IPhone 4 Random No Sim Message?

[aajeev]

Now, the point of my title "Remind you of another issue?" is this. Did any of you experience the joys of OS 3.1.1 (I believe that was the one) where your phone would go into what was later called "sleep mode"? It was where your phone would just "go to sleep". It was "on" but the screen was black and would not respond until you held down the power and home keys for several seconds. As a matter of fact, if you held those keys down just for a few seconds you would here the camera "CLICK". And when the camera was reset, you would see the picture of a black screen in your photos. This issue when on for weeks with 10's of thousands of people screaming at Apple for a fix. My pleasant experience with the "genius" at an Apple store had me leaving with my blood boiling. They claimed the reason my phone went into "sleep mode" was due to "WATER DAMAGE"! I could have choked the p*ss out of that guy. Then, like magic Apple releases the next release 3.1.2 (I believe) and included in the "bug fixes" was the phenomenon known as SLEEP MODE! In other words, they denied it existed for WEEKS, then released the fix. And from that day forward my issues were resolved. Fast forward to today, I feel the same sort of deny, play ignorant, blame AT&T SIM cards, etc. will be the norm until sometime in the (hopefully near) future Apple will have a fix and we are all happy little iPhone users once again.

To sum it up, I am REALLY p*ssed off and plan on demanding one of three things upon my visit to AT&T in the morning. 1) a new SIM and the problem goes away (doubt it with happen) 2) a new phone (doubt it - where are they going to get one?) 3) full refund. I will buy another in the future once the bugs are worked out.

Thanks for reading this mess. I hope you are relieved that at least if nothing else you have a friend that is just as angry as you that this sort of crap always happens to them.

Okay, now this is interesting. I did experience something similar to the "sleep mode" I would press the Home key and nothing would happen. I thought the phone was just frozen and didn't think twice about it. Since I have never experience the same problem with my iPhone 3gs (I think I got it rather late it was already 3.1.3).

 

[spblat]

My current status:

- Sometimes rebooting helps, sometimes not
- Reseating SIM card always helps
- Replacing the SIM card with a fresh one doesn't help

My latest trick has been to restore the iPhone as a "new" iPhone. Previously I had restored my iPhone 4 from my 3G. Now I am starting completely fresh.

If I do not post again to this thread that means my problem went away.

 

[maf2k8]

I also noticed this starting yesterday, I had it in my pocket and had no calls at all and was just checking to see if i missed anything and it said no sim...

Seems if i powered down the phone and back on again, It was fine ( until it did it again and again )

It also did it once in the middle of a call.

Took it to the Apple store last night and got it swapped out for another iPhone 4 ( because i dont think it could be a SIM related issue simple because if i restart the phone without touching the SIM it was fine )

So far so good....

He said he had a few people coming in for the same issue and have been just swapping the phones out.

 

[JoEw]

yeah im getting the no sim issue 5-6 times a day since i got the 4 on launch day. This is making me very angry, should i go to At&T and demand a new one?

 

[spblat]

yeah im getting the no sim issue 5-6 times a day since i got the 4 on launch day. This is making me very angry, should i go to At&T and demand a new one?

From the sound of it...yes. Tell them your online friends have already tried replacing SIM cards and it didn't work. (But I'm still going good after a clean restore.)

 

[maf2k8]

yeah im getting the no sim issue 5-6 times a day since i got the 4 on launch day. This is making me very angry, should i go to At&T and demand a new one?

No, walk right into Apple and get one....I ordered m ip4 from att.com and even though it shipped from att, Apple will swap it out ( thats IF you have a store near you ) 99% chance ATT will not have any instock to swap

 

[JoEw]

From the sound of it...yes. Tell them your online friends have already tried replacing SIM cards and it didn't work. (But I'm still going good after a clean restore.)

is the sim issue hardware or software related?
cause i don't see how a resore can fix the damn sim card itself.

I think the issue is the sim card is moving around a little when i move my phone in my pocket. and i took out the microsim and it looks like it moves just slightly in the trey that holds it.

 

[aajeev]

No, walk right into Apple and get one....I ordered m ip4 from att.com and even though it shipped from att, Apple will swap it out ( thats IF you have a store near you ) 99% chance ATT will not have any instock to swap

Man, now I feel kinda stupid having it sent back to Apple and I bet they are going to send it back to me and tell me they can't "reproduce" the issue (Murphy's law). I should have just bite the bullet and drive 2 hours to the nearest apple store and demand for a new one. At least I won't have to wait for the next however many days for them to "check" (Apple currently have my new phone) plus however many days to have it ship back then pray to God either they solve the problem or they actually swap a new one for me.

