Why would GPS be disabled in my Novatel U720?

VanDee

I'm a new EVDO user with a Novatel Ovation U720 modem. Internet access all works very well, but the GPS function appears to be completely disabled. In SCM 3.10.014 Settings | Sprint Location Services, some of the boxes and buttons are checked but all are grayed out and entries are ignored. All the text from Mapping & Search Services down is entirely grayed out including the TEST GPS button. All the Number of Sats .. Elevation data in the lower right corner box are "Unknown".

I've tried this with the Mode on the "Sprint Mobile Broadband - Novatel Wireless" page set to Automatic, EVDO only, and 1xRTT Only .

I also downloaded the Smartview v1.16.0007.0 software. The GPS button at the bottom of the main page is grayed out. All the fields on the Settings | Location/GPS tab are grayed out and non-functionsl.

Any ideas what might disable the GPS function besides the Mode?

This is the first time I've looked at the GPS related stuff. Maybe it's broken but shouldn't the Test GPS function at least be available and tell me that?

I bought the modem second hand from an eBay vendor so I don't know how old it is. Has the U720 always included a GPS receiver or was it added at some point? If not all U720s have a GPS, can I tell from the serial number or one of the software displays whether this one does?

aznoohwee · EVDO Newbie Joined: 21 Sep 2008 Posts: 2

I believe that the U720 is the same as the dell 5720 but in the USB form factor. In that case GPS by default is disabled until you activate the card. There is a registry hack you can do to enable GPS. [url]sarcasm.com/it/index.php/2008/02/13/i-think-i-finally-got-the-gps-working-on-the-dell-5720-sprint-evdo-broadband-card/[/url]

Depending on your OS the key location may vary. I'm running vista and I found mine under HKLM/Software/Novatel Wireless/NextGenCom

This will enable the GPS button in the connection manager and will also enable COM6.

VanDee

I downloaded my mobile broadband software from Sprint's web site. The registry entries look somewhat similar but significantly different from the parts of Dell's DMBCU registry shown in IT's article. Regedit says there's no key containing "GPSHW" anywhere in my registry. (Windows XP SP2.). There is a NextGenCommon subkey but it's in the path:

HKLM\Software\Novatel Wireless\Generic\NextGenCommon

I don't know the significance of the "generic" subkey. None of the values for that key on my machine match any of the value's that appear in IT's article. Followig in IT's footsteps, I used Process Monitor to capture all the registry activity by the Sprint software. (Hadn't heard of Process Monitor. Very useful.) Then I played with some of the values that looked like they might have something to do with enabling/disabling GPS but haven't been able to get it to work yet.

aznoohwee · EVDO Newbie Joined: 21 Sep 2008 Posts: 2

I don't know if you've seen this thread yet but the users there have been wrestling with GPS on this card for some time and may have some solutions.

Good luck!

[url]evdoforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=4423&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=75[/url]

VanDee · Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:41 pm Post subject: re: topic 44238

Thanks for the pointer. It was an interesting discussion but, as the final posts indicate, the GPSModule.exe is gone from the more recent versions of Sprint's software so I don't see how to make use of the fixes discussed there.

Using that article for ideas how to search evdoforums, I found several other posts from people having similar sorts of problems. Unfortunately, like this one, they all end in 2007 with similarly inconclusive results. I don't know whether the problem's gone away with recent firmware/software updates or whether everyone's just given up.

I downloaded both the SCM and Smartview software from Sprint's web site within the last month. I'm not clear whether the latest firmware and other components comes with those applications. I hope so since the Update PRL, Update Profile and Update Firmware buttons on the Settings -> Mobile page in my versions Smartview are all grayed out and non-functional.