Database Info

Problems with GPS and Lag

I have a Vibrant but the Captivate is basically a twin brother so here it goes.
I noticed that the Feeds Widget, along with the Market and some other apps took far too long to "load" whatever I asked it to do. I did a complete reset and PRESTO! Loading screen times have been cut in half, or completely eliminated in some cases. So yes, you might hate it but this might just solve the slow Email syncing
Next I want to touch on the GPS. I tried all of the "fixes". I still struggled to get a fix.
So I went and swapped my Vibrant out and PRESTO! Instant GPS lock in under 10 seconds. It's still not terribly accurate (5-10 Meters) but it is FAR better than before and my apps/phone don't lock up waiting for a GPS fix! Most notably Speedtest.net was the most problematic 3rd party app when trying to get a GPS fix. I looked at the "retrieving server list" message for 30 seconds at a time on my Old Vibrant and now it comes up within 5-10 seconds.
So yes, if you're having GPS problems you've got to get yourself a new Captivate. I can't tell you which do and don't have GPS problems but I got my phone from the same batch that originally came in and this new one has no GPS problems to speak of on STOCK out of the box settings

Interesting! Thanks for the update! I assume if you do the whole reset you'll have to re-download ALL the apps and widgets and stuff again? Even still, may be worth it. How's your batt life?

radi0chik said:
Interesting! Thanks for the update! I assume if you do the whole reset you'll have to re-download ALL the apps and widgets and stuff again? Even still, may be worth it. How's your batt life?
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Yeah, all of the apps and stuff have to be reloaded but everything on the SD cards will be saved.
I wouldn't be able to give you a good answer because I was fiddling with the GPS and rebooting it so much on my old one. I'll let you know how much uptime I get from a full charge on regular usage.

I'm on my 3rd captivate with no luck. Att doesn't seem to care about swapping them out and don't really understand the issue. I've given up on the swapping and will wait for Samsung to update (fingers crossed)
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Samsung has already come out and said there is a issue with the GPS and will be doing a OTA fix.

Pmac25 said:
Samsung has already come out and said there is a issue with the GPS and will be doing a OTA fix.
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Where have they done this? We need an ETA on that OTA

yeah my GPS is absolutely HORRIBLE. I wanted to show my wife the google maps last night, and we were about 5 mins from the house when I loaded the app.
It seriously took it 2:30 mins to get a fix on us, and we were in a 4-5 bar area.

heygrl said:
Where have they done this? We need an ETA on that OTA
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I can not tell you when they will do it but I have seen it in a couple of threads starting with the one here.
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=732875

Pmac25 said:
I can not tell you when they will do it but I have seen it in a couple of threads starting with the one here.
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=732875
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This is what you are referring to right:
Edit #2:
I was informed by a sales rep at T-Mobile that Samsung is aware of the issue and is going to fix the GPS and the compass issue in their first update.
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Unfortunately I would not take this as a positive confirmation. Carrier Reps will tell you what ever it takes to get you out of their cross hairs.
Anyhow, lets hope Samsung pulls through and fixes this.

Its interesting how different it is for people. Mine was taking 2-5 min to get a fix, but worked fine after that.
I applied the fix pointed to in the vibrant forum, and now I get an almost instant fix. Accuracy bounces between 5 and 10 meters. I'm not sure any GPS gets better accuracy. May be, but I don't know. But that being said, it works perfect for me when driving.

GPS Fix:
Forgive me if you have already seen this, but the fix has been done for the Samsung Vibrant and it works on my Captivate as well (turned unusable GPS into OK GPS):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=728611
Best wishes to all,
okmft

I did it earlier to my Captivate and it didn't seem to help.. Don't know why but I got no better GPS

Vibrant GPS fix - good news for us?

