help wont activate - Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

i think i shorted out my s4 trying to charge battery with stripped wires because charging port would not work,so i took all the parts from another activated s4 with a broken screen which is on my family plan and put them into my s4 wich would not even turn and after replacing innards the phone now turns on everything works but wont activate tried soft and hard reset tried both sim cards. My question is after you swap parts out is there something i have to do to get the phone to think all the parts now inside are the original parts. the only parts in my phone that are original are the circuit boards or what i call chips which would have to be heated and removed which i am not willing to do. please reply everything works except wont activate. is it possible i fried the circut boards out?

What do you mean by activate?

Lennyz1988 said:
What do you mean by activate?
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Click to collapse
thanks for reply Lenny its a phone that was activated meaning paid yearly contract with sprint and then was deactivated (no service) because screen was broke and the one that parts came from was also deactivated from sprints service everything is legit. but when i swapped out parts from one to another it will not activate with sprints service.

bobbd said:
thanks for reply Lenny its a phone that was activated meaning paid yearly contract with sprint and then was deactivated (no service) because screen was broke and the one that parts came from was also deactivated from sprints service everything is legit. but when i swapped out parts from one to another it will not activate with sprints service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aha. I doubt anyone in this part of the forum can help you.
You should ask your question here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4-sprint

Related

i am barely/not getting any service with my new nexus one

i just opened it up and it barely gets a connection or no connection at all. sometimes it says its connected to 3g and when i open the browser it says i have no data connection. i have no clue what's going on.
so far i've gotten a new sim card and i typed in *#*#4636#*# trying to reset the radio but neither seemed to help. i don't know what it can be. i thought this was all fixed with gingerbread. i have 7 days from today to return it to the seller (ebay) but i'm hoping to fix it myself.
does anyone have some pointers that may help me? i've done searches and that's where i got the idea to get a new sim and type *#*#4636#*# but that's all i could find here. anyone have another solution that i don't know about?
EDIT: i just called t-mobile and forgot that they don't support the phone and htc closed an hour ago. i really don't want a refurbished phone after getting it new. i guess i should get into contact with the seller if htc isn't able to help me fix the problem.
Is all 3G settings right ?
how so? i'm pretty certain they are. i say i barely/not getting any service is because for about a minute or two i was able to sync my gmail account with the phone but since then i haven't been able to get online.
Is your hand covering the bottom of the phone, on the back, blocking the antenna? Test by setting the phone on the table and see if signal gets better.
Wait, the antenna for the Nexus is on the bottom of the phone and not the top?
ballroom dru said:
Wait, the antenna for the Nexus is on the bottom of the phone and not the top?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes the bottom plastic cover, and its very sensitive to your hand so in low signal areas leave it exposed to avoid signal attenuation.
Do you have the right apn settings? Is it the t-mo version of the n1?
it's the t-mobile version of the phone. i called htc and they said it's probably a bad antenna. i emailed the buyer and will be sending it back for an exchange.
Brand new n1? Next time just get it from Google's developers site or hit up craigslist as the buyers will let you try the phone out right on the spot.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App

