yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Sean89us:
Guys,

Sorry I haven't been keeping up. About three months after I wrote this guide up, I accidentally took my phone swimming and it didn't survive. I upgraded to an S5 and stopped checking the S4 threads. Then, about a month ago, my wife expressed interest in getting away from her iPhone, so I dug out the S4, ordered a new motherboard, and now it's good as new and she's using it.

I would like to say that I had implemented this fix about two months before I wrote up the guide, so I got a solid 5 months out of the phone without the error re-occurring using the foam / shim trick. As I stated in the OP, if it doesn't seem to work for you, you might need to try a thicker piece of foam and maybe just tinker with it again. It took me three tries to get it right, then it went away for the rest of it's life. Just to be safe I also did this fix to the new motherboard and this one has shown no signs of the error either.

I really like the idea of re-flowing the solder on the board by holding a soldering iron near the connector, but it could be dangerous. There's an old trick to fixing video cards where you put it in the oven for 8 minutes at 375*F to re-flow the solder (I've used this trick on a video card and an android stick which was having visual artifacts / glitches and it fixed both of them), I wonder if that would work in this situation? Might be a little too risky to try, especially if the S4 is your daily driver. It also might destroy other components on the board.

Cheers!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] rogersa2k:
Working So Far!

I need to send my daily driver off to be replaced so I dug out my old SGS4 to use in the meantime. It started getting the "SIM card removed" error over a year ago and I got it within 5 mins of booting the phone. I did some googling, found this post, and after adding the "shim" it hasn't happened since (~24 hours). I hope this at least gets me through the next few days.

Edit: Three days later and still no error!!! :D

Thanks,

Aaron
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] kotarokun:
I've tried almost all options other than re-solder the pins and at best, the fixes only last a little more than 3~4 month at best before getting the same message "SIM card removed, please restart". Did anyone else tried to re-solder their board? At this point I am considering a new phone. My S4 is useless 90% of the time now as a phone.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] PedroMcGee:
Resoldering didn't fix it

Well, it was nice while it lasted. But, three weeks after re-flowing the solder on the tail and mobo connector for the SIM tray, I got the error again. I have some more data points to add to the discussion, but they might just bring more frustration than clarity.

I hadn't rebooted my phone during that entire three week period. Then, last night, I decided to download and install the latest Cyanogenmod 12.1 nightly (I was running the stable snapshot from 2015-11-16) (a custom ROM for those unfamiliar with Cyanogenmod. During the install, the phone is working hard and gets pretty warm on the back near the camera (and also near the troubled connector.) Once the install was finished and the phone rebooted, it was within the hour that the error popped up.

At first, I thought maybe the new ROM (nightly vs. stable.) So, I reverted to the stable ROM and rebooted. The error came back! So, I popped the phone open, reseated the SIM and SD cards, pressed down on the area under which the connector is, and rebooted again. Now it's been six hours without an error.

So, what can we learn from this? For me, it's all still just theories. I was using some pretty thick foam before trying the solder fix, but re-flowing the solder gave me better (apparent) results.

Was it the heat, or the rebooting? Is there a counter in the bootloader and, given enough reboots, you might dodge the problem?

...I don't know. It would be nice if we could get to the bottom -- finding the root cause and being able to permanently fix it. I'm glad the foam is working for some people.

If I end up finding anything new, I'll be back here updating. Good luck to all of us.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Jsmor1313:
Did the job on my S4. Followed the instructions and used a very good brand of earplug that was quality memory foam. Realizing I threw away the package accidentally I can't recall name brand but they were 5 dollars for 1 set from a tool distributer. Anyways 3 weeks in and no error after a 2 to 5 times a day occurrence. Also in saying this the weather has been cooler here in Texas and I don't know if temp has anything to do with it. I monitor battery temps and they continue to be in line with when I had the errors. I doubt ambient has much to do with it just a thought I had. Anyways thanks to OP for this helpful thread.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Emmereich:
New motherboard

Would it work if i buy a chinese motherboard(aliexpress) and replace it? I have done all i found out there(replacing sim slot, install custom roms and put pressure) but nothing works
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Jsmor1313:
I am now 8 weeks without the error since putting the earplug foam in. Like I said before it was a 2 to 5 timea a day occurrence with the SIM has been removed error and I missed important phone calls. 8 weeks and not 1 error. Thanks again to the OP. I suggest trying it. It is very easy to do.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Emmereich:
I did this but didn't work. I don't even had a pop up error or reboot, just the no sim card message.

