A method and apparatus for automatically correcting the frequency of a local oscillator of a receiver. A primary common pilot channel (CPICH) code sequence is generated by a CPICH code generator based on a reference cell identification signal and a frame start signal. The received despread CPICH code sequence is used to generate an estimated frequency error signal. A control voltage signal is generated by a control voltage generator based on the estimated frequency error signal. The CPICH code generator generates the CPICH code sequence based on signals received from a high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) serving cell when HSDPA is active, or a timing reference cell when HSDPA is not active. The present invention achieves full maximum ratio combining gain when space time transmit diversity (STTD) is used, even without receiving a transmit diversity indication.