When your phone shows a SIM card not inserted error, it’s either telling you that the SIM card doesn’t have secure contact with the slot or something in the phone system is preventing the SIM card system from working as intended. As a result, the phone fails to read and recognize the SIM card. SIM card not inserted error is among the most prevalent errors encountered by owners of different Android devices including those with a Sony Xperia XZ3 smartphone.
Before opting for a new SIM card replacement or taking a trip to a Sony-authorized service center, you may try any of these given procedures as they’re all possible solutions to SIM-related issues on the phone. That said, read further and find out what to do if your Xperia XZ3 smartphone failed to detect your SIM card and keeps showing a SIM card not inserted error.
Before we move on to our troubleshooting, if you are looking for a solution to a different issue, make sure you drop by our troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed some of the most common problems reported by our readers. Find issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If you still need our help after that, then feel free to contact us by filling up our Android issues questionnaire.
First solution: Remove and reinstall your SIM card.
As mentioned earlier, you’re probably getting a SIM card not inserted error simply because the SIM card is loose or doesn’t have stable contact with the SIM card tray circuit. To make sure this isn’t what’s causing you this trouble, remove the SIM card from your phone and then reinstall it properly. Here’s how it’s done:
- Turn off your phone completely.
- With your phone powered off, insert the SIM tray ejector or small paperclip into the provided hole on the tray until it pops out.
- Gently remove the tray from the phone and then remove the SIM card from the tray.
- Check the SIM card for any visible signs of damage and if it shows none, place it back into the SIM tray in the same position before you removed it. The gold contacts must be facing down the card tray.
- Secure the SIM card and then push the tray back into the phone. Make sure that the tray is locked in place.
When the tray is locked and secured in place, turn on your phone and see if the error is gone already. If it shows up again, then you should continue to troubleshoot and try the next applicable solutions.
Second solution: Soft reset, force shut down or force restart your phone.
A simple reboot on the phone can do a lot of good things. It effectively clears minor software errors and app glitches including those that may have triggered SIM card errors to occur. Here’s how a soft reset or reboot is done on the Xperia XZ3 smartphone:
- Press and hold the Power key for a few seconds until the menu opens.
- Tap Restart from the given options.
- Then wait for your phone to reboot.
You can also force the phone to restart or shut down.
- To force restart, press and hold the Power key and the Volume Up key simultaneously for about 6 seconds or when your phone vibrates. The device will then restart.
- To force your phone to shut down, press and hold both the Power and Volume Up keys until the phone vibrates three times and then powers off.
Wait until your phone boots up completely and then try to see if that fixes the SIM card error on your device.
Third solution: Update phone software to the latest version, if available.
New system updates usually offer fix patches to clear random bugs and malicious software that might have caused the phone’s SIM card reading system to fail and show errors instead. This is one of the reasons why it’s highly recommended to keep your smartphones updated.
- To check the current software version of your phone, go to Settings-> System-> About phone-> Build number.
You should see a refresh icon in the status bar if a software update is available. System updates can be downloaded and installed from the notification panel of your phone. If you’re device has multiple users, make sure that you’re logged in as the administrator/owner first. Then follow these steps:
- Open the Notification panel by dragging the status bar downwards.
- Scroll down and tap to select the desired system update.
- Tap Download to start downloading the update.
- Wait until the update is completely downloaded and then tap Install to start installing the system update on your phone.
- Follow the rest of the onscreen instructions to complete the system update installation.
Your phone must have at least 1GB of free storage to allocate new system update. Otherwise, you won’t receive any notification about new software versions. Usually, you will get to see relevant errors like storage space is running out, some system functions may not work, and then like. If you see these message prompts, you need to free up some space of your phones internal memory so you’ll get notified about new system update available for your device.
Fourth solution: Clear all connection data on your phone.
Clearing all connection data from the phone can help clear network-related errors as well as SIM card errors on the phone. To clear all connection data on your Xperia XZ3 smartphone, all you have to do is to reset network settings with these steps:
- Tap to open the Settings app.
- Select Network & Internet.
- Tap the Menu icon (three vertical dots) to view more options.
- Select Network settings reset.
- Then tap RESET SETTINGS to confirm.
Reboot your phone as soon as the network settings reset is finished. Doing so will ensure that all new changes are applied. After the restart, the default network settings are loaded. To use network features and Internet services, enable Wi-Fi or cellular data network on your device.
Fifth solution: Perform a factory data reset on your phone.
This would be the last possible solution you can try on to deal with SIM card errors that are inflicted by complex bugs or system data corruption on the phone. You may lose personal data in the process, so make sure you create backups for safekeeping.
Back up all your important files saved on the internal memory of your phone. You can move critical data to a memory card or other external storage devices beforehand. After creating backups, follow these steps to perform a factory data reset on your Xperia XZ3 smartphone:
- Tap to open the Settings app.
- Tap System.
- Select Reset.
- Tap Factory data reset.
- Then tap Reset Phone to confirm.
- If prompted, draw your screen pattern or enter your PIN or screen unlock password to continue.
- Tap Erase everything to confirm and instigate a factory data reset.
To avoid corruption of system data, do not interrupt the factory data reset process. Software-related errors are usually dealt with by a master reset as depicted by the above procedures. That said, the SIM card error should already be gone by then. Otherwise, consider other options.
Other options
If none of that is able to fix the problem and your Xperia XZ3 smartphone is still unable to detect the SIM card and consistently shows a SIM card not inserted error, try to repair the device software using Xperia Companion. To get this done, you will need to use a computer that has the latest version of Xperia Companion software installed. Then plug in your phone to your computer’s USB port using the supplied cable. When it’s connected, open the Xperia Companion software on your computer and click the Software Repair button on the main screen. You will be prompted with a series of steps and instructions on the screen. All you have to do is follow the onscreen prompts to reinstall the software and complete the repair process.
For further troubleshooting assistance and recommendations, contact your device carrier or Sony Xperia Support team for help.
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