Galaxy S4: Major problem - SIM card not detected

[superporky]

Guitar pick trick didn't work for me. Well it did for half a day now back to rebooted every 2-3 hours. I want my S4 back!!! Now that said, I glued to the ribbon cable connector rather than the phone backing which could be applying uneven pressure or pressure in the wrong place. So there is a ray of hope.

 

[Sasquatch_Poop]

I HAVE FIXED THIS ON MY PHONE

I have not seen anyone mention this and my phone now seems to be function so this looks to be a solution and one that sounds entirely logical.

I did 2 things:

1) Booted in safe mode (hit down volume on restart until it boots into safe mode)
2) Go to settings/storage and hold cache... clear cache.
3) Change your APN settings. Look up your carrier's APN settings and enter them in your phone EXACTLY as they have them written.
4) Navigate to Settings >> More Networks >> Mobile Networks and once in that screen... hold home and power buttons simultaneously (it will take a screenshot... but keep holding)... then the screen will go black and eventually your phone will reboot. I presume this clear the mobile cache or something of that description. It doesn't delete the APN settings you entered previously.

Either way... doing all of the above fixed my phone.

 

[gwarmito]

I just started to have this error,

I'm curious to know if, after adding pressure to the ribbon, anyone who has tried this fix has gotten any of the errors.

 

[Trevor Duong]

Hi All, Trevor checking in again with an update. My earplug/foam solution to put pressure on the ribbon is still holding up and working fine. In the past two months I've have my phone reboot twice however adjusting the foam around a bit gives it another month or so before it reboots.

Also, remember to place the foam/earplug piece on the left side of the phone (when you are looking down on it) as that is where the Sim card/SD card tray ribbon connects to the motherboard. Another poster mentioned to use a guitar pick (which probably works too) however I think the foam applies more even pressure and easier to find at any hardware store.

 

[Sheena L]

I've had my note 4 for two months and over the last week, minimum two times a day up to five times, I've been getting the message about it not detecting my Sim card then it needs to restart. I never moved any apps to my SD card and I never broke into my phone. The only thing I changed was the outside case (to the one that has the peek view). I took off the case, took out the Sim card then gently pressed down on the metal mount that houses the Sim card. (I figured it could have loosened up when the Verizon employee touched it or maybe my case doesn't make the housing very secure). Then I carefully reinserted my sim card. So far I have not had any more pop up messages. It's worth a try before going through the hassle of factory restarts or installing a new mount.

 

[Soravia]

I have had issue of the GS4 asking for a reboot after "SIM Card Not Detected" error.
Nothing to do with ROM, cache clearing, SIM itself, anything anyone has brought up. I've tried it all.
After reboot, it will work, until the next time, which can be hours, days, or withthin minutes, has nothing to do with heat. Happens even just sitting in winter.
It used to not do this.

So I opened the phone, cut a small 1/8" thick piece of soft ear plug foam (not the hard yellow/orange) bought from Auto parts store for $1. The form will compress considerably and fit in just fine.
I put it on the connector plug for the SD/SIM board. If you look, Samsung out in a thin pad to apply pressure on that connector. But it was really thin.
The connector is next to LED Flash and right above the SD card slot.

Now after more than 24 hours I have no more "SIM not detected" errors. Before it will crop up multiple time everyday without fail.

I hope this works for you all. Remember. It must be soft ear plug foam. It compresses and expands as necessary and applies pressure equally. Guitar picks or paper will not work as well as foam.
My guess is that after normal use, heat, dropping phone, etc. The tiny connectors are not very secure anymore. So even if the boards were replaced, if the connectors are not pressure secured, they won't make good connection and loosen itself.

 

[olatunde]

Hi All,

I can also confirm that applying pressure where the SIM/SD Card reader RIBBON is what makes the fix work, not the SIM card tray itself. This fix worked with a friend's S4 which was having the exact same issue. Mine has been working fine for about a month or so (previously it was having the SIM card error multiple times daily).

It doesn't really matter what you use, however I used a cut up piece of foam (earplug) to apply pressure to the area with the ribbon. My foam was about 0.4cm thick. See the below photo and please note that it was taken with a webcam so the orientation is reversed to what it really looks like.
View attachment 160714

Happy fixing.

