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No SIM Card Error on HTC One

Updated on by

Update: The trick also works on the HTC One M8, One M9, and HTC 10.

The HTC One is a beautifully designed device and this is almost the first time we see a device that overcomes Apple’s iPhones in terms of design. I couldn’t understand why the HTC One couldn’t sell as much as the Samsung Galaxy phones but now I totally get it.

Apart from the defects I mentioned in the HTC One review, I just figured out another issue with the phone. It is another manufacturing issue.

The One worked well in the first 2 weeks but then suddenly I got the no SIM card error. The phone couldn’t detect my T-Mobile SIM card even though I placed it very carefully on the SIM tray.

I tried removing and inserting again but it didn’t work. Then I followed some guides on the Internet, I turned off the Fast Boot option, then restarted, still no SIM card detected. Another guide told me to reset the device, I did but it didn’t solve the problem as well.

Although those solutions didn’t work, they helped me figure out that the problem is probably caused by the connection between SIM card and the device. I used a brand new T-Mobile SIM card and insert to the HTC One but it still can’t detect the SIM card.

Then I remembered a trick I did on my old phone when it had the same issue. Amazingly, it solved the No SIM card error immediately. Here is what I did:

no-sim-card-error-fix

I applied a layer of transparent tape (or two, depends on its thickness) on top of the SIM card, then I cut the tape so that it fits the card. Insert to the HTC One and the SIM card is detected now.

It is that simple. The problem is caused by the loose connection between the SIM card and its contacts on HTC One.

This is really a significant build issue and I am very disappointed with the HTC’s flagship phone. HTC’s phones always have problems in quality control and I saw a lot of complaints about this error.

Hopefully, you guys will find this post useful. Let me know if you have the same problem on your HTC One.

Comments

  1. Wow!!! How could a big manufacturer like HTC can launch such device with this kind of defect. Surely it will cost them a lot of customers

    Reply

    • thus wonderful, thank you it worked i had a similar problem. you are a star better htc give you a job. thank you again

      Reply

      • I have similar problem I applied transparent tape of single than two layers but same result no sim while morning it was working.
        anyone there to help me
        thanks

        Reply

  2. I’m on sprint and this has happened to me. Sometimes with only a notification and other times with no Internet

    Reply

    • Mine isn’t reading at all, with tape, no tape, nothing. I called HTC and they have me a SIM card replacement tray. Just the part that goes into the phone itself. They said that should fix it, if not, they said contact them back and they will order for a repair on the phone. We will see in about a week when the tray gets here.

      Reply

      • Every single customer service rep I spoke with… His name started with a “J”. John, Jeremy, Jay, James, etc. Do you remember what your cust svc reps name was? I called more than 6 times and found this rather odd. It’s nothing but felt patronized on one occasion when all the time the cust svc rep must have known the bug issue and tried to portray me as the one with the problem of the sim not being recognized. I have been generally annoyed at the waste of time with the phone issue. BTW.. the replacement device works fine

        Reply

  5. I have also have the same problem. I also tried to put layers of tape but it doesn’t read the sim card. Please help me. Give me a solution.

    Reply

  11. Thank you, Thank you, it worked I am over the moon.I have spent hours messing about with this phone. HTC have let themselves down on overlooking such a minor fault Its such a shame.

    Reply

  12. I’ve had the same problem. First occurred a couple of weeks after getting the phone. After several times of happening I contacted HTC who suggested doing a factory reset or getting a replacement Sim card. I got Virgin to send a new card after a reset failed to work. New card seem to sort for a while and then it started to happen again. Taking the card in and out always seemed to solve the problem for a short while and I was coming to the conclusion it had to be something to do with the contacts. I’ve just gone 3 weeks without any problems and then today it happened again. In desperation I did a web search and found this info.page which confirmed my suspicions. I will try this tape trick starting with one layer at a time. Thanks for the info and it’s very poor bit of design on what is a £500 mobile.

    Reply

    • HTC always has problem with build quality. I was also so disappointed. I thought it was my error and bough a new SIM card but it still didn’t work. Let me know if the trick works for you.
      Good luck.

      Reply

      • I also purchased another sim as well as shipping costs to send the device to HTC. They sent it back saying all was good.. and guess what? Yes, right, the phone would not recognize the sim. I finally returned the phone to Amazon. Thank goodness for Amazon. Since I had not read this blog and did not know about the bug, I had Amazon re-send me a replacement. The replacement worked fine on the first try with the same sim I had tried in the defective phone. I wonder if there is a quality control issue and that not all phones are built to consistent standards.

