LG G5: power reset fixed my GPS
Aug 18, 2017
My LG G5 suffered the notorious total failure of GPS. I believe that this was brought on by an unknown combination of:
- Frequent battery changing, and
- An extended period of airplane mode on a European trip.
In any event, when I got off the plane in Europe, my GPS no longer functioned. If I left it on continuously for a half-hour or so, it might pick up one satellite for a few minutes, then lose it.
Over the next couple of months I tried the various quick-fixes one can find on the Web, with no success. (Obviously, I tried cycling airplane mode on and off, and pulling the battery, and combinations thereof.)
Finally I decided I'd have to undertake the hardware fix. I never did succeed in getting the screen popped out, after an hour of trying, so I buttoned it back up. And surprise, my GPS is working great now. Within seconds I'm picking up 10-12 satellites. Furthermore, my Wi-Fi is much, much faster.
I'd seen recommendations to do a hard reset by removing the battery, but I remove the battery every day or two when I swap and that had never helped. This time, though, the battery was out for perhaps an hour while I tried to liberate the screen.
I'm a bit surprised that there seems to be some circuitry in the G5 that remains operational after the 15 seconds or so that it takes me to swap batteries, but not after an hour. I can't imagine why that would be. Regardless, my GPS is now working, my Wi-Fi is speedy again, and I'm no longer thoroughly annoyed at my phone.
That's my story. It's just one person's experience and guesses as to what happened. But if you have a G5 with non-functioning GPS, you might give it a try -- removing the battery on the G5 is trivial. How long do you need to leave the battery out to get the full reset? I have no idea.