Asus Zenfone 5z is a great device with quiet great specifications and at the same time provides good experience in real life too.
But recently it has been plagued with a serious issue which is when the device restarts, for some reason signals are not available and phone will enter into “No service” state. The sim card wasn’t removed since a long time and suddenly this issue occurs. This means that no calls can be made neither can be received. This is very annoying at times when important calls are to be made. It isn’t even the user’s fault but most probably due to a software glitch, networks won’t show up or atleast that was our case.
Steps:-
By following this fix, you may or may not get this issue resolved but it did work for me. Also this issue mostly occurs after a system update be it a major Android update like Android 10 or a regular system patch update. The issue has to be with the software as no drops or damages to the device was done.
1) Enter into ‘Testing Menu‘
This mode is the backbone of the fix. Open your phone app/dialer and type in *#*#4636#*#* to access this menu. Something like this will show up:-
Next, tap on ‘Phone information’
2) Change the ‘preferred network type’ settings:
Scroll down and there you would find ‘preferred network type’ drop down menu. By default it would be set to the highest setting which includes CDMA, GSM & LTE which means all networks it will try to capture and mobile data will run on 4G or 3G which ever possible in a particular area depending on the coverage.
Tap that drop down menu
- From the drop down menu, select ‘WCDMA only’ and check if networks start appearing, it might appear and did for my case.
- If networks are restored then just try going up a generation a bit and select ‘GSM auto (PRL)’ and now you can go to your phone’s settings under networksand manually select 4G.
- If that didn’t help then go back to testing menu again and from the drop down select the default settings which was CDMA, GSM and LTE.
The trick is just to make the phone capture network signals gradually from 3G to 4G and therefore have to force the device for the same from the testing menu as mentioned above.
Alternate Method #1
If the above didn’t work, then here’s another method:
This method has to to with the sim tray of the phone. When there’s “No service” for the networks, remove the sim tray while the phone is ON and on the homescreen or lockscreen. After removing it would show the show of ‘no sim’ on the status bar and if it still shows ‘no service’ then some fault is there with the hardware. After removing the sim wait for 2-3 seconds and then reinsert the sim and make sure the mobile data is OFF. This should help restore networks back.
Alternate method #2
The problem in some cases is that the mobile radio power in some cases is off and won’t turn ON automatically no matter what you do. In some cases if you are lucky enough it will turn ON during a reboot (that too 1 out of 10 reboots). The solution can be to press the surface of the sim slot from both back and front of the phone.
Take out the SIM tray and while pinching the area tightly where the SIM tray is inserted, push the tray back inside, now restart the device and you’ll get the network. If doesn’t work try many times it’ll work for sure, but do not apply too much pressure that it might damage the internals. This would enable the mobile radio power.
Root Cause
The exact root cause is unknown but is definitely a software issue. This mostly happens when the phone reboots and you are welcomed with ‘no service’ even though everything was pretty fine before the reboot. So before rebooting for what so ever reason, put the phone into airplane mode and when it’s back ON, toggle OFF the airplane mode and this should avoid the issue of error in sim detection. I have personally tried this and it worked.
Hope Asus acknowledges this issue and release a permanent fix so that users don’t have to be frustrated by long hours of ‘No service’ issues.
If this guide helped you then do let us know in the comments, also if you found other tricks/solutions for the same comment that too so that everyone has various tricks to try and one or the other might work for them.
Get to know more about Zenfone 5z and why it’s still a beast here
Thanks for this information the information is really good and useful…….
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Thanks a lot man! Your Second Alternate Method worked in my case. I had been to the Asus Service Center too many times with this problem and because my device is out of warranty I had to pay them a good amount everytime. But this time I am stuck at home dude to COVID-19 lockdown and even the Service Center were shut. I thought I would have to spend DAYS without network in these unusual times. Now that I know that they were fooling me and taking advantage of my situation I would never ever go to them again. Also I wouldn’t be buying from ASUS again. Everything is this phone is just perfect but its just not reliable and services are just to fool the customers.
For this I thank you from the bottom of my heart!!
May you prosper!!
Hey buddy how did you fix this issue, I am also facing of lockdown in India and not sure how long it will take more,
Hey Pankaj,
Did you try all the methods mentioned?
Hey Shantanu,
Glad your problem got solved by this simple trick. Keep coming for more. Stay safe!
wow this is amazing i tried second method but i had feeling it wont work but seriously it worked perfectly and phone is back up from dead, thank you so much.
Hi Ramneek
I have encountered the same problem 4-5 times and the alternate method #2 along with disabling and re-enabling the sim card plus manually searching for networks always brought back the networks but this time for some reason its not working. I’ve been trying diligently for the past 3-4 days and sadly i still don’t have any networks. I have tried all your above mentioned solutions but I’m afraid they did not work. Is there any other suggestion and/or solution you might be able to offer?
I’m stuck at alone at home with no customer service options amidst the Covid-19 lockdown and would really appreciate if my mobile networks came back through your help.
I too have the same problem Tried all the methods but the radio power is still on. Please suggest
Hello,
I am also facing the same issue. And due to lockdown I can’t go to service center. Tried all the methods above but unfortunately it’s not working for my case. Still the radio power is off. Please help me resolve this issue . Please bro help.
Thanks
Ashish
did everyone get the same issue during this covid confinement. kinda spooky.
and a mix of your main method and alternate method #2 worked for me.
the Alternate method #2 tip of pressing the front and back where the sim card is situated worked after a little while as i was playing with networks and settings.
please also improve the language of alternate method #2. the first paragraph last ine should be in the second para.
but apart from that Ramneek Singh, you sir are a true scholar and a gentleman.
My best regards.
Thank you very much, I tried alternative 2 and its working 🙂
Thanks very much… Glad you posted this to help other.. Thanks again.