T-Mo Vibrant has a new firmware (not official) but its name indicates it is a September build (T-959UVJI2).
Anyway, those that have flashed it are reporting perfect GPS tracking using mapping and NAV - some even retracting their statement claiming the issue was hardware.
Let's hope we see an official release by the end of the month.
Vibrant ROM thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=780906

Can we flash Vibrant ROMs? I've flashed I9000 ROMs (and then done our own kernel)... I'm tempted to try it

I am one of those vibrant owners and one that claimed pure hardware.
I was gonna dump this for the g2 untilled I flashed the newest firmware. I even made a topic on how its hardware and Sammy will never fix it. Well that same day the rom leaked, I flashed it and it's Now awesome.
Gives better battery
Better GPS
Taskkiller in recent programs list
Hd video
Better reception
Etc.
Definitely a great update and now I will not be getting ride of this, hold on guys its for sure now software. Your GPS is fine it just needs
OPTIMIZED LMAOOO WOOHOO IM HAPPY. JUST NEED FROYO

I just searched through the Vibrant thread on this fix for every reference to the GPS fix. It overwhelmingly came back positive. But there was a minority of folks that indicated it did not help.
The real test will be for longer trips / more time on it to see how the reports go.

Wow, it would be amazing to have this update. Come on, AT&T!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Awesome! I really do hope this does the trick. I could use a working gps and a better battery life.

*Staying tuned........*

This has my attention. Subscribed .
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Does this fix the jumpy compass too?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

someone extracted the GPS files and set it up with instructions for installation by itself http://forums.t-mobile.com/t5/Samsu...flashing-a-new-ROM-Check-this-out/td-p/470739
i flashed the complete leaked unofficial rom and GPS now works great, and i mean ecstatically great - but for non-vibrant owners, you may want to try the above until the AT&T version comes out, official or unofficially

I'm worried the "GPS fix" will be just what we've been seeing... quicker locks on more satellites, and we will get shafted on accuracy. I've had tons of satellites locking very quickly for a long time, but Navigation and My Tracks sucks. My GPS wanders off the road too often, and I'm growing worried that Samsung is not fixing this.
Vibrant people are all happy they are getting lots of satellites, but nobody is showing good tracks.. all negative reports have been from people saying the GPS accuracy still wanders significantly.
*sigh*

phr00t said:
I'm worried the "GPS fix" will be just what we've been seeing... quicker locks on more satellites, and we will get shafted on accuracy. I've had tons of satellites locking very quickly for a long time, but Navigation and My Tracks sucks. My GPS wanders off the road too often, and I'm growing worried that Samsung is not fixing this.
Vibrant people are all happy they are getting lots of satellites, but nobody is showing good tracks.. all negative reports have been from people saying the GPS accuracy still wanders significantly.
*sigh*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is still not announced as a release candidate and is already an older build - so we just have to see what we get.

phr00t said:
I'm worried the "GPS fix" will be just what we've been seeing... quicker locks on more satellites, and we will get shafted on accuracy. I've had tons of satellites locking very quickly for a long time, but Navigation and My Tracks sucks. My GPS wanders off the road too often, and I'm growing worried that Samsung is not fixing this.
Vibrant people are all happy they are getting lots of satellites, but nobody is showing good tracks.. all negative reports have been from people saying the GPS accuracy still wanders significantly.
*sigh*
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Click to collapse
I took a few my tracks. Here's a few http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=203177861999786056973.00049039ea9c9e23685c5
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=203177861999786056973.00049039f8910f0711655
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=203177861999786056973.00049039fce7454f32df5
this one wigged out in a couple places, but that was down on the bottom of a hill with tons of trees and etc. Not perfect, but for me, its all I need. Today I'm driving about 40 mins and ill my track it and navigate the whole way. So far my test are good. Edit: just looked at this one again and its junk.lol still better than nothing..lol
Anyone got a mytracks uploaded from another phone to compare?
Seems like it tracks better driving and gets a little confused when stationary. That's where my wigged points came....

