Database Users

"Unknown SIM Error" on MDA Pro on T-Mobile

Hi,
I just bought an MDA Pro direct from T-Mobile's website and it was delivered today. Unfortunately, while the PDA side of things works perfectly, it won't connect to T-Mobile at all.
On the 'T-Mobile' start up screen it displays the text 'No GSM' above what I think must be version information.
It reports 'no service' in the phone status bubble, and SIM Manager says: "Only emergency service calls can be made without a PIN" When I enter the PIN I was given, nothing happens. I think it goes into 'change PIN mode' because then I can put two more 4-digit numbers in (it doesn't matter which!) and then it says "Unknown PIN Status. Unknown PIN Error"
Unfortunately it isn't just a SIM problem as the SIM works in my O2 P800.
I've spoken with T-Mobile and they want to swap the handset, which would be fine if they had any in stock! I'm wondering if anyone here had any advice on ways I could try fixing this short of waiting for them to get in touch and tell me they have another handset I can try.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Hi,
what is your local provider ? Is it T-Mobile, Vodafone, E-plus or O2 ?
The mda pro only works with a t-mobile sim !
- Superbowl

Try to clean the sim before putting it back in the MDA Pro,
Generally works for me!

i had the same problem with my jasjar here is Australia......my sim works on any other pda and phones but not the jasjar.....apparently the sim that i have or some of the new sims have a little higher voltage than normal.......and the jasjar dont like it.....so what i did was replace the sim with another one and that worked......al they had to do was port my number to the new sim......but before it did that tried to put the sim in first and it started to look for a network so i knew this was gonna work......becoz before when i put my old sim in it just says invalid sim or no sim........so try replacing ur sim with another one......perhaps try and get an old sim maybe the sim has some in stock.....i bet ya that will wrok....good luck

Thanks guys ... I'm trying to find an older T-Mobile SIM to try. It's just frustrating! I've tried giving the SIM a wipe, to no avail. If it is that the SIM is slightly incompatible, T-Mobile sending out another unit won't really help, right?
How annoying!
If anyone else has any great ideas I'd love to hear them!

try using someone elses sim and put it in the device and give it a try to check if its definitely the unit and not the sim......when i rang the tech support for optus thats what i was advised.....and they were right....sim voltage was the problem......anyways try getting another sim.

Contact customer services.
The problem sounds like you SIM is too old.
They should ask for your SIM serial number, if its too old they'll offer to send you a new SIM or something else to make it work straight away??? :wink:

The MDA PRO as its a 3G type phone with WCDMA it needs a diffrent sim card that is usaly known as a 3V USIM.
Its the same on Three in the UK, the sims from their phones will only work in 3G phones not standard GSM ones and vica-versa.

Old SIMs (from about 5 years ago) are rated at 5 volts. Newer ones are 3 volts (not just for 3G). Trust me, I work for a certain mobile phone company who sponser West Brom. ;-)
The problem will be fixed in a future software upgrade. But for now you need a new SIM or your phone unlocked.

Trouble is, this *is* a new SIM... I'm moving back to the 'hardware fault' diagnosis I think.
I went to a friendly carphone warehouse shop in Oxford and tried a new (and definately working) T-Mobile PAYG SIM and that gave exactly the same error.
Maybe T-Mobile need to send me a 3G SIM. I guess I'm probably just going to have to wait until they can send me a new handset to see what happens.
Ho hum!

There's no such thing as a 3G SIM. The 3G gigery pokery happens on the phone. There is no need for a different SIM. The MDA Pro has a problem with SIMs with certain serial numbers (Don't know which coz I'm not at work). You need either a SIM that the phone likes or your phone unlocked. Call customer services if you still have your phone.

Had the same problem allready twice in 2 weeks.
One time a soft reset made the device working again - another time I had to take out the sim card and put it in again, then it worked. But all email accounts were gone and had to be installed again.
Chris

Slave1 said:
There's no such thing as a 3G SIM. The 3G gigery pokery happens on the phone. There is no need for a different SIM. The MDA Pro has a problem with SIMs with certain serial numbers (Don't know which coz I'm not at work). You need either a SIM that the phone likes or your phone unlocked. Call customer services if you still have your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, thanks for that reply... it seems very useful! If you could post/pm me the numbers of those SIMs that the MDA Pro is unlikely to like I'd really appreciate it... customer services aren't striking me as very helpful (and certainly not knowledgable) and I can tell that if I call them they're still going to say: Wait until we have another handset in stock and we'll see what happens then. Which doesn't help me much as who knows when that will be?
Thanks!

