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HOW TO: fix invalid sim/network fail error for SIM slots

by Mark J on Sun Oct 26, 2008 12:07 pm

Hi,

I thought I would create a little howto for people like myself who are having problems with no matter
what sim card they put into a slot it always says either INVALID SIM, or looks like it works, but when
you try to make a call etc it comes up with Network Fail error.

I have tested this and it worked for myself, and also another member tested it on his phone and it
worked for him also.

Not sure if it's mainly just for us unfortunate souls in the UK that this problem hits or if its more
universal.

Right here we go.

NOTE: I take NO responsability if you kill your phone, I have tested this and it worked for me and
also dufff has tried it and it worked for him too. 
I did not write the software, I simply found it online so any problems with it not running under
Vista etc, I cannot help you with.

First type in *#06# on your phone to display your IMEI numbers.

To do this you simply dial that sequence on your phone like you dial any other phone number.
You will see 2 long numbers and a short number. Or in some cases you might only see 1 number.

If you only see 1 IMEI number, DO NOT panic quite yet, the IMEI tool has been known to fix this issue
and give you 2 IMEI numbers!

On my phone, they were like this:

IMEI: 35020******6940
IMEISV:78
IMEI: 00000******6000
As you can see the top and bottom ones were totally different.
The first number is fine as the 35XXXX is the British Approvals Board of Telecommunications (BABT)
number which is what the networks recognise as a valid IMEI number etc (there are others but all the
phones ive seen seem to start with this)

The second number is the cause of the grief! the 0000XXX dosnt seem to be a valid code and my
guessing is that the phone networks read the IMEI when you turn your phone on, and if its not a
recognized code, gives the 'invalid sim' error etc. There can be *many* invalid IMEI numbers, another
common one starts with the numbers "135" and is invalid too, so just because there is a number shown
for a SIM slot, do not assume the number is a valid IMEI, especially if that SIM slot has a number in it
but is still giving you Invalid SIM or other errors when it is used. Therefore, if you are having SIM errors
which can't be fixed other ways, then try using this IMEI tool to change the IMEI numbers on the non-
working SIM slot to see if it will correct the error, as it sure can't hurt anything at that point anyway!

But then how do we change the second number on our phones if we dont have one of these magic box
of tricks that you see mentioned???
Well, luckily after MUCH searching around for info, I found a bit of software that allows you to alter
BOTH IMEI numbers using the standard USB cable that came with the phone   

Ok, once you download the software (link below) there are some drivers in the file but if you already
use the phonesuite to sort your contacts/sms's etc, then you wont need to install the drivers.

Ok, now the steps:

NOTE: Remove all your simcards from your phone, as I found when I had them in it wouldnt update the
numbers, but when I removed them it flashed fine (not sure if that was just a coincidense or not but
worth removing your sims first)
1. Using the USB cable that came with the phone, attach the USB cable to the phone, and then attach
the cable to the computer. You should be presented with a popup box on the phone screen with several
choices, choose COM PORT. If your phone does not give the COM port option, but offers
a Pictbridge option instead, DO NOT panic yet, go read the FAQ "Known Issues" (here) section towards
the end, it tells you how you may be able to get the phone into a COM port mode!

2. If you plugged it in on the main wallpaper screen that has the 'slide to unlock' bar, then STOP from
continuing, now unlock the phone FIRST by sliding the bar so you will go to the Main menu
screen that has all the icons ... NOW you can continue to the next step.

3. If you don't know the COM port the phone is on, that can be found in the device manager section,
but I have found the auto scan feature of the software found mine no problems (you can also just click
the dropdown box on the com port in the software and there should be another Com port apart from
COM1 and COM2 (those 2 are usually always in there, so yours will most likely be another one ie: COM3
COM4 etc etc...., and it will usually be the last COM port in the list))

4. Run the IMEI tool.exe

5. When run, if you don't know your COM port (as in step 3) look in the dropdown list or simply try
clicking the Auto select com port.