I have attached two track screenshots of the same trip..
Most of the time, it is good (good_track)
Some of the time, it is very bad (bad_track). It sucks knowing I just can't rely on my phone's GPS navigation... if I am in a tricky area, the GPS will jump to other streets randomly... but on long straightaways, it could be just fine. The randomness of reliability is frustrating.

phr00t said:
I have attached two track screenshots of the same trip..
Most of the time, it is good (good_track)
Some of the time, it is very bad (bad_track). It sucks knowing I just can't rely on my phone's GPS navigation... if I am in a tricky area, the GPS will jump to other streets randomly... but on long straightaways, it could be just fine. The randomness of reliability is frustrating.
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Do you have a captivate or vibrant? I've got a vibrant...

Captivate here..

phr00t said:
Captivate here..
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Yea, accuracy still not best on vibrant but locks on well, fast and doesn't lose route in navigation. Way big improvement than before.
If this is as good as it gets for me, I'm happy with it...

can't wait to try this out
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

One of these threads starts every time a new ROM is released and every time the masses cheer, "A GPS Fix at last!". Many posts claim confirmation, others claim no difference, and eventually the results are nearly nill. I'll believe it's fixed when I see it. For me, it works well enough, it could be better, but I don't rely on a GPS device to get me from point to point, I read the map, plan my trip, note key turns and streets, and use the GPS as an assist. I think map readers are going to be huge paying jobs in the future.

has anyone tried to do this on their captivate? i'm hesitant to try.
edit: tried to apply it but it doesn't look like it has any effect because its probably not designed for it

Will GPS ever work like it should

Iv had this phone since the day it came out... this phone is awesome in every aspect expect GPS... I had the blackberry bold 9000 and that had an excellent GPS never gave me any issues I'm really thinking of trading my captivate for a torch 9800 ... what I want to know it that is there any hope for this GPS? And when should. We expect it

In a word No. This really seems like a hardware issue. otherwise this would have been taken care of in the subsequent updates. Cappy is a great device but the gps is very hit or miss. Line of sight is very important if that is lost gps loses fix. It seems like a hardware issue no matter what software fix or setting you can use.

No
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Am I the only one that believes it will with froyo? I'm not giving up!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

If you guys really want your gps to work there are a couple ways I have found to improve it greatly. This is as close to a fix as i can find out there, and I am somewhat happy with my gps now. I say somewhat because it really should have been totally fixed by now. I am running a i9000 rom with my lbstestmode setting stock except accuracy set to 250 which IMO only makes it lock faster and doesn't affect accuracy. I can usually get a lock accurate to 10-15 m in about 5 sec outside. Navigation tracks well I usually only have one or two hiccups on a 30 mile trip. I have been running this set up for about a month and a half so I am pretty sure it will stick. And btw my gps never got a lock stock no matter what I did if I wasn't using wireless networks. Hope this helps.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

I don't think its a hardware issue. I am in Canada and the GPs has been working pretty much flawlessly on the Rogers Captivate. You can see other threads and everyone who has had a Rogers Captivate and flashed other ROMS (ie. AT&T) has noted that their GPS turned to crap.
I have had this phone for a month and the GPS has been stable and I get an accurate reading down to (5-10m) in 10 seconds or so.

I believe that it is a driver issue and how it tries to communicate with the software on our phones. Sure each ROM means different software settings, which I think helps tweak the software to work a bit better with the driver, but until they fix the communication between the broadcom chip and Samsung's (or AT&T) software, it won't work like it is supposed to. Samsung so far has only tried to fix it in their software, not the driver.
This explanation also helps explain why some GPS's are better than others. No two phones have the exact same files and settings, even from stock, which can explain variance of GPS.
However, hasn't anyone else noticed that the more we move away from Samsung/AT&T software on our phones and unlock it, the better the GPS seems to get, little by little? I believe there will be no solution from Samsung, but it will just appear in the Dev section here one day, when one person stumbles upon the real communication culprit when messing around on their system.

