Gizbeat 101: GPS Not Working On MTK6592 MTK6582 MTK6589 MTK6577 MTK6575!

Written by

Android, How To, MediaTek, MTK6577, MTK6582, MTK6592, Noteworthy, Tutorials

gps-mtk6589-mtk6577-mtk6575 Among all the topics that come up on the forum, issues with GPS not working are the most numerous. Rather than typing out the same suggestions over and over again, I’ve decided to make a tutorial to refer to people that may take care of some basic questions and solutions to get GPS working again on MTK6589 MTK6577 MTK6575.

First thing that needs to be known is this is not a Garmin stand-alone GPS. It’s a $20 chip with a whole bunch of other things on it as well. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be functional. It just means that you shouldn’t expect to always have lightning quick, perfect access to 3G. If you do expect that, you will be disappointed. Now that’s out of the way, let’s get on with the show.

Steps to get your 3G up and running:

Go to Settings > Google > Location Settings and make sure ‘Let Google apps access your location’ is ON.
In this same area you will see a box at the bottom of the dialog that says ‘Location Access’ tap it. (alternatively, access this area by going to Settings > Location access. Make sure ‘Access to my location’, ‘GPS satellites’ and ‘Wi-fi & mobile network location’ are all checked / toggled on.
In Settings > Location access, tap the words ‘GPS satellites’. Enable ‘GPS EPO assistance’. Make sure you have internet on, go into ‘EPO settings’ and download EPO data.
Enable AGPS GPS in the same menu.
If you’re rooted, download ‘Faster GPS’ and set your location. This is good for helping with a quick first lock, however after the first lock, the program basically becomes useless unless you change countries.
Download ‘GPS Test’ from Play. In GPS Test App, tap menu / settings > check screen always on.
Go outside for up to 15 minutes and watch the pretty little bars go up and down until you get a lock, or put your phone outside. Subsequent locks should be quicker. Especially if you do it within a short time after the cold lock.
If you still can’t get a lock, you can attempt to delete mtkgps.dat in /data or /data/misc. This method was initially suggested by MayhemVC. After you delete and reboot, your phone will remake the mtkgps.dat file.
Let us know your result on Chinaphonearena.com and post your results here as well along with the phone model you’re using.

Comments

48 responses to “Gizbeat 101: GPS Not Working On MTK6592 MTK6582 MTK6589 MTK6577 MTK6575!”

June 18, 2013

Philip

Thanks a lot!Worked for me! Devices iOcean x7 and Star x290.Super!

Reply
1. August 15, 2013
  
  Ron
  
  Hi Philip,
  Did you rooted your iocean x7? or added antenna for recive GPS signals?
  thanks,
  R.
  
  Reply
  1. April 11, 2014
    
    mtk6577
    
    if you have epo files download problem,
    it maybe a tcp/ip connection problem. For mtk 6577 phone it helped to ping epo.mediatek.com with a pc while downloading epo file with the phone. It uses ftp to fetch files with these settings:
    
    FTP server: epo.mediatek.com
    Port: 21
    Login: epo_alps
    Password: epo_alps
    
    It also may help to delete epo files with Root File Manager before downloading.
    
    Reply
July 9, 2013

plumpo

Star N9700 – Still not good enough, i’m afraid. After the cold lock its faster but i still have to wait for that first lock of the day, or after the phone has been restarted. this one’s going back. Thanks anyway.

Reply
1. July 9, 2013
  
  Damian Parsons
  
  Unfortunately this is standard for MTK GPS. If you require better, you might want to try a Qualcomm based solution.
  
  This tutorial isn’t so much about improving GPS as it is about testing and making sure it’s working.
  
  Reply
  1. November 2, 2013
    
    Kliff
    
    After rooting my S4 clone (mt6575) my gps is not functioning…I have tried all the above mentioned procedure but result zero…but b4 rooting it was ok…can u fix it bro..
    
    Reply
    1. November 13, 2013
      
      Damian Parsons
      
      Have you tried unrooting to see if that really was the problem?
      
      Reply
July 11, 2013

Arie

Most phones I like have a MTK proc, so I guess it will have to do, but before I get one I was wondering, when and how long do you have to wait untill GPS is working? Given you have done all steps above. There is something one time a day or?

Reply
1. July 11, 2013
  
  Damian Parsons
  
  Generally, the very first lock without AGPS can sometimes take quite a few minutes. But after that first lock, a cold lock without AGPS will take anywhere from 30 seconds-4 minutes. Then if turning on your GPS shortly after that cold lock, it should lock within 30 seconds. Usually like 5-15 seconds or so. If you use AGPS, the cold locks should be much faster – like 2-15 seconds, but this requires a data connection.
  
  If you don’t have an always on 2G/3G connection, you can also get your cold lock with AGPS help at your house/office/cafe and then subsequent locks within a short period will be very fast even without the AGPS turned on.
  
  Reply
July 21, 2013

raingods

Works for me, thanks.