Thanks! this has really worked for me. One week and counting and no more "SIM not detected. Restart" pop-ups!

 

[mxasf]

Hi everyone -
I posted this on the XDA forums as well. It's too early to say if it's a "fix" or not.

There appears to be two revisions of the SIM Card flex cable: rev0.3 and rev0.5. You can see it on the SIM card module, in small font. Most vendors on amazon/ebay/etc do not specify the revision #. It would be funny if they are all providing the earlier revision.

There are a couple vendors that explicitly sell both revisions. in the US, I found the vendor "phonepartsusa" to sell rev0.3 and rev0.5; there are probably more vendors. I just bought a rev0.5 cable, which clearly has rev 0.5 printed on it. I switched my rev 0.3 cable for a rev 0.5 cable a couple days ago and the problem appears gone.

Obviously it's too early to call this a fix, and I'll provide a report later: 7 days, 14 days, etc. Or maybe the problem will return.

What I am curious about, for people that replaced their SIM Card flex cable and who saw the problem re-occur: can you check to see if you have a rev 0.3 or rev 0.5 flex cable? (just pop the cover off, and look for small text that identifies the revision). I'm mostly looking for someone else who has tried a rev0.5 cable either successfully or non-successfully. If there is no such person, then I appear to to be doing a unique experiment.

In all forum posts on the Sim Card error problem, I've only seen statements like "I tried a new sim card reader and the problem returned" which makes no mention about the revision.

Hopefully on to something, we'll see.....
-marc

 

[dizzyhypo]

Yes. me. I am going to try a lower capacity sim card and see if that fixes it. I'll let you know what I find out.

 

[zenith1966]

Hi everyone -
I posted this on the XDA forums as well. It's too early to say if it's a "fix" or not.

There appears to be two revisions of the SIM Card flex cable: rev0.3 and rev0.5. You can see it on the SIM card module, in small font. Most vendors on amazon/ebay/etc do not specify the revision #. It would be funny if they are all providing the earlier revision.

There are a couple vendors that explicitly sell both revisions. in the US, I found the vendor "phonepartsusa" to sell rev0.3 and rev0.5; there are probably more vendors. I just bought a rev0.5 cable, which clearly has rev 0.5 printed on it. I switched my rev 0.3 cable for a rev 0.5 cable a couple days ago and the problem appears gone.

Obviously it's too early to call this a fix, and I'll provide a report later: 7 days, 14 days, etc. Or maybe the problem will return.

What I am curious about, for people that replaced their SIM Card flex cable and who saw the problem re-occur: can you check to see if you have a rev 0.3 or rev 0.5 flex cable? (just pop the cover off, and look for small text that identifies the revision). I'm mostly looking for someone else who has tried a rev0.5 cable either successfully or non-successfully. If there is no such person, then I appear to to be doing a unique experiment.

In all forum posts on the Sim Card error problem, I've only seen statements like "I tried a new sim card reader and the problem returned" which makes no mention about the revision.

Hopefully on to something, we'll see.....
-marc

i changed my old sim tray for a rev 0.5 one and was no problem for a couple of days but then started again unfortunately so for me did`nt permenantly fix it for me just short time fix.

 

[mxasf]

i changed my old sim tray for a rev 0.5 one and was no problem for a couple of days but then started again unfortunately so for me did`nt permenantly fix it for me just short time fix.

Crap, you are right. For me as well, the rev 0.5 cable did not solve the problem, and a couple days after I installed it I got the dreaded error / reboot. I think it was an interesting thing to try, but it appears the rev 0.5 cable is NOT a solution.

Wondering if, with an unlocked bootloader and a custom kernel, if the "error" can be worked around via software or a kernel that knows about the problem. Obviously it's software that forces a phone to reboot. I wonder if due to the widespread occurrence of this problem, it could be used to leverage Samsung into opening the device up. Probably wishful thinking.

