Galaxy S4: Major problem - SIM card not detected

[Bekzod Khalikov]

Re: Major problem - Sim card not detected

Hi Everyone, I had same issue with my Galaxy S4 SHV-E330S, I brought it from Korea, no SIM card issue, I tried everything but the issue didn't disappear. On the final, I suddenly found out solution. Just cut piece of thick paper of sim card size and put it on sim card and close phone cap. After that my phone works without problem. I hope your issue will be solved by this way of easy solution ))

 

[Craniumman]

Thanks!

 

[Cody Heimpel]

It's the Chip that controls NFC.

 

[Alannah D]

Yes thank you !!!

 

[zmozony]

Hello guys,

The NFC (Near Field Communication) chip is right underneath the SIM and its supposed to power it. If it stops powering the SIM at some point its going to give you the insert SIM card message with the option to press to reboot. If you expierence this problem you should send your phone to a licensed BY-SAMSUNG repairment center, so they can change out the NFC chip for a new one. Do note that you should only send your phone in for repair if its still in warranty(if you have this problem).

If your phone has liquid damage it cannot be fixed unless you have insurance on the phone, so they wont make a quotation for it either. Make sure to always read the term of service before sending in your phone for repair on the repairment centers website.

Also I wouldnt recommend buying your phones from far away countries, because they are often not supported for repair due to minor model differences. 9505, 9506, 9515 are ok.

 

[adcina]

I just had the same problem .. theAT&T store tried to fix the problem and contacted their Level 2 Technicians who confirmed a "known issue" exists with the Galaxy S4. There IS NO fix. IF it's NOT under warranty it's your problem to fix at a cost. Horrible customer service !

 

[Stakeouttoo]

have a Note 4 with the recurring Sim Card Error Message.. anyone know where the best place to put a piece of foam or whatever to apply pressure..

 

[Ree Koronto]

Hi, I just finished reading all 10 pages of this thread, and I didn't see this one... first, let me explain: I bought a used T-mobile S4 on eBay, and within a day or so had the first SIM card error. Restarting fixed it, and for a couple days it did it about once per day, but then yesterday (I've only had the phone about 5 days) it was doing it really frequently, every twenty minutes or so. I found this thread and started reading. I installed that Bluetooth Connect and Play app (mentioned previously in this thread), which did not help. Blowing into the SIM card slot got it going until this afternoon, but then it was not recognizing the SIM card even after restarting. In a panic, because I drive around for work and I need my phone, I tried:
Blowing in the SIM card slot again
Removing the SD card
Clearing the cache
Putting a piece of cardstock behind the SIM card
Leaving the battery and SIM card out for a bit, in case it needed to cool down
And pressing on the empty SIM card slot.
None of those things fixed it.
Then, I drove to a hardware store and purchased a small Philips screwdriver and I removed all the screws, but when the gray plastic didn't come off easily, I chickened out and decided to wait till I could watch a YouTube video (the screen glass is cracked in the corner, so I was afraid of messing up the screen). But then I sort of remembered reading about booting it in safe mode, and I thought I would try it, I held down the power, the home button and the volume down all at once, and then it said something about installing an OS, so I hit volume down which was cancel. After that the SIM card worked! When I got a chance I started watching some YouTube videos, because I still wanted to try putting some foam or something to press down the ribbon connector. In one video's comments, a person called iFix Galaxy wrote about the SCREWS being the problem! (I never put mine back in, btw) they said try removing the one closest to the SIM card, but if that didn't help remove them all and add them back in one by one until you figure out the minimum screws you can have out and still have it working. I don't know if my weird boot had something to do with this fix or not.
Anyway, mine has been working about 6 hrs now, and I've got my fingers crossed that this is it!! I do plan to replace some of the screws, and I might still try putting in foam. I wanted to share this fix and I'm curious to see if it helps anyone else.

 

[Johnny Greene]

It is been 4 weeks since I applied Steve Cormier's solution (piece of plastic behind the connector).
All these weeks my S4 didn't suffer anymore of those N0 SIM card errors.
I pretty sure this really solved the issue I had with my S4!
Thanks Steve!

 

[cmbhappy]

Having read through these pages looking for a solution myself I thought it couldn't do any harm to share my experiences.
In a nutshell I've had the issue twice over the last 18months with the same phone.
The first time I got the "insert a valid sim" message repeatedly over a period of a week or two,I read as many forums as I could in an evening then opted to simply ditch any unnecessary apps and bingo! No problems for months!
Last week that all changed and the issue has reoccurred, much worse than before, shutting down maybe 4 times a day until yesterday to slightly confound the issue I did 2 things either of which may be contributing to a possible solution.
First, I again dumped all unnecessary apps, Second I have decided to let the battery do it's thing more and not put it on charge at every available opportunity just in case there is a heating issue at play. 48hrs on, for the first period in a week or 10 days all is well!
I will try to remember to report on progress if either I get another message or if after a week there is still no issue.
Kol

 

[Extreme Solutions]

Known issue. I took my phone in and they tried replacing the sim. When that didn't work, they just issued me a new phone(refurbished of course).

 

[Dekwo Kybon]

After 1,5 year performing just perfectly, my S4 started showing this SIMcard issue a week after upgrading to Lollipop.
Just typical behaviour: sometimes 5 times in a day, sometimes 3 days without the issue, making you think the problem was solved.

