iPhone doesn't recognize sim card anymore after the update

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iPhone doesn't recognize sim card anymore after the update

The update completely borked my phone. I bought it in Beijing, China. Made sure it was unlocked (from an official apple store) and they told me it was. Worked fine with my Swedish sim card, went back to China after a few months and it worked fine with my Chinese sim card. Got a popup today from itunes telling me that there's an upgrade so I upgraded it. Now it tells me it doesn't support my sim card, I've tried recovering it with DFU/DUF (cant remember the name) but it didn't help. This really blows, if I've lost all of my phone numbers etc now because of this bleep I'm going to be furious.

Any tips? Ideas?

iPhone OS 3.1.3

Posted on Feb 13, 2010 3:27 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 13, 2010 3:31 AM in response to Bounce112

Which card is giving the message - the Swedish or the Chinese one ?

And did you try the other ?

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Answer 2

wjosten

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Feb 13, 2010 3:34 AM in response to Bounce112

If it was officially unlocked, it should not have been locked when you updated. What sim do you have in the phone right now?

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Answer 3

Bounce112 Author

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Feb 13, 2010 3:44 AM in response to Bounce112

The first card that I used in the phone ever was the Chinese one, China mobile. When I went back to Sweden I had the Swedish provider "3", when I returned to China two months ago I switched back to China Mobile again and it worked flawlessly.

Edit: I can't try my Swedish one, I don't have it with me. I'm using the Chinese one right now if that wasn't understood.

Edit2: Additional information, phone has never been jailbroken or anything like that before. It came in a sealed box, bought it in the apple store located at Chaoyangmen in Beijing.
Message was edited by: Bounce112

Message was edited by: Bounce112

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Answer 4

wjosten

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Feb 13, 2010 3:47 AM in response to Bounce112

See if you can force the phone into recovery mode:

Leave the USB cable connected to your computer, but NOT your phone, itunes running, press & hold the home button while connecting the USB cable to your dock connector, continue holding the home button until you see “Connect to iTunes” on the screen. You may now release the home button. iTunes should now display that it has detected your phone in recovery mode, if not quit and reopen iTunes. If you still don’t see the recovery message repeat these steps again. iTunes will give you the option to restore from a backup or set up as new. Select your backup & re-sync your itunes content, if successful.

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Answer 5

Bounce112 Author

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Feb 13, 2010 3:55 AM in response to wjosten

Laptop-Usb cable-iPhone

That's the system I use. Doing what you told me only brings me back to the same screen, the screen where it says "The sim card inserted in this iPhone does not appear to be supported."

😟

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Answer 6

wjosten

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Feb 13, 2010 3:59 AM in response to Bounce112

Unfortunately, it appears that your phone has been locked. I'm guessing to the Swedish carrier you last used. Doesn't make much sense as that should not have happened. You're gonna have to go to an Apple store to get this fixed.

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Answer 7

Bounce112 Author

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Feb 13, 2010 4:03 AM in response to Bounce112

Well, my family saved the day. Or at least that's what I hope for. I spoke to them on MSN and they told me that they actually packed my other phones incase my iPhone broke.

I just tried with the Swedish sim card and it still gives me the same message. This is ridiculous, I'm expecting calls from future employers and I don't even have a working phone.

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Answer 8

wjosten

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Feb 13, 2010 4:13 AM in response to Bounce112

There's nothing more you can do. If you're getting the same message with the Swedish sim, that means your phone is locked to an unknown carrier. Go to an Apple store, take both sims & have the geniuses sort this out.

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Answer 9

Bounce112 Author

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Feb 13, 2010 4:15 AM in response to Bounce112

Will do. Dang this *****. Thanks a lot for trying, I'll update you with the results. I actually went there earlier today only to find out that they were closed due to the Chinese new year x.x

Happy Chinese New Year!

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Answer 10

Bounce112 Author

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Feb 18, 2010 11:36 PM in response to Bounce112

Okay, here comes an update.

I went to the store where I bought my iPhone and I told them about my problem. Here's where it starts to get funny.

Apparantly they had imported my iPhone from USA and they even jailbroke it. (I had NO IDEA)
With other words, the reason as to why the phone was unlocked was because they jailbroke it. Something they never told me. So naturally when I updated my phone in iTunes (not knowing it was jailbroken), the phone got locked.

Pretty ****** huh? An official reseller of apple products actually jailbreak their products and then sell them to people who simply don't know any better.

So I've wasted around $600 for nothing. They KNEW it would get locked, they KNEW that what they were doing was illegal and still they did it.

This is ridiculous.

Edit: I also forgot to mention, they pretty much just told me "nothing we can do about it".

Message was edited by: Bounce112

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Answer 11

wjosten

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Feb 19, 2010 1:54 AM in response to Bounce112

If you in fact bought this phone from an official Apple store, as stated in your first post, you need to contact Apple directly:

(86) 4006-272273

http://www.apple.com.cn/support/

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Answer 12

Bounce112 Author

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Feb 19, 2010 2:03 AM in response to Bounce112

It was an official authorized apple reseller store (sorry), does that still apply?

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Answer 13

wjosten

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Feb 19, 2010 2:12 AM in response to Bounce112

Yes, but contact Apple directly through the links I provided. What they did violates Apple's reseller agreements. You're gonna have to invest some time & effort here, but if you're persistent, but polite, I believe the outcome will be satisfactory.

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Answer 14

Bounce112 Author

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Feb 19, 2010 2:16 AM in response to wjosten

I appreciate your help. Although I have one problem - I'm actually Swedish and I do not understand Chinese. Is there anyway I can contact the American (or Swedish) Apple instead? Is that alright even though the product is bought in China?

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Answer 15

wjosten

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Feb 19, 2010 2:22 AM in response to Bounce112

Unfortunately, you're gonna have to deal with the Apple folks in China. All warranty & support issues for the iphone are country specific. No one but Apple in China would be able to help you. If I were in your shoes, I'd go directly to an Apple store, not a reseller, take your phone & receipt, go to the genius bar & say hey: "It doesn't work, I need it fixed or replaced".

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