New iOS build meant to fix iPhone 4S SIM card issues
A document published on Apple's Support webpage on Friday informs iPhone 4S owners who are seeing the error messages to download and install the latest version of iOS 5, which is an incremental build of 5.0.1 named 9A406.
Apple silently released the newest 9A406 build on Thursday, but at the time did not specify what issues, if any, the minor update addressed. The build was pushed out to 4S owners who had not yet upgraded to 5.0.1, while those already running the latest version had to manually download and install 9A406 from Apple's servers.
According to the support page, the "iPhone 4S may have difficulty recognizing a micro-SIM card," and will subsequently display "Invalid SIM" and "No SIM Card installed" alerts or "No Service" and "Searching" status bar messages.
Apple's recommended solution for the issue is download and install the latest build of iOS 5 by restoring the unit through iTunes, and confirming that the software version reads "5.0.1 (9A406). The instructions are reprinted below.
Apple Support page for iOS 5.0.1 build 9A406 | Source: Apple
Some users began to experience problems relating to SIM card recognition after 5.0.1 was released in November, while a support community thread points to others who have seen the error messages since the iPhone 4S launched in October.
15 Comments
I've been struggling with the invalid SIM card and bad signal issues for a week, since the first day I received the iPhone 4S, then yesterday I noticed the release of the new iOS 5.0.1 build, I restored the iPhone with that firmware (without OTA updates or anything like that) and all my problems disappeared, It's now working perfectly, I was really frustrated with the issue to the point my iPhone 4S was basically an iPod Touch. I was going to return the iPhone to the US today , and the worst part is that I live in Bogota, Colombia, so I saved those expensive shipping costs and the frustration of waiting 800 days to receive the new one back. This new iOS 5.0.1 build basically saved my life.
This is kind of weird. Why wouldn't they call this 5.0.2 and have everyone get it?
Did they think it was risky so wanted to have a slow ramp-up, by only having upgraders and restorers get it?
Did they think their servers couldn't handle the load? That can't be -- they've rolled out lots of updates to masses before.
I don't understand the rationale here.
Having the same messages since iOS 5 from time to time with my iPhone 4. The only way to fix it, is to remove the SIM when the iPhone is turned on. I always have a paperclip in my wallet in case I get this message again.
I still maintain that this is also a hardware problem, specifically a faulty SIM problem, althougth since a software fix seems to alleviate some problems, perhaps it is a combo platter of slightly bad SIM cards and iOS being too sensitive.
My rationale is that I had this problem, but it cropped up about two weeks after launch day. I took it to AT&T and received a new one; no problems for close to two months.
I hope apple fixes the location issue too, google maps does not seems to work at all now as it shows my location from Riyadh to some where in the the fields of china, because of which I cannot use maps, weather and surprisingly the time also needs to be set manually.. As Steve Jobs would say this is shit and apple needs to pul up its socks, unless it is a hardware issue and then we are all screwed. After paying 45k INR for a 16 GB iPhone 4S all I can say is that I have a crap phone which seems to have a mind of its own.