Reply
August 6, 2013

sam

Do the gps work if gps chip is available..

Reply
August 20, 2013

ted

It works really nice. fast and reliable.
Thank you very much indeed.

Reply
September 8, 2013

hiok

well it work better then before, gain a MTK phone value, tq for share.

Reply
September 15, 2013

Shlomo

Hi

I have the Feiteng H9500, unrooted.

Is it no dangerous to root it? and then make what you show on your video?

means, after step 4 I have to root the phone and then step 5…

Thanks
Shlomo

Reply
1. September 20, 2013
  
  Damian Parsons
  
  No, the quick root solutions are not dangerous. Flashing a custom recovery can be though, if the wrong recovery is used.
  
  Reply
October 3, 2013

Salvador

Shlomo have your Feitang H9500 fixed now? i have one tried all king of fix and still don work.

Reply
December 5, 2013

roxanne

I downloaded faster gps but when i clicked on region i cant find Malta anywhere :( what can i do?

Reply
1. December 5, 2013
  
  roxanne
  
  Sry forgot to write which phone i have. Its samsung s4 clone (alps gt-i9500)
  
  Reply
  1. March 16, 2014
    
    Ivo
    
    Use your closest country in the list.
    
    Reply
2. March 31, 2014
  
  alanthehat
  
  you’ll find lists of servers here — http://www.pool.ntp.org/en/
  
  Reply
January 2, 2014

Erik

Step 3, download EPO data, consequently fails (EPO update failure). What now? (CUBOT GT99)

Reply
1. March 31, 2014
  
  alanthehat
  
  retry, it can be very slow…
  
  Reply
February 19, 2014

Ken c

Thx for the advise on app “Faster GPS” to set my location. Now my GPS works fine on my phone F9006 mtk6582 / :-) Ken

Reply
March 20, 2014

phazer

i have a star hd-89 and it doesnt solve my problems
do you have any hardwarefix idea?

Reply
March 29, 2014

vinch

Thx Damian. very helpfull.
the probelm I have with my new thl t200 is that the gps position is changing continuosly even if I am in sit down. and when I use any sport app to create a track, even I don’t move the app is creating a track as I was running 1 km already.
Any suggestion? thx

Reply
March 31, 2014

alanthehat

have you any more suggestions, Damian? My Star N9599T isn’t fixing on satellites even though it can see 11..21 indoors & up to 31 outdoors

Reply
May 14, 2014

Boris

I have had a few MTK phones before and I could always find EPO and A-GPS Settings under Location Sources. I now have a Jiayu G5S – MTK6592 and there is no EPO and A-GPS settings at all. Clicking on “GPS satellites” under Location Sources does not open the EPO settings. I have tried with MobileUncle and most of the EPO settings are missing there too. I only get “EPO(DOWNLOAD)” buttons which seems to do nothing. Its really bizarre and my GPS have not yet managed to lock not even once. Any ideas? Thanks

Reply
1. May 14, 2014
  
  Damian Parsons
  
  In my experience, messing with the GPS settings doesn’t do much good other than enabling AGPS. I recommend you restore to factory GPS defaults, delete mtkgps.dat, set country in fastergps app. Then leave it outside for 20 minutes with gpstest app on and set to not turn off screen. If this doesn’t fix the problem, it could be an antenna or other hardware issue.
  
  Reply
  1. May 14, 2014
    
    Boris
    
    Thanks for your reply, Damian. Leaving it by the window for a while actually helped. Are you saying that I dont really need the EPO settings at all? I was about to root and try a different ROM hoping that those setting would appear in Location Sources. Problem is there is still no custom ROMs available for this model yet as far as i can see…
    
    Reply
    1. May 14, 2014
      
      Damian Parsons
      
      Did you get a lock? The first cold lock can take up to 10-15 minutes. Subsequent cold locks shouldn’t take more than 2 minutes. The EPO should automatically be doing it’s thing and updating regularly. Some phones have EPO and AGPS taken out of settings so people can’t mess with it. My THL T11 and THL W200S don’t have it in Android settings either.
      
      Reply
      1. May 14, 2014
        
        Boris
        
        I see. That makes me feel a bit better;] Yes, i did get a lock after about 10mins. Cold locks after that take about a minute. Me happy! Thanks again for your help!
May 30, 2014

sellami

hi Boris,
first Sory for my english,
I use exactly the same phone as you (JIAYU G5S) and have exaclty the same problem,
I am in france and never arrived to fix the GPS.
can you help me please,
tanks a lot

Reply
June 4, 2014

Nita

Hi.
This only work with wi-fi or network connected?
I was wondering if is there any way of this work without then.
Thank you
Nita

Reply
June 29, 2014

Bruno Grilo

I did all this on my iNEW V3 and no first lock on sattelites, then I tryed to add an aluminion foil next to the gps antenna and finally worked. Hope this helps someone out there.

