sim card not valid after update to ios 5

I received a refurbished iPhone 4s through the post yesterday, after taking out a brand new contract alongside the phone, and have been having the same problem. After visiting the apple store, 02 (UK) store, and then carphone warehouse I still do not have a fixed phone. Unofrtunately I couldn't see a genius at the bluewater store and none of the "normal" staff had a clue about the problem and after reading this thread I seemed more in the loop than they were. 02 blamed apple after changing my sim card so I was adamant it was the phone. This would add up with everything everyone has said on here. Buying refurbished phones is now a bit more of a pain as this IOS5 update has more of a propensity to freaking out over a changed sim. sigh. However I am going back to the store tomorrow, equipped with a couple of pages from this forum, to try and come away with a new replacement. fingers crossed.

I also have this problem just today i updated to 5.1.1 on my iphone 4s which was brought direct from apple brand new and now my phone wont let me activate it and is giving me the following message only compatible sim cards from a supported carrier may be used to activate iphone. i dont understand what apple are playing at this phone when i receieved it approx two months ago was working fine also it was brand new and sealed. i have tried my o2 simcard in another handset and it works fine so its not my simcard and also i have tried another o2 simcard in my iphone 4s and i get the same message only compatible sim cards from a supported carrier may be used to activate iphone. I have done 5 restores through dfu mode and still no luck activating the handset i have had so many problems with apple this has topped it off.

Go to the apple store, they should give you a replacement, as that is what they did to me, if the replacement still have the same problem again, reply me, by the way, did you updated to iOS 5.1.1 or restore-updated to iOS 5.1.1 ?, and is this iPhone already a replacement iPhone?

how do you do that, my iphone 3g is locked after i updated to IOS 5

RIght my problem was with apple, the activation connection from my itunes to apples activation servers was not going through on my imei number on my iphone 4s, apple said the have technicians on the case and now have resolved my issue of activation.

Sunny is correct. I had this problem for months. They would give me another phone and when I had to update or retire the phone, I had the sim card not valid error message. I went to an apple store and after months and months of having this problem, the tech said that my phone was purchased in australia (which I've never been) and he asked me if I had jailbroken the phone. Of course I hadn't, so they contacted tier 2 support. They found out that when I had a replacement phone due to battery issues, someone mistyped the IMEI number. They said I could have bought or replaced 100 phones and I would still have this problem. Fortunately, I still had my original box and gave them that serial number and IMEI number and they got it corrected. I haven't had any problems since. Hope this helps.

I had a completely different problem but the same effects. My iPhone had 5.1 and I couldn't activate it because of "sim not valid".I restored it a couple of times, then I called apple support, they sent me to the apple store, there they told me to go to the German apple support, cause i bought my phone in Germany. I was really pissef of and I couldn't use my phone for two months. Then I updated to 5.1.1 and suddenly it worked, same phone, same sim card. I think, I had a problem with the baseband or something like that, now my phone is working well.

I found a way but apple dont allow links to other websites, its to do with baseband, check on blogger for solution, very simple american seven

Same exact thing happened to me. Bought original iPhone 3GS in January 2011, broke it and got a replacement in July 2011. When I went to the apple store to get my replacement, the "Genius" entered the serial number of my broken phone incorrectly (which I know now, didn't know then) and told me that my broken phone (which I bought from AT&T brand new) must have been jailbroken, because it was registered to a Melina in Germany. First of all, I am not Melina, nor have I ever been to Germany. Second of all, why would AT&T be selling Jailbroken phones as new phones? I should have had him re-enter the serial number right then and there but I didn't because, ya know, I assumed he knew what he was doing. Clearly not. Always question authority.

Anyway, I got my replacement phone for a pretty penny and off I went...it lasted me until yesterday, when I decided to be productive and update to the iOS 5. All went smoothly until I had to activate my phone - and I got the "SIM not Valid" screen saying, "Only compatible SIM cards from a supported carrier may be used to activate iPhone. Please insert the SIM card that came with your iPhone or visit a supported carrier's store to receive a replacement SIM card." I went to the Apple store, the "Genius" again couldn't figure it out, and told me that my phone was registered to someone in the UK. What??? Again, never been to the UK (nor would I bother buying an iPhone in GBP if I had been there). At my puzzled look, he disappeared into the back room and came out 10 minutes later and admitted that he had entered the serial number incorrectly (seriously Apple?).

