"no sim" / "emergency calls only" ALL the time

[Guest macbreakweeklyfan]

I've been using su6 as a small tablet with airplane mode on except wifi, since I bought it back in August, but now I need to use it as a phone, as it should be, and mine is fully unlocked... but... 90% of the time I get "Emergency calls only"/"no sim" type messages. My place of residence has superb "Three" coverage all the time (if it didn't I wouldn't be with them.)

Allow me to clarify: BOTH these "Three" UK sims work perfectly in all my other phones. I've never used a voda sim in su6 (they never gave me one) but I don't want to mess about, so would someone be able to shed some light upon this error, please?

Both sims are fully activated and I've cleaned the gold contacts with contact cleaner very gently... NADA!

Any thoughts would be gratefully listened to, thanks :)

Edited December 20, 2015 by macbreakweeklyfan

[Guest Frostyjim]

Have you got it selected to use 4g/3g/2g? And checked that data roaming is on?

I had simialr problem and had to get the logic board replaced. Mine stopped reading sims completely though, not just 90% of the time.

Edited December 21, 2015 by Frostyjim
Forgot to mention data roaming

[Guest macbreakweeklyfan]

7 hours ago, Frostyjim said:

Have you got it selected to use 4g/3g/2g? And checked that data roaming is on?

I had simialr problem and had to get the logic board replaced. Mine stopped reading sims completely though, not just 90% of the time.

Hello :)

No, the settings are correct and set to the defaults which you stated. It's odd, and annoying - sometimes if I reboot the phone the SIM behaves and shows as registered/full bars, and then it will arbitrarily decide to say "NO SIM" etc. Voda want me to send it to their "repair" centre (using the term loosely here, say no more...) and I really do not want to do that, bearing in mind the age - FOUR months.

Thank you :)

[Guest Frostyjim]

1 hour ago, macbreakweeklyfan said:

Hello :)

No, the settings are correct and set to the defaults which you stated. It's odd, and annoying - sometimes if I reboot the phone the SIM behaves and shows as registered/full bars, and then it will arbitrarily decide to say "NO SIM" etc. Voda want me to send it to their "repair" centre (using the term loosely here, say no more...) and I really do not want to do that, bearing in mind the age - FOUR months.

Thank you :)

If I were you I'd see if who their approved repairer is and see if you could bring it directly to them. That's what I did when mine started acting up. Had my phone back, with new logic board (so basically a new phone) in about 3 hours. Charged me €15 but imo it was worth it not having to go without a phone for 1-2 weeks. Don't know what it's like in your country but I imagine you could probably do the same.

[Guest macbreakweeklyfan]

14 minutes ago, Frostyjim said:

If I were you I'd see if who their approved repairer is and see if you could bring it directly to them. That's what I did when mine started acting up. Had my phone back, with new logic board (so basically a new phone) in about 3 hours. Charged me €15 but imo it was worth it not having to go without a phone for 1-2 weeks. Don't know what it's like in your country but I imagine you could probably do the same.

After having done some extensive research, it would appear that any attempt to effect a "repair" would be utterly futile, as it seems that this is a software issue, rather than a hardware one. Not being the kind of person who particularly likes dealing with employees of corporations who are employed to deal effectively with technical issues, and having them know nothing whatsoever about the subjects which they are employed to help people with, I will err on the side of caution, in this instance, and downgrade to 5.0.2 (initial release stock) then observe, measure and record the frequeny at which this fault exhibits itself again, if at all.

There would appear to be something within 5.1.1 which, across various manufacturers of phone and models, causes this issue from time to time.

Here is a summation of a cursory Google search of the phrase "5.1.1 no SIM":

 

[Guest koooowweeee]

ive been having this problem for 2 weeks now. it also happened before i upgraded to 5.1.1

 

called 3 today as i thought it was them. but i guess not.

 

could voda zte have something to do with it?

[Guest macbreakweeklyfan]

44 minutes ago, koooowweeee said:

ive been having this problem for 2 weeks now. it also happened before i upgraded to 5.1.1

 

called 3 today as i thought it was them. but i guess not.

 

could voda zte have something to do with it?

Have you been experiencing the issue more frequently, since having updated to 5.1.1?

Please would you give an indication as follows, replying with the appropriate number and then, after, the letters for all the answers to the following questions, for example,  your answers may be "1ACF", "2BDE", etc... thanks:

Frequency of problem:

-------------------------------------

1: Occasionally, infrequently - once or twice a week. 

2: Every day, without fail. 

 

Does a reboot clear the issue, even if only temporarily?:

 

A: YES

B: NO

 

 

Does turning flight mode on and then off, clear the issue, even if only temporarily?:

 

C: YES

D: NO

 

Does entering recovery mode and clearing cache partition clear the issue, even if only temporarily?:

 

E: YES

F: NO

 

If there's anything else you could add, please do so in as much detail as possible, being as specific as possible, listing the steps you take, in the order you take them, and how each step or number of steps affects the issue. 

 

Thank you :)

 

 

 

Edited December 21, 2015 by macbreakweeklyfan

[Guest koooowweeee]

2A

 

not tried the other options

[Guest macbreakweeklyfan]

23 minutes ago, koooowweeee said:

2A

 

not tried the other options

Thank you. 

[Guest koooowweeee]

ill try flight mode next time and report back. also my phone is one of the hard to root ones if that helps. need just but i cant get it to work with either kingroot or mobile go

 

Edit. OK it's been doing it most of the morning. Aeroplane mode off/on doesn't work. 

I had to reboot my phone at least 5 times for it to work again but then after 5 mins or so it was back to the no sin thing. 

It seems to do it in the day time more . or I might notice it more then

Edited December 22, 2015 by koooowweeee
Update

[Guest koooowweeee]

Just a quick update. I spoke to 3 yesterday and they said it was because I've cut my sim down. So I received a new one today. (Super fast delivery!) I've put it in and had no problems so far. But only time will tell. I'll let you know in a day or so..

[Guest koooowweeee]

Seems to be working fine with a new sim

[Guest pipin18]

Just had this exact same problem for a couple of days and put a small piece of cardboard on the Sim card. It now fits snugly and from having no sim detected I now have a perfect connection. Worth a try.... You never know.

[Guest macbreakweeklyfan]

2 hours ago, pipin18 said:

Just had this exact same problem for a couple of days and put a small piece of cardboard on the Sim card. It now fits snugly and from having no sim detected I now have a perfect connection. Worth a try.... You never know.

I had thought of that, but don't fancy the idea of a bit of cardboard or carboard fibres falling inside my phone and causing havoc. Rather a poor design when you think about it - when I slide my SIM into my Lumias or my Moto G, there's a LOT of resistance, which means the sprung leaf SIM reader contacts have been designed properly and exert a decent amount of contact pressure to the gold pads on the SIM. Not so on the Smart Ultra 6 - there's barely any resistance at all when sliding the SIM carrier tray into its slot, which indicates the SIM reader sprun leaf contacts aren't sprung enough. Poor show.

Edited December 25, 2015 by macbreakweeklyfan

[Guest rodney_st_cool]

On 24/12/2015 at 10:21 PM, pipin18 said:

Just had this exact same problem for a couple of days and put a small piece of cardboard on the Sim card. It now fits snugly and from having no sim detected I now have a perfect connection. Worth a try.... You never know.

I singed up to this forum just to thank you sir (or madam). A beautifully elegant solution that worked instantly. I'd been through a billion soft and hard solutions to fix this, but a wee bit of card and glue was all I needed. Have a can of coke on me.