Reply
July 9, 2014

Abhi

Hi Damian,

You are doing a great job – keep it up.
Can you pls help me as well. I cannot find the data/misc folder , where is it?
I want to copy the epo files.
When I connect my phone to the PC, i can only find the data folder which is inside the internal storage (1.79GB), but there is no misc folder inside. can you help pls.

Reply
1. July 13, 2014
  
  abraham
  
  bare in mind: to see files that are under /system or /data/misc (and other system folder) you will need some root file explorer. Regular file explorers will show those folders as “empty” even though they are not. for example ES File Explorer has special setting to enable root actions.
  
  Reply
  1. July 17, 2014
    
    Abhi
    
    @abraham: I rooted my phone and now I can see the misc folder, but i can see only on phone (using “Root Browser” APP)How can I see this MISC folder on the PC?DO i need a 3rd party software on PC to view these folders?
    thanks
    
    Reply
July 12, 2014

Damian Parsons

You can skip that step. It only speeds things up a bit for the first lock.

Reply
1. July 17, 2014
  
  Abhi
  
  @Damian,
  But my GPS is always on “Searching” it can’t even lock to any satellites… please can you help?I have downloaded EPO files onto misc folder but when i try to do AGPS restart – it doesn’t lock to any satellite in fact it does nt show any satellite when scanning.,, please someone help…
  
  Reply
  1. July 17, 2014
    
    Damian Parsons
    
    For this I would recommend deleting mtkgps.dat. /data/misc/mtkgps.dat You will need to be rooted to do it. I can not promise it will fix the issue, but it has solved the constant searching for me and others in the past.
    
    If it does not solve the problem, the issue may be hardware. Your antenna may not be making proper contact. There are several threads about antenna modification at chinaphonearena.com
    
    Reply
July 17, 2014

Howard

Hi, Just wanted to say that I followed the suggestions above on a Jiyau G4 Advanced and all works fine. It took a while to find the first fix but after that GPS locks on very quickly. The biggest difference I have made is to use the Faster GPS to change the server address as the phone was set to Asia/China before changing to Europe/UK.
Hope this helps someone else out there.

Reply
August 13, 2014

mordi34

Thanks so much! Looks like FasterGPS has made a lot of positive difference! Worththe root, thanks again!

Reply
September 6, 2014

Hector

Hi Damian,

You are doing a great job – keep it up.

I now have a iOcean X8 Mini – MTK6582 and there is no EPO and A-GPS settings at all. Clicking on “GPS satellites” under Location Sources does not open the EPO settings. I have tried with MobileUncle and most of the EPO settings are missing there too. I only get “EPO(DOWNLOAD)” buttons which seems to do nothing.
I can’t find the mtkgps.dat and my GPS have not yet managed to lock not even once. Any ideas? Thanks

Reply
1. September 8, 2014
  
  Damian Parsons
  
  Some models have these options hidden in settings, but they should still be seen in engineering mode. There are not many settings for EPO. Mainly just the “Download button”.
  
  Are you rooted? You won’t be able to delete the mtkgps.dat unless you are rooted. Anyways, this is a last resort option.
  
  There is an app on Play called MT GPS EPO Fix that should do the downloading of the EPO for you. Give that a go.
  
  Also, don’t forget to leave your phone outside for 15 min or so with the GPS Test app on and set to “keep screen on”. For the first lock it can take quite a while. It “shouldn’t” take that long, but occasionally it can.
  
  Reply
  1. September 9, 2014
    
    Hector
    
    Yes, i’m rooted. I have searched that options all around the settings and downloaded the GPS EPO FIX, and all still the saeme.
    The other day, i was nearly an hour on my motorbike and the phone on it, and nothing. The phone looked 11 satellites, but didnt be able to lock any.
    
    Im lost….
    
    Reply
November 13, 2014

Laurens

Hi,

Didn’t work on my Star N9800. I have KitKat 4.4.2 rom which I installed using flash sp tools for an Elephone 8.
Can’t see these options you mention on Step 3.

Any advise?

Great posts and tutoriasls by the way!! Congrats and thanks for your great work!!

Lau

Reply
May 23, 2015

Rupert Pupkin

I was struggling with a Voyo X1 tablet which would not lock on satellites anywhere. This fix finally did it. Still a weak GPS signal, this does not have a great GPS chip I guess. but at least it’s not totally dead now. Takes about a minute to lock. Samsung Galaxy Pro 10.1-locks within 5 seconds indoors or out-must have a better GPS chip.

Reply
January 14, 2016

brian mcdonald

I’m about to cry…almost : ) I have bought the oukitel U7 (also coded as MTK 6582) and I am getting nowhere with fixing my GPS – if it even has one. I tried downloading a ‘rooter, but it discovers my phone is already rooted, then the MTK GPS tester can’t access permission, and tells me my phone isn’t rooted. There is absolutely nowhere on the settings I can find to access any root files at all, or have any luck getting location. If you could do a forum on the Oukitel U7, I would be eternally grateful.

Reply