[Q] Help reviving a broken HD2

Hello,
I fell in the not-so-rare problem of the broken microUSB female plug on the motherboard of my HD2: the phone won't charge or sync at all.
After searching around, I found that quite a few people have gone into my same trouble, because the sync plug is directly soldered on the mainboard and is also the phone part that gets most of mechanic stress during the device's lifecycle.
In a few words: seems that almost all phones will eventually break.
I tried with HTC repair but they refused to repair it both under warranty and under paid repair.
I don't want to throw away my phone after I spent 550€ for it!!! I would like to find a way to revive it!
I currently have two options:
Replace motherboard by myself or with the help of an expert technician
Buy a Powermat charger to charge the phone again
Third option could be buying a Chinese external charger I found somewhere supplied with 3 spare batteries, doing cold swap of each battery when one discharges: not a smart option.
I can't currently find a motherboard for replacement, since the only one on eBay that the seller doesn't refuse to ship to Italy is software-bricked, and I don't have the tools needed to unbrick it.
Option 2 allows me to avoid opening the phone and avoid potential disasters, but it won't allow me to sync the phone via USB. Not even to HSPL it (I love running Android dual boot sometimes when I need to run a certain program unavailable for WP6.5/7).
So, since I really need to synchronize the phone with my computer's Outlook for Calendar and Contacts, and after telling you about my current options, what do you suggest me to do?
Do you think it's possible to sync to WMDC using Bluetooth? (I read that wifi is not an option)
Or, do you know how could I unbrick a motherboard without buying expensive devices? I can travel easily around my country.
I'm open to almost any idea, thank you!!Buying a new phone at its brand-new price is not an option
what reason did HTC give for refusing to repair it?
If you didn't drop it or spill water on it how can they refuse warranty on it?
Warranty refused because they say the defect is unrepairable.
Initially, when they refused warranty repair I thought "OK, it could be wear..." but when I saw the photos of how the plug is soldered to the mobo, I found it's a design disaster!!!! Even I know that the plug accumulates so much mechanical energy during lifetime that if it's not strengthened properly that energy will make the very small solderings crash. This is also why keys are not physically embedded on the mobo!!! You know you could break the keyboard because of wear
HTC then asked me to send the phone for paid repair but again the repair lab refused for unrepairable damage!! Incredible!!!
this is bull****.
If it's "unrepairable" they need to send you a new phone...
I'd call back, that's why there's a warranty, for stuff like this.
I've been "calling back" since April... we are now in July and nothing yet happened
Also, I just found that plugging the battery again and doing a hard reset shown that the touchscreen is not working anymore!!!!
I couldn't even sell the phone for spare parts once the digitizer is broken (by the way, not even a single broken pixel ever!!)
They sent me a mail today, "we are investigating"
djechelon said:
I've been "calling back" since April... we are now in July and nothing yet happened
Also, I just found that plugging the battery again and doing a hard reset shown that the touchscreen is not working anymore!!!!
I couldn't even sell the phone for spare parts once the digitizer is broken (by the way, not even a single broken pixel ever!!)
They sent me a mail today, "we are investigating"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya HTC can be so stupid about that sometimes. It's funny on Sprint they would have switched out the phone no questions asked, but with GSM they don't want to do anything for you.
whatever that means I hope they do the right thing.
djechelon said:
I've been "calling back" since April... we are now in July and nothing yet happened
Also, I just found that plugging the battery again and doing a hard reset shown that the touchscreen is not working anymore!!!!
I couldn't even sell the phone for spare parts once the digitizer is broken (by the way, not even a single broken pixel ever!!)
They sent me a mail today, "we are investigating"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man it sounds like HTC is giving you a load of crap, sucks to hear stories such as yours. HTC should just exchange your HD2 for you in m,y opinion.
You asked about how to get a main board debricked, I just sent you a PM with some information on that.
Oh and "we are investigating", just what is it to investigate. Your HD2 is malfunctioning because of a hardware issue and is still under warranty, they should replace it.
I like your avatar pic too it is cool.
Just to tell you what it finished like.
HTC ultimately replied me "this device won't ever be accepter for repair".
I called a lawyer for that, because I just found that when I powered the phone on, the touchscreen was gone, and I have proof that the touchscreen was still working when I gave them the phone
................................................................................

