brsm1990
Level 1 (44 points)
Mac OS X

Q: Trouble activating factory unlocked iPhone 4S

My girlfriend just got an iPhone 4S (factory unlocked) from Apple US.  She's having trouble activating it and I'm trying to guide her through the process but I can't figure out what the problem is.  She says when she plugs it into her computer, connects to WiFi and opens iTunes it just asked her to give her iPhone a name and "something else" but nothing about activating.  She can't make calls or texts. 


She's roaming outside of her home country now though - is that a problem?  Can you not activate while roaming?  Her account and her sim card roam fine on other phones so roaming is not disabled by her carrier.


Thanks.

iPhone 4, iOS 5.0.1

Posted on Dec 26, 2011 5:10 PM

by KiltedTim,Solvedanswer
KiltedTim KiltedTim
Level 9 (56,636 points)
iPhone
A:

She may need to update it. Apple recently addressed a new build of iOS 5.0.1 that addresses the invalid/no SIM message.

 

1. Back up your user content and settings using iTunes or iCloud.

2. Restore your iPhone 4S using iTunes.

3. After the process is complete, restore your user content and settings from your backup.

4. To confirm that you’ve successfully restored, verify that the version is now iOS 5.0.1 (9A406) in Settings > General > About.

Posted on Dec 27, 2011 6:01 AM

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brsm1990

Q: Trouble activating factory unlocked iPhone 4S

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  • Helpful answers

  • by KiltedTim,Helpful

    KiltedTim KiltedTim Dec 26, 2011 5:26 PM in response to brsm1990
    Level 9 (56,636 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 26, 2011 5:26 PM in response to brsm1990

    It's entirely possible that the problem is being caused by being outside of her home country. Without more information, it's hard to say. Where is she from? Where is she now? What carrier is she trying to activate it with? What is the EXACT message she gets? Is the phone seemingly in a usable state, just no signal? Has she tried activating over the air?

  • by brsm1990,

    brsm1990 brsm1990 Dec 26, 2011 7:19 PM in response to KiltedTim
    Level 1 (44 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 26, 2011 7:19 PM in response to KiltedTim

    Her sim is from Bulgaria (carrier Mtel) and she's in France right now.  She didn't mention getting any message just that nothing much happens other than asking her to name the phone.  It can be used with wifi apps like Viber, Skype, Facebook, etc.  She even had iMessages working except they would come from her e-mail address instead of her phone number as sender.

     

    What is "activating over the air" and how do you do it?  Does this mean you can activate without your computer?  I wasn't aware of this.  I always activated by plugging into iTunes.

     

    Thanks.

  • by brsm1990,

    brsm1990 brsm1990 Dec 26, 2011 7:28 PM in response to brsm1990
    Level 1 (44 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 26, 2011 7:28 PM in response to brsm1990

    Ok I didn't realize you could do all this with iOS 5.0.  When I ogt my iPhone 4 it iOS 4.x was the latest so I still had to do everything the old way.

     

    Anyway I found this handy walk-thru but my question now is if she somehow broke out of the activation process without completing how do we trigger it to start up again?

     

    Maybe it even is activated and she just doesn't know it... how would she tell?

     

    Thanks.

  • by KiltedTim,Helpful

    KiltedTim KiltedTim Dec 27, 2011 2:47 AM in response to brsm1990
    Level 9 (56,636 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 27, 2011 2:47 AM in response to brsm1990

    If she can get to apps, then her phone is activated. What does it say in the upper left corner of the screen? What carrier does it list? Does it show any cellular signal at all?  Is she getting a message about an incompatible or unsupported SIM?

  • by brsm1990,

    brsm1990 brsm1990 Dec 27, 2011 2:51 AM in response to KiltedTim
    Level 1 (44 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 27, 2011 2:51 AM in response to KiltedTim

    You mean if she can get to the App Store (she can, and has download viber, skype and facebook and they work) the phone is activated?  Cool...

     

    I asked her about the upper left hand corner of the screen and the message about the sim waiting for her to get back to me.  I wonder if it's something s stupid as the sim is in upside down...


    It's not a question of there not actually being signal because the sime works in her old phone.

  • by brsm1990,

    brsm1990 brsm1990 Dec 27, 2011 5:44 AM in response to brsm1990
    Level 1 (44 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 27, 2011 5:44 AM in response to brsm1990

    She says regarding what it says in the upper left hand corner:

     

    "It changes all the time - sometimes it is "no signal", sometimes is the name of the network + the bars for the service, now it is "invalid sim""

     

    Sounds like it is activated and everything is OK except weak signal?  Although what is this ivalid sim about?  Maybe the sim is also old and corroded? 

     


  • by KiltedTim,Solvedanswer

    KiltedTim KiltedTim Dec 27, 2011 6:01 AM in response to brsm1990
    Level 9 (56,636 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 27, 2011 6:01 AM in response to brsm1990

    She may need to update it. Apple recently addressed a new build of iOS 5.0.1 that addresses the invalid/no SIM message.

     

    1. Back up your user content and settings using iTunes or iCloud.

    2. Restore your iPhone 4S using iTunes.

    3. After the process is complete, restore your user content and settings from your backup.

    4. To confirm that you’ve successfully restored, verify that the version is now iOS 5.0.1 (9A406) in Settings > General > About.

  • by brsm1990,

    brsm1990 brsm1990 Dec 27, 2011 6:55 AM in response to KiltedTim
    Level 1 (44 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 27, 2011 6:55 AM in response to KiltedTim

    Can't she just do the software update like this:

     

    Settings -> General - > Software update?

  • by KiltedTim,

    KiltedTim KiltedTim Dec 27, 2011 7:03 AM in response to brsm1990
    Level 9 (56,636 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 27, 2011 7:03 AM in response to brsm1990

    If she's not already running 5.0.1, yes. If she is already running 5.0.1, it will not see the newest built.

  • by brsm1990,

    brsm1990 brsm1990 Dec 27, 2011 8:22 AM in response to KiltedTim
    Level 1 (44 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 27, 2011 8:22 AM in response to KiltedTim

    Trying this.  Thanks.

  • by brsm1990,

    brsm1990 brsm1990 Oct 26, 2012 9:17 PM in response to brsm1990
    Level 1 (44 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 26, 2012 9:17 PM in response to brsm1990

    By the way, a year later I just noticed I neglected to say that this *was* the fix.