Any SIM serial not starting with 06 or 07 will be affected by the issue.
eg 90043575, the serial starts with 04.
This will be fixed with a software upgrade in the future, in the mean time you either need new SIM or you handset unlocked. For either call customer services.

I got my MDA Pro a few days ago also, had the same problem as you, basically the handset is network locked, not sure how they managed to lock all UK network, basically give Tmob a call and make sure your stay on the line until they provide with an unlock code, i got mine, now my old sim works and my handset is unlocked

I got my MDA Pro a few days ago also, had the same problem as you, basically the handset is network locked, not sure how they managed to lock all UK network, basically give Tmob a call and make sure your stay on the line until they provide with an unlock code, i got mine, now my old sim works and my handset is unlocked

i had the same problem with my ASUS P535 (here is France) with new SIM card.
seen from :http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20070818011855796&board_id=6&model=P535&page=1&SLanguage=en-us
Thanks.

I had the same problem BUT-
I had the same problem but i had been using the sim card successfully with the exec for a year, after a hard reset it doesnt recognise the sim. will a ROM upgrade fix it or is it a hardware failiure?

My solution
lauriewsmith said:
I had the same problem but i had been using the sim card successfully with the exec for a year, after a hard reset it doesnt recognise the sim. will a ROM upgrade fix it or is it a hardware failiure?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this happening to me just last week with a card that works all the time. Then followed that I had no sound coming off speakers or bluetooth. In my case it was a third party software problem. Don't ask me which as I install and uninstall too many applications and my Uni gets in a tangle sometimes. A soft reset instantly (in terms!) restored phone activities and sound, so I recommend a reset if you haven't tried it already. Maybe you will need more than one.

Dual Sim Cards

Did anyone try these dual simcard adapter in a wizard, I got one and maybe the software will not fit to windows mobile 5 but the changing between the two providers last endless, sometimes it needs a softreset to get a connection... need help
cheers

I do use a dualsim adapter without problems. Changing between te two SIM's never lasts longer then 3 to 5 seconds.
Have you tried the adapter in a non WM5 phone?
Cheers,
Cactus

where did you guys get these dual sim adapters? didnt even know they existed, quite interested to have one!

Hi,
http://www.magicsim.com/english/index.asp?new_id=27
They have got all kinds of solutions. I tried the MagicSim16 (16 SIM's on one SIM) but that didn't work, so I had to fall back to a DUAL SIM adapter.
Regards,
Cactus

le_cactus
Could you post some more references of the dual sim you bought? even a pic to let us identifiy the correct sim in ebay? Thank you

Hi,
I bought the 7th Era Dual SIM adapter. It's the one where you need to cut your sims. I figured the 8th Era solution wouldn't fit in the Wizard without doing harm to the case. I also tried the 9th era but I couldn't crack the encryption from my Orange SIM, the T-Mobile SIM however wasn't a problem at all.
A warning: If at all possible buy a duo SIM from your provider and cut that to pieces. I cut up my TMO SIM and it doesn't make a good connection with the SIM adapter. Luckely I still had the 9th Era card that I cut up with no problems so I'm using that inside the 7th Era adapter.
B.w.t. the 9th Era SIM card also worked with the Wizard. It's the best solution imho, but you need to be able to crack the encryption of your original SIM and as I understand it Vodafone and Orange SIM use a newer encryption that can't be cracked.
Hopes this helps,
Cheers,
Cactus
Hopes this helps.

Hi,
I also have a Wizard and use the MagicSim. I found that the problem is the Radio version. I have the MDA Vario by T-Mobile Germany. The shipped Radio version is 1.40.10 and have no problems with the DualSim.
Yesterday, I tested a newer OS Version shiped:1.3.2.5 (T-Mobile) new Version:1.3.7.11(Qtek). And then I flashed the Radio from 1.40.10 to 1.12.10. I tested my dualsim and nothing was happend, only i restart my wizard.
Than i tested another OS 1.5.4.2 with Radio 1.13.10 and 1.12.10 with the same problem. Than i restore the Radio to 1.40.10 and the dualsim works perfekt.
i hope u understand my bad english
Good luck...

