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

Hi Shobhitjain,

Please know that there are many, many folks that have passed through this discussion forum that have felt the frustration you are going through. Telling you this is obviously not a solution. But, the sting of misery is sometimes alleviated somewhat with company.

Now...down to business. Sathyam offered you the most likely culprit causing your SIM problems. But, since you are running 5.1.1 that removes the software/firmware update as a solution. Others have definitely found relief from this problem by replacing their current SIM card. Sometimes, there is not a lot of obvious logic with the SIM card solution. We have had forum members who had a card that worked in another iPhone, but did NOT work in their 4S. Nevertheless, a new SIM card solved their problem. The 4S appears to be a VERY simcentric device and has little tolerance for SIM cards that deviate from the norm. So, if I were you I would do the following (copied from an earlier post I made).

Based on other's experiences in this forum, ask your cell carrier for a NEW 128K MICRO SIM card for your iPhone. They should not hassle you about this. Show them this discussion forum if necessary. Right now, that is your most likely suspect and is the next thing you should address as you troubleshoot your problem. Just make sure you are provided you with a NEW 128K MICRO SIM card as there is enough evidence available to suggest that the 4S reacts poorly to smaller capacity cards, used cards from previous iPhones (or any phone, and even if that used card was working fine in the previous phone), etc.

Good luck and let the forum know how things go so folks can learn from your experience.

If this doesn't work I would demand Apple, or your cell provider, replace your iPhone. It still is under its 1 year warrantee as the phone did not come out till last fall.

Best, Mr. Luigi

Hi again Mr. Luigi,

I completely concur with your kind response to another flustered iPhone user-wannabe!!

I recently returned from an extended journey outside the USA where I was plagued with the INVALID SIM and finally NO SIM card error messages. Since I couldn't initiate nor receive voice calls, I had a good deal of time to delve into this discussion thread. You along with the frustrating experiences of other hapless biters of the poisoned Apple reassured me that "the fix" would be on the top of my to do list once I came home. Indeed, my suitcases are not completely unpacked, but I have had a new SIM card for several days now. It came without hassles save a few telephone calls, ironically from my trusty ole' land line, to determine that I could not swarm into the trusty firm from which I purchased the entire iPhone array(Radio Shack) but that I would indeed have to locate and present myself, iPhone in hot hand to a brick-and-mortar storefront operated by my carrier(AT& T.) Luckily, though not neat so convenient to get to as my original vendor, indeed there WAS a store some towns away from me!! Installed by a polite and understanding young salesman, my new SIM card APPEARS to be working just fine for nearly two weeks now. Fingers crossed!!! I was waiting for a full month of acceptable service before reporting back, but the urgency of Shobitjain's plight stirred me to action today.

I also received a $50.00 credit during my landline call to AT &T when I was locating a storefront. This was offered in response to my request for compensation. When I was actually at the store, the salesman asked if "AT&T had made it right for me" indicating $$$$, I am sure. I informed him that the voice on the phone had done so. My bill balance immediately reflected the discount, no waiting a month or more for a credit to appear.

I do not know if I do have a 128 micro SIM card as you suggest. It is new, I believe as I saw it emerge from packaging. The salesman first asked me to remove the tightly fitting iPhone skin I purchased with all the goodies at my initial purchase. I declined as I had NOT installed the protective Apple-product-casing at Radio Shack initially nor would I do it then! He had great difficulty getting the case to part but eventually was successful (the store was closing for the evening!!) My opinion has been in my particular case, that the error message was heat- related. Not ambient heat, as I was very careful in the particularly hot and dry area of this beautiful world to which I travelled; but heat generated from the iPhone itself. At odd times, mostly at night and in greatly cooled interiors, I actually received and initiated a call or two!!!

I stated that I intended

Hi iSwanpeck! Good to hear from you and that your iPhone's performance has improved...at least for 2 weeks! I believe that is a good sign.

You may find it interesting to know that in my problem solving protocol for this SIM issue is always to start off making sure the user has updated to iOS 5.1.1.

If that does not offer relief, then I suggest replacing the SIM card with a new one....no matter how convinced you are that the SIM card is ok. I bet that you DID receive a 128K card although it is not easy to confirm such things as they don't stamp something helpful like "128K" on these cards. Go figure! But, the fact is the SIM card has turned out to be the culprit on many occasions.