        Reply

  14. tried this on my new HTC One and it worked first time. I needed two layers of sticky tape, thanks for the tip

    Reply

  17. You’re a genius!! Thank you thank you thank you!! This SIM card issue rendered me unable to make an urgent call..I had to seek out a neighbor to borrow a phone…otherwise the phone is ok

    Reply

  19. I dropped my HTC one and now it says there is no SIM. I tried inserting another Wilbur same thing, no SIM insrted. is it because I dropped it ? :/ so frustrating !

    Reply

    • Yea i dropped my phone today and now it says no sim card. Now dont get me wrong ive dropped my phone only a few times since i got it and now its not working. Could it be that i dropped it or is that my phone is picking up a common mistake?

      Reply

      • Today my htc phone got driven over by a car, it was just towed in a robust leather bag, but somehow sim card stopped working after that. I can use phone, but have no network, simcard seems not to be detected.

        Is it possible that the sim card is more fragile than the phone?

        Reply

  22. Thank you! I started having the problem with my One-X in the last week.
    I just used to re-insert the card, reboot and it would be fine for a few hours or so
    then fail again. I googled the problem and found this page, tried
    your advice, one layer of sellotape and no errors in the last 3 days so far!
    This sort of thing should not be happening on a phone of this quality and price..

    Reply

  23. I encountered this problem for thé first time after having used this phone for several months. I tried the tape trick using one layer only with no success. However after using four layers it now works! Thank you! I shudder to think what would have happened if this had occurred during an emergency and I didn’t have scotch tape on hand.

    Reply

    • You can find the SIM card tray on the left side where there is a small hole. Just use the SIM ejection tool or a paperclip to push into the hole and the tray will be ejected.

      Reply

  28. I have HTC First and same problem “NO SIM CARD” I applied two layers of transparent tape and insert sim card … its work dude .. thanks to sharing ur idea.

    HTC Team,
    You should work on it..

    Reply

  29. Will try on my phone today. Looks like helped a lot of folks on here.
    A question for Saad.. why did you buy HTC first. ? It’s a cruel joke of a device !

    Reply

  30. All along I thought I had done something wrong! Perhaps inserted the sim wrong or thought the problem was due to my using the Straightalk sim. Thank you for pointing out this issue. I had to return the original HTC to Amazon as I just could not get the phone to read the sim. Just received the replacement HTC today and am wondering whether to even keep it knowing that a major flaw such as this exists

    Reply

  31. Thank you. I tried it for looooong time. Went to service providers. Therefore i used your trick. Thank you very much.

    Reply

  33. Mine M8 is 2 hours old and now also shows “no sim card” error. I tried up to 4 layers of tape and still no go. At least I had 2 hours of use with this piece of shit.

    Reply

  35. Can anyone help me?

    I get two Alerts on my brand new htc one: Alert : Network Error or YouTube has stopped
    They Reset the phone twice and finally gave me a new phone yesterday. Same problem

    Reply

  37. Hi just a handy tip from someone who’s really grateful for your tip all those saying it still doesn’t work after 3 layers or so of sticky tape just put about 2 layers flip the SIM over and see if the 3 connector marks that get scratched on the chip are all the same length if not that’s where the problem is keep adding layers of tape on that position until your phone reads the SIM looking at the gold chip my connector issue was on the left hand side after applying 3 layers of tape just to that area after I had applied 2 layers of tape already over the whole SIM worked perfectly didn’t even switch the phone off in the process also if you add 5-6 layers over the whole SIM the tray won’t fit into the phone just add where it’s needed. Hope this gets put somewhere ppl can see and tyvm for helping me. :)

    Reply

  38. Phone was a mess when I got it. Never buy from Radio Shack. They told me three ridiculous reasons the phone wouldn’t read the SIM card includimg that my screen cover was interferring with reception. I went online and read about the defective SIM trays, ordered one myself and temporarily fixed the phone. One years worth of good performance. I am now getting the “no read” message again. I just put tape on the card and if it works, you will be my hero too.

    Reply

  43. Tried 4 layers on the top half, 4 more layers over the whole sim, still nothing. Scratch marks look even as well

    Reply

    • HTC Butterfly S. Had it for a year with only one problem: overheating.
      A month ago I lost sound in phone calls, and now it doesn’t even see the sim card. Sigh.

