sim card not valid after update to ios 5

Folks,

I thought we had established a few pages back that this issue is being caused by your replacement phone's IMEI number not populating in your carrier's system. When your phone tries to activate following a restore, the IMEI number it sends doesn't match the number in the system. Apparently, Apple added a security measure in iOS 4 and later that causes the SIM slot to lock PERMANENTLY if the IMEI numbers don't match. I'm guessing this was done to prevent iPhone theft(?), but only Apple can say for sure. In any case, it was a really stupid design choice by Apple, since they have to replace the phone anytime there is a glitch in any of the systems of their carrier partners.

I do have some evidence for this. Both IVLUTA and I on page 5 of this thread have identified that our IMEI numbers did not match what was in AT&T's system. Given that I went through 15(!!!) iPhone 4s trying to diagnose this problem, and during that time we tried literally everything else on both Apple's and AT&T's ends, I don't see what else it could be. Apple even replaced my laptop because they thought it was a problem with my USB drivers.

Could everyone who has experienced this problem give a call to their provider and make sure the IMEI in their system matches the one on the replacement phone Apple gave you? If they don't match, have your carrier update it in their system. Then, some brave soul will need to try updating to iOS 5. I would suggest going to an Apple store and asking a Genius to do it for you. That way, if anything goes wrong, they can't claim it was your fault and charge you for a replacement (I did this when I updated to iOS 5 and they didn't charge me when the SIM slot again locked up).

Finally, if someone from Apple happens to be parusing this thread, could you please escalate this to someone higher up in tech support who deals with the carriers directly? This problem is a huge pain in the butt for users who have done nothing wrong. Furthermore, Apple is losing money because they have to replace phones every time this happens. It's in your interest to get this solved ASAP. It seems likely that the carriers are at fault (glitch in the system), but the security measure in iOS that locks down the SIM slot is kind of rediculous (and probably wouldn't deter an intelligent theif).

Thank you for this information. I will defiantly call up AT&T and see if my IMEI number matches their system. I had to battle it out with Apple last week and persuade them to give me a new phone at no cost since my warranty expired. I ended up getting them to give me a new phone at no cost but now I am really nervous that it will happen again which is why I don't want to upgrade to IOS 5. I will defiantly go to Apple and let them know about this problem because it is a huge pain in the butt and I don't want to ever deal with it again!

Upgraded to the latest OS on my iphone 3GS and now the phone doesn't work anymore. Does not recognize my sim card. Tried to restore back to original factory settings, same problem. Went to Apple genius bar and they told me it was locked to the Optus network. My sim card is on the Optus network. They say my sim card is faulty. Went home, tested my sim card on an old phone and the sim card works! Went to a phone repair shop to get the phone unlocked and the technician told me the phone is not locked to Optus and he doesn't know which network it is locked to. I paid for this replacement phone in Jan this year from Apple and my sim card has never been changed since then. Now I have no phone to use and a useless iphone 3GS which I paid $250 to replace and since it is out of warranty, Apple wants to charge me again to replace the phone! New updates should not be released unless it is tested fully and now I am at a loss what to do as Apple is not claiming responsibility for their incompetence!

It's not the SIM card. If the Apple techs don't believe that, have them try to activate your phone using a SIM card from one of the store phones. They will see that a known working SIM will not fix the problem. Second, talk to your carrier and check the IMEI number to see if it matches your phone. Let's see if that theory holds any water.

Apple should replace the phone for free. I would show them this thread and maybe demand to speak with a manager. This is not your fault. It looks like it was caused by a mistake in your carrier's system. That being said, Apple is also partially responsible since this lockdown is built into iOS, and, therefore, they should replace your phone.

It is defiantly not the SIM card because when Apple gave me a new phone the first and second time, they put my same SIM card in and everything was working just fine. Also I ended up calling AT&T tonight and they did not have the right IMEI number and I had them change it to the correct IMEI number in their system. I told the guy with AT&T what happened and how I read this thread which is why I called to see if they had the correct IMEI number. I am going to take this to Apple as well and let them know about this. I am going to let them download IOS 5 even though the new phone they gave me has a 90 day warranty. If it downloads with no problem then the issue is defiantly the IMEI number not getting updated to the carrier when receiving a replacement phone.