No sim card error

I have the ATT Galaxy S4 and it's been great, but lately it randomly has No Sim Card Error, and askes me to insert one, the only fix for it is taking out the sim, and putting it back on.
Anyone having this problem?
Can you provide more information about your phone?
Ninja Samurai said:
Can you provide more information about your phone?
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Click to collapse
what is there to provide? samsung glaaxy s4 for att black 16gb
How long have you had the phone for?
I read on another forum, back in early May someone with an S4 also getting the No SIM Card error.
pham818 said:
I have the ATT Galaxy S4 and it's been great, but lately it randomly has No Sim Card Error, and askes me to insert one, the only fix for it is taking out the sim, and putting it back on.
Anyone having this problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is your phone modified in any way? Root? Customs roms? Etc. Perhaps there's a problem with your sim card. I would start with that.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium
nthknd said:
Is your phone modified in any way? Root? Customs roms? Etc. Perhaps there's a problem with your sim card. I would start with that.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it is running a custom rom, but it happened with stock touchwiz also, im trying the tape method, hopefully it'll fix it.
Try getting your company to exchange the sim card and if issue still happens just replace the sim tray yourself unless you got an insurance plan that covers free defective hardware or ship it off to samsung for repair.
Here is a link to a sim tray for the s4 that I bought for someone to repair their sim tray.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-SIM-SD-C...-Samsung-Galaxy-S4-IV-AT-T-i337-/151079175235
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
Febby said:
Try getting your company to exchange the sim card and if issue still happens just replace the sim tray yourself unless you got an insurance plan that covers free defective hardware or ship it off to samsung for repair.
Here is a link to a sim tray for the s4 that I bought for someone to repair their sim tray.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-SIM-SD-C...-Samsung-Galaxy-S4-IV-AT-T-i337-/151079175235
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
alright thanks, ill try my tape method first, and if that doesnt work ill do that.
Please insert SIM emergency calls only
I bet I have more experience with this than anyone else with a Samsung Galaxy S4 for AT&T 16 GB
This hand set was run over by a large SUV and I was amazed it survived and kudos to otterbox.
Since then, I've been having this SIM error as well, at random. I see it reported that pulling the SIM out and putting it back in was the only thing that worked, I'm glad simply rebooting works for me, so I don't have to peel apart the otterbox all the time.
I tried the tape and it didn't fix it so I replaced the SIM/SD card tray. The new part on Amazon cost me $14 and the YouTube video showing the operation of peeling these things apart was helpful. I didn't see a video in particular about how they're glued down but I managed to peel the original SIM/SD card tray off, scrape off the adhesive that was still stuck on the motherboard, and install the new SIM/SD card tray.
I still get random SIM errors. No change. Putting a layer of tape on the SIM chip was easy, replacing the tray was difficult, and neither one of these efforts to fix it worked.
My SIM errors are the definition of random, I get one error right after another in just a few minutes, or it will stay lit up and working for hours.
So I put my wife's SIM card in there to make sure it wasn't the SIM itself making the problem. She's never had a problem with her SIM in her Note 2. Guess what, she let me use her SIM in my S4 and it wasn't very long and there it was again. "Please insert a valid SIM" emergency calls only. I gave her back her SIM as soon as I saw the error, as she was not happy about having the cover off the back of her Note 2. I did not get the error when I put my SIM into her Note 2, but was not able to test it for very long, as I got the error on my S4 with her chip so soon.
Next I am going to peel it apart as thoroughly as I can and look for any connector plug that can be unplugged and snapped back in. There was only one little ribbon with a 24 pin connector from the new tray to the motherboard. I'll pull that off again too, and inspect it with a magnifying glass.
I will report if I am able to figure out how to fix this problem.
My wife thinks it's because I flash it, but I doubt returning to stock is even worth the effort. I've never heard of a ROM being the culprit.
more tape
It occurred to me that the tape making the SIM chip thicker seemed to help the problem and less SIM errors.
I will also mention the replacement tray was identical to the one I thought was bad.
I was about to take apart the S4 again when I decided to try lots of tape! I stacked 4 or 5 layers of transparent scotch tape on the back of the SIM chip and it was very snug to slide into the slot.
It was so snug it barely returned from it's "in click"....
I am pleased to report an "up time" of over 16 hours, and that's the longest "up time" achieved since getting run over by a full sized Suburban on Olympic Boulevard.
fukenbiker said:
It occurred to me that the tape making the SIM chip thicker seemed to help the problem and less SIM errors.
I will also mention the replacement tray was identical to the one I thought was bad.
I was about to take apart the S4 again when I decided to try lots of tape! I stacked 4 or 5 layers of transparent scotch tape on the back of the SIM chip and it was very snug to slide into the slot.
It was so snug it barely returned from it's "in click"....
I am pleased to report an "up time" of over 16 hours, and that's the longest "up time" achieved since getting run over by a full sized Suburban on Olympic Boulevard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How many pieces of tape did you use? I have been having the same problem and one piece helped for a little but but it has since occurred a lot more often.
Any fixes?
I guess I dropped my phone one too many times... started getting the no sim error last week. A reboot fixes it temporarily but the error always comes back (sometimes I'm good for 5 hours sometimes its 5 minutes). Tried the tape method without much luck. Went to the AT&T store to swap out my sim... still no worky. Looks like my only options are replace the phone or fix the hardware. I'd rather not send in for warranty repair/replacement as I don't want to lose the ability to run a custom recovery.