      Reply

    • youre not supposed to put tape on the bottom half where the gold layer is or the phone wont read it

      Reply

  44. This is also a big problem with the Samsung Galaxy S4. This method doesn’t work and my phone is on its 3rd motherboard after as many warranty repairs.

    Reply

  47. You ROCK! This has been an ongoing (and extremely irritating) issue for me ever since I bought this phone. You just fixed the issue! Thank you so much!

    Reply

  48. I had my suspicion it was the sim card. But I wasn’t sure if it had gone bad or what not.
    I’ve tried bending the SIM tray just alittle to reseat the card with no results.
    Little did I know that all I needed was tape!
    Thanks, problem solved.

    Reply

  49. I actually had to do the same sex on one of my debit cards because it wasn’t reading in the scanners. Works just fine now.

    Reply

  55. I’m having this problem, although the Verizon guy says he gets a “no SIM card detected” when he puts it in another phone. I’d like to try this before I ditch my HTC One.
    How do you open the phone yourself?

    Reply

  58. I had this problem after i droped my HTC one X.
    I have this phone since 2 years and I do not
    remember this problem occured to me before.
    Anyway, the tape workaround worked pretty good.

    Thanks for sharing.

    -hakim.

    Reply

  59. I tried your trick but it didn’t work for me… My phone had been showing me the no simcard error twice and all I used to do was remove it and insert it again then it works but this time round it dropped from the chair to the carpet and when I removed it from the slot and reinserted it, it couldn’t work again like it used to … So I googled the probproblem and I have tried out your trick but it has failed ….I used 3 layers at first and it refused then I reduced to 2 and still it won’t work ….I can’t make calls or any apps….I can only use Google and YouTube …. Now I hate my HTC M8 so much …😖😖😖😖😖😭😭😭😭😠😠😠

    Reply

  60. Thank you for the trick. I used a tiny piece of duct tape though , not sure if the tray would ever open again lol but the SIM works!. HTC customer support should be aware of their manufacturing defects and stop acting like it is the customer’s fault.

    Reply

  61. Thank u for the information. I am a htc one E8 user from India and I was struggling with this problem for a while. I had used Sim from different operator like BSNL, Airtel, TATA DOCOMO anfd everything was working fine. But when i was using vodafone the network coverage was droping every 5 min. I was looking for a solution and finally this one helped me. I used 3 layers of tape and from yesterday night to till now, network issue is solved.

    Reply

  62. i just bought new HTC butterfly and have this issue after few days and i complaint to the service center and they replace sim card jacket and by changing that issue resolved for few days and it happen again and i use that trick and it really works and i just found that no signal issue and connectivity problem there…………….thank to you man you just saved my $………….

    Reply

  64. Wow… It’s work ! Thanks in advance.

    My history…
    My m8 is sprint which can run in gsm and cdma. At the first i use gsm for a long time, till today i wanna test a cdma operator sim. It’s not luck. The card not detected. Then I replace to my gsm sim again. What ! No SIM now… I see this thread, the i watch the cdma sim more detail… and yes… this card is more thicker than my gsm card. I think this the problem. cause of the cdma sim thickness, the it overpress the pin inside the device, then after i replace the gsm sim, that pin won’t back to the first position. It makes the pin won’t touch the thinnest sim card. Well… this is the big problem for the HTC.

    Best Regards,
    Andry Lim
    From Jakarta (Indonesia)

    Reply

  65. the thing is that it stucks in there it was stuck the moment i have put it in and it didn’t want to come out only if i used force thanks for the advice though

    Reply

  66. I would like to say I have an M8,it kept saying no sum card I only had the phone for 4 days so I bought a new sum card same problem I tried up to 4 layers of tape didn’t help then I looked at the 3 prongs at the end right by the battery I took a small sharp knife and one at a time I lifted each prong up just a little it worked now I have my phone again.

    Reply

    • But if you put 4 layers how do you manage to inseart the sim into the tray ! and how do get it out out, I tried to put 2 layers and it was very difficult to eject it !

