Help! Lost GPS signal on my new TomTom XL

[DaveH-A-B]

Hello,

I bought a new TomTom XL (W.E.) a few weeks ago. It worked fine in the UK for a week & then I took it to Italy where it again was fine for 12 days. However, a few days ago I turned it on & just had the "waiting for valid GPS signal..." message. It also showed my last position as my home in the UK which was worrying as I'd been using it successfully in Italy for 12 days! I tried re starting etc with no luck so I waited until I returned to the UK & re connected it to TomTom Home today. I downloaded the latest satellite positions etc but with no luck - I'm still "waiting for a signal".

Can someone help/advise on this?

Thanks!

[DennisN]

Go outside, clear sky and let it find the signal, could take a few minutes. Preferably plugged into the car to be properly powered up.
_________________
Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

[DaveH-A-B]

Thanks Dennis, that did the trick. It took 10 minutes of sitting in the car & I nearly gave up but eventually it worked.

Any idea why it would suddenly lose signal like that, considering it had worked so well previously?

Thanks again for your help!

[DennisN]

Not the faintest idea! I just know you need to give it chance. I would expect if you go outside again now it'll find a signal quite quickly. But if you go out and drive off without switching it on, then switch on whilst you're driving, you'll be waiting to get a signal fix for absolute ages. Same goes if you switch on but drive off before it's got a fix. Switch it on before you start fiddling with your seat belt and sun glasses and you'll probably find it locked on before you start the engine. Or get the car out of the garage onto the drive, then wait for it to log on with clear sky.

It's a good idea to switch it on again at the same place where you switch it off, then when it starts looking for satellites, it'll look where it found them last.

Also, I use my TT every day so it keeps in contact - I always set a route too, never mind whether or not I know where I'm going - I sort of feel it keeps the navigating spider on its toes, don't want it to stop concentrating!

Edit - I forgot to add I haven't downloaded QuickGPSFix since February. It gets the satellite info whenever it gets signal - QuickGPSFix is a bit of marketing hype!!
_________________
Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

[Andy_P]

It seems to be just one of those things.
It always finds signals FAR faster if:
1. you switch it on in the same place as you switched it off
2. you remain stationary until you get a fix.

I took my 720 to Spain last week and was surprised at how quickly it got a fix while on the plane. It happily tracked us at 400 MPH across the ground.
But when I got in the hire car (in an underground carpark of course), I found myself headed straight out onto a major autoroute with no fix.
In the end I managed to pull over on a sliproad to try to give it a chance, but got shouted to move on - I was in the entrance to an airforce base!

I actually ended up setting up a demo route from the airport to the town we were heading for and ran it at 200% with my wife trying to remember what it had done .

It didn't sort itself out for well over 20 minutes.

[pcaouolte]

Took my GO510 to America a few weeks ago and was very impressed with the fast fix when I put it in the hire car. Out in the open it had a fix before I had sorted out the seat and mirrors. I did have QuickGPSfix loaded just before I left the UK and I didn't use the tomtom on the aircraft (BA don't like you to).

After landing back at Heathrow I got a fast fix again for the drive home. The QuickGPSfix data would have expired by then because the tomtom had not been connected to a PC for two weeks.

Overall no problems getting a fix with or without QuickGPSfix except for the usual underground locations or places with lots of high rise buildings.

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