The present invention provides a method and apparatus for a satellite navigation receiver to lock onto satellite signals in the cold start mode with no information on the receiver position, the satellite position, or time estimates stored in the receiver's memory. All satellites in a positioning system are divided into groups based on the satellite constellation structure. In an embodiment, the positioning system is the Global Positioning System (GPS) and all GPS satellites are divided into three groups. During initialization of the receiver, the satellites are searched per group to lock onto at least one satellite signal. Other satellites are then searched in a given order based on their respective distance or proximity to the first satellite acquired. This method reduces the Time-to-First-Fix (TTFF) ordinarily required by conventional receivers in the cold start mode.