So, changing for a chinese motherboard would work?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Jsmor1313:
Are you sure your sim is good? Have you tried it in another phone or had it checked at your service provider? That would be the first thing that I would check. If you are sure the sim is good and installing the foam didn't help then possibly replacement of the sim tray would work. As long as it is inexpensive I would try it. Good luck on finding a fix. I love my S4 and I have everything set up exactly how I want it. That's the main reason I haven't gotten rid of it.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Emmereich:
yes, i did too, at first i though that if i tried with a non nfc-sim card it would work, but i tried that even changing the battery too and didn't get results
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Jinxxer33:
Foam only works for a while, and then the problem comes back :(

The real solution is getting a new phone!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] daniel19290:
Thank you i fixed it. It really worked for me. I almost buyed a new motheboard :D
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Quixsilver8:
I just got my first SIM card error last night after having this phone for 19 months. Service dropped for a few seconds and came back. A reboot fixed it for about 10 minutes and it happened again. Now it seems to automatically pop up on every restart regardless. It is not affecting my service otherwise. Tried applying pressure to the SIM card slot, no go. Will continue to read up on issues and see what to try.

This may or may not be true as I have not had enough time to test, but whenever I bring up the display after long idling it will say no service on the bottom, but my service will work fine. I feel like this is not a hardware issue.

EDIT: So it would seem LTE becomes disabled when the SIM card error happens. Which basically means it doesn't work at all, atm.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Gonemad:
Just started getting this message today. Tried the foam trick. Will report if it happens again.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Jsmor1313:
Im on KK 4.4.4 and when you have the sim error your only choice is to reboot. It is probably still the same issue with the sim card tray. Hope you find a solution. Good luck [MENTION=5828302]Quixsilver8[/MENTION]
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Quixsilver8:
[MENTION=6948031]Jsmor1313[/MENTION]

I am on JB 4.3

Despite everything I have read, I am going to try all options and start with getting a new SIM card this weekend and see if that fixes it.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Gonemad:
My error come back, maybe once or twice a day, but after reading this entire thread, people have replaced the motherboard, some replaced the sim card tray, reflowed the solder on the connections, foam tricks and such. I am not 100% convinced that this is a hardware problem. I have the tools and the skillset to try the re-solder the connectors right now, but what I was thinking that I haven't seen anyone try yet was the pins in the tray that make contact with the sim card. Are they applying enough pressure on the sim card to make a good constant contact? I will look into this and report back. I may not be right away, but soon will. Does anyone know if this sim tray is the same as the ones in the S3?

Been researching this quite a bit. I come across some more info in other forums. I have heard one guy say what fixed his was removing the NFC antenna from the battery. Also, putting the foam, except a little thicker piece, over the actual sim card, and then squeezing it down with the case applying pressure on the sim card. This is what I tried and it seems to be running flawless so far, and I used it a lot the first few hours.

The last fix/resort I will try, which seems to be working is a little more technical involving some fine soldering, which can be found here. http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f258/s4-insert-sim-solution-here-1992148/

A couple of these "fixes" that people are claiming to have fixed there phone are all associated around the NFC area.

Edit again: These guys seem to have it down http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f258/samsung-i9505-s4-no-sim-already-change-sim-reader-1780363/

Just read the whole thread, and will give it a shot when mine acts up again.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] bobe83:
my sim card is not fix,:victory:

tks you :good::good:

i'm with sgh-i337m runing 5.1.1 Albe95.ASTRA.N5.ROM 2.0 with Imperium LL Kernel v3.3
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] PedroMcGee:
Welp, said I would report back if I found anything new. This won't be super helpful, but long story ==> short, I replaced my motherboard and, of course, it has fixed the problem. I got an S4 (SGH-M919) which had never exhibited this problem, but had a cracked screen. I kept my chassis, camera and everything else, but used the replacement motherboard and SIM tray. All of the things that used to trigger the problem for me (updating the ROM and deleting the cache) have been done several times with no problem.

So, this was the nuclear approach to fixing it, but I just couldn't pass up this opportunity. I was about to buy a new phone, anyway.

Good luck to everyone. For those of you who have not found a solution with the foam, I hope you find a permanent solution that doesn't require mobo replacement.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] slim26:
I had motherboard replacement as well... worked well for a year... but sure enough, it came back. The S4s are not made to stand length of time. Wife's has same issue. I'm about to order a S5 - hopefully this will solve the issue.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] bilalwiggles:
i was told an app called macrodroid could force a restart when that error showed but cant get it to work. I can make it restart when sd is removed but not sim. any advice?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] c-non:
Hello,with xxuhol3 modem and cm13 "sim card removed" error look like solved :)
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Whetabix:
This solution worked for me great - Used a piece of eraser from one of those pen erasers that retract a long eraser inside. Anyways a small cut of that eraser and it worked perfect. Thanks!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] arasarn:
I just tried this with the foam plug. I'll report back on how it works out.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] YaPaY:
about one month i didn't see this error but it has been again started. Avarege once a day
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Camicia:
It is definitely a hardware problem. A friend that works in a repair center told me that it is a well known problem and if the phone was under warranty, Samsung would have replaced the main board.

