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IPhone 4 Random No Sim Message?

This happened to my wife's phone the night of the launch.

Next morning I showed up at apple store at 8 am., asked to see a genius, and got a replacement.

It's clearly apple's problem. Every "remedy" short of replacement fails within hours or minutes.

For my wife it was a big deal, because we have a 3-month old baby and no landline. The prospect of being at home with a baby and no phone was (justifiably?) freaking her out.
 
Have those who tried swapping SIM and still getting the message swapping their phones?

Seems like the next logical step.
 
On hold with Apple right now.

I spoke with Apple last night but I did not have my wife's phone with me at the time. She did create a case and I am now in the queue to speak with a "Senior Adviser". Apple is/was aware of the "No SIM installed" issue when I spoke with her at least. That gives me a little better feeling vs. the "That is the first I have heard of this issue sir" that I was expecting to hear.

I will update with the outcome of the issue. Since I don't have an Apple retail store nearby I would assume best scenario would be them shipping one to me. Of course a "small" charge would apply right? :mad:
 
stalyons said:
I spoke with Apple last night but I did not have my wife's phone with me at the time. She did create a case and I am now in the queue to speak with a "Senior Adviser". Apple is/was aware of the "No SIM installed" issue when I spoke with her at least. That gives me a little better feeling vs. the "That is the first I have heard of this issue sir" that I was expecting to hear.

I will update with the outcome of the issue. Since I don't have an Apple retail store nearby I would assume best scenario would be them shipping one to me. Of course a "small" charge would apply right? :mad:
Click to expand...

No, in my case I told them there is no way I would pay for the shipping to repair a new phone. They gave me a "repair ID" told me to take that to UPS and UPS knew exactly what to do. They took my phone, took my name and just told me this will be in CA by 10 a.m. the next morning (I had a next day drop off cut off of 6 p.m.).

However, since the nearest Apple is 2 hours (relatively short compare to some other folks here) I should have just bite the bullet and drive down there. It seems from what I have read Apple store is more willing to swap out new phones than when you chat with you online. They now have my phone, and I'm getting ready to call back and do a "Round 3" with them. I'm just going to ask for a new phone directly, none of this "We will have to do a full check up" crap, when other people can just walk in and out of the Apple store and swap out a new one in 10 minutes.

I had a phone for about 26 hours and now it's been gone for about 72 hours now...
 
I had this happen two times today. Out of nowhere. The first time, I shut the power off and on three times before I got the signal back. The second time, I took the SIM out and reinstalled it, after which it worked fine. If it happens a third time I'm going to the Apple store.

What exactly is the defect? I don't recall these issues with the 3GS.
 
aajeev said:
No, in my case I told them there is no way I would pay for the shipping to repair a new phone. They gave me a "repair ID" told me to take that to UPS and UPS knew exactly what to do. They took my phone, took my name and just told me this will be in CA by 10 a.m. the next morning (I had a next day drop off cut off of 6 p.m.).

However, since the nearest Apple is 2 hours (relatively short compare to some other folks here) I should have just bite the bullet and drive down there. It seems from what I have read Apple store is more willing to swap out new phones than when you chat with you online. They now have my phone, and I'm getting ready to call back and do a "Round 3" with them. I'm just going to ask for a new phone directly, none of this "We will have to do a full check up" crap, when other people can just walk in and out of the Apple store and swap out a new one in 10 minutes.

I had a phone for about 26 hours and now it's been gone for about 72 hours now...
Click to expand...

Excellent, I have one being shipped my way tomorrow and should arrive Tuesday. They placed a $699.00 hold on my credit card until my current phone is returned to them. They did waive the shipping fee as well. The Apple rep begin the call by asking how the "phone was being held". I said "it is being held in my wife's hand". I mean really, Apple has come so far and we are now being told not to the hold the damn thing a certain way. She then told me I would have to go to AT&T to swap the SIM first. I told her "I paid $300 for this phone, and I pay AT&T over $100 a month for service and I am sitting here holding a piece of unusable garbage in my hand." She then placed me on hold for a minute, then returned with the offer to ship me a new one. I really hope this new one somehow does not have the same issue. :confused:

Good luck everyone! Keep us all updated with your progress please.
 