- Vodafone support in the Netherlands said it was a known issue - I had to reset to factory defaults > this did not help at all.
- Vodafone support now said: "It is a known issue, please contact Samsung Support."
- Samsung said: "It is a known issue, please take your phone to a repair point." (Dynafix in the Vodafone store in Maastricht)
- Dynafix employee said: "It is a known issue, in the past we've tried to replace the SIMcard-slot, but that didn't work. We'll have to send it in to Dynafix repair centre." - He didn't now what they were going to do to fix it.
- I've just received news from Dynafix, they've examined my S4 and guess what? They've discovered that my phone had moisture damage and because of that warranty was void! They didn't even make the effort to make me an offer to have it repaired.
Now we all know this "moisture damage thing" is just "stieren poep" (=Dutch for bull droppings). The picture, they've included, indicating this "supposed" damage is no-where near the SIMcard holder flatband cable connector.

But what can one do?
When I get my phone back from repair (unrepaired), it's directly off to the guitar-store to get me some picks.

I'll keep you posted.

Hi Johnny,

I could write this in Dutch, because I'm from Belgium, but I'll stick to English.
My phone started to to report "No Sim Card" (of "simkaart verwijderd of zoiets") and the frequency with which it happened increased each time requiring a reboot to fix it until it show the message right after a reboot. The phone also got very hot at the top, near the antenna.

After trying all kinds of things, actually all the things I've read here on this forum like save mode, deinstalling apps, replacing sim cards with different operators (Telenet, Base, Aldi, now Mobistar), replacing sim card reader, installing different ROMS, ... I finally gave up and then I found out that my phone still had warranty (I bought it seconded handed).

It got fixed by Dynafix. I can only say they truly did a great job. Good service. I guess the replaced the antenna unit or something. It worked for a couple of weeks. Then the phone broke again. I sent it back over to Dynafix. It was fixed again: new motherboard, it read. It worked for a couple of months.

Two days ago all of a sudden the "no sim card" message reappeared and now it has happened over 5 times :-( It's completely random although something must trigger it.

I guess I must be doing something wrong with it but I don't know what.

 

[member213]

Hello everyone. I have a Galaxy S4 and have experienced this same MAJOR HEADACHE of the phone randomly saying "No Sim". I have read the entire thread and tried every method of resolution without success, from clearing the cache in recovery mode to putting a backer behind the sim. I have taken the phone to a third party service centre and paid $99NZD to solve this and the technician replaced the sim reader but the "No Sim" problem just continued. I took the phone back four times (each time the problem would reoccur) and have been told now, he cannot fix it. I'm so sick of this and cannot devote anymore time to it as it is really hindering my day to day life!! I'm going to part with more money (over $1000NZD) and buy a new phone now. Then I will have to deal with getting all of my data off the S4 and onto the new phone with Samsung Kies which is also a headache!! I'm going to take pleasure taking to this S4 with a sledgehammer!! F**K YOU SAMSUNG AND YOUR DEFECTIVE PRODUCTS!!

 

[TheFyend]

lol as soon as I ran sim card info the error popped up.

 

[Inverted Pass]

I started getting this issue after tightening all the screws in the back of my phone. The tighter I did them the more frequent the Sim/Reboot message would come up. I found after I backed off the 2 screws above the battery and leaving the rest done up firm the error messages stopped.
It seems that there is a contact issue within these phones when flex or pressure has been applied.

Edit: Error message returned

 

[Inverted Pass]

I've just been thinking about this issue and the batteries came to mind.

The batteries in these phones cop a real hiding when all the apps are running, wifi, bluetooth gaming ect so to me its possible that a hard flogged battery could drop enough voltage to momentarily stop powering the sim tray. These devices are very power hungry and the Sim tray might be the first place a voltage drop is felt in the phone.

In radio controlled model applications I have seen lithium batteries under heavy load drop up to half their voltage and then return back to normal voltage when the load is lifted. Under the same load the older batteries dropped to a lower voltage than newer ones. Same thing could be happening to these batteries under a heavy load scenario.

Anyway I've put a new battery in and for 48 hrs I've had no Sim Error messages.

Could be another dud lead or its possible that low battery voltage spikes could be the entire problem...

 

[Grachtenracer79]

Hey all!

I think I am close to solving my own problem with the "removed sim card" and I think I know how!

A few weeks ago, I had this problem once, maybe twice a day. Later, this happened more like 5 times a day!
So three days ago, I decided to take the card out and used wifi all day. What do you think? No message! The sim card holder remained cold all the time, so I put some contact spray on the card, left it to dry and put a piece of paper behind it, in the phone, to find out if it was a contact related problem. After more than a day, the error came back, but with my flipcover on. Again, the sim felt warm. So, now two days ago, I ripped the back of my phone and put the thing back into its cover, but with a folded piece of paper in between. Just now, he gave the error again, the paper was almost flat and again, (the phone was charging), the sim was pretty warm.. So I folded the piece of paper again and so, I will keep trying until it stays away for good the next two months. Then, it is time for something else but Samsung! ;-P

So I think heat is the problem and this happened since my update to android 5. Coincidence? I don't think so!

 

[Hogan773]

We haven't finalized our price yet but it's approximately $200 CDN

Wow that seems a steep price. That is more than the phone is worth

 

[Hogan773]

This is such an elusive problem. A bunch of theories and a bunch of people who have "fixed" it although for many it returns.

Mine just keeps happening randomly. I used to think it was physical because always happened when I put phone in tighter jeans pocket. I thought the phone was flexing a bit on the card. But now it sometimes happens just when I am holding the phone. Part of me wants to think it is a software conflict. All I know is it is annoying and I'm still looking for a fix.

 

[Joeyblitz]

Well ,I am a guitar player so ,I am gonna try the pick trick tonight. I bought a set of precision phone repair tools last year and haven't really used them much ,as cell repair is super tricky.This one looks like it may be doable for a ham hand like me.Thanx for the tip.