Testing GPS

Well... I've been investigating this crappy issue. It seems when you play with the dip switches and then go into setups... the switches make the GPS appear as different things. ??? Originally with only the #4 d/s in the on position (stock position for me) setups reads only the GPS. Yu have the choice for OFF, MANUAL, AUTO. When playing with the different d/s it makes different things appear in the BIOS!!! At one point the GPS just disappeared and a wireless modem was in its place! In another setting the GPS was shown but grayed out and the wireless modem was changeable.

At one point (before I discovered that changes were being made in the BIOS with me switching the d/s) I had everything working in a limited way. (See earlier post above) BUt it never gave me a true fix!

So... I think I'm going to end my torment and give up on the Toughbook GPS. The fact is... Either I (and everyone else here) have a defective GPS unit... Or it is just JUNK to start with. I'm betting on the latter!

Modly... The torch is passed to you and the guantlet has been thrown down... Find us a good work-around to this or a new GPS engine. If it's cheap enough I'd almost make the offer if you can get one working... I'd buy it for you as long as you could get one working for me. (I'd either send you mine or you could do a how-to on the subject.

The ball is in your court!

 

These did sell ok for a few years with gps working and for businees too mainly. So what did Panasonic do to get them working??????? :twitcy:

 

Toughbook, I found a Russian website that is I think doing the same thing you are. http://www.nout.ru/viewtopic.php?p=22019 I used google translator to translate it, and it seems they have figured out the dip switches. (I think) Maybe some one here can translate it for us.

 

i dont belive you guys are giving up on the GPS on the toughbook already after all the savings,buying and now you guys dont want it..........
when i personaly dont get a problem with it anymore, only had the first problem setting it up and the first cold boot since then it switches on straight away through any sat/nav software i switch on.........

 

I haven't given up on mine yet. I'm pretty stubborn.

 

I haven't entirely given up on mine... But when someone says, "Mine is working FINE!"... Can you give us your dip switch settings at least? How about confirm your drivers and other settings?... maybe IRQ and COM settings?...

We (I) need help here!

(Off topic)... I've been busy the past few days... On Monday I plan on posting the CD - DVD swap "how-to" and the Hard Drive Swap "How-to".... Maybe it will spawn a little more information sharing. There have been a few newbies that I've been following in other threads that come in and ask questions about their issues and then when they get them figured out just post back, "Hey... I figured it out!"... and then never post back with what they did to get their issue resolved! What's up with that? If you know... POST IT!


<stepping down from soapbox!>

 

mine was working fine...until I put extra ram in...now it wont lock.
I pull the ram back out...and its working fine again? anyone else duplicate?

 

I never even tried opening my GPS until after I put my RAM in. It worked a little (got a slight fix on 3 satellites) and then nothing! I just tried taking my RAM out to see if that worked. Still nothing. Mine shows up on COM3. I set it to 4800 BAUD... I see the data streaming by... But no satellite appear anywhere. It must me the dip switches or IRQ settings somewhere. Maybe a conflict with something else?

We need some input from people who have working setups! djacid... Can you share your com, irq and dipswitch settings with us? How about jviss... He started the thread... I think he had his working now.

 

WELL,
i havent played around with the dipswitch, and looking at it quickly now there is only the one switch on the on position,
in bios i have set the gps to enable/3E8/11 funny thing about that is, by choosinh 3E8/11 am suppose to be using the gps on com 3 but when i start windows and start using it, it is on com 4,
the best gps signal i get is near a windows unless am outside then its fine no problems, but as i said in previous post there are times when am driving around that all of a sudden it'll loose a signal for roughly 1/2secs......
COM1: Serial Port A
COM2: Serial Port B (Port Replicator)
COM3: GPS
COM4: Smart Card
COM5: Modem
COM6: MP Serial Port
COM7: 1st port of wireless modem
COM8: 2nd port of wireless modem
COM-ports-
COM1 COM2 COM3 COM4 - 3F8/4 2F8/3 3E8/11 2E8/12

 

Well, I'm back from Canada today, so I'll get back to probing the motherboard again.

I decided while I was on my way, I'd check my signal/noise ratio that I got with my permenant antenna while it was storming. I was getting 8-10 satellites at all times, and was hitting levels between 30-42, depending on the satellite. It rarely goes over 50 with clear skies. That tells me that the signal is down here regardless of clear weather or not, but just slightly weaker if the weather is not cooperating.