dual sim card
now everything works fine, i don´t know if this comes from changing the network-choice of the handy: I had been in Austria and changed this item into manual ( from automatic). now I put back the old "automatic" modus and the simcard (or the wizard) finds a net in about 15sec... so changing from one card to the other is no problem..
But the backpart (Idon´t know the englisch word) will no longer fit perfectly, but it is only 2mm higher on one side.
cheers
Hunter

I ordered a dual Sim from Ebay a month ago and received it a week later. Unfortunately I cannot get it to work. It just doesn't fit right, the stress on the battery cover is quite heavy, since the cover is under stresss from sticking out so much. I am afraid the plastic bits will break and the cover will become useless. The stress is caused by the thick little black chip in the adapter, that does not fit into the sim slot. Also I cannot get the adapter to work, the Vario reports an invalid Sim. This can be due to a defective adapter ( caused by me twisting it while trying to fit it without the battery cover being stressed) or by my ROM version or even the T-Mobile Simcards, which have been reported not to work with dual sims in some threads. I previously tried a cut-out dual sim in my Magician, but no dice, the wretched thing would not work. my simcards still worked, but the Magician kept seeing invalid sims. Probably also a case of my destroying the little bugger ( I am not very carefull I guess, but of an impatient guy who cannot handle those cheap ass fragile things).
Ok, my question is: can someone post some pictures of the way they fitted the adapter and how much the battery cover is sticking out?
It would help me big time in deciding if I will try a third time to get it right. thanks people!

I recently bought a MagicSIM from a German eBay seller (http://stores.ebay.de/CironStar) including cutting service. Three days after sending him my two SIMs, I received it back yesterday and it works great in my Wizard!
What I like especially is, that you don't have to enter your PIN each time when switching the SIM.

I still fear those cut-up job ones... even if they do it for you; one wrong move and *snip* goes your SIM - have fun explaining that to your operator :/
I see they now offer a no-cutting-involved version as well. Has anybody tried this type ? It seems like it'd at least double-up in thickness, and there's a chippy bit that goes outside of the area where the SIM goes which definitely looks like it'd get smushed by the battery.. so I'm sceptic

what is the main purpose you guys use a dual sim adaptor? is it because u need to travel from country to country all the time? Another question is, once u have fitted two SIMs in your phone, can they BOTH receive calls at all times if someone called u on either number?

toneslee - yes, dual SIMs auto-switch the active SIM from time to time, and you should be able to receive calls, text messages, etc. on both.
My main reason to do this would be so that I can drop both my vodafone and lebara sims into the thing. Lebara is nice and cheap for my international calls (work, girlie, etc.), but is stupid-expensive for national calls - so I'd like to use my Vodafone for that.
Right now that means I have to keep two phones Which isn't tooooo bad.. but if at all possible, I'd rather just keep the one.

@ toneslee: You CANNOT receive calls on both Sims simultaneously. Your device has only one GSM radio and can handle connection to the GSM towers,data and voice from only one SIM at a time. What the dual sim adapter that ZeBoxx uses can do, is automatically switch which SIM is in use every 1 to 30 minutes, thereby trying to catch as much calls in both numbers as possible. But true simultaneous reception on both SIM cards is not possible. They cannot be active at the same time, so when one Sim is registered in the network the other is not connected and people calling that number get the same thing like your phone is off, e.g. voice mail.

correct Though I thought they switched a little faster than 1 minute >_<

I'm using a cut sim in my magician, although the "technology" is so basic, there's no reason why it shouldn't work with any phone. Cutting was fine, just do it carefully and use thin scissors. In my experience, there's still enough "space" to make a mistake and for it to still work. You have to be quite unsteady to screw it up and slice right through the middle of the "chip" in the mini-sim.
The only problem I had was that the sim was now too thin so I slid some slivers of paper between the metal sleeve and the mini-sims, and it works fine.
I have two numbers, one contract and one historic PAYG that I keep in case old friends don't have the new number.
V

Thanks for the explanations, guy. I understand now.

Anyone tried those
Hi
has anyone tried one of those multi super 16 in 1 sim card thingys..
basically a sim card that you can load with 16 identities...
+ a usb dongle thing to program it..
i was thinking about cloning my sim card so i can keep it in 2 phones one for work and one for when on the lash.

Supersim 16in1
yes, it works fine. I have 5 phone-numbers on it. but you're able to clone only the (old) v1 simcards.

ermm how do i tell ?
How do i tell what version the simcards are ?

