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Have I got the first fault 3g Iphone?

T

timecmdr

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 11, 2008
7
0
Got my New 3g Iphone delivered today. Took it out of the box got my sim from my old one and inserted it into the new one and connected it to Itunes. I got a message on the iphone screen ...

No SIM card installed
Insert an unlocked and valid SIM to activate Iphone.

and on Itunes I get ....

The iPhone "iPhone" cannot be used with iTunes because the information required for activation could not be obtained from the iPhone.
Check that the SIM card is inserted in your iPhone and that it is not PIN-Locked.

I tried resetting the iphone by holding down the power and home buttons but still no joy.

After ringing O2 (UK) they advised me that there might be an issue with my origional sim card and I should go to an O2 store and pick up a post paid sim. I did this and still got the same messages.

Now after speaking to O2 they said they think its fault and I should wait until tommorow before ringing up and arranging a doorstep swap.

Am I alone or has anyone else experienced this???

Thanks

a 'wanting to play' iphone owner.
 
hey!

i got exactly the same issue.

after spending 4 hours travelling to the CPW store twice and after 10 calls to o2! the assure me that it is the network. My account is waiting to be activated.

apparently they have 10,000 accounts to put online, most written down on paper by hand. estimated up time 72 hours!!!!

i am extremely peeeved!

i am also worried that the phone is broken. but a t0-mobile sime shows no service so i guess they need to just activate my sim.

can they do this "over the air"? as i seems the sim card is broken?
 
Well I'm still waiting although I got two sims now so not sure which one is gonna work. I suppose I'll just keep trying them both.

Also the guy in the O2 store said he 'un-bricked' (i assume he means activated) all their demo iphones before putting the sim in? He said the phone just went to no service then he put the sim in.

He also said that if I hadn't done it that way I could have damaged the phone. What a c*ck.
 
I have the exact same problem in Ireland. CPW haven't a clue. O2 think it's Apple as my sim works in all other phones and the iPhone won't read any sim from any network whatsoever (raided everyone's phone at work yesterday). CPW were promising me a new phone from the expected Monday delivery but are now back tracking saying that it could be Apple's server problem and to keep trying.

My main problem is not knowing what activation should look like as I don't know anyone else who purchased one. CPW and O2 appear to have had no training whatsoever in the iPhone and their response was 'well, it was only released today'. Huh? But the original iPhone was released months ago and you still don't know what a smooth activation looks like????? CPW's in Ireland don't even have a pc with iTunes on it to check it for you.
 
I've got the same problem with O2 in the UK. Was told by them that it's a "gateway" fault, and should be working again when Apple's servers are up.

Thing is, just tried it without the Sim Card in, and got exactly the same results...just seems O2 are blaming everything on Apple.
 
Re: No SIM card installed

You've got the thing in facing the right way, yeah? I was a bit stumped for a moment when I came to inserting mine :D I think I put the SIM face down in the holder in the end. Whichever way it was, first time lucky :D
 
I think it only fits in one way ;)

Anyway, made sure I lined up the gold bit on teh sim car, and the gold pins in the phone...even got the customary little scratchs on the sim card to prove it :p
 
Not good news.

Finally got through to Apple. They said it was either the sim or the phone. Since I was calling them on my old phone with the new 3G sim, the sim obviously wasn't the problem.

They talked me through the simple restore (home and power button together until you get the apple logo) but it made no difference.

They then advised, surprise surprise, that the phone is faulty and it should be returned to the shop immediately.

CPW have promised to replace it when the next delivery comes in.

If you know your sim works call Apple.
 
just took phone down to o2.

they assured me that the insert sim card problem is cos of lack of activation!

they said 20 people had been in or phoned them today with same issue.

so hopefully no need to send for repair / swap!

my t-moble sim make the "No SIM card installed" go away...

weirdly my unactivated o2 sim and a active payg and contract sim all had the same error.

weird
 
Rung up Apple before about it, they said it was because O2 hadn't activated it fully before it was sent to me (which is fair enough), so to take it down to my local O2 store to get it sorted.

So, I took it down, only to be told by what I can only describe as a robot, that it is because iTunes is down...and here's the best bit "not just the activation, but everything that you buy music on as well", so to wait a couple of days.

