Samsung Galaxy S4 Sim Card Not Detected

[fairywishes1]

Hi, hoping for some advise this forums always been great for that.
My son and I both have S4's purchased at the same time with Vodafone. Suddenly my sons is showing "No Sim Detected". It seems this is a common Samsung S4 fault on many forums being reported just now. As the phone typically just went out of warranty when the fault happened and we took out a sim only package with vodafone replacing the old contract we're slightly screwed.

We've tried putting my sim in his phone, factory reset, replacing the sim card reader tray, changing settings, putting pressure over the card tray area etc but no joy. I just phoned Glasgow Samsung repair centre and they said it's a softwear issue but why's mine working fine if it's a known softwear issue?
The micro card reader seems to work fine.

Just wondered if anyone suffering this same fault has had any joy? His sim only contract is not up till Dec thus we can't upgrade for a new phone so would rather fox this one if we can.

Thanks in advance.

[fairywishes1]

Sorry shouls say "NO SIM DETECTED"

[hrym]

I'm not sure what the fix was for this, but it wouldn't hurt to try a factory reset, just in case it's software related.  Don't forget to back up your content first.  A reset would be part of any repair process anyway.   If it still doesn't work, it might be worth persisting with Samsung.  If it is indeed a known issue (I do seem to remember it), you might be able to persuade them to do a repair out of warranty as a goodwill gesture.

SIM only contracts have up upgrade option after 3 months, so all may not be lost on that score with Vodafone.

[fairywishes1]

Sorry I should have said we already tried the factory reset. i've phoned numerous Samsung support repair shops and they seem to say its likely to be the motherboard or that Vodafone have barred the phone?? But why would Vodafone do that when we took out a 12 month sim only contract to replace the old contract once it ended? but then it does also seem odd that this all happened within weeks of the changeover of contract.

Under the 12 month sim only contact which is due to end in Dec although i could upgrade it it would mean us shelling out on effectively an 2 and a half year contract because of the Dec renewal.  I wish now i'd just done a 30 day sim only contract as i'd not be in this predicament.

[hrym]

I'm sorry to hear that Samsung are playing hardball.   I think that if the phone had been blocked you'd probably get a different message.   The simple way to find out would be to speak to customer services and ask.   There is the tiny possibility that the IMEI has been blocked in error - the numbers and long and phat phinger tgrouble isn't completely unknown.  Any network can do this.

I don't know how the early upgrade options works on SIM only deals - whether the remainder of the 12 months gets added to the new contract or the whole thing starts from the upgrade date (ie 24 months only).  It would be worth asking.

[hrym]

"If you bought a 12-month SIM only bundle after 10 June 2015 you can upgrade to any Vodafone Pay monthly phone after 3 months.

If you decide to upgrade to a Vodafone Pay monthly phone after 3 months, we’ll simply cancel your 12-month SIM only agreement. You won’t be liable for any early termination fees."