6. When the program knows which port your phone is on, then click the Open button and the software
will download your IMEI numbers from your phone and display them in the boxes in section 2. (If you
ran the auto scan, it will automatically read the numbers from your phone so you do not have to click
the 'Open' button). If it connects and reads the numbers fine, then skip to step 7, otherwise read
below.
If at this point when you hit the Open button, you just receive a popup box with a connection error ...
then go back to step 1 and make sure you absolutely followed all the steps up to this point exactly as
shown!
Make sure that your phone is still connected as a COM port, because sometimes the connection is lost,
and the phone drops out of COM port mode all by itself and without warning, even though you never
disconnected the phone or the cable. If you want to check if your phone is staying connected as a COM
port after you manually select the COM port option after first connecting it to the computer, then try
this;
If your phone is plugged into the computer, unplug it. For a Windows system, Open up Device Manager
from either right clicking on the My Computer icon, selecting Properties, then select the Hardware tab,
the select Device Manager button, or by typing this into the run command, "devmgmt.msc", and hitting
enter. Device manager should now be onscreen. Scroll down the list & click on the "+" next to "Ports
(COM & LPT)". Note which COM ports are currently showing in the list there, then plug your phone into
the computer and select the "COM Port" option from the menu on the phone screen. Now look at the
COM ports in the list, there should be a new COM port showing, and it should be your phone. Wait a
minute or two and see if the new phone COM port remains in the list and stable. If it all of a sudden
disappears without you disconnecting the phone or USB cable, then you are having connection issues.
Make sure the phone is not on the wallpaper slide-unlock screen & is on the Main menu screen when
using COM port mode, as having the phone on the slide-unlock screen is a common cause of this type of
disconnect issue. Also check the cable & plug connection to the phone & computer to make sure they
are "tight". Try flipping the phone over on its other side, sometimes that helps steady the cable
connection if it is a cable connection issue. 

7. You will notice that above each of the edit boxes, there are numbers above the boxes, these are the
original IMEI numbers from your phone. The first 2 boxes (IMEI #1) combined should have the same
number in them as whats written above, the second IMEI number if it is an invalid, will be displayed
above the second pair of edit boxes BUT in the IMEI #2 boxes you should see basically a copy of your
first number but with a slight change to the serial part of the number. In the example below you will
also notice that in the second box of each IMEI numbers, the top box shows 80 and the bottom shows 90
for the first 2-digits of that box, & that "9" in the IMEI #2 second box is the auto generated number
change that the software created for the phone, it simply took the first number and modded the
number as shown. If you find that both IMEI #1 & #2 are showing *exactly* the same in the upper &
lower boxes, then just manually change the IMEI #2 *second box, first digit (this is a check digit) to be
1 higher then the IMEI #1 second box first digit. Looking at the example below you should be able to
figure this out easily enough, just click in the box & change it.
8. If all looks good and the numbers are like in step 7, then you can now click the 'Set new IMEI on
sciphone' button and it will flash the numbers back to the phone. NOTE: you may find that it can take a
few attempts for it to flash the phone, you may get an error box saying that it couldnt flash the codes,
but dont worry, try it again.
9. Once the software says it has flashed ok, I deviated from the instructions that come with the
software and reclicked the 'open' button in part 1 again to reread the codes to check if they had been
updated as previous attempts said it had flashed but on resetting the phone and checking the IMEI
numbers with *#06# they were still the original ones.

10. When the reread showed the new codes, i then powered down the phone and then unplugged the
USB cable and switched the phone back on and rechecked again the codes with *#06# and it showed
the new codes.

11. With the new codes showing, I inserted a sim into slot 2 that before showed 'invalid sim' and bingo!
it showed fine and tested with a call and an sms and both worked fine.

Download the IMEI Tool from the MASTER Games, Programs, Firmware Download List or from here IMEI
Tool Download