michaewlewis
New Member
I found this thread while troubleshooting GPS on my Surface 3 LTE, and while the discussion didn't directly solve my problem, I believe I figured out the cause of the loss of GPS. I would like to share the information I discovered so that if anyone else stumbles upon this thread with the same question, it might be helpful.
It seems that when you turn off or disable WiFi, it also disables the GPS chip for some reason. I tried different methods of turning off WiFi to come up with a workaround, but everything gave the same result (no GPS). However, disconnecting from WiFi or moving out of range of WiFi (I drove out to the middle of nowhere to test) leaves the GPS in a working state and it gives accurate geolocation.
I requested confirmation from a Microsoft tech (chat support) to verify if this is really happening and if it is by design, but I'm not hopeful for a useful response.
Solution: Leave WiFi on. If you're only wanting to test the functionality, disconnect from WiFi instead of disabling it.
It seems that when you turn off or disable WiFi, it also disables the GPS chip for some reason. I tried different methods of turning off WiFi to come up with a workaround, but everything gave the same result (no GPS). However, disconnecting from WiFi or moving out of range of WiFi (I drove out to the middle of nowhere to test) leaves the GPS in a working state and it gives accurate geolocation.
I requested confirmation from a Microsoft tech (chat support) to verify if this is really happening and if it is by design, but I'm not hopeful for a useful response.
Solution: Leave WiFi on. If you're only wanting to test the functionality, disconnect from WiFi instead of disabling it.