29 satellites available , 0 Connected

[rs4-sson]

Guys

Haven't been able to get the car to "find" its GPS position. Did some checking in the Settings / GPS viewer and found that I'm not connected to any satellites at all eventhough the system says there are 29 available. Anyone know where to look for the fault before it goes to the local stealer?

I don't have VAG COM (and don't know anyone who does) so haven't tried to see the fault code.

If I need to replace something - which part of the SatNav system would it be? The GPS receiver part I guess but does it have a formal name?

Thanks for your help

[derdle]

I think there are only 29 GPS satellites up there in total...and a GPS system can only ever see a few of them - perhaps 6 (not too sure on the figure) as the rest of them will be below the horizon.

Don't know what will need looking at though - sorry.

Paul

[rs4-sson]

Hi guys

I'm still having this problem but can share the following new information.

Disconnected the battery - left it overnight and re-connected - Now the GPS Viewer setting says there are 32 satellites but that I am receiving 0 of them - "Geographical location could not be establed"!!

Took the car to Audi - diagnostic machine couldn't find a single fault with the Nav system or the antenna, the tech was as stumped as I was!

After following advice on other Nav fora, I have just updated the firmware to Nov 2001 version - this did not help. Still not able to pick up a single satellite so am constantly "lost" somewhere 100kms north!!!

This is a nightmare - any ideas anyone?

[HGH]

Try it with another antenna, a vdo / blaupunkt will fit.

[rs4-sson]

Hi

Forgive me for being dense - but what do I actually need to replace. Is it the twirly bit that screws off or would it be the whole unit (including cable)?

Any pics explaning how to do this? Where can I source an antenna from?

Sorry for the questions here but I am not on familiar ground.

Cheers

[derdle]

I am confused...because I didn't think that any PS system could see 29 or 32 satellites ... I thought the maximum number in possible view at any one time was 8 or 10 (cos you can't see those below the horizon). Sounds like a software fault to me. It's not run on Windows ME is it?

Are you able to disconnect the antenna from the Nav unit and plug it into another GPS receiver (eg Road Angel or other camera detector or better still another sat-nav system (Tom Tom etc)) .. this will then show that the receiver is or is not working. Perhaps the aerial cable has broken?

Paul

[ChipHazzard]

My sat nav has just developed the same problem, did you ever get to the bottom of it ????

[ChipHazzard]

I've been doing a bit more investigation over the weekend and narrowed it down to either the cable or the ariel by taking the head unit out of the dashboard and plugging in another GPS ariel and bingo it picked up straight away.
Does anybody know how the cable routes back to the ariel and if there's any plugs in line

Cheers

Mike

[Nige_RS4]

My GPS antenna failed on my old S4 - gave the same symptoms! I replaced it for around £45 for an OEM one and fitted it myself (Audi also failed to diagnose it correctly). You need to gain access to the bottom of the GPS antenna by removing the headlining and there is a single nut which holds it on.

HTH

[ChipHazzard]

Cheers Nige, I had the base unit off over the weekend by popping out the rear light in the head lining and unbolting it that way, there's 3 cables coming out of the base, is there a connector handy to disconnect and swap them over or is it a case of out with the soldering iron ??

[Nige_RS4]

The connector is under the headlining, but I noticed that all three antenna leads (radio, gsm & gps) had different length tails on them. No need for a soldering iron.

[ChipHazzard]

cheers, I'll have a look when I get home if it stays dry