My third step is right in line with your suspicions. HEAT! However, I don't think it is heat by itself. I think heat creates the conditions for a marginal SIM card to fail. So, sometimes, even without changing the SIM card, running the iPhone at a cooler temperature can return it to functioning condition, or partial functioning condition. But, really, it is the SIM card. (This, of course, is just conjecture on my part based on reading a lot of anecdotal information.) A lot of the most protective cases, such as the Otterbox Defender, insulate the iPhone so much that they can cause it to heat up just enough to expose a SIM card's weakness. Removing the protective case appears to help. But, who wants to lose the protection of their case! So, in the end, I think the best solution is to replace the SIM card with a new one (as you have done). Hopefully, this will allow you to use your iPhone, with case, and not have it display any SIM failures.

One last thing for others reading this. I have heard of EXTREME heating conditions where an iPhone WITH A NEW SIM CARD, still fails. But, for this to happen the phone must be overheated beyond its recommended operating temperatures. One example...using the iPhone as a GPS navigator (which puts a very heavy demand on the iPhone's processor creating a fair amount of heat all by itself), housed in a highly insulating case such as the Otterbox Defender, mounted on a very hot dashboard in a hot climate. But, that could cause a lot of phones to fail. In those situations I have heard that folks have solved the problem by directing some of the cool air from the Air Conditioner toward the iPhone.

I hope your trip was enjoyable. Welcome back!

Mr. Luigi

I have a 4S 16GB on iOS 5.1.1 from Orange, since November 2011. .

In the past three weeks it has intermittently shown Invalid SIM or SIM Failure. There's no obvious cause (the phone hasn't been dropped or overheated) or pattern, and power off and on doesn't help, nor does re-inserting the SIM, going to Airplane Mode, etc.

I'm posting this in the hope that Apple is monitoring this thread and will give an explanation and straightforward advice.

Hi Luigi,

Thank you for the response. I am happy that there are people in APPLE to hear us.

I will speak to my network provider which is Airtel (India) to get a 128 K SIM.

Though I got the SIM faliure msg today too. If a new SIM doesn't work, will Apple change my device? Its just 1 month old.

My contact number is an indian mobile number which is +91 9829651551 You can call me anytime if Apple has a policy to call customers and supporrt them. No Time difference issue I would attand your call anytime.

I called Orange who asked if I'd tried the SIM in another phone. I did, and found it didn't work in that (iPhone) either, but the other phone's SIM did work in my iPhone. Went to the Orange shop, they called Support who have posted a replacement SIM card today.

try ur sim card to put anothter regular phone after u put ur sim to another phone please make a call in any number and when u made call from other phone u pick up phone and keep connection 1 min after that make 1 call from other number to ur iphone sim and also keep connection 1 min once u done both side call put ur sim back to ur iphone i hope its gone work

My 4S iPhone is 1 week old today and I too am having the No SIM/Invalid SIM error! So very frustrating as I have wanted an iPhone for years and finally got one only to have it totally un usable!

I have tried numerous times tonight to reset the network connections and that won't resolve the issue anymore.

So I can't text or call out now! Wondering now why I bought the stupid phone as I had an LG ENV3 that worked just fine for many years. Now I have nothing to use at all!

I bought the phone at an AT&T phone store not close to my home so I hope my local store will be able to help me with the problem. I do not have an Apple Store near me either!

UGH! Technology ***** sometimes.... Isn't it supposed to make life easier not more difficult!!

Can you help me by giving me some directions on how to do this thru iTunes please. I am a new iPhone owner and am still learning.

Thanks!

And where the heck do I find the camera icon so I can post those icons?? Using an iPad to type this & look up info on how to solve this issue.

Hi fun4suz,

My intent here is not to challenge the help you have been given by other posters. Their suggestions may very well work. I certainly hope they do.

But if they don't, or the procedures seem too daunting for your level of expertise, I would like to refer you to my post of July 21, 2012 in this discussion. It speaks to the very "sim-centric" nature of the 4S and why even fully functioning SIM cards from a previous phone will not work effectively in the 4S. Did you transfer your SIM card from your previous phone to your 4S? If so, and if the fixes you have been given so far don't work, I would absolutely go to your carrier, explain the situation, refer them to this discussion forum if necessary, and REFUSE :-) to leave the store without a NEW 128K micro SIM card or a promise that one will be ordered for you to have installed later.

I still have my 4S. It works like a charm. It did not before upgrading to a brand spanking new 128K micro SIM card. I am not alone in having this experience.

Good luck and let us know if your situation gets resolved and how it was accomplished. Future visitors to this discussion will profit from your feedback.

Mr. Luigi

Mr Luigi,

If you read my previous posts I state that I am a brand new iPhone user, therefore I have never owned an iPhone before. Thus I did not transfer the SIM card from a previous iPhone. I can't even get the SIM card slot open. I do mot have the tool that i have heard mentioned and a paper clip doesn't work.