 

Any info you can shed would be greatly appreciated. I was only getting info from 3 satellites... And that was at its peak! Here's the strange thing... When I first opened WinFast it would show 7-9 satellites but they were clear. (I guess showing they were there but obviously no signal.) Then when I hit the "connect" button it would connect with one of them... But only with purple color (non-reliable data.). The rest of the satellites were there, but no connection. Then I got 3 links... still all purple. As I was playing with all the dip switches on the GPS board the satellites disappeared! Now, no matter what, I can't get any of the satellites to appear. Even with no connection. I get data streaming by and the data light flashes but no connection and no fix.

I'll read djacid's post above an play around with it some more...

 

djacid... I played around with the IRQ settings in setups. I am now on 2F8-IRQ3. That is the only setting that gives me anything other than COM1 as a com port. This setting allows for COM3... Sometimes depending on what else is turned on. (IE Cardbus A, Cardbus B) I am now trying turning off everything else except the GPS to see if it may be a conflict in ports.

 

I GOT IT WORKING!!!!! I just went into the setups and switched everything to "ENABLE" instead of automatic. (This way you can see what settings are assigned.) I also disabled the irda port. It fired right up and I'm getting 5-6 satellites in the green!

 

Well Done Mate!!!!!

which com port are you using and what setting did you use????
also did you do different settings on the dipswitches, are left em as there were with just the 1 dipswitch on......

 

yea what he said

 

It didn't work for me sadly. I'll keep trying though.

 

My battery just went dead and its back on the charger.. .When I get a little juice in it I'll fire it up and post all my settings on that screen.

 

ok,
that be great,
i checked and the most i get is only 3 satelites from which the 3rd one flashes on and off..........:confused2:

 

I'm a bit bummed gentlemen! I had the GPS working perfectly earlier! I let it sit out on the deck rail for 3 hours (pretty good on a partial charge of the battery!) collecting data and using the two programs to check connectivity. It was all working great. I started to notice that it seemed like the GPS would only pick up when the screensaver came on... Because whenever I came over to check it and hit a key or pushed the touchpad to make the screensaver disappear the satellite reception would fade quickly down to just 2 satellite in purple instead of the 6-7 in the green. About this time I'm wondering if the drugs I did in my youth were coming back to haunt me! I make dinner and go back out to check and everything is working great... 7 satellites and all in the green. The screensaver doesn't even matter and I'm getting a very strong signal on ALL satellites. I go back inside for dinner. When I came back out I found that the battery had drained and the laptop shut off. So I throw it on the charger and let it charge to 100%. I turn it on to record the settings to post here and now I can't get a connection! Hell.. I can't even get COM3!!!

What is the deal with this? About the time I think I have one thing figured out... I have 4-5 other things that crop up!

I am starting to wonder if this thing can really stop a bullet. I think a
147gr JHP would make a nice hole in it!

 

It appears that the IRQ setting (at least on mine) that will work is 3E8/IRQ11. Anything else and it won't work. I'm testing now to verify!

 

is the jumper still in the same spot it was when you recieved your toughbook or is it set to something other?

 

Mine is set at 2e8/IRQ10, com port 4, serial 3. Navigator reports it on com 4, and portmon a serial port monitor utility reports it on serial 3. It works, but I only get 3 sats locked on. I just researched a little more now I understand the numbering. COM 1 is serial 0 and so on.

 

I checked for voltage, and found a pin with 3.3v on the 13 pin connector next to the GPS connector.

Now because I've had a huge headache, I can't seem to focus on which pin is which, I'll have to find a magnifying glass to get it all ID'd. I'm also having trouble finding a ground, but same problem... I can't seem to see today.

But the plus side is the discovery of a voltage pin. Now it seems more possible to get another module to operate.

 

Modly... I'm placing my money on you!

My settings fluctuate. I can't seem to get it to do the same thing twice in a row! The dip switches are in their stock location. 1,2,3 off & 4 on. I had it working great (I have screen shots!) and after I rebooted to go in and write down the settings (I didn't change a thing!) and got entirely different settings when it booted up!

I'll try some of djacid's software to see what's up. It's late and I just finished posting the "how-to" for the DVD swap.

 

am using the same setting 3E8/IRQ11 and am getting a signal on com4 funny thing is my one doesnt accpet any other if i try changing the iq settings my gps gets a error messgae or no gps found...........
3E8/IRQ11 is the only really one that works for me apart from leaving it on auto

 

The 3E8/IRQ11 is the only one that works on mine. DJ... Remember the link you gave me to the PC 2007 software? I use that to open my ports to read what is going on. Well... When the GPS is working and I open that program and look at ports... COM3 always has a ton of info... voltages, a lot of yes, yes, no, no, no, yes, yes... Stuff like that. Other times when I boot up... The only thing that COM 3 shows is the IRQ setting and COM1 is the only one with information. It seems I can boot up and the COM settings fluctuate back and forth. I've even tried disabling everything EXCEPT the GPS... No dice.

