GPS on S4 not working even after factory reset with Odin.

[fuzzybabybunny]

The GPS for my T-Mobile S4 hasn't worked very well for the past half a year or so. It takes forever to get a lock and if it does it drops it almost immediately.

I downloaded the official and latest NK2 firmware, flashed it with Odin, did a factory reset and cache wipe with the stock recovery, and after rebooting the first thing I install is the GPS Status app on the new, clean, unrooted, bone-stock system.

The results are still the same. No GPS lock (only some yellow bars in GPS Status, but no green ones).

Considering that I returned everything to stock, does this indicate that a hardware issue is highly likely?

The GPS chip should be built into the motherboard and doesn't have an antenna that could get loose, right? In which case my phone is pretty much FUBAR?

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I'm thinking that my CPU (Snapdragon 600) is hosed in some way. The phone also drops reception a lot and sometimes just flat-out doesn't get reception while other phones do.

I looked at the specs of the Snapdragon 600 in the M919:

https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon/processors/600

I didn't know this before, but apparently the CPU has a LOT built-in.

GPU, WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS (Qualcomm® IZat™ Gen8A) are all built-in on the Snapdragon. So one point of failure and no way to replace the "GPS chip".

My Snapdragon 801 on the S5 has even more built-in:

GPU, WiFi, GPS, all cellular radios, and bluetooth.

 

[s44]

Seems like your radio/antenna is busted. He's dead, Jim!

 

[cpacini]

That is pretty standard now, just about everything is integrated into the SoC.