SIM Card Registration Failed for No Rational Reason [Archive] - maemo.org

Kaii

03-08-2010, 05:17 AM

My phone was sitting idle all day yesterday. In the morning it had network. In the evening when I tried to make a call it didn't. Restarted the phone and it said "SIM card registration failed". Tried changing from 3G to GSM, didn't work. I put the SIM in another phone and it works fine so it's a problem with the phone.

Calling my network provider, Orange (UK) seemed to confirm this as they said the card is registered. Oh and I am on the global firmware (but that was aaaages ago, and it has worked since the flash).

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this? It seems kind of random, as far as I can remember I didn't touch it all day...

I wish I was smart enough to figure this out myself, and not have to bother you guys. Hopefully you enjoy the challenge of figuring it out :D If you need any further info please ask.

Thanks in advance!

rash.m2k

03-08-2010, 05:25 AM

Where did you buy your phone from?

Kaii

03-08-2010, 05:28 AM

Ebay. I don't see what difference that makes though? It has been working just fine for a month.

Alan_Peery

03-08-2010, 05:36 AM

I put the SIM in another phone and it works fine so it's a problem with the phone.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this? It seems kind of random, as far as I can remember I didn't touch it all day...

I think you've already figured it out: random flakiness. Random flakiness at two or three different points, with a bit of caching, explains it nicely. The SIM failure with the SIM in the N900 can be explained by random network weirdness -- it has hit me at various times with my N95 and E71. Since it usually cleared up within half an hour, there seemed to be some caching going on.

As far as the SIM not working in you N900 after you've moved it back, that could be the caching effect I mention or just contacts that aren't terribly reliable.

rash.m2k

03-08-2010, 05:37 AM

Ebay. I don't see what difference that makes though? It has been working just fine for a month.

It makes ALL the difference- I think the person you bought it from has reported it stolen and got their insurance to give them a new one.

As soon as you received it you should have registered it on immobilise.co.uk.

Get on the case to PAYPAL ASAP!

Kaii

03-08-2010, 05:40 AM

OMG I hope not! Before I take the super drastic step of doing that, is there any way I can confirm this has really happened? I still have time to get my money back from Paypal so I don't need to panic.

He was a good seller as far as I could tell - hundreds of positive feedback, plus the phone was unopened so I don't see how he could have registered the IEM number.

rash.m2k

03-08-2010, 05:45 AM

IMEI number is on the box anyway, you can check here:

http://www.checkmend.com/

Kaii

03-08-2010, 06:02 AM

Checks Performed Explanation

Ever blocked US: CheckMEND has no record of this item being blocked by any US network.
Ever blocked UK: This item has been blocked during its lifetime by one or more UK network(s).
Ever blocked Rest Of World: CheckMEND has no record of this item being blocked by any Rest Of World network.
IMEI Currently blocked: This item is currently blocked on one or more networks. It may still work on some networks.
Stolen: Not reported stolen to CheckMEND.
Lost: Not reported lost to CheckMEND.
Insurance claims: No insurance claim reported to CheckMEND.
Possible counterfeit: No counterfeit usage reported to CheckMEND.
Possible clone: No clone usage reported to CheckMEND.
Owners: No ownership details recorded on Immobilise.com for this item.

Seems that it hasn't been reported stolen, though it is worth investigating the "reported blocked on certain networks" thing, any ideas how? I would imagine that if it was suddenly blocked on Orange, the world know about it.

Thanks a lot for that though friend :)

rash.m2k

03-08-2010, 06:08 AM

NP mate, ebay is great for buying stuff, but remember to ALWAYS register on immobilise.co.uk

I THINK this means that the person who sold it did not pay their bills or something and the network blocked it!

It may work on other networks, try another network simcard in it.

Kaii

03-08-2010, 06:14 AM

Well that is a really clever line of reasoning, and I am pretty that if he got it from anyone, he got it from Vodaphone (they were the only Network selling the phone on contract at the time). I wonder if I could call them up and ask them if they did that?

Either way I just tried it on an O2 SIM card and the registration also failed, but I can see why that didn't tell me much.

EDIT: Spoken to Vodafone, YES it has been blacklisted....but they are looking into unblacklisting it for me. Keep your eye on this, I will bump the thread when I have more info (they will call back within 48 hours).

Thank you so much for bringing all this (what should be obvious to me) stuff to my attention, I wish there was a better way of saying thanks than the "Thanks" button :o I owe you big time!

P.S.
I think you've already figured it out...