On perception build three rom. Did juniper fix. I get a lock in under 10 seconds even with heavy cloud cover. Tracks very well too. It can be fixed. But you have to bee willing to mess around a bit.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

I'm with the OP. I love every single aspect of my phone except the GPS. I LOVE google maps and location based services on the phone. But having them all be crippled is a daily annoyance for me. One person mentioned that the Rogers Captivate works well. Has anyone tried loading a Rogers rom on an AT&T phone?
We all know that GPS issues have affected every initial launch variant of the Galaxy S phones. Is there any version of the phone out there that has gotten an update that fixed the GPS issue for EVERYONE, including TRACKING? If there is, we should be looking into that rom for a fix. If there isn't, I'd say we should be very concerend that a fix will never come.

The GPS will never ever work.

Really too bad for those out there that have GPS not working as expected...I wouldn't be happy either, but since I chgd the supl server to google I've had no problems obtaining a lock-accurate as well..

gmanunited said:
In a word No. This really seems like a hardware issue. otherwise this would have been taken care of in the subsequent updates.
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lol
You're making the giant false assumption that Samsung cares about updating.
mcord11758 said:
juniper
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It's JUPITER, as in, the planet. I tend not to nitpick spelling or grammar but in this case it's really annoying as the first time I heard about this fix I wasted some time searching in vain for JUNIPER (which is a genus of plant), which produces no helpful hits.

I was a non-believer.... The best I ever got was on Stock JH7...
But My GPS is perfect and locks in under 3 seconds on google navigation and tracks perfectly with the Axura Rom.
Last one i tried beta4 worked perfectly. Gonna flash beta5 in the morning and test that out with a long drive tomorrow.
With Axura I have officially left eclair 2.1 in the dust and won't go back due to the over sophistication of Axura. I give it a week or two before it is clearly the most used rom on the Galaxy S line.

I will take a video of my gps and google nav with my wifes blackberry 9700 running os6.
I know my post is unbelievable.. just wait for the video footage.

Krad said:
I will take a video of my gps and google nav with my wifes blackberry 9700 running os6.
I know my post is unbelievable.. just wait for the video footage.
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Anything that incorporates the Jupiter v006 files seems to have significantly improved GPS, including Axura (I'm not 100% sure it uses the Jupiter v006 files but it sure seems like it) and Perception.
I haven't really read of anyone having significant GPS problems once they have any ROM with the Jupiter v006 tweaks or applied it manually themselves, but we'll see as time goes on.

A couple days ago I was in Perception snooping around, and found a GPS settings file in the system that had different settings than in the Jupiter006 file. The Jupiter file was in there, but this file was named something different and a different location, and it used a different supl. I was looking for something else at the time, so I mentally noted it to go back and check it out for testing, but I can't find it now, I looked for it for an hour today. :/

Hmmm..... The GPS locking on is not the problem i get locks with in seconds , what is the problem is accuracy, the gps works NEARLY flawless in locking and accuracy when on a highway or interstate but when driving in the city were streets are close to each other my location jumps around like crazy, im using AXURA beta 5 and ive tried supl.google.com with no luck thanks for all your help everyone, ill look up the Jupiter fix and see if it helps ....I'm not to good with any tweaking other then flashing and lag fix's so if someone can lead me to a tutorial on the Jupiter fix that would really help

JPS81 said:
Anything that incorporates the Jupiter v006 files seems to have significantly improved GPS, including Axura (I'm not 100% sure it uses the Jupiter v006 files but it sure seems like it) and Perception.
I haven't really read of anyone having significant GPS problems once they have any ROM with the Jupiter v006 tweaks or applied it manually themselves, but we'll see as time goes on.
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with perception 4 i had my worst gps problems. I have had good lock times with just about ever rom including stock but with perception 4 i had difficulty acquiring locks period.
Tracking is a bigger issue. I don't believe the gps will ever track perfectly or even close to the performance that it should. Someone claimed their device tracks perfectly with auxura which i haven't tried but will....but again i am skeptical and would be curious exactly how much real-time driving navigation they have tested.
Anytime someone brings up the notion of this being at least partially a hardware issue people say that it just speculation. Asserting that it isn't is no less speculation.
With some of the beastly devices coming (as soon as january...im looking at your terminator aka olympus) not address the serious gps flaw is not good business. So i believe if it could be fixed with firmware it would have been and you wouldn't hear them use words like OPTIMIZE instead of fix/repair. Am i the only one the thinks it seems they realized they can't fix it and are just trying to hold on and sell as many as they can (several places had them free with 2year contract yesterday and this weekend) before the next serious contender hits.
I really don't care for IOS but mapquest + wife's iphone 4 is a good example of how the gps on a phone can and should function in regard to locks and excellent tracking.

