No sim card error

Can you provide more information about your phone?

How long have you had the phone for?

I read on another forum, back in early May someone with an S4 also getting the No SIM Card error.

pham818 said:

I have the ATT Galaxy S4 and it's been great, but lately it randomly has No Sim Card Error, and askes me to insert one, the only fix for it is taking out the sim, and putting it back on.

Anyone having this problem?

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Is your phone modified in any way? Root? Customs roms? Etc. Perhaps there's a problem with your sim card. I would start with that.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium

Try getting your company to exchange the sim card and if issue still happens just replace the sim tray yourself unless you got an insurance plan that covers free defective hardware or ship it off to samsung for repair.

Here is a link to a sim tray for the s4 that I bought for someone to repair their sim tray.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-SIM-SD-C...-Samsung-Galaxy-S4-IV-AT-T-i337-/151079175235

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

Please insert SIM emergency calls only

I bet I have more experience with this than anyone else with a Samsung Galaxy S4 for AT&T 16 GB

This hand set was run over by a large SUV and I was amazed it survived and kudos to otterbox.

Since then, I've been having this SIM error as well, at random. I see it reported that pulling the SIM out and putting it back in was the only thing that worked, I'm glad simply rebooting works for me, so I don't have to peel apart the otterbox all the time.

I tried the tape and it didn't fix it so I replaced the SIM/SD card tray. The new part on Amazon cost me $14 and the YouTube video showing the operation of peeling these things apart was helpful. I didn't see a video in particular about how they're glued down but I managed to peel the original SIM/SD card tray off, scrape off the adhesive that was still stuck on the motherboard, and install the new SIM/SD card tray.

I still get random SIM errors. No change. Putting a layer of tape on the SIM chip was easy, replacing the tray was difficult, and neither one of these efforts to fix it worked.

My SIM errors are the definition of random, I get one error right after another in just a few minutes, or it will stay lit up and working for hours.

So I put my wife's SIM card in there to make sure it wasn't the SIM itself making the problem. She's never had a problem with her SIM in her Note 2. Guess what, she let me use her SIM in my S4 and it wasn't very long and there it was again. "Please insert a valid SIM" emergency calls only. I gave her back her SIM as soon as I saw the error, as she was not happy about having the cover off the back of her Note 2. I did not get the error when I put my SIM into her Note 2, but was not able to test it for very long, as I got the error on my S4 with her chip so soon.

Next I am going to peel it apart as thoroughly as I can and look for any connector plug that can be unplugged and snapped back in. There was only one little ribbon with a 24 pin connector from the new tray to the motherboard. I'll pull that off again too, and inspect it with a magnifying glass.

I will report if I am able to figure out how to fix this problem.

My wife thinks it's because I flash it, but I doubt returning to stock is even worth the effort. I've never heard of a ROM being the culprit.

more tape

It occurred to me that the tape making the SIM chip thicker seemed to help the problem and less SIM errors.

I will also mention the replacement tray was identical to the one I thought was bad.

I was about to take apart the S4 again when I decided to try lots of tape! I stacked 4 or 5 layers of transparent scotch tape on the back of the SIM chip and it was very snug to slide into the slot.

It was so snug it barely returned from it's "in click"....

I am pleased to report an "up time" of over 16 hours, and that's the longest "up time" achieved since getting run over by a full sized Suburban on Olympic Boulevard.

fukenbiker said:

It occurred to me that the tape making the SIM chip thicker seemed to help the problem and less SIM errors.

I will also mention the replacement tray was identical to the one I thought was bad.

I was about to take apart the S4 again when I decided to try lots of tape! I stacked 4 or 5 layers of transparent scotch tape on the back of the SIM chip and it was very snug to slide into the slot.

It was so snug it barely returned from it's "in click"....

I am pleased to report an "up time" of over 16 hours, and that's the longest "up time" achieved since getting run over by a full sized Suburban on Olympic Boulevard.

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How many pieces of tape did you use? I have been having the same problem and one piece helped for a little but but it has since occurred a lot more often.

Any fixes?

I guess I dropped my phone one too many times... started getting the no sim error last week. A reboot fixes it temporarily but the error always comes back (sometimes I'm good for 5 hours sometimes its 5 minutes). Tried the tape method without much luck. Went to the AT&T store to swap out my sim... still no worky. Looks like my only options are replace the phone or fix the hardware. I'd rather not send in for warranty repair/replacement as I don't want to lose the ability to run a custom recovery.

Anyone have any personal experience with replacing the sim/micro sd tray or sending in for third party repair? Found this tutorial on youtube. It looks pretty straight forward and the part is fairly cheap (~ $9) but not sure its worth the risk.

ssn713 said:

I guess I dropped my phone one too many times... started getting the no sim error last week. A reboot fixes it temporarily but the error always comes back (sometimes I'm good for 5 hours sometimes its 5 minutes). Tried the tape method without much luck. Went to the AT&T store to swap out my sim... still no worky. Looks like my only options are replace the phone or fix the hardware. I'd rather not send in for warranty repair/replacement as I don't want to lose the ability to run a custom recovery.