Anyone have any personal experience with replacing the sim/micro sd tray or sending in for third party repair? Found this tutorial on youtube. It looks pretty straight forward and the part is fairly cheap (~ $9) but not sure its worth the risk.
ssn713 said:
I guess I dropped my phone one too many times... started getting the no sim error last week. A reboot fixes it temporarily but the error always comes back (sometimes I'm good for 5 hours sometimes its 5 minutes). Tried the tape method without much luck. Went to the AT&T store to swap out my sim... still no worky. Looks like my only options are replace the phone or fix the hardware. I'd rather not send in for warranty repair/replacement as I don't want to lose the ability to run a custom recovery.
Anyone have any personal experience with replacing the sim/micro sd tray or sending in for third party repair? Found this tutorial on youtube. It looks pretty straight forward and the part is fairly cheap (~ $9) but not sure its worth the risk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Took the plunge and replaced the sim/micro sd tray myself following the tutorial above. It was pretty painless and only took about 20min. Everything is working and no sim error messages over the past day. :good:
ssn713 said:
Took the plunge and replaced the sim/micro sd tray myself following the tutorial above. It was pretty painless and only took about 20min. Everything is working and no sim error messages over the past day. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I might keep this in mind, but will wait to see if you really fixed it.
I haven't had a sim error in over a week now, and before that it was over a week as we (just that one time in between).
Sony know what made the problem go away but so far so good.
Goliath27 said:
I might keep this in mind, but will wait to see if you really fixed it.
I haven't had a sim error in over a week now, and before that it was over a week as we (just that one time in between).
Sony know what made the problem go away but so far so good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well crap... insert sim error just came back (probably jinxed myself with my post). Not sure if it's hardware or software but it's definitely not the sim reader itself. May try to revert to stock just to rule out some variables.
Long story short, don't bother wasting your time, money, or taking the risk of replacing the sim tray.
ssn713 said:
Well crap... insert sim error just came back (probably jinxed myself with my post). Not sure if it's hardware or software but it's definitely not the sim reader itself. May try to revert to stock just to rule out some variables.
Long story short, don't bother wasting your time, money, or taking the risk of replacing the sim tray.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me too. Happened twice yesterday.
Is there a possible tasker setting that we can make to restart the sim card if it gets disconnected?
possible fix
So guys I found a solution that worked with my phone. It seems that the ribbon connector that connects the Sim and microsd is really temperamental so just push down on it and reboot and signal should come back. As a permanent fix I took a 1/4" piece of foam rubber weather stripping and stuck it to the top of the ribbon cable (where it attaches to the mother board). This kept permenant tension on the connector when I put the plastic back in place.
Goliath27 said:
Me too. Happened twice yesterday.
Is there a possible tasker setting that we can make to restart the sim card if it gets disconnected?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not a bad idea but I've never played with tasker. If that doesn't work maybe we could find a sympathetic dev to write a few lines of code. Might even be a way to make the system query the sim card to reestablish the status and clear the error without rebooting?
I'd definitely be willing to throw in a few bucks for a fix but I don't think there are enough people suffering with this issue to put together a bounty and/or get anyone's attention. I did manage to grab a logcat if we can find someone willing to assist.
Just purchases an S4 on the good ol craigslist with this problem. It was unlisted as an actual problem of course, however I am 100% certain that's why it was for sale.
I too get the No sim card inserted message. I took everything apart, testing out a few variables. I have isolated it to the actual ribbon cable as someone mentioned above as well. It seems if I reconnect the ribbon cable and reboot it, the phone will read it until the error comes back. Which happens more often than not. I can't even get the plastic housing on without the error coming back.
- I have tried the tape method as well. On the sim, on the top of the ribbon connector, on the back of inside phone shell.
- I have determined it was the ribbon cable by applying pressure to both the Sim and ribbon locations, both at the same time which is the first time I got the phone to read the Sim. Then isolated each area with pressure and a reboot. The ribbon cable and pin connector seem to be the issue.
Reading over some of the other posts in this thread it appears people have already tried a new sim/sd card piece with no improved results. That makes me want to lean towards this is not the SD/SIM side of the connector but more so on the motherboard side. If it is the motherboard I then I am pretty much at a loss and it is not deemed worth investing another 150$ into the phone for a new motherboard.
Will continue to see if I can do anything to improve this issue. Currently the phone is unusable as I fear for any movement on the device before it disconnects the sim, and I remain on my S3 while I continue to investigate.
ssn713 said:
Not a bad idea but I've never played with tasker. If that doesn't work maybe we could find a sympathetic dev to write a few lines of code. Might even be a way to make the system query the sim card to reestablish the status and clear the error without rebooting?
I'd definitely be willing to throw in a few bucks for a fix but I don't think there are enough people suffering with this issue to put together a bounty and/or get anyone's attention. I did manage to grab a logcat if we can find someone willing to assist.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, did it fix it? I took the plunge and replaced my reader as well...but still randomly getting that error. I do have an i337m and running an M919 rom though. Im wondering if it might just be the rom but i have tried two different M919 roms...