Krad said:
I will take a video of my gps and google nav with my wifes blackberry 9700 running os6.
I know my post is unbelievable.. just wait for the video footage.
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Click to collapse
would love to see this. please make sure to use a route with plenty of turns..and some portion of city navigation. I am skeptical that it will track you through every turn as a gps should. Straight line tracking isn't using a problem except for the occasional lag. The tracking problem is it has a serious issue being able to track you accurately enough to know when you had turned 50% or more of the time.
UPDATE
just flashed axura 5 so will give it a brief nav test shortly.
The aesthetics of the settings menu is very nice in this build. I wish they would give up on 3d app drawer though UGLY and SLOW.
Haven't had much time to play with it yet but will report back.

limited testing but might have to eat crow.
FRESH FLASH of AXURA 5
only a 10 mile drive but did incorporated 12-15 turns.
Lock time and accuracy when stationary was great.
Best tracking and turn by turn navigation i have had yet.
Only missed one turn and it corrected itself to actual location much quicker (before when i would turn nav would continue through the intersection and start giving verbal reroutes thinking i was on a different street and then when it would finally think it had correctly re-rerouted it would actually be running parellel to me 1 or 2 blocks off).
Taking this with a grain of salt further testing necessary as i have had promising results with fresh flashed roms before only to have them quickly go to crap within a few days testing. But this is one of the more promising so i will be staying with Axura for now.
The only gps issue that really stood out was a little bit of a lag after you had been completely stationary. Slight Lag pinpointing me on road after i pulled out of driveway and same thing when leaving grocery store parking lot.
PS - are you using the stock gps settings that came with the flash or did you modify anything.

Nexus S Freezing - How big a problem is this?

I'm on the verge of buying a Nexus S but I am now reading about many freezing issues where the phone loses all responsiveness after the backlight goes out on occasion - the only solution being to pull the battery and reboot, only to have it happen again.
This thread shows that some people are returning their phones to Samsung and are seeing a fault diagnosis of 'bad BGA' and a fix of 'PBA replaced'
Original Problem:
Technical Inquiry
Phone Freezing / Locked U
Freeze/Delay Between Menu
Problem found:
BAD BGA COMPONENT
WARRANTY, REPLACE PART
Solution:
Replaced PBA
Passed All Functional Testing
Just how wide a problem is this, is it something that will affect pretty much everyone at some point or are these cases failry isolated?
edit: I am buying from someone who has this phone on contract so I am wondering also if I will be able to get support from Samsung should I run into this problem. Are warranty issues dealt with by Samsung direct or are they passed through the carrier when originally obtained on contract?
Any thoughts?

never experienced any of these problems. you have a 30 day return policy (maybe less now)

zephiK said:
never experienced any of these problems. you have a 30 day return policy (maybe less now)
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Unfortunately not, see my edit above.
Also, it seems users are running into this problem after owning the device for a while, taking them beyond their 28 day / 30 day return

i've had mine since it was first available and never had any problem like this.

I've also never seen this.

milkham said:
i've had mine since it was first available and never had any problem like this.
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same. ive had it maybe like a 1.5 week after release date

It happens to me if i mess around with custom kernels and o/c speed but so far if i use netarchy's stable CFS, it'll be fine. No freezing and having to pull my batt.
It happens if i use hornity or some BFS kernels. Haven't tried Jame Bond yet to test it out.

i think the OP is confusing the SGS issues with SNS
the SNS doesn't have any of those problems listed.

