I had the same problem. While I was abroad for three months I used mine as an alarm clock, mp3 player, surf the net and make Skype calls via free WiFi. (N900 is a brilliant traveling companion!) All that time my SIM card was safely tucked in my wallet.

Right after I returned to Helsinki I reinserted my SIM card and got that same error message. I even bought a prepaid SIM card but it made no difference. After getting back home, doing a "hard reset" and still not being able to make or receive calls, I finally gave up and sent my phone to be fixed.

Today -after three long weeks- I finally got a new replacement. I don't know what was wrong with the old phone, but obviously it was easier for Nokia to give a new one than to fix it.

She's now feeding (ie. battery is being charged) and soon I can start to install applications and stuff. I just hope that the latest PR is already in there. Three weeks with a really dumb phone was really hard after being used to n900! *shivers*

My first N900 is now in for warranty repair for this issue. The dmesg log was full of problems with the modem going away or resetting itself. It could be desoldered simcard slot, but I think the crossed out sim icon is just a generic symbol for communication issues with the modem.

Bought a second N900 because last time I gave it to Nokia for warranty repair it took 2 weeks and I was stuck using a symbian phone. It was a very traumatizing experience, and on top of it all they didn't really fix the problem with my n900. It eventually degraded so badly that now I'm hoping even the repair people will notice it..

mine was sent to nokia today.

....about the sugestions to use the n900 as mp3 player and alarm clock, sadly my n95 is far superior in whole those features.

I got to say i lost complete faith on nokia at the moment, if only android OS would give the n900 some live, that is the only way i see the n900 revive

...but even if android was fully working, that is never gone gives us a digital compass which would be needed for the n900 to be a true mobile device


...about the warranty, nokia offers 2 years warranty, you guys/girls should be able to still send it back to nokia, you can process the request via their web site, i think UPS will then collect it from you(or nokia care point/shop), you will then need the IMEI as the serial number to check the warranty. I did it via the shop instead, but they gone onto the web site to book it in as a normal customer would.

I must say i like the n900 a lot, after all this time it's on the market and still there is no other phone i'd rather have but the n900 has big problems like the one this topic is talking about...i had the same problem so i took the phone in for warranty, they shipped it to nokia and after the 3 weeks waiting they brought me a new nokia n900 witch was working but had other two problems that my n900 didn't have( 3 dead pixels and the keyboard wasan't alligned when closed) i was very dissapointed, the girl from nokia care said she can send it back but it will be another 3 weeks...so i just kept it as it was, after 2 days the other problem appeared...2 bright lights on the screen....a problem i had with the other one too...but i said what the hell it's a great phone so i'll enjoy it as it is, and now after about 3 months the old problem represented itself on the new phone too(all telephony functions disabled due to communication error) so guess i just have to ship it back but i'm a little mad,i have to wait another 3 weeks then they give me another phone that is going to have flaws and in 3-4 months is going to break...i mean this isn't right...i payed 600 euros, for this price it should be a perfect phone, and when the warranty runs out? another 600 euros? i hate to say it but if they don't solve this nokia is just stealing the money....

My N900 has several times ask for pin code today and it has been necessary to reboot a couple of time due to the communication error causing telephony functions being disabled. I have after the recent reboot tried to search manually for network providers and choosing my providers network (TDC mobil) with have led to crash of the Settings application twice. Setting choice of network provider to automatic and then back on manual seems to make things work for the moment.

AFAICT, there are 2 issues that give those errors:

a) software issue. Reflash your device. It worked the first time. For me, it was Alarmed that gave the error, though it shouldn't and I had it installed before. However, reflash, install, all is good. Install Alarmed, it's broken and removing Alarmed didn't fix it. I tried installing each dependency and rebooting, nothing. Once the Alalrmed package was installed, the next reboot nuked GSM. No clue why. Maybe it has a bug where it nukes the alarm queue or the real time alarm. Don't know.

b) hardware issue. Had that too. Some people have a moving battery, other have a moving SIM. For me, it's a spot where, if squeezed, it resets/powers down the GSM modem. It's in the upper right corner of the battery. Squeezing the device there gets me the communication error.

Once reset, the OS tried 10 times to reconnect to the modem. If it can't, it gives me the error. I have since moved the device from back pocket to front and no issues. So long as nobody presses it, it's good.

If you want to debug further, syslogd offers nice assistance.

Hello,
Yesterday I got the same error as everyone in this thread:
"All telephony functions, including emergency calls, are disabled due to a communication error. To recover, you might have to reboot the device".
The strange thing that originally it was like appearing and disappearing, like I saw red line crossed SIM and then it disappeared and coverage bars appeared. Then again crossed SIM and then again coverage. Of course, I though it is SIM issue, but placing in my old E65 it worked fine.

In another discussion about the issue and there was question about IMEI - if you see the IMEI. And for my surprise - IMEI is gone. Using *#06# or just looking at settings there is no IMEI.

Phone is already out of warranty so I want to understand if there is some solution to fix or now it is only expensive WiFi device (as Wifi still works good).

Thank you.

Nokia returned my N900 7 days later with note saying
Product: N900
Status:Repaired
Your product has been repaired in our repair centre and has been shipped back to you.

But soon as i inserted the sim card and powered up handet the same message appeared telephony functions are disabled due to a communication error!

Great Repair That Was Nokia!

It started like this for me too, and got progressively worse.


Also first time I sent device to Nokia it came back "repaired" but acted just the same as before. Still waiting for it to come back from second trip to Nokia.

Perhaps your SIM card is too thin (or otherwise small in one or more dimensions), or the pads got dents in them, or the metal prongs on the N900 that interface with the card are bent away from the right position?