I'm getting really frustrated with O2, because they seem to think everything's iTunes' fault, even though Apple quite adamantly said otherwise.

So if it turns out to be faulty...I'm going to absolutely play hell with O2, because no-one's been listening to me!
 
I LOVE APPLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!

after going to cpw and o2 4 times and 100's of phone calls i suddenly decided to go direct to apple regent street.

the local genius said it was a fault and swapped it for me there and then!
o2 and CPW you have a lot to learn.

so - goto apple.com/retail book a genius bar slot and then swap your phone. easy as!

(still no phone service :-( o2 are terrible)
 
Was thinking of doing the same myself, thanks for the, I guess vote of confidence that it works :p

:apple: ftw!
 
Same thing happened with my iPhone 3G yesterday. It was fine after all the activation woes on Friday and working ok Saturday up until about 7PM. Then I noticed the "repair needed" screen on my iPhone. Tried rebooting a couple times, no luck... takes forever for it to get past the Apple logo when it's having issues. Attempted restoring 3 times, but it keeps giving errors before the restore really gets underway. Hopefully the Apple store by me still have stock cause I'm bringing it back there now for a replacement....
 
Hi all, soo happy, went to the apple store in the trafford centre on Saturday. I told them my issue and the got a genius to look at it there and then. He said it was a definate hardware fault and replaced it. Omg I was very happy. Apple keep swap out iPhone stock as o2 don't spit you have this fault get yourself in store an get it sorted. P.s. I have writen this on my new iPhone yay!
 
Took mine to the genius bar at Trafford Centre today, guy looked at it, said all it needed was a restore, did a proper restore on it...bang, sorted!

Was really happy with how helpful he was, gave me his card as well, to say if there's any other problems with it (just incase the restore masked over the main problem instead of fixing it) to come back in, and ask for him!

Quality service.
 
Got mine replaced today at my local Apple store. I was a bit worried because they had a big sign at the store entrance saying they were sold out of iPhones and I was pretty sure that mine could not be fixed and needed complete replacement. Genius bar guy verified that my iPhone was totally FUBAR and went in the back and pulled out a brand new still shrink wrapped 16GB Black 3G. I was very relieved that they had spares laying around because the only other option for me would probably be braving the Apple stores in Manhattan. He put the defective iphone back in the box that he took the new one from and put a big red label on the top of it, said they were going to ship it back so engineering could have a look. He also said that this was the first defective 3G they have seen.

Hopefully my new iPhone 3G lasts more than the 36 hours my previous one did.
 
This happened to me late friday night (my wife's was working fine). It was working for me for some time than I got the same error (we're in the USA). All I did to fix it was:

1) Took a paperclip and ejected the sim.
2) Shut down the iPhone
3) Reinserted the sim.
4) Restarted my iPhone.
 
ngmcs8203 said:
This happened to me late friday night (my wife's was working fine). It was working for me for some time than I got the same error (we're in the USA). All I did to fix it was:

1) Took a paperclip and ejected the sim.
2) Shut down the iPhone
3) Reinserted the sim.
4) Restarted my iPhone.
Click to expand...

You were lucky... ejecting and reseating the SIM in my iPhone didn't solve the issue for me. I wonder how wide spread this defect is...
 
iPhone activation error

Definitely this is a bigger problem as the days go on. I have the 16GB white iPhone. It was working properly for me since July 12th when I got it. I am a previous AT&T client so I was switching from a Razor V3 to the iPhone. Things were working fine till the 23rd when I wanted to check my email. There was suddenly no signal and the buttons were not responding properly. I power cycled the phone (turned it off and turned it on), and then that's when all the error messages started happening:

iPhone error message:

Repair Needed
iPhone cannot make or receive calls.
www.apple.com/support

iTunes error message:

The iPhone cannot be used with iTunes because the information required for activation could not be obtained from the iPhone.

Check that the SIM card is inserted in your iPhone and that it is not PIN-locked.

I popped the sim card out and put it in my previous Razor V3 and it works like a charm. Sim card is good - iPhone is definitely defective. If this happens to you - schedule an appointment at the nearest Genius Bar and get a new phone. AT&T can not help you with this because Apple doesn’t want anyone else opening it accept them. Even if you purchased it at an AT&T location, they will not replace it for you, only the Apple Store can.
 
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