AllGamer said:
i think the OP is confusing the SGS issues with SNS
the SNS doesn't have any of those problems listed.
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the thread the OP linked is Nexus S

only time that has happened to me is when i overclock to 1.4 ghz and the phone can not handle it

Ok, it's encouraging that this isn't affecting everyone but still a bit worrying.
AllGamer said:
i think the OP is confusing the SGS issues with SNS
the SNS doesn't have any of those problems listed.
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Click to collapse
Wrong - as zephiK has pointed out, the link is to a whole load of people having issued with the Nexus S, NOT the Galaxy S.

I believe the most problems with smartphones are in software, not hardware. And software could/should be patched/updated.

and this is one of the reasons that preventing me from walking into cpw and buying it tomorrow.

I am Having this exact issue with my phone. it is unusable the phone freezes every 20 minutes. Hope Samsung finds a fix for this soon.

I just got my nexus s the other day but I haven't had any freezing either I hope those with the issue get it sorted out though

loading another ROM would help, or perhaps it might be a hardware issue, in which case, take it back for an exchange

AllGamer said:
loading another ROM would help, or perhaps it might be a hardware issue, in which case, take it back for an exchange
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Click to collapse
Happens in stock rom, and many other custom roms too. So I dun think its the rom problem

oh dear, this is exactly what I'm concerned about. Any pattern as to which are affected by this, ie just slcd or just samoled? Only a thought.
I shall soon receive my second nexus s and I really don't want to have this problem!

I'm using the i9023 if that info helps.

Yes thanks but it's not what I wanted to hear as the chances are that this is the one I will receive.
I've heard of people reporting successfully fixing this with a full reflash, others say it's a hardware issue.
Keep us posted.

Nexus S NFC activation error (An error occurred)

I am experiencing a very annoying problem with my Samsung Google Nexus S GT-i9023 (pearl white). Everything works fine except the NFC chip.
Every time, I try to turn on the NFC chip in the wireless menu, immediately the message "An error occurred" appears. So the NFC chip won`t turn on at all. No reboot, stock recovery (wipe internal storage etc.) could solve the issue.
Background information:
My Nexus S is 3 days old. It came out of the box with Android 2.3.3. I updated immediately after the first boot to 2.3.4 via OTA! I didn't check it with 2.3.3. Around the net are a lot of people experiencing the same(!) problem. No matter if it is a i9020 or a i9023. Also some people say, that it worked before with 2.3.3 and after updating to 2.3.4 NFC stopped working. I not able to verify this information.
Well meanwhile my Nexus S is at Samsung Germany service partner, called Bitronic Service Line. The guys called me some days ago, to inform me, that they don't know how to fix it. The placed an issue at Samsung Germany itself, so Bitronic is awaiting now reply from Samsung.
My question to xda-developers forum users:
Are you invovled in such a problem? Do you know a working fix? Probably sb. heard something about a defective production lot or maybe about udapting problems via OTA?
By the way, for more information, my and other Nexus S users story, can be read in the android forum. Just search via google for "Nexus S NFC error". It is issue nb. 13581. Sry but since I have only a few posts, the board rules does not allow me to post external links. Sry for that.
Attached a screenshot of the error msg.
Thx for information or any help.
Regards.

Same problem here. Sent my nexus s i9023 also to bitronic germany a week ago. Still waiting for a reply.
I tried alot ROM's (cyanogen, MIUI, nscolab etc.) and kernel's. Nothing helped. So I think this is a hardware problem.

According to a callback of Bitronic (Samsung Germany's contractual Service Partner), my problem could be identified as an hardware bug. They told me, that they replaced a specific part. Which exactly, I don't know.
I´ll get my phone back in around 2-3 days. Then I will post an final statement.

just got my nexus s back. everything is working properly again, so it was definitely a hw bug. From my side the problem is solved.
If someone is experiencing further problems with de- and activating the NFC chip, keep going on with reporting here.

Cool story bro.
Just kidding. Sending it out and getting it back in 2 days is pretty great turnaround. Sounds like quality service. Glad it got sorted.

Got my SNS back today. NFC is now working. Seems so that samsung has found the bug.