Q: sim card not valid after update to ios 5

Same here.  Went to Apple Store, they made me go to AT&T to install new SIM.  AT&T inserted 3 sims, no luck.  Went back to Apple Store for appointment, they attempted to restore on their Mac.....again... no luck.  They gave me a new phone with iOS 4.3.5.  Of course this worked.  Came home, upgraded 2 iPad2s on my computer to iOS5.....no problems......smooth install.....all functioned and they show up with wireless link in iTunes.  I warned my brother to not do the iPhone upgrade.....he didnt listen to me and proceeded.  His install went without a problem.  So.....I thought.....hmmmm.....must have been my old phone. At 1030pm US East Coast.....me, the dummy....attempted again.  Well......here I am.....again......with a bricked iPhone....the new one they gave me at the Apple Store. Same issue....SIM card not valid or whatever it says.  I have un-installed iTunes...re installed....no luck.  Earliest appointment is Saturday, 15th.....of course.....nothing tomorrow....the 4S comes out retail tomorrow.  They wont make time for me and my bricked 4.

Will update.

I've been having the same sim problem on my iPhone 4 with the 4.3.5 software on it. The only fix is to remove the sim and reinsert. This is one of many problems. My iPhone 4 experience has been a disaster. I'm not going to make it worse by installing iOS 5.

Same thing happened to me.  I have an AT&T iPhone 4 great condition, never jailbroken.  I tried to upgrade from 4.3.5 last night and got the sim card error.  I went into an Apple store today got a replacement after they tried a couple of sim cards and they didn't work.  I restored the new phone and used it running 4.3.5 most of the day then (against my own better judgement) tried it again tonight and got the same thing with the new phone.  Now I have a genius bar appt for saturday.   This really *****.

Same to me . Have a white 16GB 3Gs and after the update i Get that %%$$%& message saying "Sim Not Valid". What kind of $%%%%  *&^%^ is this ?????

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it was working fine before the update and i need this phone fix.  I took it the Apple store yesterday  they couldn't restore back to the previous operating system and they gave me an appointment for tomorrow afternoon. 3 F'ing days without a phone . ^%%$ You Apple .. %^&& You very much !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ....

The history of the IPhone 4 I have problem with are curious.
We get the phone from Apple Store in first place, order by mail last yaer.
This is an unlocked Iphone 4 from Apple. (We get unlocked IPhone from Apple in Norway)
We had a lot of trouble with this phone and we get a brand new replacement phone from Apple.
Everything was OK until updating of the phone to IOS 5.
The serial number visible in iTunes of the replacement phone was the same number we had from the first phone.
But if you take out the SIM Card holder we see the correct serialnumber of the phone. This was not the same we see before in iTunes.
And both of this serialnumber get the following message on the Service and Repair link https://selfsolve.apple.com/GetWarranty.do
"We're sorry, but this is a serial number for a product that has been replaced. Please check your information and re-enter your serial number. If your information is correct, you may need to contact us."

I have now a case on Apple Support, and they try to find out what is happed with the serialnumber.
It make sence if the serialnumber don't are in the database, you can't activate the phone, so the message of the SIM card is misleading.
We have two IPhone 4, and one IPad 2, all is updated to IOS 5, but none of this have never been replaced.

I've tried ALL the tricks mentioned here; different SIM card the 999 thing (which will get you to the home scree... eventually), but the second you turn it off you're back to square one.  This is REDICULOUS!  I quit buying Windows equip. because of this sort of issue being a constant thing.  APPLE!  I'm not available for an upgrade to the iPhone 4s yet.  Looks like you owe me a phone!  You wrecked mine!!!!!  I don't want to wait for you to fix this and send in update in days; weeks; whatever!  Probably should go buy an ANDRIOD phone!  I.  Am.  beyond angry.  Thanks for wrecking my phone!

I experienced this same problem with my wife's iPhone this morning. Her SIM card would work on my iPhone 4 (upgraded to iOS5). My SIM card would not work in her iPhone. Same problem after restoreing, DFU mode, etc.

Made a Genius Bar appointment. They replicated the problem.