I'm going back to my Galaxy S3; so annoyed I blew $200 on an S4 from ebay. It looks like the Galaxy S5 may also suffer from the same problem, or at least there seem to be a couple reports so far.
-marc

 

[zenith1966]

Hi All,

I can also confirm that applying pressure where the SIM/SD Card reader RIBBON is what makes the fix work, not the SIM card tray itself. This fix worked with a friend's S4 which was having the exact same issue. Mine has been working fine for about a month or so (previously it was having the SIM card error multiple times daily).

It doesn't really matter what you use, however I used a cut up piece of foam (earplug) to apply pressure to the area with the ribbon. My foam was about 0.4cm thick. See the below photo and please note that it was taken with a webcam so the orientation is reversed to what it really looks like.
View attachment 160714

Happy fixing.

i have also tried this method a couple of days without the mesage but has started again now. i change my battery when flat as i have a spare and noticed now the sponge is pretty flat and probably not pushing down as it was when first fitted.:-\
just an update i fitted another foam piece in place and have again had no rests asked where before i was getting one everytime i put in my pocket so as far as i am concerned itd is defintely the ribbon needs pressure to be kept on to stop the reset message.will have to fit something hard plastic to keep constaint pressure to ribbon connector point.

 

[BeardofOdin]

Hey all,

Just thought I'd post what fixed it for me. I tried most of the items suggested (cache clear, reset, paper in sim slot, bluetooth app?, etc), but as found on other sites what fixed it is pressure on the ribbon cable location.

You can see if this will solve your problem easily without taking your phone apart with some double sided tape (for thickness and easy application). You can see I put a small strip just beside the LED and it only creates a small bump on the back of your case. I've gone an entire week since the fix without the issue coming up again where it would happen about twice a day previously.

Hope this helps others!

 

[Soravia]

A week now and still no Sim error. Earplug foam on the SIM connector plug really works.
Just have proper plastic tool to crack open the screwed in cover (after removing screws) so you don't damage it.

 

[coplyn25]

Hi

I've been looking this thread since a few months ago expecting to find a solution because i've been experience this issue since november.

My phone is out of warranty and I took it to a repair center. The guy there change the sim resistors twice but it didn't work, because it worked fine just 1 or 2 days, so I thought that's it for my phone, but, i don't remember in which forum read about an app that check the sim status constantly and it worked for the user. So, i downloaded on google play "Sim Card Info" and it has been a week with no Sim Card Removed message again.

 

[Surfer Rosa]

Immediately after purchasing a shiny purple S4 on ebay and inserting the sim card, the phone began informing me that it could not detect the sim card and would then restart itself all day every day for 3 days solid. I'm on Sprint pay-as-you-go, which apparently doe not require the stupid thing (sim card) to begin with. So I simply took that **** (sim card) the f*** out, which I suggest to anyone in my situation. I don't get the mythical 4G, but who the hell cares? I'm able to stream chillwave on Pandora uninterrupted and obsessively reload Facebook on the phone, and that's all I could ever ask for.

 

[Bobber The Greatest]

Dear all

I also had this SIM error. Tried other SIM Card and replaced the SIM/SD module but without success. Almost made a factory reset and also considered replacing the main board before i found this post.

The solution to apply pressure at the SIM/SD module plug really Works!

Thanks a lot for great support.

 

[SoftTaquito]

So I had this problem and I got a A brand new galaxy s4 and I have the same problem and I know it can't be the sI'm card because I also got a new sim

 

[Craig Bremner]

Same story, phone came up with a no service fault.....

1. Wiped and reset phone, no help. Updated firmware on kies no joy

2. New sim tray installed nil fix. Connectors et al looked in good shape. Repair shop did a good job, and gave it an excellent try.

3. Went to bell.....might of well stayed home for all the help they are....nuf said.

4. Samsung authorized dealer....its a known problem, and they have a repair. ( new, and the repair shop has never attempted it, installing a new chip with soldering on motherboard) 35$$ to attempt, 150 if it works. If it does not work, phone will be totally unusable. Samsung will not take any phone back out of warranty.

5. Next phone will be an apple, and those Koreans can keep their junk.

 

[Benja Guzman]

I have the same problem.
I change to new sim card.
I do a master reset but nothing change .
My coworkers told me to use compressed air and apply where the sim card go and good news is working for 2 weeks.