Thanks a lot to you too for replying! I wish you had been right, would have been much simpler... be well friend.

rash.m2k

03-08-2010, 06:43 AM

My pleasure. No problem mate, buy and sells phones quite a bit on ebay so I know the ins and outs.

People who screw buyers really annoy me, so any chance at getting back at them, I take!

Especially those people that claim a new phone on insurance, I hate them!

Kaii

03-08-2010, 06:45 AM

rash.m2k

03-08-2010, 07:10 AM

Technically he hasn't done anything illegal - because looking at the checkmend report it just seems he hasn't paid the bill, thats all.

So not really, it could be that he genuinely is in some financial difficulty, in which case trying to screw him would not be a nice thing to do. You just want your phone unblocked thats all.

Kaii

03-08-2010, 07:11 AM

I assumed that he is doing something illegal because he would not have signed up for a (total) ~£700 contract, in order to sell the phone for £400.

But, well yeah, ok I see your point. I got so much to learn.

Rob1n

03-08-2010, 07:13 AM

Oh yeah...

I wonder what is going to happen to him after all this? It would be cool if he went to prison, but a fine will do!

If he gets, say a £10,000 fine, I can say I have a £10k phone! This is turning out to be cooooool.

Seeing as you know the ins and outs, do you know the best way to screw him over on ebay? I mean, I already left him positive feedback. Is there a way I can report him properly and get him banned or something?

He must be stopped! :P

I'd wait and see what Vodafone have to say - it could be that they've stuffed it up themselves. Otherwise, ebay do have info on reporting inappropriate trading behaviour (http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/report-trading.html) which would probably be the best route to take.

darkanon

05-30-2010, 07:19 PM

Hi mate, what happened with this?

My N900 has started with the same thing as yours so from the link provided on page one I did a check and it came back with exactly the same as yours, not stolen but blocked. Did Voda sort this out for you?

Kaii

05-30-2010, 07:51 PM

Nope they did nothing. In the end I had to make a claim on paypal against the guy who sold it to me, and I won and got the money back. I hope you have similar luck my friend.

abill_uk

05-30-2010, 08:07 PM

Sad story Kaii but at least you got there in the end... did you get another N900?.

Kaii

05-30-2010, 08:10 PM

Yes I did, for £100 cheaper too. And took all the necessary precautions this time :)

I also still have the blacklisted one (no one in the world has come to me to claim it, even the guy who sold it to me). When I have time to focus my attentions on it, I will see if I can maybe sell it in the US as it is not blacklisted there. May end up getting the phone for free...

So quite a happy story really!

Except now I broke the USB connector on the good one, so I am using the blacklisted one to charge the battery... -.- Lost my warranty too on it as I took it apart to change the screen...

Things will work out :) thanks for the interest.

abill_uk

05-30-2010, 08:13 PM

The usb is easy to repair Kaii how bad is it? has it left the tracks on the motherboard for the data pins at the back ?

Kaii

05-30-2010, 08:15 PM

It is hard to tell. I took it to a repair guy (not official) and he said it was beyond repair because the pins were coated or something. He did then say that someone else might be able to repair it, so it is hard to tell at the moment.

Is it possible to be completely beyond repair? I am hoping carefone warehouse will repair it not too expensive, even though I have handled it.

abill_uk

05-30-2010, 08:23 PM

All i can tell you is i have repaired one that was totally off the board and i was able to get a solder fix on the tracks that connect to the 5 data pins and as this one was same as your no warranty i soldered an external usb port and all worked after that.
Can be tricky but i don't see why it cannot be repaired.

Kaii

05-30-2010, 08:24 PM

Thanks Abill, You give me hope. I will look into it after exams

abill_uk

05-30-2010, 08:30 PM

Here is a close up pic i took of the usb port... maybe it will give you an idea. GOOD LUCK.

Kaii

05-31-2010, 04:42 AM

Thank you very much abill! I will look into getting it repaired in a week ^_^

AlexStanica

07-03-2010, 10:53 AM

Hi Kaii, how is your USB port?
Hope you managed to fix it. I am lucky as I haven't had any problems with mine so far.
Did you manage to get the other n900 to work in the UK?

Alex

Kaii

07-03-2010, 08:19 PM

hi Alex.

USB still not fixed. When I get time I will send it to Nokia who will replace my motherboard, as it has been identified as a design flaw.

Didn't find any legal things to do with my blacklisted N900, still trying to figure out a legal way to sell it in the USA.

Thanks for showing interest!

AlexStanica

07-06-2010, 01:03 PM

Kaii,

I would like to talk to you about the blocked n900 and possible ways of using it.
I tried sending a PM to you but it seems I don't have the right to do that. Could you send me a your email?

Alex