Phone was out of contract. They replaced the phone and then upgraded the new phone to iOS 5 right there in the store to make sure there weren't any problems.

Her new iPhone 4 is now running iOS5 and did not have any problems.

Same here. Norway. ****.

wow really? i have tried every thing except going to an apple store.... they don't give you an iphone that is updated to IOS5 (if they replace it?)?

Tried other sims, no luck!  Got a new SIM, no luck!

Same situation here. Tried to update my iphone 4 to ios5 this morning - got the invalid sim card error. Went down to the apple store, they gave me a NEW phone. I figured it must have been something wrong with that particular phone, so I tried to update again. Now I have a brand new iphone 4 stuck on screen that says invalid sim card. Worthless.

This is a major issue that Apple has either not recognized or failed to address. I just bricked my fifth (#5) replacement iPhone 4.

I've bricked a total of five iPhone 4 units under the following scenarios:

1. iPhone 4 on 4.3.5 restoring to 4.3.5 (three phones)

2. iPhone 4 upgrading from 4.3.5 to 5.0 (one phone)

3. iPhone 4 on 5.0 using the erase all contents and settings tab on the iPhone (one phone)

I've been trying to isolate the variables, what I've been able to confirm is that the phone will brick restoring to 4.3.5 (no longer possible to restore to this OS) and 5.0. I originally thought a glitch resided in my computer, however my fifth unit just bricked under scenario three as listed above. Additional, the fifth unit was NEVER associated with the computer in question.

Additional food for thought. This issue may be a lagging indicator to a larger issue at hand. Just think, how many individuals actually tinker with their firmwares on a monthly, or even an yearly basis. This thread proves my point, iOS 5 was just released and we're suddenly seeing a major influx of "bricked" iPhones.

I'm not sure if this applies to the iPhone 4S, I haven't tried any erase and or restore operations on it.

Phone in question: iPhone 4 16GB White

Additional info I forgot to mention

The iPhone, once bricked, will remain bricked regardless of further restores on various computers. My phone bricked on my personal computer, and restores on the Genius Bar computers failed to resolve the issue. The worst part is that these are all factory restores; no jailbreaking, no SHSH, no unlock.

Same problem in Australia with Telstra. Extremely frustrating!

Same issue ... "the SIM card in this iphone does not appear to be supported" with O2 UK.

O2 Store threw me a new SIM, then put me on hold for an hour, trying to activate it, then gave up!

My theory ...

There must be some computation betweem the SIM number & the physical handset number (IMEI?) to determine if the carrier supports it and therefore  display this message.  This would have to be in an O2 system OR an Apple iTunes O2 system, I assume.

Looks to me like iOS-5 upgrade has perhaps reverted to some old carrier records or changed the rules!

O2 Store at Broad Street London on Friday (both their Guru and Sales folk) said it was definitely a bug in the Apple software and "they (Apple) would have to get me a later version of iOS-5".  Suspect I was being fobbed off.

I now have to travel across London to the Apple Genius Bar, which just adds to the hours already wasted, and will return this evening and post their solution to this puzzle.  Clearly I'm not alone ...

Standby (hopefully) for a broadcast from the Genius Bar this evening Sat 15-Oct UK time.

Are all IPhone in this discussion replacemet phones ?

We have two IPhone 4, and two IPad  1 and 2, all is updated to IOS 5, but none of this have never been replaced.

The only IPhone we have problem with, si a replacment phone we get form Apple Store.

We get this message when we try to check the serialnumber fo the replacment phone: (Serialnumber is back of Sim card holder, you need magnifying glass ) (link https://selfsolve.apple.com/GetWarranty.do ) "We're sorry, but this is a serial number for a product that has been replaced. Please check your information and re-enter your serial number. If your information is correct, you may need to contact us."

It make sence if the serialnumber don't are in the database, you can't activate the phone, so the message of the SIM card is misleading.

We have two IPhone 4, and one IPad 2, all is updated to IOS 5, but none of this have never been replaced and we have the same carriers (Ventelo) on all phone and Ipads.