At last I have put a hold on my data plan so I won't be paying that until the phone gets back...

 

[aajeev]

is the sim issue hardware or software related?
cause i don't see how a resore can fix the damn sim card itself.

I think the issue is the sim card is moving around a little when i move my phone in my pocket. and i took out the microsim and it looks like it moves just slightly in the trey that holds it.

Maybe, but in my case I went to sleep with the phone able to detect the SIM and woke up the next day with the "No SIM installed" message. I live alone, so unless "someone" moved it over night, it's not any vibration issue. At least not in my case.

 

[Ferris23]

Wow, I can't believe some of you are still having the message even after a new SIM


The new SIM fixed my issue completely, I'd still say try another SIM but I do wonder if the Antenna issue is somehow related to this as well for some.

Say your fingers are shorting out the antenna signal, could they also be shorting out the SIM connection since the SIM rests right against the antenna side and is metal on metal?

Dunno, but I'm in the clear thankfully, sorry to hear it's not as easy for some of you. I still point to the SIM though.

 

[spblat]

is the sim issue hardware or software related?
cause i don't see how a resore can fix the damn sim card itself.

Me neither. But the iPhone is such a complex combination of hardware, software and network infrastructure that it's difficult to know for sure.

I think the issue is the sim card is moving around a little when i move my phone in my pocket. and i took out the microsim and it looks like it moves just slightly in the trey that holds it.

Possible. Also conceivable that moving around enough to make the phone switch cell towers can trigger the issue. I have been at home since my restore. If I get a failure out running errands later today, that could produce interesting data, if not knowledge.

 

[Ferris23]

Back to my point about a possible hardware issue for some of you with this issue. If your SIM tray was improperly installed either your SIM can be lose or part of the tray could be arching up and touching the metal on the antenna, then being shorted by your fingers.

No idea, just a guess. Try another SIM.

 

[kwjohns]

I haven't had the SIM error since yesterday morning so hopefully the issue is gone.

 

[s8film40]

The rattle is most likely the on/off button. Hold your finger on it and shake the phone again. It should not rattle any more...

Actually that was one of the first things I tried the rattling isn't coming from there. I tried shaking the phone while holding each of the buttons I also tried with and without the bumper I had on it, in each case it still made the rattling noise. Then after going through that was the first time it said no sim. My first thought was that the sim card was rattling inside and so I took it out and it still makes the rattling noise without the sim tray in. I really don't know if these two issues are related or not. Everything else works fine on the phone although I haven't found a way to test the gyro. I have a genius bar appointment for Tuesday, but I stopped into an AT&T store today and got a new sim card it was fine and then right when I walked out the door the no sim came on I reset it and seems fine so far, but I have a few days for my genius appointment to see if it comes back.

 

[aajeev]

Wow, I can't believe some of you are still having the message even after a new SIM


The new SIM fixed my issue completely, I'd still say try another SIM but I do wonder if the Antenna issue is somehow related to this as well for some.

Say your fingers are shorting out the antenna signal, could they also be shorting out the SIM connection since the SIM rests right against the antenna side and is metal on metal?

Dunno, but I'm in the clear thankfully, sorry to hear it's not as easy for some of you. I still point to the SIM though.

Unfortunately yes, should I have try to go down to ATT and try to get a third SIM card? I think at that point even ATT is going to tell them it's no longer their problem....(I'm getting fed up of this Apple and ATT crap, just kicking us back and forth).

 

[maf2k8]

I can almost assure you that this is NOT a SIM card issue and replacing the SIM will not fix the issue, It will come back i am almost certain. You best bet is to swap the phone out ( that might not even fix the issue though )

I think this is either a software or hardware issue with the iPhone and NOT the actual sim card itself.

 

[smatty007]

Wow, I can't believe some of you are still having the message even after a new SIM


The new SIM fixed my issue completely, I'd still say try another SIM but I do wonder if the Antenna issue is somehow related to this as well for some.

I have a rubber case around my phone and stillhave the Sim issue (even on the second Sim Card). So it should have nothing to do with the antenna in my case.

I will wait for a softwareupdate in the next few days and see if that fixes it. Otherwise I'll try to exchange it.

