How to troubleshoot SIM card not detected errors in mobile phones

How to troubleshoot SIM card not detected errors in mobile phones
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A SIM card is so small but can be very important when it cannot be detected by your phone. In fact, your new Smartphone may seem useless when it fails to read your old SIM card. The problem could be with your phone, maybe your phone’s SIM card slot is faulty, thus cannot hold the SIM card in position. Whatever the problem is, I will be taking you through a few simple steps you can use in order to troubleshoot SIM cards not detected errors.

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Contents

Why do you need to troubleshoot SIM card not detected?

         The SIM might be out of place. If you’ve recently dropped, bumped, or opened your device it may need adjusting. Follow the SIM card installation instructions in your device’s user guide.

         Your PUK (Personal Unblocking Key) code may have been entered incorrectly too many times.

         You’ve recently changed networks. Your SIM card or device may be configured for your previous network and will need to be reconfigured. Contact your current network for assistance.

         Sometimes dust can get between the SIM and your phone causing communication issues.

How to remove dust in case of SIM card not detected errors

         Turn off your phone and remove the SIM card.

         Clean the gold connectors on the SIM with a clean lint-free cloth.

         Replace the battery and turn your phone on without the SIM. In case your phone has an inbuilt battery, the SIM card slots are always on the side, you just need to pull out the SIM card tray and then pull it back while the cleaned SIM card in on.

         Turn your phone off, replace the SIM and restart the phone

Steps to troubleshoot SIM card not detected errors.

We are to follow a number of steps if we are to troubleshoot SIM card not detected errors, these steps are sequential, and therefore you must follow them in the order presented. For example, you shouldn’t factory reset your phone if you haven’t checked the state of your SIM card.

Reboot the mobile phone

The first thing you should do is restarting the device. This step is often used to solve different kinds of phone issues and it works at most time. It’s then good to try it out.

To restart your phone, press down the Power button of your device to switch it off in case of a button phone. Then wait for a while and hold down the Power button to reboot it. After that, just make a call to check whether the SIM card can be recognized now. In the case of a Smartphone, hold down the power button for a dialogue to be displayed. Click on reboot and leave it to shut. In this case, you will not have to press power on again; just leave it to power back and after try calling. Did it work?

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Check the SIM card and card slot

You are probably reading this step because the first step did not work for you. Look, it all seems like your phone is okay, now it’s time to check out your SIM card too.  See if the card or card tray is broken. Just power off the device and then remove the card from the SIM slot. Then insert the card to another SIM card tray to see whether it works well. If not, the card must be damaged or broken and you should take it to the carrier to repair it, go to Lugogo for your SIM card repair or replacement. If you find nothing wrong with the card and slot, you need to place it back to the card tray properly and inspect the tray as below:

         Turn off your mobile phone and then take out the card from the SIM tray.

         Clear or blow out the dust on the tray and SIM card.

         Next, reinsert the card into the slot and power on the device.

Turn on Airplane mode

The easiest method that most people use to troubleshoot SIM card not detected errors is to enable the Airplane mode on the device. You can enable the Airplane mode on your phone by:

         Swipe down the screen of your device to open the notification bar

         Click on the icon of Airplane mode to enable the feature.

         Then you should wait for at least 30 seconds and tap on the icon once again to switch off the mode

         Check whether the SIM card works normally by making a call

Set network mode to auto

One of the causes of SIM card not detected errors is wrong network mode. Therefore, setting the network mode to auto can help you settle the problem. Below are the steps you can follow in order to set the network mode to auto in both android and iPhone.

On Android phone:

GO to SettingsConnections> Mobile NetworksNetwork Mode. And then look for the LET/WCDMA/GSM (auto connect) option and tap on it to enable the feature.

On iPhone:

Navigate to SettingsPersonal HotspotEnable 4G to turn it on. Then you can tap on the Home button to return to the Home screen to use the auto network connection and attempt to use your SIM card

Factory reset the mobile phone

If you have reached here, surely this is the last step you will do. This would be the most effective way but you are suggested to try it only when all the other solutions fail. That’s because this means you would erase the data and settings on your phone. So before resetting your device, you need to make a backup for your Android phone files or iPhone data.

         To factory reset your Android phone, you can go to SettingsBackup and RestoreBackupReset Phone to set the phone to its original settings.

         To reset your iPhone, you need to visit SettingsGeneralResetErase All Content and Settings to wipe all the settings and files