Iphone 4S AT&T "Searching..." but I can trick to work fully for 1 day... Please help - GSM-Forum

itjstagame · 08-19-2013, 13:33

Ok, so I posted before wondering what else to look at as my signal areas on the logic board looked good, but it 'felt' like a hardware issue.

This is an AT&T 4S, that went through a clothes washer and had a reboot/power issue, but was easily fixed. I put a StraightTalk sim in and it worked for about 1 week and then suddenly went to "Searching..." with maybe twice a day flashing "No Service" quick, but for the most part always "Searching...". This was a few months ago and I tried updating firmware at the time (its on 6.0.1 now I think) and nothing worked and hardware 'looked' good, but I just assumed it was broken. So I shelved it.

Ok, so last week I got a GPP sim hoping it would work better with my other phone than my Gevey did, and on a whim I put it in to the 4S and it worked! ... For 2 days...
So, I booted the AT&T 4S, it still said 'Searching...' like before, I put in the GPP, chose 'US AT&T', reboot and put in straight talk and instantly had 3 bars and could text/call. After 2 days it suddenly went 'Searching...' again. Obviously not a hardware fault or why did GPP bring it back?

I removed the sim and it said 'No Sim', rebooted and the strangest thing.
Rebooting with no sim it comes up and is still saying 'Searching...'. In Settings it says 'No Sim', but the top of the phone says Searching, any thoughts?
Even weirder, I put in the Straight Talk sim directly, with no GPP and it came back with 3 bars again and worked! But this time only for 6 hours...

The next time rebooting and playing with the sim didn't work, I took out the logic board and scrubbed the sim connectors with alcohol and verified all the connectors looked good (and they did) and the sim seems to be making good contact and does not allow any movement. I put it back together and it worked! For 2 hours...

Now I cannot get it to revive again, and all I could think was some kind of sim connection issue, maybe the thickness of the gpp helped, but I still don't understand why with no sim it would still say searching, can it only, truly have a signal with a valid SIM ?
Does anyone have any thoughts on what to look for? The intermittency of this problem is frustrating because the hardware can 'act' good for a while. I'm hesitant to try a new IOS because I know going 5.0.1 to 6.0.1 did nothing and it started at random after months at 5.0.1.

Thank you so much.

itjstagame · 08-19-2013, 16:10

I cannot find a way to edit my title, but I did an IMEI lookup and noticed that my phone says it has a contract. Could this possibly affect me? Maybe not listed as 'stolen' or anything (as its my sister's phone and it was never reported like that), but maybe since StraightTalk uses the AT&T network they can block it because it is locked to AT&T?

Model iPhone 4S
Activated Yes
Telephone Technical Support Expired
Repairs and Service Coverage Expired
iOS version: 6.0.1
Purchase Date 24.11.2011
Contract Until 24.11.2013
Carrier AT&T(United States)
SIM lock Locked

Thoughts? Does anyone think paying for an 'unlock' (which I don't technically need for StraightTalk on AT&T phone) could cure this issue?

Doryan14 · 08-19-2013, 16:22

I was just about to suggest that! There are services low as $ US 6.00 for AT&t. I would try that first.

***~Leo~*** · 08-20-2013, 05:24

Not free to unlock your phone read the rules please to timeout where to post
Closed

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

08-19-2013, 13:33	#1 (permalink)
itjstagame Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Posts: 13 Member: 1837778 Status: Offline Thanks Meter: 1	Iphone 4S AT&T "Searching..." but I can trick to work fully for 1 day... Please help Ok, so I posted before wondering what else to look at as my signal areas on the logic board looked good, but it 'felt' like a hardware issue. This is an AT&T 4S, that went through a clothes washer and had a reboot/power issue, but was easily fixed. I put a StraightTalk sim in and it worked for about 1 week and then suddenly went to "Searching..." with maybe twice a day flashing "No Service" quick, but for the most part always "Searching...". This was a few months ago and I tried updating firmware at the time (its on 6.0.1 now I think) and nothing worked and hardware 'looked' good, but I just assumed it was broken. So I shelved it. Ok, so last week I got a GPP sim hoping it would work better with my other phone than my Gevey did, and on a whim I put it in to the 4S and it worked! ... For 2 days... So, I booted the AT&T 4S, it still said 'Searching...' like before, I put in the GPP, chose 'US AT&T', reboot and put in straight talk and instantly had 3 bars and could text/call. After 2 days it suddenly went 'Searching...' again. Obviously not a hardware fault or why did GPP bring it back? I removed the sim and it said 'No Sim', rebooted and the strangest thing. Rebooting with no sim it comes up and is still saying 'Searching...'. In Settings it says 'No Sim', but the top of the phone says Searching, any thoughts? Even weirder, I put in the Straight Talk sim directly, with no GPP and it came back with 3 bars again and worked! But this time only for 6 hours... The next time rebooting and playing with the sim didn't work, I took out the logic board and scrubbed the sim connectors with alcohol and verified all the connectors looked good (and they did) and the sim seems to be making good contact and does not allow any movement. I put it back together and it worked! For 2 hours... Now I cannot get it to revive again, and all I could think was some kind of sim connection issue, maybe the thickness of the gpp helped, but I still don't understand why with no sim it would still say searching, can it only, truly have a signal with a valid SIM ? Does anyone have any thoughts on what to look for? The intermittency of this problem is frustrating because the hardware can 'act' good for a while. I'm hesitant to try a new IOS because I know going 5.0.1 to 6.0.1 did nothing and it started at random after months at 5.0.1. Thank you so much.

08-19-2013, 16:10	#2 (permalink)
itjstagame Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Posts: 13 Member: 1837778 Status: Offline Thanks Meter: 1	Contract? I cannot find a way to edit my title, but I did an IMEI lookup and noticed that my phone says it has a contract. Could this possibly affect me? Maybe not listed as 'stolen' or anything (as its my sister's phone and it was never reported like that), but maybe since StraightTalk uses the AT&T network they can block it because it is locked to AT&T? Model iPhone 4S Activated Yes Telephone Technical Support Expired Repairs and Service Coverage Expired iOS version: 6.0.1 Purchase Date 24.11.2011 Contract Until 24.11.2013 Carrier AT&T(United States) SIM lock Locked Thoughts? Does anyone think paying for an 'unlock' (which I don't technically need for StraightTalk on AT&T phone) could cure this issue?

08-20-2013, 05:24	#4 (permalink)
*~Leo~* Super Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: [Egypt, Alex] Posts: 5,052 Member: 224065 Status: Offline Sonork: 100.1577902 Thanks Meter: 7,930	Not free to unlock your phone read the rules please to timeout where to post Closed Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 __________________ USE "THANKS" Button. Follow Forum Rules OFFLINE and Away

08-19-2013, 16:22	#3 (permalink)
Doryan14 Freak Poster Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Honduras Posts: 207 Member: 1845864 Status: Offline Thanks Meter: 33	I was just about to suggest that! There are services low as $ US 6.00 for AT&t. I would try that first.