But maybe in your case it was simply a faulty SimCard and not the same problem that others are experiencing here?

 

[aajeev]

I can almost assure you that this is NOT a SIM card issue and replacing the SIM will not fix the issue, It will come back i am almost certain. You best bet is to swap the phone out ( that might not even fix the issue though )

I think this is either a software or hardware issue with the iPhone and NOT the actual sim card itself.

Let's just say I have spoke to ATT about this already, if my phone comes back with the some issue I will either drive down to Apple and ask for a new one or I'm going to return the phone all together. I have had enough with this crap. Oh and Apple, this is the last time I choose to be what you called "innovators" (aka getting shafted, and can't do anything about it).

 

[spblat]

Let's just say I have spoke to ATT about this already, if my phone comes back with the some issue I will either drive down to Apple and ask for a new one or I'm going to return the phone all together. I have had enough with this crap. Oh and Apple, this is the last time I choose to be what you called "innovators" (aka getting shafted, and can't do anything about it).

The sensible thing to do is wait a few months after a big release like this, until unpredictable difficulties like this are in the past. But the fact that we have iPhone 4's early so soon suggests strongly we are not sensible people; we are tech enthusiasts. I would much rather have a quirky iPhone 4 now than a defect-free one later, even if that means I have to harass Apple for support and/or replacement hardware.

 

[punisher1-1]

I had the "no SIM inserted" message starting yesterday and I went to AT&T and got a new SIM. That seemed to work for all about 3 hours. Then last night I couldnt make a call for longer than 30 seconds without the sim error popping up and dropping my calls. I contacted AT&T and they told me to go to my local AT&T and get a replacement who in turn told me to go to the Apple store. I called the Apple store and they told me just to come in and in about 5 min they replaced my phone with a brand new one. So far so good but then again I spend most my time syncing the phone. But they will replace the phone for the SIM issue and Apple has iPhones put aside just for replacements.

 

[aajeev]

I had the "no SIM inserted" message starting yesterday and I went to AT&T and got a new SIM. That seemed to work for all about 3 hours. Then last night I couldnt make a call for longer than 30 seconds without the sim error popping up and dropping my calls. I contacted AT&T and they told me to go to my local AT&T and get a replacement who in turn told me to go to the Apple store. I called the Apple store and they told me just to come in and in about 5 min they replaced my phone with a brand new one. So far so good but then again I spend most my time syncing the phone. But they will replace the phone for the SIM issue and Apple has iPhones put aside just for replacements.

And...that's what exactly what I should have done rather then sending my phone in for inspection... stupid me.

 

[JoEw]

if the software update doesnt help it, im returning my phone alltogeather and getting a fresh one.

 

[aajeev]

if the software update doesnt help it, im returning my phone alltogeather and getting a fresh one.

I'm some what doubt it's software problem, I have 2 other friend who received iPhone the same day I did. Neither of them are having the SIM problem (I'm assuming you are still referring to the SIM problem, since the topic was changed of a bit by couple of the post).

At least you guys who have weak signal and stuff still have a working phone, consider my phone won't even try to search for signal.

 

[aajeev]

SIM works perfect with other phone.

Here is little update to my issue, I was told by Apple to use the SIM in another phone earlier. I told Apple it was unprofessional to expect that I have another phone just lying around for the purpose of TEST. But in fact I do have a unlocked phone around. It's the Nokia 6300 (I just didn't have to time to run the test at the time).

So I shipped off the iPhone 4 to Apple on June 24th, since then I have been using my micro-SIM with my Nokia 6300 (the design of the SIM tray on it allowed it to easily use a micro-SIM). I have been using it since 24th (the "micro-SIM" that was told by iPhone 4 that "No SIM installed" along with my Nokia 6300). It has been working flawlessly over the last 3 days, yes I have the usual drop calls and low bar, thanks to ATT. But have never received a "No SIM inserted" message from the Nokia 6300. And yes, I have tested that Nokia 6300 do show "No SIM inserted" when I take off the SIM and power up the phone. Still think it's a software problem? or ATT's problem? I don't think so...

 

[punisher1-1]

Update: after exchanging my iPhone 4 I have had no sim issues and I am using the same micro sim that was giving me the no SIM inserted message. Definitely a hardware issue. Just take it back to Apple and exchange it. The genius bar was extremely helpful to me and the whole exchange process only took 10 min. Apple said they have iPhone's in stock that are for warranty exchanges only so you don't have to wait for new shipments.