I was able to fix the problem for quite a while . This is what I did in November 2014:

http://xdaforums.com/galaxy-s4/help/sim-card-sim-card-removed-errors-galaxy-t2932778

I think I had the "Sim Card Removed" message showing up maybe 2 times in a year. Finally in the last 2 months it came back and now it happens multiple time a day.

I have been reading that in the latest years the alloy used to solder the ICs and the other components on the board become lead free and the result is that the joins are a lot more brittle. The old tin/lead alloy used to be a lot more resistant. According to wikipedia :

The area around the SIM connector and the power IC is exactly on the other side of the Snapdragon CPU. The CPU is also boxed UNDER the ram. The whole area can become REALLY hot when the CPU is running at 100%. Thermal expansion and contraction can be the cause of the extra deformation that makes the solder crack.

In practice a bunch of components in the area close to the sim card connector may need to be reflowed. This is what I did: http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f25...e-sim-reader-1780363/index2.html#post10339732 but since then, the thread kept going on.. and somebody also posted a link to this:

http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f258/s4-insert-sim-solution-here-1992148/

Soldering again the chips with solder that contains lead, would also probably add some extra life to the fix.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] xtil:
My samsung galaxy s4 is still under warranty and I sent it back to samsung-plano texas for warranty repair(no sim card installed). They accused me of an unauthorized repair that voids my warranty. Why would I unauthorize repair if I am still under warranty? They did nothing and sent it back. So I still have the "no sim card installed" to deal with. They are not interested in helping us. I will never buy a samsung product again. I am just sorry that I bought the samsung monitors and tv that I have here.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] fabthegreat:
On my side I have tested almost everything possible: foam piece, aluminium layer inside the cover, flashing ROM, change of battery, change of sim card... Last thing I try before selling it: changing the sim tray. Did it yesterday night, will keep you in touch whether it worked!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] fabthegreat:
And finally it didn't work out. I am disappointed by the alleged high quality proposed by Samsung
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] nate39:
The earplug foam works for me. It went about a year with no problem and then I dropped it about 15 feet onto concrete. I have it in a thin leather case and it came through without a scratch which surprised me. But the next day the "no sim card" started up again. I replaced the foam but it didn't work. I felt that I had probably not cut the foam thick enough and so I cut it a little thicker and it has been about 4 months with no problem. Maybe try making it thicker. On mine anyway it has to exert enough pressure to work it seems.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] fabthegreat:
OK I will tonight, however I am not confident... Keep you in touch
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] johnd126:
I was seeing the 'no sim card' error several times a day until I tried this fix about three weeks ago. Since then I've not seen it at all. Yippee! (I used a slice of foam from one of those stick on pads to keep chairs from scratching floors rather an an earplug.)
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] arasarn:
So I finally got the error again. I think the foam helps but it's not the cure.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] fabthegreat:
On my side I have added a small credit card square on top of the foam. It seems it works so far
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] fabthegreat:
1 day later, it still holds
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Noryakky:
How about today? I used piece of guitar pick, but it's worked only for few hours..
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] fabthegreat:
I have stacked one layer of foam and a credit card thickness. It works so far
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] ronni_7:
Thank you so much, I followed your instructions and both the annoying error message and the more annoying "you-must-reboot" thing have disappeared! Simply great!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] mr_horsepower:
I'm curious if anyone has switched their network mode & noticed any change one way or the other?

I've got an i337 5.0.1 with GE53 OD7.

when i leave it in "LTE/WCMDA/GSM (auto connect)" i get the no sim/ reboot error frequently. like planning on getting new phone tomorrow frequently.

if i switch it to "WCMDA only" it doesn't act up at all.

by "all" i mean it's been about a week since I've got the no sim error.

so, i switched it back a minute ago to see what would happen. i got a no sim card error within 5 minutes time.

not sure what to make of why & when it's doing or not doing sh*t. I'm gonna keep testing (using) my phone. figured it'd be worth others trying this since it takes 10 seconds to do.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] fabthegreat:
And the error happened again. Tried to add another thin layer of foam. Will see...
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] mr_horsepower:
i probably wouldn't try this either if i was anyone, lol. i went from 20+errors in a day to none. when i switch it back to "LTE/WCMDA/GSM (auto connect)" the errors come back each time.

I'd be interested to see if anyone else has the same experience.

*interesting thing is in WCMDA only mode it says 4G as the connection speed (no LTE) but i haven't noticed any loss of speed. given i haven't been rebooting all the time I'm positive it's faster overall.

**one thing that might make my setup different than anyone else is that when i flashed this rom (GoldenEye 53 OD7 5.0.1) i didn't flash the file (ATT_OC3_modules. zip) that's needed for WiFi to work because i never use WiFi. i have ZERO clue if this would have any impact on anything though.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Obscenic:
Like many other people here, I started with the earplug foam; and that worked for a week then the message came back.

