So it seems that part of the equation is if the receiver can't get a satellite signal for a certain length of time.
With the GPS receiver powered, this is known. Without the GPS receiver powered, this is potentially new information, but not entirely shocking depending on how long the receiver stays active after the player is disconnected from it.
In either case, if the receiver stays active for too long, without the patch, it will attempt to "fall back" to cold boot mode. I thought I managed to explain this, but I guess not.