Round 3 - Slight better...

Just spoke to Apple advisor they are pretty useless just so you know. The guy had me on hold for 15+ minutes to transfer me to this dispatcher and he hang up right the way. The dispatcher lady ask if I have any questions, I told her "No....the stupid tech support was the one that was confused" and she was said he promptly hang up after transfered you me to already. I'm like great, all along he was just trying to get me off his back.

Anyways, it turns out that Apple had no idea that the iPhone 4 was already received by them on the 25th morning. I had to pull out my UPS tracking and give to the dispatcher to convince her that it's there already. She said she will send this info to them to get it process first thing in the morning. The only comfort thing I got out of this 30+ minutes phone call is that 1. She has forward and notify the repair department that they have received the phone already, 2. She told me that most likely they will just send out a new phone by tomorrow afternoon. I REALLY hope that is the case, if not we will have to do a round 4 with Apple again...more to come.
 
had it once when I got the phone and went away after 2 reboots. never occurred again since, strange indeed
 
But wait.....there's more!

Looks like as we sit waiting for the new iPhone 4 (replacement from Apple - see above posts) her phone now has decided not to keep photos it just took. If she takes pictures and emails them immediately they send, but once you leave the photo album and come back those new pictures are no longer there. It also starts with the white screen stating something like (building photo album - or something close to that) before allowing her to view her pictures. It does that every time you open 'Photos'.

Once she opened the 'Photos' and NONE of her pictures were there. After a reboot most were there minus the pictures she had taken in the last 10 minutes.

This just keeps getting better. I just pray the new iPhone 4 is issue free. BTW, she plans on setting it up as a "New Phone" in iTunes once she gets it JUST IN CASE this issue (in part or in whole) is related to something goofy going on with her iTunes backup of her old phone. Anyone have any thoughts on that please?

Thanks guys!

P.S., the Apple 1-800 support folks have always been very helpful and polite. Please treat them nice, firm but nice, when you talk to them. I am sure they are getting caught in the crossfire after this release. It is just a shame the bugs could not have been worked out before this mess started on a grand scale. Looks like Apple as a whole is 0 for 3 so far. STRIKE OUT! From the issue with the iPhone 4 being exposed by Gizmodo, to the pre-order online debacle, now with this issue and a hoard of others.

Good luck!
 
stalyons said:
Looks like as we sit waiting for the new iPhone 4 (replacement from Apple - see above posts) her phone now has decided not to keep photos it just took. If she takes pictures and emails them immediately they send, but once you leave the photo album and come back those new pictures are no longer there. It also starts with the white screen stating something like (building photo album - or something close to that) before allowing her to view her pictures. It does that every time you open 'Photos'.

Once she opened the 'Photos' and NONE of her pictures were there. After a reboot most were there minus the pictures she had taken in the last 10 minutes.

This just keeps getting better. I just pray the new iPhone 4 is issue free. BTW, she plans on setting it up as a "New Phone" in iTunes once she gets it JUST IN CASE this issue (in part or in whole) is related to something goofy going on with her iTunes backup of her old phone. Anyone have any thoughts on that please?

Thanks guys!

P.S., the Apple 1-800 support folks have always been very helpful and polite. Please treat them nice, firm but nice, when you talk to them. I am sure they are getting caught in the crossfire after this release. It is just a shame the bugs could not have been worked out before this mess started on a grand scale. Looks like Apple as a whole is 0 for 3 so far. STRIKE OUT! From the issue with the iPhone 4 being exposed by Gizmodo, to the pre-order online debacle, now with this issue and a hoard of others.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

I agree that they have been nice and polite so far. However, some of them just love to transfer you to either the dispatcher or ATT without really understanding what the problem is. I'll make sure to keep the updates coming and let you guys know what I get. What I'm thinking right now is if Apple told me they need couple more days to "check" my phone, I will either tell them No, and send me a new one right away, or I will tell them that they can keep the phone and I'm going to ask for a return and they better not charge with any restocking fee. Considering this is a brand new phone, I don't expect to go soft on them with their whole restocking fee policy.