I replaced it with a small chunk of cut up credit card.... that worked for a week, then the message came back.

I added a second layer of credit card... that worked for a week, then the message came back.

Now I have a huge bulge in the back of my phone, and I can't add any more material or else my SIM/SD card won't be able to be inserted. Has anyone found a real permanent solution for this?

Thanks in advance.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Gonemad:
I've tried the foam trick. Didn't work, maybe for a day or so but that's it. Then after reading and searching and reading some more, I come across some other forums and threads. I did a hot air reflow to this chip and the connector for the sim card shown in the first pic. Might have lasted a day. Then I read to reflow the chip in the second pic in the yellow circle. Been going strong for about two weeks now, even after a couple drops on the hard floor.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] mr_horsepower:
im curious whether or not anyone has cared to read my post and give that a shot. i have had zero problems with it since switching to WCDMA only mode. tonight,i switched it back to the LTE/WCDMA/GSM (auto connect) and I've had the sim card reboot error happen almost continuously the entire time afterward til i switched it back.

now, that being said, i 100‰ feel it is a hardware problem and the true fix is doing what Gonemad has had success with so far. i think this has been working for me because apparently a different antenna &/or chip on the motherboard is used for WCMDA and that circuit hasn't been affected (yet?) from the inevitable bad connections that occur on these phones.

here's a link to the reflow info i found

http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f258/samsung-i9505-s4-no-sim-already-change-sim-reader-1780363/
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] MatteoB92:
I've read the link posted by mr_horsepower but I'm not skilled : what do you mean exactly for an action like 'hot air reflowing'?

I have a solder with temperature adjustable up to 450°C, do you think I could try putting near the circled IC the hot tip?

Inviato dal mio Transformer TF101 utilizzando Tapatalk
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] mr_horsepower:
change network mode -

go to settings,

click more networks,

click mobile networks,

click network mode,

change to WCDMA only mode.

this takes 15 seconds to do. xda-developers has 53 million visitors, 1/2 of those people have a s4 with a sim card error, 2/3 of those people have read this thread, 1/2 of those 2/3 people are gonna read this thread today, so roughly 20 million people

and no one can try this for 10 minutes and either call me a douche bag or say hey, it worked for me?

am i missing something?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Gonemad:
I don't have a good hot air rework station, just my desolder and solder stations, and a good hot air gun. What I did once I got the chip exposed after removing the sim card try and small bracket, was take a small piece of aluminum foil and doubled it up. Then I took pen and poked a small hole in the middle, just big enough so when I placed it over the pcb, the chip would be exposed through the hole and the foil would protect the rest of the board. I dabbed a small amount of flux around the chip and hit it with the hot air gun. I used an infrared thermometer but can't remember what I heated it to. I didn't keep it on the heat for very long.

NOTE: I take no responsibility for any overheating or any other issues that may occur from using this method. I do electronics repair in another area (not phones) so I do have a little experience in this.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Kippy51:
Sorry, but it did not work for me. Even with 'secret code' to phone info and changing tot WDCMA only did not work.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] darisma:
Foam earplug works for me! Been over 3 weeks without and error message!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] mr_horsepower:
thank you. i was beginning to think my posts were invisible.

i do think this is worth anyone trying as it's free, doesn't take but a second and I've had no problems since doing it. that being said, I'm as sure as one could be (without having done it yet) that the solder reflow is the true fix. I'm going to get a hot air soldering station & practice on some older electronics before i do my phone.

thanks again for the feedback.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Harry99710:
Marshmallow to blame?

My S4 was second hand when i got it and i was originally running it on CM11 and i got no sim removed error. Now im running it on JDC team's 6.0 rom and a month after i started using that rom i started getting that error. I have put some foam on the connector and that seems to fix it for a while then the error comes up again. putting pressure on the connector area seems to fix it for a while before i have to repeat that process.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] zardoz77:
Does this mean you lose LTE/UMTS?

By the way I can't change anything there, it says LTE-recommended and it is "grey" (can't change it)
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] mr_horsepower:
regarding the options available -

I'm rooted and running a custom rom (Golden Eye) with lollipop (5.0.1) with Cricket (at&t basically).

I'm not sure what dictates which options are available to who but something is obviously different about our setup.

regarding losing LTE -

when using WCDMA only mode it says 4G in my signal indicator at the top of my screen (whereas i thought it was gonna be 3G when i tried this).

i haven't noticed any slowdown but i haven't benchmarked it, before or after, so I'm just going off how page loads & videos "seem" to do.

i have noticed low to no signal strength though in a few areas that i hadn't had a problems with prior to needing to do this.

.