Qtek 9100 corrupts sim card

I have a Qtek 9100 running the latest ROM and radio, etc on the Cingular network. The other day I get no signal, and reboot do not fix the problem. I take the sim card, and put it in a different phone. The other phone gets a signal, but says I can make emergency calls only. After about an hour on the phone with a Cingular rep I agree to drive to the store and get a replacement card. The replacement card fixed the problem. 4 days later, I am back to the same problem. The cingular rep is now blaming the phone after they can't figure out whats wrong. He is telling me the phone is "Zapping" the sim card. I find this hard to believe, but has anyone had this problem before? Has anyone ever tried to do an RMA with Qtek? Any help would be great, as i'm ready to put this 9100 on ebay and be done with it, unless an RMA with Qtek is worth it.

Happened to me last week with my 9100 (still running the original ROM). Got a new SIM and it's been running fine since.

i've had my 9100 rom on my 8125 for acout 2 weeks now without any major problems. the only problem I have is that it switches back and forth from gprs to edge a lot, but it doesn't bother me.
have you tried to reflash back to the cingular rom? it couldn't hurt.

I actually am running the Cingular ROM. I already replaced the SIM card 4 days ago, and it worked for about 4 days until it broke again. It doesnt make much sense, because something has to be corrupting the SIM card. When I ran *#*#364#*#* GSM utility, it would give me no data at all. Obviously the SIM card is dead (But still reads contacts on the SIM), and reauthorizing it does nothing to restore it. I will get a replacement today and verify the SIM continues to work in a different handset before I put it back in the 9100. Also I plan to factory default, and upgrade to latest ROMS etc before I try it again just in case. If anyone has any other ideas, let me know. Thanks.

aqueous said:
I actually am running the Cingular ROM. I already replaced the SIM card 4 days ago, and it worked for about 4 days until it broke again. It doesnt make much sense, because something has to be corrupting the SIM card. When I ran *#*#364#*#* GSM utility, it would give me no data at all. Obviously the SIM card is dead (But still reads contacts on the SIM), and reauthorizing it does nothing to restore it. I will get a replacement today and verify the SIM continues to work in a different handset before I put it back in the 9100. Also I plan to factory default, and upgrade to latest ROMS etc before I try it again just in case. If anyone has any other ideas, let me know. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aqueous, very much the same problem here. I got my Qtek9100 yesterday and I am connecting to Cingular. When I switch on the phone it takes forever to latch to network. The
Y.
Y..
Y... keeps happening for ever and ever. But once, it latches it stays on to it firmly. If I put the sim in my old phone Nokia3230, it just connects to cingular with a snap as soon as the phone is switched on. When I tap on the " Y " region it shows "searching...". I also tried doing a manual/automatic network detection in settings. During the time the "Y. Y.. Y..." keeps going, the manual detection of networks doesnt show a single network in the list. I dont know what could the problem be, since the sim just works perfect in old phone.
By the way, what does
aqueous said:
When I ran *#*#364#*#* GSM utility, it would give me no data at all..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do ? Can you let me know ?
Anup

unexplainable behavior by gene old

dear friends
i have came across very different behavior of my phone. here is what happened,
1. while removing battery one of the pin/connector of phone (from where current is given to phone from battery) was broken. so phone went dead. i have to send it to service centre. they replaced the whole assembly of connectors.
2. I am using sim card of provider 'Idea' in india
now my phone switches off when i try to
i) make calls
ii) receive calls
for these two events it switches off most of the times
iii) when i try to use gprs net, it switches off instantly..
3. this does not happens with my brothers sim card of airtel company
4.same behaviors is shown with sims of vodaphone, reliance gsm, bsnl cards.
5.i used my sim card (idea) on brothers ASUS PDA, everything works fine.
5. i tried to show this, on another vodaphone sim of friend to persons at service centre, every thing was fine...(is phone playing with me )
Now what should i do?
plz plz help me

Where r u....masters?
plz answer to my question... as i have no where to go

cpicsonly said:
plz answer to my question... as i have no where to go
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your SIM is prepaid, then that might be the culprit, since Vodafone's Prepaid SIMs are 16K, and they cause problem with high end phones.

explanation
thanks 4 reply.
I have tried sims as
idea- postpaid=== result: shutdown/restart
airtel- postpaid==== result: works good
vodaphone- prepaid=== result: shutdown/restart
bsnl- prepaid=== result: shutdown/restart
reliannce(gsm) prepaid=== result: shutdown/restart

cpicsonly said:
thanks 4 reply.
I have tried sims as
idea- postpaid=== result: shutdown/restart
airtel- postpaid==== result: works good
vodaphone- prepaid=== result: shutdown/restart
bsnl- prepaid=== result: shutdown/restart
reliannce(gsm) prepaid=== result: shutdown/restart
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Basically make sure you have a 32K SIM, even airtel's prepaid sim will work good, since they are 32 K. Sorry buddy, but I do not know about other operators except vodafone, which gives 16K SIM for prepaid (shutdown/restart) and 32K for Post Paid.

