Sim Card Failure No Sim with iPhone 4S Anyone Else?

acespace, I'msuggest you to wait.. My iphone behave exactly like yours

after reset.. Sometimes the problem disappear for day or two but always

back after a while.. It vary depend on the reception to cellularcompany.

Update: I posted about 10 days ago that my daughter's iPhone 4S experienced the feared "SIM FAILURE" popup with "No Service" displayed where "Verizon 3g" normally is displayed. Just to be clear, her phone said "SIM FAILURE"... not "Invalid Sim"...not "No Sim." Not sure that matters, but...

Anyway, in my original post I mentioned that after her SIM FAILURE occurred I asked my daughter when was the last time she totally shut down her iPhone 4S. She said "Never." That meant she had gone over a month where she just put the phone to sleep. During that time she accumulated 30 (I counted) apps listed in her multitasking bar. Besides so many apps in the background, not doing a total shut down also allowed other "nasty things" to accumulate in her phone.

Since that time we have been careful to do a total shut down (hold the home and sleep buttons down together until the sliding Shut Down icon appears at the top of the screen) at least once every couple days.

No SIM FAILURE popups for almost two weeks now.

I am by no means implying that this is the fix. But, hopefully, for a percentage of folks experiencing this diabolical problem this may be a fix that works. Some is better than none.

My understanding is that there are many, many things that can cause the messages "NO SIM," "SIM FAILURE," "INVALID SIM," etc. That is why this issue is probably such a difficult one to fix. Let's hope Apple gives us a holiday present soon with a REAL fix for this issue.

Guys the problem is on some hw/sw device components. I went in an Apple store, changed my previous phone with a new one (with 5.0.1 - 9A405 on board) and I have now a completely different phone: faster, long-life battery, and above all no SIM errors. I believe that maybe there is a bunch of bugged devices around with some technical defects (5.0.1. itunes upgrade procedure, sim slots, or whatever...). Apple would be much more honest in recalling the wrong phones and to replace them... 😠 They well know what are affected by those issues!

I agree with Vicking71.

After this endless journey of trying patches, new SIM Cards, reboots of all kinds without ever solving the issue, I receive a new iPhone 4S via Applecare yesterday.

- The new one came with iOS 5.0.0 ⚠

-> Ran OK for half a day

- Did the update to 5.0.1 OTA (so to the unpatched version)

-> Ran OK for several hours

- Did the update to 5.0.1 iTunes (the *patched* version)

-> Running _still_ OK 🙂

Battery is at 70% now. I loaded it the last time around 16 hours ago. Did some phone calls, text messages and have it on WLAN.

No problems and it really feel like a different phone. However, I think Apple would have recalled some phones if they really nailed the issue. But since they still have bug reports open in regard to iOS 5.0.1. and the SIM Card error, it sound they not 100% convinced what is really causing the issue.

However, for me and others the new iPhone did it. I hope those having problems will get a solution soon as well.

Happy Holidays.

./Stefan

P.S. With regard to my recent post about TOTALLY shutting down the iPhone on a regular basis I wanted to add some specifics. Instead of keeping my daughter's phone in sleep mode and plugged in every night to recharge, every other day or two we plug the phone in and THEN totally shut it down for the evening recharge. (If you shut down first and then plug the phone in to its charger it starts back up and you have to shut down again.)

I know this defeats the evening auto-backup, but in my daughter's case I believe she doesn't need to backup her phone every night.

OK, that's it. Again, this "fix" may only work for a small percentage of users. But...

Hey Apple, give us a Christmas gift, PLEASE DO SOMETHING !!!

I bought a iPhone 4 S and now I have an expensive ipod

No phone, ....

Why are you taking so long time to resolve the No Sim, No Service,

Searching... Problem ?

PLEASE DO SOMETHING !!!

PLEASE DO SOMETHING !!!

PLEASE DO SOMETHING !!!

Yes, it is a very sad situation. I tried the Jannee/Jose Geraldo and Stefan procedures... twice. Only a few hours of phone. Today, another deception in the morning. I´m giving up. Today I´ll try to change the phone, but here in Mexico is harder that it looks on the US. I hope to be lucky and found today a friendly, happy, strong Christmas spirit fellow in the store. Thanks to all who share their experiences here! And Apple... come on, what is happening with you? We´re asking not for an immediate solution, only for a small piece on information!

stuck small strip of scotch. iPhone found carrier. tested...

I was having the No Service problem during 3 days with 2 new Iphone`s 4S

bought at the online apple store.

Did the path update to 5.0.1 (****406) and still had the problem.

Today I changed the (normal cuted sim card) to the new micro sim card.

And believe me, the Iphone`s 4S are now working fine !

5 hours without any problem

HI all

I have 4s 32GB and INWIND IT microsim.

I see the 'sim failure' message randomly, a turn off and turn on of the phone fix temporary the problem.

Another thing that I noticed: sometimes (lately more often) I have full antenna signal on the display, I try to make a call, the antenna signal vanishes and it appears searching, after 30-60 secs the antenna signal come back I and can do my call.

About 2 or 3 min to do a call, not bad for a phone...

I think that this continue search for signal use more battery and we know how the Iphone battery life is short...

Giacomo

I activated my new 64gb wednesday, actiated it and it was fine all day. At 3pm the next day, the SIM failed. I had to get on AT&T chat to get the issue fixed. The solution was as listed above and odd. Remove SIM, put in old phone, then swap it back again, fine! Friday, again at 3, SIM failed. I went to the nearest Best Buy since that was advised by AT&T, and they put in a new SIM, fine. So far today, Saturday, I've made it past 3 without any issues. Hoping the new SIM fixed the issue because trying to get a 64gb replacement over the holidays will be next to impossible!

iPhone 4s, unlocked. Worked fine in the states with AT&T sim. Now I'm in Prague for two weeks, using Vodafone sim and having nothing but trouble. First I woke up to "Invalid Sim". I then noticed the size of the hold contacts on that sim were much bigger than the AT&T sim. I taped over the spots that didn't seem to be used (basically sizing I down to the same as the AT&T sim). That seemed to fix the "invalid sim" problem, but now I'm losing the 3G indicator or it's going into "Searching" loops, then finally common back to the proper "VF CZ 3G" status.

The AT&T sim always worked fine. This has to be an issue with the sim or the antennas handling the signal ( not sure of the dual antennas work differently out here). I'm going back to VF tomorrow to see if I can get a "modern" microsim with the same contacts footprint as my AT&T sim.

A new 128k sim, properly cut with adequate margins on all sides did the trick for me.. 🙂

I too was very annoyed because of this problem, but now it's been a good 10-12 days since i last saw that dreaded message.. hope this helps..

Message was edited by: maverickjatt

For Verizon 4s users This problem is 150% a sim card problem..I had my phone since the day they were released and have had No problems untill 3 weeks ago.The phone would say"SIM FAILURE" at random times and most in the morning when the phone sat all night in the table.I tried all the fixes before i went to the store and had them change the sim card.What i noted was that the new sim was not the same as the one that came with the phone and the gold contacts pattern was not the same.It has been 5 days and the problem has not come back.The phone had the 5.1 update for a month before the phone started acting funny the first time ,so i can say it was never the update that cused my problem.I wasted a few days messing with updates and hard resets.Dont waste your time get a new sim first then go from there.

Thanks Fastine, Your description sounds just like my daughter's. The next time she gets "SIM FAILURE" on her phone I'm leaving it as is and going to Verizon, show them her phone, this discussion, and your post and ask for a new Sim card. Mr. Luigi