Looks like the IMEI explanation is looking more and more likely. Has anyone else with this problem talked to their carrier and checked on their IMEI?

@tstorrs14 I will also stop by my local Apple store tomorrow and follow up with the genius I worked with last time. I'll show him this thread and hopefully we can get a resolution to this issue soon.

Thank you for that. Am onto O2 this morning. And then kick some Apple ***. Amazing that the "People Bar" beat the "Genius Bar".

Love it.

Ok something seriously needs sorting.I updated my last phone when 4.3.5 came out the phone bricked so got it replaced at Genius Bar,now same thing with ios 5 update,replaced again with new phone after alot of fuss at the Genius bar.The phone was purchased from O2 uk,but at the genius bar they told me that the phone is registered to SFR France although it is locked to O2 uk.They are saying because it is registered to a French network when updating the iphone the serial numbers do not match and bricks it,every time the phone is changed the IMEI number changes but the ICCID number stays with you and the phone so every time you try to update to a newer ios the same thing will happen.Why it is registered to a French network i havn't a clue as it was bought brand new from O2....but this is what is causing the problem and i'm still on 4.3.5 unable to update because it WILL brick the phone again

Okay. So I called Bell (I'm in Canada and have the same sim card error with a replacement phone) and checked my IMEI. It wasn't matching. So they matched it and also checked my SIM card, which matched also.

My phone already has iOS5 on it.

So I tried starting my phone up again and it still doesn't work. So now I'm restoring the software on the phone to see if it fixes the problem.

Suggestions would be appreciated.

Restoring the iphone to factory settings did not work. Still getting the "SIM not valid" error.

Calling Apple, and if this doesn't work...welll..tethered Jailbreak until Apple fixes the problem.

If your phone is already sim locked, there is nothing you will be able to do to get that phone working again. A restore will not help. You will need to get a replacement from Apple. Once you have replacement, CALL YOUR CARRIER AGAIN and check that the IMEI number matches this new phone BEFORE you try to restore again. Otherwise, the restore will fail again (this happened to me).

Looks like th evidence is growing that this is indeed an IMEI problem. At least we seem to be making some progress.

Please everybody who is reading this because of this error,post your experience here.The more we get the more chance we have of Apple doing something about it,they must be replacing thousands of phones and costing them millions.APPLE THIS NEEDS SORTING.Thanks

Called Apple Support:

I updated him on the support threads and he said that it MIGHT be because of the SIM lock, but not necessarily.

First he asked if I could restore the phone, but I had already tried that before calling Apple support so we skipped that option.

Then he asked for the IMEI to make sure it was matching, which it was.

Then he said something interesting, which is that Apple's got an article written up on this issue for the Customer Service reps to refer to. The agent spent about 5 minutes going through the article, but realized that he couldn't do anything. So he said the last option was to refer me to someone higher up who would be able to give me some options not within the CSRs jurisdiction. This will take 10 minutes.

So, now i'm waiting...

i have a similar issue which I believe is related. However it is on a 4s which I have been unable to activate since Friday. AT&T was unable to do anything AppleCare at first wasn't able to do anything..... I was told by several different levels of AppleCare people that "Engineering had a meeting. . . " on Monday afternoon and it " should be fixed in the next 24 hours" (that email was sent @ 4:23pm Cupertino time.

They are aware of the issue and apparently are working on it.

@prk60091 I don't think your problem is related. This thread is for people whose iPhone SIM slots become locked down after a restore. At that point, the phone will refuse to recognize ANY SIM card.

@eTalisman The SIM lock is caused by the problem we are describing. It's the symptom, not the problem itself. Once the phone gets SIM locked, there is literally nothing that can be done to unlock it again by the user. Even the geniuses at the Apple store couldn't get it to unlock. Also, my AT&T store has a computer that has a special version of iTunes that forces activations, and it wouldn't get the phone to activate. The only way around this is to replace the phone. Did the Apple rep say if your IMEI number matched? Also, try to get as much info as you can about this support doc he referred to.