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Forerunner 735XT not picking GPS signal, GPS not working

Former Member
Former Member over 5 years ago

I just picked up a Forerunner 735XT and have used it for about 3 weeks. For 2 weeks it managed to pick up GPS signal. For the past 7 days it has failed to pick up GPS signal.

I have spent about 6 hours in the outside with clear blue sky each day of the past 7 days. It has not once picked up GPS signal in this 7 days period. The watch just says that I should wait for GPS to be ready.

In the specifications it says that this watch should include GPS functionality without a limited use of 2 weeks. Am I wrong?

My sw: 9.80, GPS 3.30, display 2.10, bluetooth/ANT: 2.50, WHR: 2.20, Connect IQ: 2.4.9.

I have reinstalled garmin express on my computer 100 times and resynced about 1000 times.

Has anybody ever managed to pick up a GPS signal using a Garmin Forerunner 735XT or any Garmin device at all? I would like to know how you did it.

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    I've been using a FR735XT for over 3 years, and never had any issues with GPS reception. Try rebooting the watch. If this does not help, try hard reset. And if hard reset does not help either, then contact garmin support, as it's possible that your watch is defective.

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 4 years ago

    Updated to 9.80 a few weeks ago and have been having bluetooth connectivity even after a factory reset. Wondering if anyone else is?

    Wanted to downgrade to 9.70 does anyone have the .gcd file for this?

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 4 years ago

    Were u able to fix it I can't get gps on mine a disaster I only have since March and no response from Garmin 

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I have been using FR735xt more than 2 years. Till last April, my watch was able to get 5 bar GPS in just few minutes and tracking was excellent. When I've started running again on June, after quarantine was lifted, I couldn't able get GPS. I have tried everything. GPS only, GPS and Glonass, deleting apps and widgets, soft reset, hard reset, latest updates, virus scan, storage bad sector check nothing worked. Once I left the watch on the balcony 2 hours and still no GPS. 

    However I keep trying, leaving the watch on the run mode on the balcony or whenever I was outside stationary. Eventually It managed to connect. Currently what I am doing is putting the watch on the balcony on the run mode (power save timeout extend) as soon as I wake up. It usually takes 20-30 minutes to receive a healthy connection. Also I sync the watch over pc at least once week so EPO file remains up to date.

    I have still problems though. Some days it just refuses to find any satellites or tracking ends up all mushy.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to ozsmara

    My GPS acquisition is much slower too. It used to be within 10 sec if I am in the same location as the last use. Now it is 3-5min. If it acquires a signal, and I leave the run/OW swim mode, it will re-acquire with in 10 sec. However the next day itr is 3-5 min again. It seems to forget where it was and starts the search anew. I have GPS version 3.30, but kept the software at 9.60 (which otherwise works fine) to avoid all the nightmares people reported about 9.70 and possibly 9.80. So I can rule out that the problem (in my case) is caused by the new firmware. That said, I just enter the sport mode while stretching or put on deck while  it acquires a signal.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to seilogramp

    Good point, thanks. But syncing will also update me from 9.60 to 9.80, which I have been hesitant to do since all else works well. I guess there is a cost.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to seilogramp

    Actually I manged to sync with gc without updating the software from 9.40 (I miswrote). It worked, thanks ! I thought location files were updated from last use. Good to know. It acquired GPS in <5sec.

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 4 years ago

    On the watch, I have a file ERR_LOG.txt showing that update from 9.70 to 9.80 never fully completed:

    Build Type: RELEASE
    Commit:6f1f5947db9aff6c6ebf9d7299ddaae73d40e641

    09/26/20 13:23:20
    RTL
    errnum: 0x001
    r0: 0x2000acf0
    r1: 0x00000200
    r2: 0x0010199d
    Stack frame PC, SP: 0x00103a01, 0x2000a8c8
    Call Stack - SP at 0x2000a8c8:
    0x000b5ffb
    0x000cfabd
    0x0010199d
    0x0010199d
    0x000d0dcb
    0x0000fdeb
    0x0010199d
    0x000cff15

    ...

    (call stack continues)

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 4 years ago in reply to Former Member

    After a factory reset, install of 9.80 is complete and GPS version is 3.30 instead of 0.00. Trying to get GPS signal.