iPhone 2G repaired sim card pin

Image by safoocat
While there are lots of reasons for the sim card not installed or no sim errors on the iPhone none of the solutions I found on line dealt with a broken pin on the motherboard where the sim card seats.

I first suspected a broken pin when the sim card got stuck on removal.

There are a couple of videos on youtube on disassembly which should be watched first. This is a difficult project but not impossible. I first verified that it was a hardware problem by booting the phone back to the original state it came in to verify that it wasn’t something I did during the jailbreak and unlock I had just accomplished.

The phone still had the no sim card error after a restore so that convinced me it was a hardware problem. So I watched the videos, assembled my tools and set to it. Removing the back case is difficult and will ruin a good case tool so I used a rectangular razor blade between the silver and the black to loosen the black piece and push it off the bottom. Prying the silver section off cut the end off the case tool and I used whatever to help lift it off. It did suffer some warping and now isn’t a perfect fit but I’m going to work on that later.

The tools I required were a case opener, though the iPhone broke mine, it was still useful however a razor blade or knife can also be used. I used a scalpel, a very small Philips screwdriver, some glue, something to keep the parts in; I used a small ice cube tray, a magnifying glass, soldering iron, flux, solder and for the missing pin a piece of 22 gauge wire flattened with a hammer.

Once you get the back case off proceed with removing the motherboard as in the videos as the sim card pins are on the bottom. I nicked the broken pin enough to take solder, soldered the flattened 22 gauge wire onto it and put the phone back together. It works fine. The most troublesome part was gluing the antenna jacks back on. I used contact cement over the tops of the jacks long enough for it to set and that seemed to work. Be careful removing the antennas as they are glued in place. Also the large ribbon connector has a snap holding it in place. Good luck. You’ll need it.
Instructions for take apart: www.portatronics.com/guide/iPhone-Repair-Guide/