Help! Samsung Galaxy s5 error "SIM Card Removed: Insert SIM and Restart Device"

[AC Question]

Ugh! I'm so frustrated with my phone! I have a Samsung Galaxy S5 & at least a couple of times a day it comes up with an error saying: "SIM Card Removed: Insert SIM and restart device"... then it gives me the option to shut down without backing out or anything. My only choice is to LITERALLY shut it down and restart it... This has been happening RIGHT in the middle of me doing something on it! I just don't get it! Half of the time I'll restart it... It'll give me the same error, then I'll repeat and it's fine. So annoying! I usually just go through the 2 restarts and be fine- but I REALLY don't want to have to keep taking my Otter Box off, battery out, & removing the SIM (which is exactly where it's supposed to be) & then going through the whole reverse process multiple times a day. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions of what's going on? Anyone else have this problem? Other than that I love my phone...

 

[S5 user for a year]

It's happened me twice in the lat 24hours and on both occasions shortly after phone restart. But I noticed one thing each time, when the phone reloads the home screen I get a message that quickly says something like currently unavailable for downloads ?
Anyone seen this message
Jim
P.S. that safe mode thing worked a charm.

 

[Ken Otto]

sim card error 5 times today had to restart... i use my phone for cable tv internet and phone installs for my job... it's never convenient ..always a pain. .. everyones going off about heat, it just happened in my air conditioned room.. sick of dealing with unreliable tech crap.. i put up with enough on my job... just adding my tally to the long list of users... and another customer that will look elsewhere when given the chance... boo android ... fn boo

 

[Inverted Pass]

One out of left field..Try a different battery as the one you are using might be dropping voltage under loads, thus temporarily cutting power to the sim reader. They are packing so much crap onto our phones that require network access, location ect. the poor batteries are taking a hammering.

Since replacing the battery in my S4 I havent seen this error again.

Hope this helps

 

[Stacy Barrett1]

I have this same sim card error I sent off to Samsung to repair they advised they could find no fault bet yet low and behold all they did was fix software and advised no repair was made as no fault was found back to square one and a very unhappy phonecall to samsung to send back for repair should have just got a HTC what a waste only had the phone for 7months!!

 

[Edward Winslow]

GOT IT FIXED - I searched online and read through many of the replies and found the following to work. I cut out a small piece of PostIt the size of the SIM card and stuck it on the back of the SIM card. I actually cut 2 similar pieces to add to the thickness a bit. And IT WORKED! Before the fix, my Samsung Note could not recognize the SIM card, but now it is fine.

I FIXED IT too. Took off the back of the phone and battery then removed the sim card. With the card out I massaged the empty sim card housing down so it would press the card into the phone better upon re insertion. Slide sim card in, battery in and restart then no message.

We'll see how long before the housing loosens up again...but for now it works.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Marc Arrand]

Yep... i too have this happen MANY times a day... and its really getting old very quick.
Ready to say screw it and get another brand.
Never had this problem until perhaps few months ago.
Had sim card replaced...but no luck.
Anyone please have a fix to this issue yet?

 

[tahoechris]

My phone has suddenly started giving me the sim card removed restart phone mode.,multiple times a day., I just changed carriers.does this have something to do with it?or does your S5 come with a 2 1/4 electronic life setting via manufacturer so you have to g ok buy a new phone???

 

[samsona]

The fix so far for me was to take my phone out of my hard-shell protective case. One of the tips I read online mentioned the idea of the protective case expanding and contracting due to heat, which would then cause this stupid error. So I decided to press (and hold the press, don't let go yet) the back of my case firmly but gently to force the case to expand while my phone was still in it. Lo and behold, I caused the error to change to "SIM card found...restart phone" or something like that. When I let go of the press, sure enough, the "No SIM card detected..." error came back. After pressing and releasing the back of the case a few times, causing this change of messages, I decided to take my phone out of the case. I have not seen the error again since then. As a tech guy myself, I've concluded this is a hardware design issue of the phone and case (Speck, or any hard shell case) because they should have done better testing. I'm thinking of replacing my hard case with a flexible rubber-only one, or one that when it expands, it does not put pressure on the phone. I didn't have this problem with my S4 or previous phones, even with a hard case. My 4 had a hard case.