 

Okay, First off... Modly... Have you gotten anywhere with the research on replacing the GPS unit? Please keep us posted.

Now... I found out part of my problem and I'm unsure how to fix it. Using the PC Wizard 2007 that djacid supplied, I've found that my COM ports keep switching. It looks like I have two active COM portgs... 1 & 3. PC Wizard gives all sorts of information about the active port. On the other it just gives me the IRQ address. There are sometimes that I boot up that COM 3 is the one with all the info. When that happens I know that when I open WinFast Nav that it will work and I'll pick up satellites. When I open it and I see that COM1 has all the info... It doesn't work. Now the big question... How do I assign COM3 to stay with the GPS and not wander off to something else?

Here's another weird thing. I've mentioned before that when the GPS does work... I normally have to leave it sitting out on the deck for 5-10 minutes to get a fix. By that time the screensaver has kicked in and the screen is blank. When I go over and touch the touchpad to make the screensaver disappear I usually see anywhere from 4 to 7 satellites with VERY good reception... Then I see them slowly disappear! One by one they go away until all I see is one left showing in purple instead of green. I'm not sure what this means... There must be a conflict somewhere or I have Damien inside my laptop!

Any ideas?

 

About as far as I've gotten;

I've identified the four necessary pins on the 13 pin connector, and I've cut a 13 wire ribbon cable out of a 50 wire ribbon (From my spare toughbook), so I've got something to sit into the connector, and have leads to attach.

Other than that, I've found several possible GPS modules to use. Some look good, some don't, but my current step is to pin point the module I think is best to use, and to find an antenna to match with it. The GeoHelix antennas look pretty good though, because they are external (Gets the signal out of the alloy), and they make a waterproof/impact resistant version. Where to buy the antenna though... not a clue.

The GlobalSat 406 modules are my current pick though, but with an external antenna.

 

From what I've been reading, I agree, we need an external geohelix antenna. I'm sure I could take apart the LCD covering and manufacture some sort of housing for the antenna. But... Do you get the passive or active antenna? If I splice my own antenna lead would that degrade the signal too much?

Also... If you have a schematic.. I might just try hooking one up on my other CF-28.

 

This is what we need... Without the high price though!

http://www.rcatsystems.com/cube/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=17

 

I can only get mine to work with the settings of 3E8/IRQ11 on com4 with WinNav. it see 8 Sat but still cant get a lock and stays red the hole time. and its spiting out the same info over and over again, like its looking for the Sats and cant find them.,

 

Action... What else do you have enabled in the BIOS? Have you tried disabling the irDA? You might try that. Also... Make sure to check your dipswitches. Make sure that the one closest to you is the only one on. Dumb question... but did you install the driver for it? Hmmmm... what else.... Oh... Go here... http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php and download PC Wizard 2007. It has helped me out in several instances! It has a button to check your port info... My problem is that sometimes when I check the ports with it... It shows COM1 has taken all the settings away from COM3. I simply "LOG" off and then back on. (Not restarting) When I log back on I check the Wizard and see that COM3 has what it needs. Then I know I can get a signal lock... It takes a while (3-10 minutes) But I do get a lock.

Try that!

By the way... You can thank DJACID for turning us onto the Wizard. It's a very slick program!

 

i emailed panasonic and asked them for a solution to the problems and this is what there told me in there reply....
"If you have reloaded the os and installed the GPS registry patch for the erratic cursor, and the GPS is only seeing 1 to 2 satellites, then the GPS module may need to be checked out."
also what the first email was saying is that the GPS on the toughbook can pick up to 8 satelites on a good day and normaly 5-6 fixes......
meaning some thing is wrong some where.......
if everyone is having problems with there gps on the forum am sure the problem aint the module but has too be a software issue....

 

oh forgot to mention,
earlier i was at the park with afew mates playing football, after the match i was asking my mate if he ever gets problems with the gps he uses for his laptop, i switch the toughbook on to show him what i meant and soon as i on the gps software it worked straight away so i quickly on the rct program and i had 3fixes flashing 4,
but it didnt last too long as i was running autorouter the dread voice of signal lost came........
am not giving up on this all day tomorrow am going to take it apart and check everything bit by bit........

