iPhone “No SIM” problem

by Ian on August 4, 2008

in Mobile, iPhone

I recently upgraded my UK O2 provided iPhone to a 3G model, and we bought an O2 pay-monthly SIM to put in my “old” iPhone that was freed up as a result of the upgrade.

However, while it would work sometimes, at other times it would display “No SIM” at the top left, and pop up a message saying “No SIM card is inserted”.  We would restart it, and it would be fine for a short while, and then “No SIM” again.

This was very annoying, and I spent a long time trying to figure out what the problem was.  Two restores, a lot of removal and re-insertion of the SIM card, and a certain amount of Googling did not provide a solution.

The answer turned out to be as follows.  On the phone, I went into the Settings applet, then:

General -> Reset -> Reset Network Settings

This has completely cured the “No SIM” problem, and it’s run very smoothly ever since.

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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Jen Okimoto August 7, 2008 at 6:46 pm

DARN! I left comment in wrong spot. Okay, let’s try again. Glad to see that the iPhone drove you to blog again!!! :)

2 Ian August 7, 2008 at 9:21 pm

Thanks Jen – I have to say it felt good. Going to try and do it again soon :)

3 Mike September 7, 2008 at 6:24 am

This did NOT help me at all. I even tried resetting all.

4 Roger September 24, 2008 at 3:02 pm

Great, i was having this problem, this solve it nicely. Greets, and thanks :D

5 Mike November 20, 2008 at 4:39 pm

I dropped my iphone down the sink and after getting it out I tearfully put it in the airing cupboard for a week as it went mad – amazingly it switched on 7 days later. However it came up with ‘No sim’ etc. and just before I went down the shop to buy another I came across this great post! Thanks very much my once random water damaged no sim iphone is back and working great!

6 Vasif November 29, 2008 at 12:22 pm

This help worked perfectly. Thank you. Vasif

7 bb March 1, 2009 at 4:19 pm

didnt help my no sim problem

8 Kate April 24, 2009 at 10:32 pm

Thank you very helpful!

9 robert June 4, 2009 at 6:37 pm

i am buying an i phone off ebay can i use my current 02 sim or do i need something else????

Is there a thing as an 3g sim card or am i being a wally

hope some one can help

10 Allison June 17, 2009 at 11:12 pm

Thanks will try this as have exactly same problem

11 Vikram August 17, 2009 at 4:09 pm

hey guys. I had the same problem after i installed Os 3.0. I restored the phone back to 1.1.4 (its a 2G) and then jailbroke it. After that i cleaned out the network settings and after 2 reboots it worked perfectly fine. :)

12 Tom Gladding December 5, 2009 at 11:03 pm

Cheers mate, this has helped a lot. :)
Such a simple solution, was really getting on my nerves though!

13 subbu February 3, 2010 at 11:35 am

thanks for the update i will try it..

14 happy May 17, 2010 at 12:34 pm

GREAT solution.excellent. I tried and it does work straightaway I got rid of my ‘NO SIM’ problem.Sooooo grateful.Thanks for sharing.

15 James July 11, 2010 at 11:41 am

Thank you. It looks like your suggestion has solved the problem. I will let you know if that changes. Best, J

16 kerwin July 15, 2010 at 10:42 pm

dude thanks– you are the best^)^

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