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Fenix 8 not connecting to GPS

trailexplorer
3 months ago

Hi all,

I have a Fenix 8 AMOLED 47mm running running 12.35. I started a trail run activity but the GPS bar would not move past the initial small red bar that initially appears (i.e. no progress). I left the watch outside for a few minutes and it still did not progress. I then restarted the watch, and synced the watch with Garmin Connect app and the GPS bar still does not progress.

I have a clear view of the sky with intermittent light cloud cover. I last started a trail run activity from the same location 2 days ago and had no problems. It has always only taken a few seconds for GPS to be found.

I have now left my watch outside for 30 minutes and the GPS bar has not progressed.

Interestingly enough my watch was not affected by the recent blue triangle and restarting issue.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

  • 0 3 months ago

    same here ... can we get some Feedback from Garmin please?!?
    Already messed up my Backcountry Skiing Tour yesterday night ... Rolling eyesFace palm tone1
    Don't want it to mess my next Tour today too ... :-(

  • 0 3 months ago

    I have a suspicion…
    Last week, there was the issue where many watches got stuck in an endless loop.
    The problem was caused by the "GPS helper file" ("EPO" (Extended Prediction Orbit) or "CPE" (Connected Predictive Ephemeris)). This file provides the watch with satellite position data for the next few days.

    When this file is missing or corrupted:

    • Without it, a GPS lock can take up to ~10 minutes.
    • With it, the lock happens in just a few seconds.

    They fixed the issue last week, but I’m pretty sure they are experiencing some kind of problem with this file again, which is why GPS lock is not working properly now.

    Just now, my Fenix 8 finally got a GPS lock after about 10 minutes.
    This is definitely the issue.

  • 0 3 months ago in reply to Hellkeeper

    I cleared the issue by emptying the RemoteSW folder and syncing with the PC again. This morning it looks like the watch is able to connect normally. @Hellkeeper I think your onto something, it's the same files causing the issues as last weeks blue triangle problem

  • 0 3 months ago

    same issue yesterday evening (Feb 4), activity recorded but not tracked, today morning (Feb 5) it worked but GPS locking took more time than usually

  • 0 3 months ago

    Everything seems to be working today. I wonder what and why happened? Any comment from Garmin?

  • 0 3 months ago in reply to Hellkeeper

    The issue is we can't delete the file on the watch easily. And if the file has a wrong or bad data it may take much longer o even impossible to fix. Yesterday, I finished an hour of run without a GPS fix. Today, it was instant again.

  • 0 3 months ago in reply to sis651

    since end of december 2024 or start of this year, each sync with GC or GE push a 2 files in the Garmin\RemoteSW\

    this was not the case before

    • GPE.bin (not sure for this one before, only with my Fenix6)
    • GPES.bin (this one is new for me)
  • 0 3 months ago

    I’m still not able to connect to GPS today. Tried syncing with Garmin Connect and then waiting another 20mins with the watch outside in direct view of the sky, but no progression from initial small amount of red bar.  any progress or acknowledgement from Garmin yet?

  • 0 3 months ago in reply to Hellkeeper

    It's a good theory. However, I had a 30 minutes run last night and my watch failed to acquire the signal despite having no obstacles at all. That's too long. Cold start (no ephemeris, no almanac) should take about 15 minutes.

    Although everything seems to be working today, it would be good to understand what happened, whether it was a one-time glitch or not and whether there's something we can do if it happens again (I guess not).

  • 0 3 months ago in reply to volodp

    If the GPS almanac is wrong or old it may take more time as the watch is searching for wrong satellites. Thus in phones we have options to clear the AGPS cache or reset it.

    Today my watch work is working normally, so yours will be resolved soon.