 

DJACID, One thing we all have in common is that all of our cf-28s are a few years old. I just checked the battery on board my GPS and its dead. Could this be what is giving all of us issues?

 

i would never have thought of checking that,
for me thats looks like a good sign,
my tester is at the flat as am at my parents tonight so no way of checking if mine battery is flat or alive,
also would the GPS still work if the battery died????maybe it still will pulling power from the toughbook,
but as a cmos battery dies wouldnt you get a message or some thing?????

 

well only way to check it now is by taking the battery out and booting it up,
if it still works the same then am going to go madddddddddddd

 

UPDATE -
battery taken off toughbook booted up and GPS is still working as it should,
i think it could be the battery........

 

They way I understand it the battery keeps the gps from cold starting. I believe it is like a cmos battery keeping the memory 'live' in the gps.

 

Nahhh... My battery shows 3 volts... But I'm starting to get better results. It just needs a better antenna I think. I can get 7 satellites when I am standing out in the middle of my street. Looks like it will work in my HUmmer as long as I hang the CF-28 out the window!

 

Well, it was just a thought. How would this antenna work? http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Exte...0?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1188433373&sr=8-1 If the connector matches up.

 

I'll try it with my battery disconnected in a couple of days, I've gotta finish a car project so my neighbour will get off my ass... So computer time will be limited til Friday or so.

 

Bigfoot... I'm looking to keep my CF-28 pretty much self contained. I really don't want to have to lug around anything else other than the 10 pound monster!

Modly... I was thinking... Actually the antenna I posted above really isn't that expensive when you consider that you can seel the one in the CF-28 for $250 - $275! Actually we'd probably be money ahead! If you can get me the wiring diagram for the GPS... I could also buy the antenna and I'd start building. If all goes well I could do a how-to on that! (With your help of course!) I'd also like to add an external SMA connector for GPS so I could use it in the truck if needed.

I really don't think it's that batteries guys... Well... It might be for some of you. We seem to be talking about having pretty much the same problems... Give or take a few. I think it all comes down to it's just a crappy system.

I guess for "survival mode" it would work... You could see where you are on a map and then know how tro get out. For a vehicle nav system... It would suck unless you have an external antenna!

 

I contacted the Jim D Gray company (they've got all sorts of goodies), and they'll have some good antennas in a month for what we need for roughly $45. They do have the ultimate in being a badass with GPS antennas, for full out water and impact resistance, as well as more mil specs than I can list off (Looks more rugged than the toughbook), but those are near $200 a piece.

The real question is... passive or active? Passive would work great if the receiver can process it, and they are smaller/cheaper. Active... well, they are stronger.

I'm looking at all the SirF III chipset based engine boards/modules, because I'm very happy with the SirF III antenna in my car. I hear plenty of good things about them otherwise, so it's my current pick.

I'll get you the schematic once I find a mag glass (I can't seem to focus this week, I hope I'm not getting bad vision at 22), because I can't seem to get the exact pins that they are on.

 

Well I guess it depends on what type engine we get. It if has the low noise amplifier on the board then we can use the passive... If not we must use the active. They say the active antennas use more power... How much more? I wonder if it would really make a difference?

 

WELL,
been trying my best with the GPS all weekend and the best i have got is 4 satelites,
i get the first satelite in roughly 2/3 minutes from a cold start, but after that it only takes roughly 30secs max to get 1 satelite, then from the first satelite it take afurther minute to get the 2nd and roughly another minute to get the 3rd satelite, the forth satelite only comes up after a good 10minutes from the 3rd........
also with the info and doing abit more research i got info which tells me that if a gps is having problems, from software issues to hardware issues it will take 3 times the normal time just to get half the satelites it normaly should get........
i found a seller selling some GPS recievers so going to see if it is actualy the recieve that is the problem caus i have done everything there is too do with the software and doubt there could be another fix for it.......

 

I read around,But still don't konw how to set the DIP.I set it as (1111).GPS and wirelessLAN appear at BIOS.But all gary.

 

just switch the dip switch closest to the handle to ON and turn the rest OFF!!!!

 

My book is CF-28s3qgbdm.There is NO GPS kit inside(An RIM RADIO in it).But when I see the GPS Kit at e-bay,I notice that The PCB is all the same.The difference is just a little matel box.Is there ANY BODY HAS AN CLEAR PHOTO to show what it is.It must be some commn OEM GPS module made in Japan or Taiwan.

I tried (0001) There are only GPS appear,(Wireless LAN disapear),BUT still gary.

 

here you go.........