All I really want is a new working phone, I have been calling Apple at least 10 times over the last 4 days, and it's just getting annoying, wasting my time and wasting my minutes. I even have to call ATT and tell them to place my data plan on hold so I don't have to pay for it while the phone is in the shop (I'm using a non-smart phone right now). I will make sure to report back tomorrow with any news.
 
Had the same "No SIM card installed" issues. Took it back to local apple store and diagnostics showed a particularly high count of modem resets so I was told.

Microsim was from 22nd, previously was in my 3GS with no issues. Apple swapped the phone out no qualms. Now doing a restore.
 
aajeev said:
I agree that they have been nice and polite so far. However, some of them just love to transfer you to either the dispatcher or ATT without really understanding what the problem is. I'll make sure to keep the updates coming and let you guys know what I get. What I'm thinking right now is if Apple told me they need couple more days to "check" my phone, I will either tell them No, and send me a new one right away, or I will tell them that they can keep the phone and I'm going to ask for a return and they better not charge with any restocking fee. Considering this is a brand new phone, I don't expect to go soft on them with their whole restocking fee policy.

All I really want is a new working phone, I have been calling Apple at least 10 times over the last 4 days, and it's just getting annoying, wasting my time and wasting my minutes. I even have to call ATT and tell them to place my data plan on hold so I don't have to pay for it while the phone is in the shop (I'm using a non-smart phone right now). I will make sure to report back tomorrow with any news.
Click to expand...


Curious, how does Apple have your phone? I missed it I believe. Did you take it to a store or ship it in. The reason I am asking is, they had no problem sending me a replacement (well, it is not here yet so I will wait and see) as long as they held a $699 charge on my card until they receive my old one. Did you not get that option. My past history with AT&T sucked. I bought a new 3GS and that night realized the entire screen had a yellowish tint. I took it right back to the same store, they told me to call Apple and they would replace OR come back the next day if Apple would not and they would exchange it. Apple told me to go back to the store and exchange OR they could send me a new OR refurb (whichever they chose I suppose) for a $29 shipping fee! I was like "WOW, I just bought it brand new yesterday and you want to send me a used one AND pay more money to get it?" They said I could just go back to AT&T to get the new one. AT&T the next day took my reciept and circled the back of it where it talks about all issues should be directed to Apple. I had to explain the issue and raise HECK to finally have the manager "waive it" and give me another brand new one. IN short, with iPhone issues I will NEVER step foot in an AT&T store or talk to them again when it comes to brand new hardware. I pressed Apple nicely and they worked with me to replace my wife's iPhone 4 over the phone.

What a mess all of this is. I am sorry for your issues and I hope you get them resolved quickly. :(
 
It happened to me on launch day. They re-seated the sim and the phone has been good to go!
 
s8film40 said:
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.
Click to expand...

After about two days haven't received the "no sim" or "sim failure" message. So far it seems switching sims helped. I still have my genius appointment on tuesday to address the rattling noise, but at least it seems usable till then.
 
s8film40 said:
After about two days haven't received the "no sim" or "sim failure" message. So far it seems switching sims helped. I still have my genius appointment on tuesday to address the rattling noise, but at least it seems usable till then.
Click to expand...

