Help ... Can't get ANYTHING to work!

glenham1 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 07, 2003 Posts: 10

I've just bought an IPAQ 3850, Rikaline 6012 GPS and TomTom2 for my car (an old -P reg- Laguna).

Everything appears to have loaded okay and when I plugged it in the car yesterday morning, the GPS Status Screen looked like it was doing something (the N and E numbers were changing and the arrow was going round! But on a 40 minute car journeym it didn't find a single satellite to lock on to.

When I tried again on my way home (and again today) the whole GPS Status screen appears in dull grey and does nothing. The green light on the Rikaline GPS 6012 receiver is ON so it must be working. I've tried movimg the receiver to different parts of my windscreen, and in case the glass was blocking the signal even left the receiver on the roof!

Last night I tried re-loading the software into the IPAQ in case it was that.

Can anyone give me some advice please! TIA

lbendlin · Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 4:35 pm Post subject:

Can you please load a GPS test tool from our download area and see if you can monitor the incoming data stream? Make sure you set the receiver to COM1, 4800, NMEA before you try anything else.

Let us know how it goes,
_________________
Lutz

Report Map Errors here:
TomTom/TeleAtlas NAVTEQ

glenham1 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 07, 2003 Posts: 10

Just noticed ... I ordered a Rikaline 6010 GPS through e-bay (see link below) ... what I received was a Rikaline 6012.

Since 6012 wasn't in the TomTom GPS configs, I set it up for a GPS 6010, but looking at the specifications they ARE different!

I've checked the Rikaline site and this is what it says (although it means nothing to me!)

GPS-6010: SiRF Star II chipset with embedded ARM7TDMI CPU available for customized applications in firmware

GPS-6012: Rikaline G-I chipset with embedded R3000 level, MIPS I class, 32-bit RISC processor available for customized applications in firmware.

Does this mean I've configured the IPAQ wrong, and if so, how do I change it? Please remember I'm a complete novice!

jc1959 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 28, 2003 Posts: 2

I have the 6012 and it works fine with TT2 as either the 6010 or the Tom Tom receiver. What may be the problem is the car!

Some manufacturers have shielded windscreens (particulalry common on cars with heated front screens) and I think that Renault are one of the manufacturers that can have problems. When this happens there are usually some areas of the windscreen where signals can get through (for mobile phone aerials). Try positioning the receiver by the tax disc or if you can between the rear view mirror and the windscreen.

Best of luck

John

glenham1 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 07, 2003 Posts: 10

Hi John

Thanks. It's an old Renault Laguna (no heated windscreen) and I've tried different positions over it or under the mirror ... I even tried with the window open and the GPS stuck in the roof!

I've tried different configurations and looked at the download area as suggested by Lutz. As a novice, WHICH GPS test tool do you recommend and what am I supposed to do with it (sorry to sound completely helpless). I looked at FPS Tweak (the ARM version as the others wouldn't woprk on my IPAQ?) - but it keeps defaulting to 9600 on IRDA Port and even though it accepts Com 1: it then drops back to IRDA.

What I don't understand is why the IPAQ was actually looking for a fix the first time I used it (the arrow was circling and the numbers changing) even if it couldn't find any .. but now it won't do anything; all the Nav details are light grey.

Advice please

MikeB · Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 11:54 pm Post subject:

If you download the WinFast Navigator, then you can try various settings and view the data that the GPS is trying to send.

I would start with NMEA at 4800Baud as this is the default setting for most GPS devices. Then work from there.

I am assuming that you do not have a serial keyboard driver loaded, as this is a very common reason that the GPS driver does not load properly.
_________________
Mike Barrett

prognosis · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 28, 2003 Posts: 8

Mike
I have a similar problem, how can I check to see if I have a serial Keyboard driver loaded on my IPAQ?

Thanks

Dave · Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2003 7:28 am Post subject:

Easiest and quickest way to tell is....

Have you ever plugged a PPC keyboard or thumbpad into the bottom of the Pocket PC and knowingly installed a driver for it manually ?

If the answer is yes, then yes you do have a keyboard installed.

DavidW · Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2003 7:02 pm Post subject:

Just a comment on the specifications earlier in this thread - with the 6012 being Rikaline's own design, the correct setting in the TomTom GPS driver is "NMEA 0183v2 4800".

Other settings that work may be designed for SiRF based GPSes. When the TomTom driver is configured for a SiRF GPS (which includes the Haicom GPS setting, incidentally, even though the majority of Haicom GPSes are Evermore chipset based, not SiRF), even when the GPS is being run in NMEA mode TomTom GPS sends some SiRF proprietary configuration commands to tune the GPS output to what it would most like.

I very much doubt this is the problem in this case; I think it's more the observation by many people that the Rikaline 6012 just doesn't work. However, it's never a good idea to send configuration commands for the wrong chipset to a GPS - it might just interpret them in an unwanted manner, particularly as some Rikaline documentation hints that the 6012 may have its own binary mode.

I suspect the keyboard thing is a red herring. The TomTom GPS driver usually complains that the serial port is not available if a keyboard driver is running and has claimed the port (the rules are different, I believe, on the iPAQ 4350 - the built in keyboard on that model doesn't, to my knowledge, occupy the serial port).

I suspect those that can't get the 6012 to work on a Pocket PC that does have a serial port and for which they have the correct cable (this excludes the iPAQ 1910 which has no serial port, also possibly other 1900 series models, but not any other iPAQs), that haven't knowingly installed a keyboard driver, and that have set "NMEA 0183v2 4800" and "COM1:" most likely have a broken GPS. If a heated or coated windscreen is the problem you should still have the scrolling dots in the TomTom GPS driver.

David

MikeB · Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2003 11:25 am Post subject:

You have probably got one of the faulty 6012 devices that have reached consumers. I received a message from Rikaline UK which contained:

	PocketGPS
	Web