded no conductivity of the tape. Cable from CF-29HTM50BM.

Now was it RF they were worried about or protection of the wireless lead as it snaked through the chassis? BTW further scientific testing of new duct tape gave same non-conductive reading.

As hard as the HTM50's were used I now am leaning towards wear and tear protection. And what better to use than duct tape. Everyone's favorite. I pity the taper. 25,000 units as I recall. This piece came from Wlan and the tape ended roughly an inch from the ends. Further data suggesting the wear and tear scenario.

Now a re-read to determine relevance. Close enough. The sheep send their gree-ee-ee-ee-tings.

 

Yes it can short things out. On many devices, conductive tape is used to insure a good ground.
It would be safe to use it to cover the antenna leads on a CF31. They are under the plastic panels and the tape could not short anything out. I could even use that metal tape.

It's also possible that SBC ordered custom tape that is RF shielded but has a non conductive outer layer.

 

tha-a-a-a-a-anks .

most of those tapes will measure in Kohms or Mohms per "square" (as in whatever unit of area measurement) .
only the foil (or other real expensive) type will read milliohms or microohms per square .

it may have been for additional physical resiliency , but i would think that would have been a spec order to/of the factory contract ...
unless someone went "oh shi7 !!" after the fact .

 

Update:
Pulled the WWAN sled to change the DIP switch settings to HSDPA, and while I had it out, I remembered what I'd seen somewhere about the GOBI cards having the main and aux antenna connectors in the opposite sides to most other WWAN cards.
Well..... I checked them, saw that the main antenna lead was clipped onto the aux tab and the antenna lead was clipped onto the main tab.....
Headed downtown to a park this afternoon to see if things improved, and well...... ****..... over an hour and the best I got was a partial signal from 3 satellites, not into the green on the signal, only blue....

I guess that gives hope to the possibility that connecting a better/better positioned WWAN/GPS combo antenna onto the AUX tab might actually work......

 

it may be that the card you are using has a noisy/low gain front end ...
this will lower the sensitivity of the receiver and also *swamp* all but the strongest signals .
if you had a known good card to work with it would eliminate heading down the wrong path .

 

QldRtv! Good luck on making it to works.

ohlip

 

While the main consensus seems that Gobi sucks for GPS, I must say that I was more then surprised at the performance of my MC7700 (GOBI 4000). I got 7 birds locked, in a building with a thin in roof, with NO ANTENNA, just the port!

I also have a, Jeff Installed, Leadtek LR9101t GPS in my CF-31 and it only got 9 birds at the same time. I call the MC7700 my BUGPS, if you are an AR-15 guy, you will get it.

Some of the Sierra Wireless cards will also receive Russia's Global Orbiting Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS).

YMMV...

 

I completely understand wanting to get the internal GPS card working, but would't it be simpler to use something like this USB thumb-stick style GPS receiver?
http://www.amazon.com/GlobalSat-ND-105C-Micro-USB-Receiver/dp/B00N32HKIW?
or do these not work so well?

 

Simpler? We don't do simpler.

Seriously, the beauty of the embedded GPS is all the doors are closed keeping the Toughbook tough. I don't even use a USB Mouse.

My opinion.

 

HAHAHA I like the way you think. And I agree, I would prefer the system all buttoned up.
The reason I ask is that I have a mapping project I want to do (about 800 acres) and I'm considering a USB GPS instead of dealing with the "OKC" bios access issue. I would like good accuracy as I am mapping roads and trails.

 

On a CF-52?

You need a CF-19 w/ OEM or aftermarket GPS.

1. Trails = walking.
2. CF-19 is lighter.

My CF-19 has map tiles for my county installed. I use USAPhotomaps. 7 1/2 MIN usgs

THE PROBLEM:
MSRMaps quit giving the maps away. You could download and fill your area from internet files....auto-magically saved. It worked good so they quit doing it.

Maybe Doug Cox at Usa Photomaps knows someone in your area that has the tiles. Worth a visit. (email or?)

 

What is the point of buying a ruggedized computer for a demanding project, and then having it's performance dependent on a cheap piece of plastic sticking outside of it's armored case...?