Me too, except what I did that "worked" was to wipe and restore to a clean slate. I'm starting to suspect that if there is a hardware problem it is triggered by conditions on the network and 1.7 million new activations in AT&T's system over three days. If this is true then doing nothing would have had the same impact as all these tests and replacements we've been doing. After my genius meeting today I'll go back to my old restore and see if the problem returns.
 
stalyons said:
Curious, how does Apple have your phone? I missed it I believe. Did you take it to a store or ship it in. The reason I am asking is, they had no problem sending me a replacement (well, it is not here yet so I will wait and see) as long as they held a $699 charge on my card until they receive my old one. Did you not get that option. My past history with AT&T sucked. I bought a new 3GS and that night realized the entire screen had a yellowish tint. I took it right back to the same store, they told me to call Apple and they would replace OR come back the next day if Apple would not and they would exchange it. Apple told me to go back to the store and exchange OR they could send me a new OR refurb (whichever they chose I suppose) for a $29 shipping fee! I was like "WOW, I just bought it brand new yesterday and you want to send me a used one AND pay more money to get it?" They said I could just go back to AT&T to get the new one. AT&T the next day took my reciept and circled the back of it where it talks about all issues should be directed to Apple. I had to explain the issue and raise HECK to finally have the manager "waive it" and give me another brand new one. IN short, with iPhone issues I will NEVER step foot in an AT&T store or talk to them again when it comes to brand new hardware. I pressed Apple nicely and they worked with me to replace my wife's iPhone 4 over the phone.

What a mess all of this is. I am sorry for your issues and I hope you get them resolved quickly. :(
Click to expand...

While on the phone I tried to be polite but firm with them. I told them the phone is no working and I can't work with a broken phone. So they put me in this "Do-it-yourself" repair process. Gave me a repair ID and ask me to take it down to UPS and UPS would do the rest. And I told Apple since this was a new phone there is no way I'm going to pay for the shipping. I'm current on the phone with Apple again, I'll come back and update after the phone call.
 
aajeev said:
While on the phone I tried to be polite but firm with them. I told them the phone is no working and I can't work with a broken phone. So they put me in this "Do-it-yourself" repair process. Gave me a repair ID and ask me to take it down to UPS and UPS would do the rest. And I told Apple since this was a new phone there is no way I'm going to pay for the shipping. I'm current on the phone with Apple again, I'll come back and update after the phone call.
Click to expand...

So there was no offer to place a "hold" of $699 on your card while they shipped you a replacement? That is what I would ask for if you can. What a mess!

:mad:

BTW......my wife has NOT had the issue since sometime last night. It seems to come and go sporadically. I just hope her new phone does not experience the same freakin' issue!
 
Has anybody had this problem in the last 36 or so hours? If so, please share whether you have replaced the SIM or restored to a clean OS.
 
Round 4

So just got off the phone with Apple AGAIN, for AN HOUR!! They said that the phone is in repair and they won't know any result for the next 3-5 business days. The lady then ask me why didn't I do the "advance replacement" procedure (this is that Apple actually send out a replacement phone for you first, and you send your back to them). I said, during none of the conversation I had with Apple was I offered the "advance replacement" procedure. She then said there is no way I can get a replacement phone out to you until the department finish "checking" the phone which is going ot take 3-5 days. I said you have two options 1. You figured out a way to get me a new phone, since I have been away from my phone for the last 5 days after only had it for little bit more than a day. 2. You give me a full refund of the phone.

She came back couple minutes later saying that there is no way for her to give me a new phone until they look at it. But they will do the refund for me. So I said fine, I will take it.

So now, they are going to take the phone back from the repair department and send it back to me, and have me send it back to them to properly complete the return process.

Just got a call back from apple saying that they have been able to pull the phone from the repair department and are sending it back to me overnight. So looking at the timeline here I might be able to get the phone back to them for refund by Wednesday. Hey Apple, thanks for nothing after more than 6 hours and 10 different Apple advisors.

Lesson learned:
1. Never be "innovator" again, thinking that you got lucky once doesn't mean you will again.
2. If you must buy a new one buy it, but if you have problem always take it to back to the Apple store and don't try to deal with these apple advisors...

