Friday, December 16, 2011

High Tech Fix For "Nokia N900: All telephony functions are disabled" issue

Last week, my Nokia N900 phone suddenly popped up with the message -

All telephony functions, including emergency calls, are disabled due to communication error. To recover, you might have to reboot the device

You will see something like a sim card icon on the top panel when this message appears.

Awesome, it seems I couldn't make or receive call after this message is shown, I rebooted my phone and it works again ... until this week, the phone is dead, I can't use it as a phone but small tablet. Maybe I should try google to see if there's any solution and here's what I have found -



Basically the solution is to claim the warranty and Nokia replaces a new one for you, what if you are out of warranty, just someone like me? Nokia has no answer for that, thank you Nokia ;)

I was thinking "Sim card icon and communication error", maybe it is sim card slot issue? I don't know, but here's what I try -

0. Switch off N900
1. Open up N900 case at the back(battery part)
2. Take out battery
3. Take out sim card from the slot, clean it
4. Put the sim card back to the slot
5. Tighten the slot
6. Take the toilet paper, yes I say toilet paper because it was on my desk when I was trying to fix this
7. Try to tear the toilet paper and make it thicker by layering them
8. Make the toilet paper slightly same size(square) as the sim card slot
9. Put the toilet paper on top of the sim card slot and push in a bit
10. Put back your battery and press it little hard, the toilet paper will be underneath
11. Close the case
12. Switch on your phone

The phone works automagically, don't ask me why, it's really high tech fix if you ever encounter this issue.

Have fun with N900 again, by the way no fun since not much apps for it(Thank you Nokia), BUT it works as PHONE again!

Cheers ;]

p/s: By the way let me know if this solves your problem, I would like to hear about it!

41 comments:

guly said...

i fixed at least half a dozen of cellphone this way, starting from old ericsonn "shark fin" to more recent smartphone. amazing to see that a piece of paper still fixes ultra modern piece of technology

Karl said...

After I started to have the same issue with my N900 last week I sent my phone to the local Nokia Care centre. First they told me they will fix it for around 30 US$ and I agreed. Next day they called and told me it will cost over 300 US$ which I declined and got the phone back flashed to an old Maemo version :-(
So I started to search and found your description here.
The paper trick first didn't work do I put a small piece of paper below the 6 contacts for the SIM card to push them up and now the phone works again without problem.

<~!@#> said...

LOL.. I just read this post. I got similar problem not with the Sim Contact Point but the battery!! If i shake my damn N900 the contact point will lose and the phone shutdown and when u turn it on again u need to setup the Time/Date($##$).

After reading your post i quickly padded up the backside of the battery with some cottons and stick up together with a double side tape...

Works like a charm!! Now i can use the N900 happily even after zombie apocalypse!!

Rohan Jahagirdar said...

Thanks! your solution worked. Was kinda worried about having to replace the phone et al, esp since mine is out of warranty!

Did it with a tissue paper. Worked like a charm.Thanks a lot :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot dude, it worked fine for my N900 too. I was about to throw it in trash after surfing so many trashy geeky solutions.

Preference said...

thanks.. it workd for me like a charm!

Anonymous said...

Hey this is a cool idea, this has fixed my roblem but my phone call gets disconnceted after 2 min automatically. Can any one suggest what is the problem. Do you face the same problem?

Anonymous said...

your stupid bro , dint workout

Unknown said...

Maaaan It's Really Working .... hey, u r the best .... I lOve U :)

Anonymous said...

Hey thanks my problem was solved but a new peoblem came. My phone looses the signal while talking and a icon of no sim card appears on signal bar and after 10-15 secs automatically signal comes back. Its very irritating when ur call gets disconnected when you are talking. Do u have any solution for this. Thanks in advance.

shafeekahammed said...

dear friend its done ,thanks ...but it for some hours only ,really thanks to u for the job done because no good technician in NOKIA .please apply for a job in NOKIA .u must selected because u r an intelligent man...

bbb said...

not worked..

bayar said...

not worked..

Mario Diaz [Colombia] said...

Hey men, sorry for my english, i've got to tell you, i don't know how u came up with this idea, but is working!!! amazing how a single piece of paper can revive this amazing phone/tool...thanks for this tip...