shorted out ?

i think i shorted out my s4 trying to charge battery with stripped wires because charging port would not work,so i took all the parts from another activated s4 with a broken screen which is on my family plan and put them into my s4 which would not even turn on and after replacing innards the phone now turns on everything works but wont activate tried soft and hard reset tried both sim cards. My question is after you swap parts out is there something i have to do to get the phone to think all the parts now inside are the original parts. the only parts in my phone that are original are the circuit boards or what i call chips which would have to be heated and removed which i am not willing to do. please reply everything works except wont activate. is it possible i fried the circut boards out?
Hi, I'm curious exactly where you put the stripped wires?
I understand there are 2 leads above the battery that are to support a wireless charging module/case. Is That where you hooked it up?
What exactly happened? did it smoke or turn off suddenly? Any visible black spots?
Also, very important, the main board (directly above battery bay, rear camera attaches to it) stores the IMEI # which will persist with the physical chip. I assume that's why it won't activate, sprint sees it as a different phone instead of your phone.
This might be ok though, as long as your IMEI is clear for activation. In this case, you just need a IMEI change on your account, and you should be golden.
(If unsure, call sprint and ask for ESN/imei check)
If blacklisted/active, then there are ways of repairing your IMEI. Legality of it is in the grey, but my view is if you own both phones, you can swap the imei's. Just don't sell the unused one, or zero out the meid (Google play won't work with 0'd imei so you'll have to make a phony one instead)
I used CDMA Tool, it took a bit of fiddling but with the proper guide, you should be able to accomplish it. (There's some kind of efs backdoor, and you must always first zero out the imei, then write a new one, never write a current imei to a new valid imei. For some reason it won't work, otherwise. (That was my experience, YMMV)
Last, you can buy the USB board that plugs in for about $6 on eBay. (Bought this today) this one is relatively easy. Unfortunately I found out the home button replacement requires removing the digitizer, using a heat gun. The USB board is one of the first things you see after taking plastic back off (9 screws).
Also, let me know how it works out.
Mvmcad thanks for reply, i put the 2 stripped wires in ]between the battery terminal and the terminls on rear of phone under the case it sparked but no smoke and no black spots, phone just would not turn on anymore untill i swapped all the parts .to get a clearer picture if u pop off your back cover and with the battery in place slide wires in between phone terminals and battery terminals at top of battery. would sprint be able to switch IEMI # over phone ?
Oh I see.. Yes sprint should be able to swap a IMEI over the phonr as long as you can provide the correct account information (they probably will ask for old IMEI as well as new IMEI). Gl!

jammed Sim tray/Sim not recognized now

So this is probably my worst case scenario and I'm depressed to no end, I literally got this phone 3 days ago and cut my micro Sim down to size going by guides and templates found on Google since my last phone got cracked an wasted the digitizer, I couldn't wait for my new Sim to get delivered.. (I'm sure everyone could understand)
Well, it worked great, fit about as good as I could expect for doing it without a cutter, BUT, today my new Sim came and I tried ejecting the tray and bam! It's jammed... (insert internal screaming here) looked up how to unjam it and I got it after a few minutes and I thought all was good, however the Sim that came out was dented on the contact side, and putting the new one in, or the old one back in, neither are recognized now.... Why it jammed in the first place is beyond me, maybe it was defected? Idk.
I'm so frustrated with myself that I could lock myself in a closest and I have no idea what to do, I never screw up my phones like this. I've contacted support but I was hoping someone here would have any ideas on how I might get it to work at least for a short time, or anything.
I really love this phone it's the first "high end" phone I've even owned :crying: thanks in advance for any opinions and ideas...
Sounds like you broke one or more sim contact pins. This is a common issue on poorly cut sims and adapters. If this is the case, then your options are limited. You may be able to find someone who might be able to repair the damage. Otherwise you might be looking at the need for a new board.

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