Anyone have any personal experience with replacing the sim/micro sd tray or sending in for third party repair? Found this tutorial on youtube. It looks pretty straight forward and the part is fairly cheap (~ $9) but not sure its worth the risk.

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Took the plunge and replaced the sim/micro sd tray myself following the tutorial above. It was pretty painless and only took about 20min. Everything is working and no sim error messages over the past day. :good:

ssn713 said:

Took the plunge and replaced the sim/micro sd tray myself following the tutorial above. It was pretty painless and only took about 20min. Everything is working and no sim error messages over the past day. :good:

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I might keep this in mind, but will wait to see if you really fixed it.

I haven't had a sim error in over a week now, and before that it was over a week as we (just that one time in between).

Sony know what made the problem go away but so far so good.

Goliath27 said:

I might keep this in mind, but will wait to see if you really fixed it.

I haven't had a sim error in over a week now, and before that it was over a week as we (just that one time in between).

Sony know what made the problem go away but so far so good.

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Well crap... insert sim error just came back (probably jinxed myself with my post). Not sure if it's hardware or software but it's definitely not the sim reader itself. May try to revert to stock just to rule out some variables.

Long story short, don't bother wasting your time, money, or taking the risk of replacing the sim tray.

ssn713 said:

Well crap... insert sim error just came back (probably jinxed myself with my post). Not sure if it's hardware or software but it's definitely not the sim reader itself. May try to revert to stock just to rule out some variables.

Long story short, don't bother wasting your time, money, or taking the risk of replacing the sim tray.

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Me too. Happened twice yesterday.

Is there a possible tasker setting that we can make to restart the sim card if it gets disconnected?

possible fix

So guys I found a solution that worked with my phone. It seems that the ribbon connector that connects the Sim and microsd is really temperamental so just push down on it and reboot and signal should come back. As a permanent fix I took a 1/4" piece of foam rubber weather stripping and stuck it to the top of the ribbon cable (where it attaches to the mother board). This kept permenant tension on the connector when I put the plastic back in place.

Goliath27 said:

Me too. Happened twice yesterday.

Is there a possible tasker setting that we can make to restart the sim card if it gets disconnected?

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Not a bad idea but I've never played with tasker. If that doesn't work maybe we could find a sympathetic dev to write a few lines of code. Might even be a way to make the system query the sim card to reestablish the status and clear the error without rebooting?

I'd definitely be willing to throw in a few bucks for a fix but I don't think there are enough people suffering with this issue to put together a bounty and/or get anyone's attention. I did manage to grab a logcat if we can find someone willing to assist.

Just purchases an S4 on the good ol craigslist with this problem. It was unlisted as an actual problem of course, however I am 100% certain that's why it was for sale.

I too get the No sim card inserted message. I took everything apart, testing out a few variables. I have isolated it to the actual ribbon cable as someone mentioned above as well. It seems if I reconnect the ribbon cable and reboot it, the phone will read it until the error comes back. Which happens more often than not. I can't even get the plastic housing on without the error coming back.

- I have tried the tape method as well. On the sim, on the top of the ribbon connector, on the back of inside phone shell.
- I have determined it was the ribbon cable by applying pressure to both the Sim and ribbon locations, both at the same time which is the first time I got the phone to read the Sim. Then isolated each area with pressure and a reboot. The ribbon cable and pin connector seem to be the issue.

Reading over some of the other posts in this thread it appears people have already tried a new sim/sd card piece with no improved results. That makes me want to lean towards this is not the SD/SIM side of the connector but more so on the motherboard side. If it is the motherboard I then I am pretty much at a loss and it is not deemed worth investing another 150$ into the phone for a new motherboard.

Will continue to see if I can do anything to improve this issue. Currently the phone is unusable as I fear for any movement on the device before it disconnects the sim, and I remain on my S3 while I continue to investigate.

ssn713 said:

Not a bad idea but I've never played with tasker. If that doesn't work maybe we could find a sympathetic dev to write a few lines of code. Might even be a way to make the system query the sim card to reestablish the status and clear the error without rebooting?

I'd definitely be willing to throw in a few bucks for a fix but I don't think there are enough people suffering with this issue to put together a bounty and/or get anyone's attention. I did manage to grab a logcat if we can find someone willing to assist.

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Click to collapse

So, did it fix it? I took the plunge and replaced my reader as well...but still randomly getting that error. I do have an i337m and running an M919 rom though. Im wondering if it might just be the rom but i have tried two different M919 roms...