More clarification
thanks for reply...so I came 2 know that lot many people are reading and some of them are ready to answer. Here is my updated clarification for irritating behavior of gene.
1.The sim of idea I'm using is 32K
2. last night only I upgraded to wm 6.1 after patching spl(old gene)
but phone shuts down while start of gprs access and in between phone call.
now it goes on restarting 2/4 times after manual restart and finally comes 2 life..
I think that the problem is created by service centre after resoldering connector unit of battery..
plz plz guide some body

cpicsonly said:
thanks for reply...so I came 2 know that lot many people are reading and some of them are ready to answer. Here is my updated clarification for irritating behavior of gene.
1.The sim of idea I'm using is 32K
2. last night only I upgraded to wm 6.1 after patching spl(old gene)
but phone shuts down while start of gprs access and in between phone call.
now it goes on restarting 2/4 times after manual restart and finally comes 2 life..
I think that the problem is created by service centre after resoldering connector unit of battery..
plz plz guide some body
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It could be, I had a similar problem with my Vox (when the battery was gone ). But it did not restart, it would shut off. May be you need to take it back to service center.
Best of Luck (HTC service comes with 1 month warranty).

GOT solution !!!
hi
thanks 4 ur support.
i opened the mobile with the help of manual (htc service manual: the confidential one
found that the pins of battery connector with motherboard were loose.
tried to move a bit and came out of MB. this must be problem created by htc care guy at poona. so went to local mobile maintenance shop. asked him to solder the connector to MB. and voila ...
now i have been using it every sim ,, for surfing also. works fine.....
PS...
ADVICE TO GENE users:
do not pick up the battery by force from body as it will give pressure on connector joint with MB...seems prob with gene.

Sim card issue

Hello guys
I'm having an issue when my x10 says there's no Sim card inside and the problem isn't with my Sim card since I tried in my old phone and it works. Even other Rogers Sim card don't work. Anyway I tried taking the battery out and after 3 attempt its working again. So, I want to know anyone else having the same problem and what's the solution?
Sent from my X10a

I had the same issue but mine was a little different. My Xperia would not accept my rogers Sim ( 3 years old ) but it worked fine in all my other handsets.. it was the Sim card in my case and I was surprised to have it replaced free of charge.. also I found that some of the Sims are thinner than others so they would not have enough pressure to make a good contact. A quick fix from my friends Nokia was some clear tape on the back of his sim and it worked perfect.
Good luck!
htc fan89 said:
Hello guys
I'm having an issue when my x10 says there's no Sim card inside and the problem isn't with my Sim card since I tried in my old phone and it works. Even other Rogers Sim card don't work. Anyway I tried taking the battery out and after 3 attempt its working again. So, I want to know anyone else having the same problem and what's the solution?
Sent from my X10a
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

TMobile's customer service department told me to bend the sim card very gently to ensure good contacts are made. Did this on first day and not had any problems since (famous last words... I'll be digging out the tape by tomorrow!)

My Sim card is like 5 year old anyway It's working now
Sent from my X10a

All u guys with 5yr old simcards need to get rid of them! Those have like 28kb of storage on them, so their phone books are so, so limited!
I know! U use the phones memory, which is a whooooooole bunch! But if your phone ever crashed, all your contacts will be gone! U cannot always copy the entire list of contacts to the sim card, but with a newer 3G simcard, you can copy a lot more than your 5yr old sim card can hold.
These are free! Just walk into your provider's store and request a new simcard. U dont even have to show them what kind of phone u have (ahem!... those of us who are skimming with grandfathered data plans ). Just walk in and say "left my phone at work, but I need a simcard".

I think this thread will help you
as it does for me
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=743818

I checked that thread, but I hadn't rooted my x10a yet. Going waiting until something extraordinary happens
Someday I will change my sim card lol