I am on my way shortly to the AT&T store shortly and am taking my iPad with me to show them all of these posts mentioning the new 128k Micro SIM card.

Hopefully I will have success as not having use of my brand new iPhone *****!!

Thank you!!

Hi fyn4suz,

Yes, I knew you were a recent addition to the ranks of iPhone mania :-), but that did preclude transferring a SIM card from a "previous phone" as I stated. Sometimes people will even cut a larger SIM card from a previously used phone so it fits the micro SIM tray slot used in the iPhone. That is why I wanted to be triple sure you were not using an older SIM card.

It still could be your SIM card even though it sounds like its new. Other posters in this VERY LONG discussion have had to replace their new SIM cards in order to gain full functionality. That is why I emphasized that the SIM card is a 128K card. For reasons that are not clear, a smaller capacity card has been problematic for some...causing evil and dark SIM issues.

Ok, that's all for now. Thinking good vibes for you. I too waited a long time before finally adding the iPhone to a long list of Apple products I own. Once I got past the SIM issues I was having it has been a delightful experience.

It will all turn out fine.

Mr. L

Hey Mr. Luigi!!!!

I am so glad you are still here! ;-)

Guess what? About one week ago, when I removed my iPhone 4S off the charger, that ugly NO SIM CARD DETECTED warning came up! Unbelievable, especially after all the problems I had with my new 4S about 10 months ago. As you may well remember, Apple replaced my phone FIVE TIMES (plus I switched the SIM card out twice) until this problem finally went away!

Thankfully, I live within walking distance of an AT&T store, went inside, and in about 5 minutes I had a brand new sim card in my phone and the problem disappeared. The young lady in the store seemed very familiar with this problem, swapped out my SIM card in short order, (no charge for this, BTW) and I was out the door with a functioning phone again.

She told me that SIM cards do fail from time to time..."Sir, a SIM card is an electronic component, and they just fail from time to time. Thank you for your business and if it happens again, you know what to do!"

So Mr. Luigi, my advice to anyone seeing this problem is just go and get another SIM card. As we tried months and months ago, doing all the other "fixes"-rebooting, wiping the phone clean and re-installing everything from backup, drinking three shots of Gray Goose vodka while turning around slowly counterclockwise.... none of that works as well as just getting a new SIM card put into your phone.

It's good to see you here again....and if we ever meet, the drinks are on me! :-)

Have a Merry Christmas, my old friend!

Pat

Hello Pat!

Forgive my tardiness in replying. The lack of posts on this forum seems to indicate that the SIM caper has finally been licked. Your last post, I believe, gives any future visitors a clear battle plan for addressing the problem and I hope folks read it if they ever have any SIM problems.

Christmas was good. Hope the same goes for you. I just updated to iOS 6.1. I am a subscriber to iTunes Match and was ecstatic to see Apple return functionality to that service they removed in iOS 6.0.

Well, I still look forward to those drinks. I am sure I will know who you are if we are in the same vicinity as you will be the one who is shouting...

"That darn SIM card! I can't believe it is acting up again...as you down three shots of Gray Goose vodka while turning slowly counterclockwise. :-)

Your Good Friend, Mr. Luigi

Hey, Mr. Luigi!!!!!

I was hoping this thread would eventually go away, but alas, it did not....however, the traffic has sure subsided!

I just received a ping from Apple that the new version was ready to download so I just did it....and lo and behold, it fragged my phone!

I had to disconnect, turn off, turn back on, re-download the update then had to do a total restore on it. All in all about an hour to update to newest version. That's the first time that has ever happened. Thankfully I had just backed up to my machine, not the cloud, just minutes before updating. I almost always use machine backups since they are infinitely faster than Cloud backups and Restores (and I should know, eh?-going thru 6 phones in as many weeks).

Anyway, I was glad to hear from you, as always....and maybe this thread will, eventually, just slowly fade into the sunset. Drinks are still on me, and you have a great memory, as quoted below. \/ I always rotate counterclockwise! (or anti-clockwise, for our outside USA readers!) 8-) 😎

Mr. Luigi wrote:

Hello Pat!

Forgive my tardiness in replying. The lack of posts on this forum seems to indicate that the SIM caper has finally been licked. Your last post, I believe, gives any future visitors a clear battle plan for addressing the problem and I hope folks read it if they ever have any SIM problems.

Well, I still look forward to those drinks. I am sure I will know who you are if we are in the same vicinity as you will be the one who is shouting...

"That darn SIM card! I can't believe it is acting up again...as you down three shots of Gray Goose vodka while turning slowly counterclockwise. :-)

Your Good Friend, Mr. Luigi

Take care, old friend! I am glad you are still kicking around the forums here! 🙂

Pat