HOWEVER, when he did enter the correct serial number, their database pulled up my information as well as the information for the phone that had been previously tied to my name - the one supposedly from Germany. He told me that any replacement phone you get inherits the information from any previously used phone(s). So while I was thinking that I had left my mysterious German phone behind me, it had been following me all along, waiting to screw me over a second time.

Only my phone had never been German....like I said, the first "Genius" entered the serial number from my first phone incorrectly so there was a conflict, because the Apple system saw that my first phone was supposedly tied to the Vodafone network in Germany, but my current phone was tied to AT&T in the US. So after I read this thread, decided to test my luck before buying a new phone. I called Apple up, got transferred to a Senior Advisor, and explained the problem. Luckily I, too, had the serial number from my first phone, so the SA re-entered both serial numbers (of the original and my current phone that is having the SIM issue) and told me that the serial number was the problem. They are resubmitting the updated information to their servers, and are going to notify me when they are going to do a re-boot of my phone. I'll update this post to report back if it works, which I'm assuming it will.

I really am shocked that Apple has not educated their Genius Bar staff on this issue because NO ONE seems to know how to solve it. I have the card of the Genius Bar guy I worked with yesterday and will definitely be calling him to let him know. Maybe Apple is embarassed that their Geniuses can't get it together and type in the serial numbers correctly the first time. If they ever report anything weird-sounding back to you, insist that they re-enter the serial number. Serially.

Anyway, takeaways from this post:

- If you updated your iPhone to a new operating system and are getting the above SIM issue, THIS IS AN APPLE ISSUE, NOT A CARRIER ISSUE. Don't let them try to tell you otherwise, because there is nothing your service provider can do. You will just waste time.

- Make sure that the serial numbers of any previously used iPhones are correct in their system. It seems once they are able to correctly link your serial numbers to your current phone, all should be well. I'll update once my phone is fixed to confirm. *Fingers crossed.*

- Don't bother explaining the full issue to the customer service rep you get on the phone first. They won't know what to do. Just ask directly for the senior advisor...it saves time.

Hope this was helpful.

This is really a USELESS PHONE I have ever used.

I got my phone last week, When I connected to itune, it suggested to upgrade to new version.

Upon update, the phone started giving same problem "

sim card not valiD

Man I am repenting why I wested my time, money and efforts on this boolshit phone.

These features are available with any Android based to dick and harry type of phones and those works perfectly fine, without such problems.

Do not understand why APPLE is trying to create monopolistic market.

Just take my phone back and give me refund.

😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠

Where did you purchase your iPhone from last week? IF it was from

Apple or an authorized retailer, you should still be within the return period.

From your description of events, it sounds like your iPhone was hacked/

modified/jailbroken to allow operation with other than the original wireless

provider and has now become relocked to that carrier. Google may provide

you some assistance, but there is none here for jailbroken iPhones. Be

advised that the modifications you made to the software to allow use with

a different provider may prevent either restoring to factory defaults or

obtaining a legitimate unlock.

You are not speaking to Apple here as this is a user to user forum for

technical assistance. If you are not happy with your purchase, return to

the place of purchase since you have only had it a week.

Thank you for reply imobl,

In India Airtel (iphone's service provider) did not have good coverage so, had changed the SIM card and was using it, just like any other phone one will do, and started getting this issue.

Had got replly pissd of @ the phone.

Earlier was using ASUS P750, great phone with really good features and reliability.

Just talked to dealer and he is ready to give refund, thinking of Samsung Galaxi now....but need to check first if it has got some quirks like this one.

Hi guys,

I have the same problem too and it's SOO frustating!

I already had replaced once for the home button... now I was travelling and I need a local sim, so I bought one and it wasnt recognized, so I tought it was because I didnt had the last update (5.1.1) but once I updated to that version the iphone now dont even recognize my original sim so I have a total useless phone!

what should I do??? in this country (Malasyia, KL) they dont even have Apple Stores, just resellers... are they able to fix this???

@Frankie Gray if your phone was replaced, make sure they entered your original phone's serial number correctly into their database. Everything with any Apple replacement phone is linked, so if your first phone's serial number doesn't match what was originally in the database for it, their system won't recognize it. Just call Apple and ask to speak with a senior advisor. Have them double check your original serial number (hopefully you still have it) to make sure it matches. That's what happened with my phone, and when they updated my phone's original serial number the problem was fixed.

Thank you!!!

sounds like a good solution! I should have the serial number back at home (shouldnt they have it too since I had that first replacement???) do you think is posible to contact and fix this problem by email? (i dont have any phone to be contacted unless I buy a new phone... 😝)

thanks again