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Garmin Forerunner 255 – GPS Issues

DoDo
2 months ago

Hi everyone,

I’ve been having trouble with my Forerunner 255’s GPS for the past week. It suddenly stopped finding satellites when starting outdoor activities like running or walking. Until then, it worked perfectly.

I tried restarting the watch, syncing with Garmin Express and Garmin Connect to refresh satellite data. Oddly enough, it worked yesterday and I completed a run. But later in the day, it failed again.

During today’s workout the signal even dropped mid‑activity and hasn’t come back since. Sob

Now, it just keeps searching without locking onto GPS – even after 30 minutes under clear sky. It’s very unreliable and I can’t figure out any pattern. I’ve tried everything except a factory reset.

Anyone else had similar issues? I'm on software version 23.20. Would really appreciate any suggestions!

  • 0 1 month ago

    I have the same issue. Few weeks now.

    No GPS signal. It can search for hour. I also tried everyhting, from adding the watch, restart it etc.  Obviously I don't want to factory reset it.

    I found out, the corresponding "ephermesis" file in "RemoteSW" folder on the watch, is not updated by Garmin Connect app. It is clearly an issue with the Garmin Connect app.

    support.garmin.com/.../

    A workaround is, to connect the watch with cable to PC, with Garmin Express tool. Then the ephermesis file is updated. And GPS is aquired immediately as it should be.

    Of course this is really annoying. As GPS acquisition time, and GPS accuracy drop, the older the file is.

    Basically you cannot really on it after 24 hours. where your woraround might loose GPS in the middle of woraround.

    And after 48hours you get no GPS again. And you have to connect your watch per cable to PC and Garmin connect.

    Please do something with it!!!

  • 0 20 days ago

    Anyone has an update on this bug? Really annoying

  • 0 20 days ago in reply to gendrons

    I use the method @4941014 descried above - updating the ephermesis file via Garmin express. It's the only way it's working so far.

    I'm starting to believe the issue must be in the Garmin Connect App. I really hope they fix it soon! @Garmin please have a look at this issue!

  • 0 20 days ago in reply to DoDo

    I use wifi to sync the watch, and have no issues with the ephemeris file. 
    In the old days, when I used the Connect app, I noticed that there was a different progress bar under the device menu. It first did a regular sync, then continued for quite a long time sometimes, probably downloading upgrades or other files. In fhe front page of the app, this was not visible, and I always disconnected before it was finished with that second part.

  • 0 20 days ago in reply to DoDo

    that is actually my assuption also. Only thing i didn't try is to complete factory reset the watch. But I doubt it will solve the problem. 

  • 0 13 days ago

    This is also happening to me, GPS won't connect. Was out riding after it finally connected and it lost signal half way through. 

    GARMIN FIX THIS

  • 0 3 days ago

    I've had the same issue for a couple of months where my 255 took ages to get a satellite lock, and then even when I had a lock, it would periodically lose lock during an activity. I tried a lot of things to see if I could sort the issue, including a factory reset. A couple of weeks ago I changed the location setting on my iPhone for the Garmin Connect App from 'While Using the App' to 'Always'. Surprisingly. this sorted my problem completely. The watch now gets satellite lock within 10 seconds again and stays connected throughout my activities again.

    No idea why this change worked, considering the 'While Using the App' setting has worked for years, but it is definitely the change that fixed my problem

  • 0 3 days ago in reply to sprog1033

    Does the watch GPS work if you disable bluetooth on the watch before trying it? 

    I'm wondering whether your watch is somehow relying on the phone instead of its own GPS, or whether Garmin just added some flaw where it gets confused if it is talking to Connect to get an assisted fix and the Connect app isn't providing a current location.

    I almost always use my FR255 with bluetooth disabled, so it is operating standalone. I only sync once every week or so to upload my tracks and update the satellite ephemeris on the watch.