 

[ArnieDeepX]

I've had this same problem on my S4, although it didn't start happening until I'd had the phone for about a year. So far I've tried nearly every practical fix action (short of replacing the phone):

1) Factory reset the phone.
2) Replaced SIM card (and used compressed air to clean out any possible traces of debris, despite always keeping the phone in an Otterbox case).
3) Replace SIM card/SD card tray. Found the part for $7 on Amazon (w/ Prime), and operation was straightforward with just removing the 9 small screws holding the back of the phone together, disconnecting the small ribbon cable connecting the tray to the motherboard and peeling the tray off of the motherboard. No soldering needed, so it's something most people could try. Online sources suggest a heat gun to remove the tray but mine peeled off without much effort. Regardless, it's a cheaper and less inconvenient fix than spending $100 to get a replacement with the insurance thingy my carrier has, and I think I could still send my phone back without the repair being noticed.

Each of these fixes would prove to be just temporary. I've noticed the problem was more likely to occur when I'd been commuting somewhere (i.e. the phone was in my pocket). I wonder if there's some sort of localized overheating type of problem, as I haven't had any issues since I quit using the Otterbox case and have kept my phone out of my pocket as much.

Do you have to remove screen in order to get to the sim tray? And did you complete following on S5?

Any DIY pictures would be nice

Thanks

 

[hotwired flamingo]

It happens with many phones, i wouldnt factory resest my phone becuase it ussually doesnt ever have anything to do with the software,
Your choices are
-get a new phone with a tighter sim holder
- open the phone up and insert the sim farther in the holder(if it fell out)
-find a way to make it stay in the holder (a bit of tape will do)

If it still keeps happening its probable your hardware is damaged and its best to just get a new phone.

Hope this helps

 

[TooTiredToMakeUsername]

Hi! I'm having a similar issue here on my SM-G900A. So I just recently upgraded my phone from Android 5.0 to Android 5.1.1 and ever since then, it's not been able to read the SIM card. I don't want to factory reset it as it places me back to Android 5.0 which I don't really like. Is there an app that can diagnose the problem or will I just have to factory reset it? Any support is appreciated!

 

[mandie466]

After getting that message 8 times in one day and missing out on 2 shift at work because of it I took the battery out got my hammer and bashed the *^#* out of the phone .... Now that message wont come up

 

[tomi159753]

I have got the same problem but factory reset doesnt work....after couple of hours i find the issue!
I have placed a small metal piece on my SIM card reader to hold mi sim card on the place and it helped...thanks guys you are awesome!!!!
(It was a problem with hardware no software)

 

[Gjdemp]

Here is how I resolved this issue on my att note 2. Go to the phone dial pad and type:
*#197328640# and enter service mode.
(1) UMTS
(1) DEBUG SCREEN
(8) PHONE CONTROL
(5) SIMULATION
(1) MODEM ASSERT (RESET)
After I clicked modem assert reset I got the no signal symbol and the no sim error disappeared and ATT came back up and my phone works now. Hope this helped.

When I put in the number and try to dial it error message mobile network not available

 

[belodion]

When I put in the number and try to dial it error message mobile network not available

Welcome to Android Central.

Do you mean that this happens when you are trying to access the Service Menu? The code for accessing that varies from one phone to another, and also varies with different versions and carriers. What phone do you have?

 

[niko A7imbak]

Hello guys ! I have a problem with my galaxy s5 new (neo) european version ... the sim card of my region sometimes working and somtimes no ... when the network of sim card gone the phone shutt down and freeze in the black screen for a while ..

 

[B. Diddy]

Hello guys ! I have a problem with my galaxy s5 new (neo) european version ... the sim card of my region sometimes working and somtimes no ... when the network of sim card gone the phone shutt down and freeze in the black screen for a while ..

See response in your other thread: https://forums.androidcentral.com/g...w-neo-region-card-sim-issues.html#post6133047

 

[Gabbieboo]

I know this is an old thread but I was having this same problem recently and I think I solved the problem. I had an app installed (tracfone my account) that was constantly accessing my sim card, to the point where it was heating it up and I would get the same message "sim card removed please restart". I have galaxy s4, so in order to remove my sim card I have to take out my battery first.

I replaced my sim card and ordered, then installed a new sim card tray (comes with an sd card slot all in one), when that didn't work, I deleted the Tracfone app and so far haven't had any messages or heat problems where the sim card tray is. So any apps that access your sim card might be your problem, if you can't delete them you should be able to disable them or root your phone and get rid of them if its bloatware.

FYI: My original sim card tray got damaged when I tried to take out the sim card it broke off some of the pins (it was a convertor tray to hold nano sims and I needed a micro sim), but I was getting the messages before that even happen and tried to take it out to wipe it off.