[Android General] geof1971:
A few weeks ago I bought a Lenovo A706 and I had the same problem with not recognizing SIM cards. After reading a lot of information on this forum and on other sources, I finally succeeded in solving this problem.

First of all, I want to make a remark on the solution from post 169 (http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=45475249&postcount=169). I tried this solution and it didn't worked. Installing different version of chinese or ROW ROMs, I copied the files from "\system\etc\firmware\ath6k\AR6003\hw2.1.1\" into a computer and binary compared these files; the files from all versions were identical (and identical with the files from the archive from mentioned post. So, I don't understand how replacing some identical files can solve this problem.

Below is the procedure I used to fix this problem; I tried to detail very much in order to be easier for the others.

Necessary tools and software:

1. Adb and fastboot tools (http://fs1.d-h.st/download/00014/iqA/Fastboot+ADB(20926).zip )

2. Clockworkmod recovery for A706 (http://www.mediafire.com/?3xzlkaavwu217iq)

3. Chinese A706 ROM version A706_1_S_2_001_0140_130620 (http://www.4shared.com/zip/1tbHeKOh/A706_1_S_2_001_0140_130620.html)

4. Qneon custom ROM (http://lenovo-forums.ru/files/file/306-qneon-modern/)

The steps below involves using a PC with Windows operating system.

Step 1. Install A706 drivers on PC

Connect the phone to the computer through a USB cable. On computer a CD drive will be automatically mapped where A706 drivers can be found; run the msi file from this drive and the drivers will be installed.

Step 2. Copy chinese A706 ROM version A706_1_S_2_001_0140_130620 on SD card

Insert a SD card in the phone, open the phone, connect to PC.

On the phone select USB Mass storage mode to mount SD card.

On the root of the memory card, create a folder called "sdfuse".

Unzip the downloaded firmware (A706_1_S_2_001_0140_130620), you will get a QSB file.

Copy the QSB file to the sdfuse folder that we created earlier on the root of SD card.

Step 3. Connect with adb and fastboot tools to the phone

Unzip Adb and fastboot tools into a folder on the PC. Open a command prompt and go to this folder.

Enable 'USB debugging' on the phone.

- Check connection with the phone by typing the command

adb devices

If the device is not listed, open Device Manager, find the phone device (it should be listed under a folder named Lenovo), right click on device and select 'Properties'; in properties window go to Details tab and in Property combo box select 'Hardware Ids'; in the value panel should be listed the phone ids, something like below records.

USB\VID_18D1&PID_4EE2

USB\VID_18D1&PID_4EE2&MI_01

The id is consising of four letters/digits after VID_ , so in the example above the id is 18D1

Now, go to folder "C:\Users\user_name" (where user_name is your windows user), create a folder named .android; because windows explorer don't let you create a folder with this name, create the folder from command prompt with the command

mkdir c:\users\user_name\.android

In this .android folder create a file named adb_usb.ini, edit it and insert hex notation of the device ID, as below

0x18D1

(just replace the id form above example with the id you found earlier).

Now, you can test with command 'adb devices' if the device is seen by the computer.

- Reboot the phone by typing the command

adb reboot bootloader

Device will reboot and display Lenovo logo. Check if device is in bootloader mode by running command:

fastboot devices

If you see a device connected then you have successfully rebooted into fastboot mode.

- Wipe data and existing operating system by typing the following commands

fastboot -w

fastboot erase system

Now all data and operating system are erased.

Close the phone (by removing the battery).

Open the phone by pressing both 'Power' and 'Volume Up' buttons until a menu is displayed.

Select the fourth option, SDUPDATE.

At the bottom of the screen, you can see the progress and status of the update

When you see the message "SDCARD UPDATE SUCCESS!!!", this means you successfully completed the upgrade process

Now, reboot your device and hopefully the firmware should be installed.

Now you have a functional phone, with Chinese and English languages.

The problems I detected in this version are that when selecting English language not all elements of user interface are translated, and also there is a bug related to 3G (an Access Point Name can't be added so the phone cannot be configure to use 3G).

So, in order to fix this problems we have to continue with next steps in order to update the phone with a custom ROM.

Step 4 Install Clockworkmod recovery

Unzip the Clockworkmod recovery for A706 downloaded file to get a "recovery.img" recovery image file and move this file in the same folder as adb and fastboot tools.

Connect the phone to the PC, enable 'USB debugging' on the phone then type

adb devices

to check that the phone is corectly connected to the PC

Now, in the command prompt reboot into Bootloader mode using the command:

adb reboot bootloader

Device will reboot and display Lenovo logo. (check if device is in bootloader mode by running command:

fastboot devices

If you see a device connected then you have successfully rebooted into fastboot mode.

Wipe the phone data with the command

fastboot -w

Now, run this command:

fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

(This will flash the CWM recovery image to the device).

Once successful, reboot the device using this command:

fastboot reboot

To check that CWM recovery was corectly installed turn off the phone, then press 'Power' , 'Volume Up' and 'Volume Down' in the same time and keep buttons pressed until a menu will appear (on the first line should be displayed 'Clockworkmod recovery v...').

Restart the phone again (it can be done from the Clockworkmod menu).

Step 5 Update the phone with Qneon custom ROM.

Connect the phone to the computer and copy Qneon zip file on the internal memory of the phone (not on external SD card).

Power off the phone, then enter into CWM recovery by pressing 'Power' , 'Volume Up' and 'Volume Down' in the same time and keep buttons pressed until a menu will appear.

In CWM menu go to 'Install zip from sdcard', then browse to find Qneon zip file and update the phone.

After the update is done, reboot the phone and now it should be a functional phone.