GRL3/GPS not working

[Joshua Nall]

I thought I was going to have some time to work on this, but looks like a chase today in E AR. Last Friday and Saturday the GPS quit updating to GRL3. It would do it everytime, after about 30 minutes or so that I restarted the computer. The only way to fix it was to restart computer and reopen GRL3. Exiting the GPS software would not fix it. Just restarting GRL3 would not fix it. I unpluged the puck plugged it back in, etc. The thing is when I would open the GPS monitor it showed to be working correctly... data was flowing everything working correctly, so the data was just not being sent or being recieved by GRL3. Just a shot in the dark that someone might know whats going on. I know there is somesort of go between that converts the data, but I don't know how to check it. Maybe it happened to you, any ideas would be appreciated. I'll look around on the GRL3 forums also if I have time. Thanks

 

[Timothy Finn]

Joshua,

I had very serious difficulty in making my GPS work and play well with GRL3. Here's how I fixed it:

My GPS puck is set up on COM5
In Franson GPSGate, Input is COM5.
Output, I removed ALL of them excepting the one direct feed, or whatever. I then added two virtual COM ports, NOT a Virtual COM1 with whatever support it lists. My two virtuals showed up as Virtual COM1, and Virtual COM2. GRL3 was set on Virtual COM1, and Delorme was set on Virtual COM2.

Using that setup, I have had pretty flawless GPS communications.

Hope that helps.

Tim

 

[Joshua Nall]

Thanks Tim, and it actually worked for about 3 hours yesterday. This time when it quit (I guess the program that creates the ports) it gave up an error window that said I would have to reboot to fix it. Seems odd to me that it would work for a time and then quit. But I know very little about how programs work together and all, especially when we're talking about creating virtual ports, etc. I should have said what I have, its the LT-40 and delorme serial emulator. The emulator I guess is what I don't know how to check if it's working correctly. I've since read that many people have had issues with Delorme and I'm going to try some of the suggestions I've found. I had a family member install some virus protection on my truck laptop recently and they made fun of it big time, saying things like dinosaur and well I'll come back tomorrow and see if its finished. If I buy a new one, I feel like I might just run into more complex problems. It's a genuine love/hate relationship with computers.

 

[Timothy Finn]

I was having some serious problems with my old laptop, a Dell Inspiron laptop that was purchased circa 2003. Upgrading to a new, fast, Windows 7 machine solved more than one issue for me, LOL. Then it became a matter of learning Windows 7, and it's ins and outs.

By the way, the instructions I gave were for GPSGate, with the USGlobalsat BU353 puck. It was actually pacakaged with my copy of DeLorme Street Atlas.

Tim

 

[Skip Talbot]

LT-40 and delorme serial emulator.

There's your problem right there. Junk that puck and the crappy software it uses and pick up a Globalsat puck.

 

[Mark Blue]

Skip is right about the LT-40 as it winds up creating unnecessary brain damage for most folks. What's even more interesting is Delorme now sells the Globalsat BU-353 puck on their website, so that says a lot right there. Scrap the serial emulator and get Franson GPSGate to replace it. The express version is free and it allows you to create 2 virtual ports last time I checked. There is also a sticky here in the Equipment thread (fourth topic down from the top) that addresses the most common GPS issues in case you weren't aware that it's there. Let us know if we can be of further assistance.

 

[Joshua Nall]

I have a Dell Latitude. I forget the number, but it's the perfect size and has the non glare screen... just slow.

There's your problem right there. Junk that puck and the crappy software it uses and pick up a Globalsat puck.

That's probably the best suggestion I've read.

 

[Joshua Nall]

Skip is right about the LT-40 as it winds up creating unnecessary brain damage for most folks. What's even more interesting is Delorme now sells the Globalsat BU-353 puck on their website, so that says a lot right there. Scrap the serial emulator and get Franson GPSGate to replace it. The express version is free and it allows you to create 2 virtual ports last time I checked. There is also a sticky here in the Equipment thread (fourth topic down from the top) that addresses the most common GPS issues in case you weren't aware that it's there. Let us know if we can be of further assistance.

Thanks Mark, for the information on GPSGate. And I knew there had been some discussion on here before concerning GPS issues, but was not aware of the sticky.

 

[Joshua Nall]

http://www.nicknoltewx.com/blog/2012/02/09/logging-your-gps-stream-from-the-chase/

I'm ordering a globalsat puck today and I found this blog post by Nick Nolte that explains how to download and install GPSgate and how to set things up to log your GPS stream. I know this is baby steps type stuff for most people but I'm wondering if I need to remove/uninstall the serial emulator first. Anyone got a good link for information on how to do that? I'd like to learn it anyway, and have something that I can go to and read rather than follow steps.

 

[Jeff Hawkins]

I've got a related question to this issue...instead of DeLorme Street Atlas, I bought Microsoft Streets and Trips 2010 and got whatever puck came with it, which I have no idea what brand it is. It's rectangular with a flashing "Microsoft" logo when it's connected to the laptop. I've had it hooked into my laptop and running GR3 and able to get location with it ok, but have had issues with the COM port settings where I have to restart everything and reset a new COM port if I restart the laptop. Is this normal? Or would buying a Globalsat BU-353 puck work better?

 

[Skip Talbot]

I'm wondering if I need to remove/uninstall the serial emulator first. Anyone got a good link for information on how to do that? I'd like to learn it anyway, and have something that I can go to and read rather than follow steps.

Start->Run->Add Or Remove Programs. You can uninstall the serial emulator if it's listed there. I don't think it will do any harm as long as it's not running though.

I've got a related question to this issue...instead of DeLorme Street Atlas, I bought Microsoft Streets and Trips 2010 and got whatever puck came with it, which I have no idea what brand it is. It's rectangular with a flashing "Microsoft" logo when it's connected to the laptop. I've had it hooked into my laptop and running GR3 and able to get location with it ok, but have had issues with the COM port settings where I have to restart everything and reset a new COM port if I restart the laptop. Is this normal? Or would buying a Globalsat BU-353 puck work better?

If you plug your GPS into a different USB port, the COM ports will change on you. if you plug in other devices in a different order before you plug in your GPS, it's possible the COM ports could change on you as well. If you've changed nothing, as in got it all working, and then simply reboot, and it's no longer working, there is definitely a problem. Are you using GPSGate? I'm not sure why Windows would juggle your COM ports on you after just a reboot, and I'm not sure swapping pucks will fix the problem.