      Reply

  67. I have an HTC One M7 device which was working like a charm until… I don’t know I dropped it or it was an update that missed up everything.. My phone blocks then restarts and doesn’t detect the sim card with a “System Error Report” that they suggest me to send it to HTC, but that does’nt fix the problem… My phone detects the SIM randomly for 1 hour and sometimes for a week then I get the problem again.. even this trick didn’t work, and I don’t know actually of it is a soft or hardware problem.. weird. HTC customer suppport suggested the factory reset, but problem isn’t solved!
    Is anyone else experiencing the same issue, or can help me?

    Reply

  68. Thank you so much. Had the issue with my brand new HTC One A9. Tried your tip and it’s fixed. That was one heck of a scare

    Reply

  69. I have this problem as well where it won’t detect the network (shows an X over the signal bars) tried other sims and resets and the tape on the back of the sim card still no joy, phone been back to HTC twice now the first time they said they could not fault it they won’t replace as they say they have to replace two components they really are a joke and the support line is like a sketch from little Britain (computer say no!!)

    Reply

  70. I had this peoblem too, and it is almos 3 months from now. I bougth brand new phone to get communicate with people i got in my contacts, cause i tot my phone was already infected with virus. Ive done everything. Restarting, remove and insert the sim, and the worst,, formating my fone and still no work at all. So i am hopping this this itll work

    Reply

  71. I’m so frustrated with this HTC One M8 and the notorious “No SIM card detected” problem. Thanks for your tip. I placed 4 layers of tape on the SIM card, no luck. And then I figured since the problem started after the phone was dropped 2 days ago, maybe if I intentionally dropped it hard, it might just work. And yes, I slammed the phone twice on a carpeted floor, bingo, sim card is now detected and all is well.
    HTC need to recall their phones and fix this problem permanently. Slamming a phone on the floor occasionally to fix a problem is too damn primitive!!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply

  74. It seems that this is a manufacture issue, then why HTC is not doing any thing about it, I have the same thing with my HTC one Max !

    Reply

  75. Mine is still not working with your idea. It worked for the first week and I am right back in the same problem again. NO SIM CARD. Please if you have other way to help me I will be glad to welcome it. Thank you

    Reply

  77. IF nothing else works, try this: place two thumbs under the area where the sim card is located, and four fingers on the screen of your phone, then press. As crazy as it sounds, keeping your phone in your back pocket and sitting on it can warp the metal casing just enough to allow the card to lose contact with the circuit board. I had the same problem — this morning I got the No Sim Card notification and I tried cleaning the contacts, adding tape, toggling Airplane Mode on and off, and a reset. Nothing worked. Then I tried the fingers and thumb approach and voila — it worked! Credit belongs to someone who posted this approach on another board.

    Reply

    • Mannnnnnnnnnn. You saved my daysss . i have tried many things . type anythng . so thanks man . your trick worked for me :D

      Reply

    • Thank you Jerome! This seems to have worked for me with my HTC One M8, after trying and failing with the sellotape trick

      Reply

  78. thx for the wonderful piece of advice!
    apparently all those who are claiming it doesn’t work need to add another few extra layers of tape and voila! IT does the trick

    Reply

  83. PROBLEM FIXED , YOU GUYS SHOUD TRY IT!!!!\\

    Thanks tunfeld!!!! Squeezed, bent phone and sim card error is gone! Squeezed phone back into shape!!!! Amazing!!!! Once again thanx!!!

    Reply

  84. I have to say am really grateful to the person who took the time to eloquently explain the step by step procedure to fixing the HTC one sim reader problem. You have saved me money stress and many more unwanted troubles by sharing ur much needed knowledge.
    Thank you very much

    Reply

  85. The trick is
    Make 5 to 6 years of transparent cello tape
    and cut the edges of cello tape as per SIM Card
    and insert back SIM card back with the tray in HTC One M8

    Then restart your phone
    if it doesn’t work then slightly press the phone area where SIM card is located from top of the screen until the SIM card is detected

    Reply

  86. Omg it work for me i have htc one a9 after 2month it happen to me so i find this page and do it that you say so my problem fix thanks alot 😊😊😊

    Reply

  87. Hi everyone ,

    I have mine HTC One ME for a year , yesterday both sim slots cant detect SIM and no signal . After consult to HTC service , reset my phone and its works now .

    Reply

  88. I m a HTC desire user in India. My mobile had similar complaints . I used a paper and fixed it in the sim card Tray . Thereafter my mobile started detecting sim card . Thank you for the trick . You are a rockstar

    Reply

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