Ps. Every time I called back Apple advisor always started out by saying "Seems like you have a SIM problem here", I said no "I have a phone problem..." It looks like they have never fully understand the problem, even until the end...
 
I had the issue Saturday afternoon. Rebooted and went back to normal. Couple minutes later back to No Sim. Popped it out, put it back in, back to normal. Couple minutes later - No Sim.

I had the micro sim replaced by AT&T right before the US/Ghana game and have not had any problems since.
 
spblat said:
Has anybody had this problem in the last 36 or so hours? If so, please share whether you have replaced the SIM or restored to a clean OS.
Click to expand...

*raises hand*

I had figured this issue was over. Kept my genius bar appt to ask about the grip of death and maybe get a free bumper (nothing doing) and just then I got the error. Hello from my new iPhone.

Summary: new SIM ineffective. System restore "as a new iPhone" also ineffective. Prior posters are right: if you see this problem you need a new unit.
 
spblat said:
*raises hand*

I had figured this issue was over. Kept my genius bar appt to ask about the grip of death and maybe get a free bumper (nothing doing) and just then I got the error. Hello from my new iPhone.

Summary: new SIM ineffective. System restore "as a new iPhone" also ineffective. Prior posters are right: if you see this problem you need a new unit.
Click to expand...


Just spent another 2 hours with Apple on the phone after my last post. They are sending "something" back to me they are not sure if it was my old defect phone (repaired?) or a "new replacement" phone. What I'm afraid at this point is that they just turn on the phone and probably didn't see the "No SIM installed" message and just decided to return it back to me. Once I get it, if I see the message, I'm making a trip down to my closest Apple store (about 2 hours away).

Let's just say this was a HUGE HUGE mess, the Apple advisor and Apple dispatcher have no idea what they are talking about it's just a mad house down at Apple. I highly recommend, if you have problem and if the Apple store isn't to far away, drive down and get a new one. Instead of spending hours on the phone and days of waiting for something to happen.

If you are having this problem, DO NOT think lightly is a simple SIM fix. Get a new one, because the problem will come back!!
 
have been getting this message on my 3G for about 6 months now, and I am in Japan on Softbank SIM. i just have to re-seat the SIM and it is good, although that is not a good solution.
 
aajeev said:
Just spent another 2 hours with Apple on the phone after my last post. They are sending "something" back to me they are not sure if it was my old defect phone (repaired?) or a "new replacement" phone. What I'm afraid at this point is that they just turn on the phone and probably didn't see the "No SIM installed" message and just decided to return it back to me. Once I get it, if I see the message, I'm making a trip down to my closest Apple store (about 2 hours away).

Let's just say this was a HUGE HUGE mess, the Apple advisor and Apple dispatcher have no idea what they are talking about it's just a mad house down at Apple. I highly recommend, if you have problem and if the Apple store isn't to far away, drive down and get a new one. Instead of spending hours on the phone and days of waiting for something to happen.

If you are having this problem, DO NOT think lightly is a simple SIM fix. Get a new one, because the problem will come back!!
Click to expand...


After starting my "Advanced Replacement" and Apple placing a $699 hold on my credit card the lady at Apple assured my replacement iPhone 4 would be shipped out on Monday with a Tuesday arrival time. So far (8pm Central time) my status is still "Status: Product replacement pending" . Sooooo, I am currently on the phone with another person trying to find out if/when the replacement is to ship. He is trying to reach dispatch (20 mins on hold so far) to find out when it is to ship. He told me before he tried to contact dispatch "it will probably ship tomorrow and arrive Wednesday". Well Yipppeee then!!! I am still on hold waiting on some sort of idea when the dang thing is to ship. It is frustrating sitting here with a POS iPhone 4 which has now gone from the "No SIM installed" and dropping a call forcing a reboot to simply abruptly and more and more frequently dropping calls. Again, it is strange how the NO SIM INSTALLED has not reared it's ugly head all day. This is just a mess. I will report back on what the Apple dispatch has to say about my shippment (or lack there of). :(
 
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