My MacBook Pro with Retina display shows wrong current location

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Level 1

10 points

My MacBook Pro with Retina display shows wrong current location

I purchased my MacBook Pro when I was a student at a particular university in Hawaii. After I graduated, I moved back to my home country in the Philippines. When I use Google Maps or Bing Maps to show me my current location which is now in the Philippines, it still shows that I'm still at that university in Hawaii. I tried using the Find My iPhone App, it shows my iPhone's and MacBook Pro's location in Hawaii but not at my current location in the Philippines. I tried resetting the PRAM, changing region settings, and even my timezone manually, but still having that wrong location info whiich I need in case I lose my iDevices and try to locate them and they'll all point to Hawaii!

Please help! Thank you!

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)

Posted on Jun 2, 2013 5:20 AM

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Answer 1

a brody

Level 10

85,366 points

Jun 2, 2013 6:33 AM in response to lbgalotera

I don't know how the phone gets its location, but this is how Safari on a Mac does.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4239

explains how location services is done on Macs which is different. You should probably enquire on the iPhone forum for more info on the iPhone location.

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Answer 2

lbgalotera Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 2, 2013 7:18 AM in response to a brody

I understand but it's my Mac location via Safari or Chrome I'm talking about. My iPhone gives the correct location from time to time. But my rMBP gives the wrong location all the time.

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Answer 3

Jun 2, 2013 7:57 AM in response to lbgalotera

Do you still have your DNS servers set to those you used in Hawaii? Go to the Network system preferences and click your active connection (likely WiFi). Then click the Advanced button and go to the DNS tab. In here, if any DNS servers are manually editable (ie, not grayed out) then select and remove them.

Additionally, go to the Security & Privacy system preferences, and then in the Privacy tab click the Location Services option. In here, select "Location Services" and ensure it is checked and enabled (you might try toggling it off and then back on).

Lastly, you can try resetting the privacy database for location services on your system by running the following command in the OS X Terminal:

tccutil reset CoreLocationAgent

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Answer 4

lbgalotera Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 2, 2013 11:09 AM in response to Topher Kessler

Thank you so much!! The terminal command did it..

My DNS servers are manually set to the Google Public DNS ones 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.8.4. And I have turned the Location Services on and off multiple times with other varying settings each time just to check.

But your third advice fixed it. Thank you! I have been searching online for months! I just thought of posting something here today and within hours, I got a fix.

Again, thank you!

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Answer 5

lbgalotera Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 2, 2013 12:49 PM in response to Topher Kessler

It works now with other browsers - Chrome and Firefox. They show my location, but in Safari, it still shows I'm in Hawaii and even in the Time Zone settings in Sys Preferences. This bugs me a lot. I reset Safari and still shows me I'm in Hawaii. I used Google Maps and Bing Maps to locate me at my current location but the system still shows I'm in Hawaii although Chrome and Firefox now shows that I'm in the Philippines. So I tried resetiing the CoreLocationAgent service again and got an error. It said Failed to reset the database. I tried Find My iPhone again but shows my Mac in Hawaii. I'm just concerned about this since it can't locate my Retina MacBook Pro in case it gets stolen!

I don't know if this is a bug in Mountain Lion or am I missing something?

Please help again... Really appreciate it.

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Answer 6

Jun 2, 2013 1:50 PM in response to lbgalotera

Try clearing Safari's cache, or simply resetting Safari. You can do this by using the Reset Safari option in the Safari menu.

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Answer 7

lbgalotera Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 2, 2013 1:56 PM in response to Topher Kessler

I did for several number of times including clearing the database and turning off then on Location Services. But then still reports the wrong location.

I was just thinking of just wiping my Mac and installing a fresh version of Mountain Lion to at least set everything to local, but then that's just a lot of hassle now that I have an ideal setup for photography and recording music.

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Answer 8

Jun 2, 2013 2:11 PM in response to lbgalotera

Does the problem only happen in your user account? To test this, create a new user account in the Users & Groups system preferences, and then log into that and try Safari there.

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