Stuck at PIN on booting

[Mr Rimmer]

I hadn't used my Gemini for a while, and decided to boot it up in order to swap SIMs with my phone (which died).  When I booted thee Gemini it asked for a PIN code, which I've never set.  No amount of firmware flashing (both full OS and NVRAM backup) or following guides will remove the PIN, so effectively the device is unusable now. Does anyone have any suggestions for what can be done, apart from RMA to Planet?

BTW, running the latest Oreo firmware (8.1?).

Thanks.

[Varti]

The PIN code (and the setting to request/not request it at boot) is stored on the SIM, so it doesn't depend on the software installed on the device where the SIM is inserted. I find it strange that your phone wasn't asking for it everytime you switched it on, though the PIN is always requested only after a complete reboot; maybe you have never rebooted your phone in the last years so you have never stumbled upon this request.

Every SIM has 3 PIN attempts (except for some operators which use SIMs with 5 attempts), the PIN is 4 digits long; after 3 failed attempts you have to enter a secondary password called PUK, it's a 8 digits code for which you have 10 attempts. Once you use all of them, the SIM can't be used anymore and needs to be replaced. Both PIN and PUK codes are usually printed on the credit-card shaped SIM holder which held the SIM when you bought it.

Varti