Anonymous said...

did tht really works...... yca

Anonymous said...

does that really works?>??

tarek said...

it worked :O thank you :)

Anonymous said...

it works :O thanks dude :)

Anonymous said...

i figured out, that you can bend the metal of the sim holder a little bit. that also works for me w/o tissue paper

Unknown said...

You are Boss!! I am from the czech republic and I had the same problem with sim card :D I tried what you wrote and Its simply amazing...It worked! Thanks a lot!

Unknown said...

Hello Guys,
I found one more so called 'FIX' for the Comm error...
Little risky yet easy to perform/

Here it goes...
When you remove SIM card from its slot, there are 6 pins which connected your Phone to the SIM card.
You need to take a forceps or blade & lift them 6 pins on the Phone.

< MAKE SURE YOU DONT OUT MUCH FORCE ORELSE YOU MIGHT BREAK THEM. >

It is an alternative for the tissue paper method :p

Unknown said...

Hello Guys,
I found one more so called 'FIX' for the Comm error...
Little risky yet easy to perform/

Here it goes...
When you remove SIM card from its slot, there are 6 pins which connected your Phone to the SIM card.
You need to take a forceps or blade & lift them 6 pins on the Phone.

< MAKE SURE YOU DONT OUT MUCH FORCE ORELSE YOU MIGHT BREAK THEM. >

It is an alternative for the tissue paper method :p

Regards,
Sanzz

Rodrigo said...


Hi, thanks for that. I'm from Brazil and I found your post on the internet and through this simple solution could solve this problem. I would not want to get rid of n900, because I love this phone. You helped a lot, thanks.

Rodrigo said...


Hi, thanks for that. I'm from Brazil and I found your post on the internet and through this simple solution could solve this problem. I would not want to get rid of n900, because I love this phone. You helped a lot, thanks.

Rodrigo said...


Hi, thanks for that. I'm from Brazil and I found your post on the internet and through this simple solution could solve this problem. I would not want to get rid of n900, because I love this phone. You helped a lot, thanks.

Anonymous said...

I just tried it on my N900,not it boots and shows d welcome page where u have to change d settings for d language,date,region,etc.But it gets stuck at dis point as nothing works again.When i touch d screen to select any of these,it doesn't even respond.Does anyone have any idea what can help?Please!

Unknown said...

same problems happen to my n900 phone after inserting piece of paper it works for few days. now it is working like a simple media player, no call and internet are working. I don't know wat to do...

Unknown said...

Thanks Lee, My N900 was sleeping for 1 year and just found the link today and tried. Wowwwwwww Its a miracle and worked... Thanks for the idea!!!!!

Unknown said...

it worked for me. thanks a lot man.

Santosh said...

I tried the paper idea, but my phone kept losing signal at times. i then just raised the 6 contact points a wee bit using my fingers, working all fine till now!! my Nokia "care center" said there's no solution, I'd have to throw it away.

ralf said...

Thank you so much, lifesaver! kudos!

C.S.Lee said...

hi guys, thanks for posting alternative solution, if it didn't work for you, don't shout at me since I'm not working for Nokia, if it works then that's great.

Radu said...

yes it worked for me as well and I want to say this is a common solution for Nokia devices

iRahul said...

thnx buddy..it worked

Anonymous said...

Dude you are nothing short of a genius...I'm serious.. it worked man.. thank you so much

chief said...

It works!!!! thanks for the post.

Anonymous said...

sorry dear bro,
it didnt work but thanks for your suggestion
regards
dev

Anonymous said...

for the future visitors,i have to tell you my way to fix that mess.Turn on your wifi and fire with x-terminal:
sudo gainroot
apt-get install --reinstall phonet-at ssc-daemon cmt-firmware-rx51
#restart the phone
#wait for the while
#the life is good with n900

Anonymous said...

this is awesome. Thanks a lot

Anonymous said...

Duuuude it realy works HAHA Thank you sooo much :*

jyz said...

The toilet paper worked for a while then it stopped. I have to change the battery cuz it's too bumpy now.
So I try the last method in the comment.
note: that's one comman line"apt-get install --reinstall phonet-at ssc-daemon cmt-firmware-rx51 " ;-)
and it worked for me. pretty amazing because I was already going on a quest to find another n900(or waiting for the neo900)
cheers